Results: Little Drummer boy

Fife, Drum, and Bugle During the Revolutionary War: During the Revolutionary War, armies didn't have radios to talk to each other with. Music was the main way for them to communicate over long distances. It is widely recognized that the use of the fife and drum came from the armies of Switzerland, hundreds of years before America was discovered by Europeans. The fife was used because of its high pitched sound and the drum because of its low pitched sound. Both instruments can be heard from great distances and even through the sounds of a battlefield. Fifers and drummers would provide the music for all of the things that soldiers would need to do throughout the day. They would play tunes in the camp, on the battlefield, or for a march.**I was on ancestry.com and found out that a 5th great grandfather was a drummer and brass worker during the Revolutionary War. Do you have any family members that were drummers, or fife and trumpet players that served in the military?

On the battlefield, musicians had the responsibility of helping keep order in battle and make sure the soldiers functioned well as a unit. Drummers would play beatings telling the soldiers to turn right or left as well as to load and fire their muskets. There was a tune called Cease Fire that fifers and drummers would play to tell the soldiers to stop firing at the end of a battle while a tune called Parley was used to signal to the enemy that a surrender or peace talk was desired.**Until now, were you aware of the role of the drummer and fifer?

Finally, here a few bits of trivia regarding drums being used in wars, check off the ones you know: