Author: Alison Clayton, Earl Rivers’

Orders of the Day, Volume 35, Issue 1, Feb/Mar 2003

‘The custom of marching to the drum looks very fine when well executed’ Arbeau 1588

An article in the last Orders drew attention to the Arundel and Surrey transcription of Charles I warrant of 1632 setting out the English March. This of interest to those who have not seen it before, but the drummers who read the notation may be forgiven for having thought ‘Doh?!!’ as the notation and the phonetic accompaniment are a bit obscure. In this brief article my aim is to provide a translation of the music into modern musical notation and some hints and tips for actually playing it and marching off to it.

The drums were used to pass commands from the officers to the men. Quite apart from the fact that it is unseemly for a gentleman to speak to the lower orders, let along raise his voice, it would be impractical to attempt to do so over the noise of battle. ‘By it they [soldiers] must receive their directions, when the roaring cannon, the clashing of arms, the neighing of horses, and other confused noise causeth that neither Captain nor other officers can be heard’ Barriffe 1661

The Voluntary – Whassat?!!

The March is proceeded by something called ‘The Voluntary.Before the March’. As I said above, the drums carry orders audibly to the men. The Voluntary is simply a command to the men to prepare to march. It draws their attention and lets them know that what is following next is a march, in other words the rank and file know that they should move to open order and both the pike and musket should shoulder their arms. The length of the Voluntary is just long enough for the soldiers to perform these movements. The Voluntary also gives the timing for the march – if it is beaten by the Drum Major alone, then he can chose the tempo and the other drummers can match theirs to his. It is also a useful device for getting all the drummers to start beating together and all the troops to step off smartly together. Here’s a translation of the notation (Apologies for the blobbiness of the image!):

In summary: The rank and file are drawn up, the officer gives the command to the Drum Major ‘Prepare to March’, the DM beats the Voluntary. During the Voluntary the pike and musket prepare to march, at the first step of the march everybody steps off together (on the left foot). From the music it is clear that the drums go straight from the Voluntary into the March. However, to help to identify where the one ends and the other starts, in practice it may be a good idea to have a two-beat pause before setting off on the march. A handy way to count two beats is to say to yourself (in your head in case everybody thinks you’re a bit strange!) a two single-syllable word, such as ‘march off’ or similar. If you wish to create a mnemonic to remember the beating of the Voluntary and March, the two-beat pause could be something that fits in with the one you chose. Non-drummers often wonder what all this uniform chanting about cakes and ice cream from the drummers is all about!

A more simplified version of the whole thing is given by Pistofolio in 1621. In his march, he has the beats starting with three beats, to which the pikemen shoulder their pikes in unison. If your unit is not quite ready for The Voluntary, then I see no real problem with adapting the start of your normal march to perform the same function.

If you look at the 1632 warrant you will see that although the notes appear uniform, the phonetic notation (Pou tou potang etc!) differs. Each of these would have a separate meaning and thus we can see that there was additional ornament to the plain ‘vanilla’ version of the March set out above. For some people who are seeing this for the first time I decided that it would be best to keep it simple for now.

From the L and R symbols above the beats I have shown how the march fits with the stepping of the feet. However, there is no indication of tempo. The Warrant refers to it’s ‘ancient gravitie’ implying that it was played slowly. An estimate of the speed of contemporary marches, given by Barty-King (‘The Drum, 1988) suggests that when covering rough and muddy ground the pace was slow, about 75 to 90 paces a minute, but it may have been smartened up for entering towns. Hexham (1637) refers to a ‘slow or a swift march’. I personally think the answer is indicated by Barriffe. He says that the soldiers should ‘march either quicker or slower according to the beat of the drum’. From this I think it is a safe conclusion to draw that the speed of the march could vary according to the circumstances. On long route marches, especially over rough terrain the march would be slower, on drill or on display in towns when wanting to make a good impression, the march would be at a smarter pace. Pragmatically, for reinactment purposes, I would expect to see the march beaten at a slow but comfortable walking pace and picking up the tempo when it is necessary to move the men rapidly across the battlefield.

I hope I have managed to create a brief but clear description of how the Englsih March can be beaten and used, which may be of some use or interest. I will be pleased to discuss this in greater depth at a future muster or via email. I must acknowledge the kind help and instructional boots up the backside from Jim Bisgood over the years, and it is who is responsible for the original translation of the notation.