ABSTRACT
In 1857 the ‘Military Music Class’ opened at Kneller Hall near Twickenham in the suburbs of London – a distinctive institution that was to acquire the name of the ‘Royal Military School of Music’ in 1887. It was founded in acknowledgement of the place music held in military life and in the musical life of the nation, its colonies and dependencies. The principal reason for its foundation was to increase central control of military music – to train generations of native-born musicians who would be capable of sustaining standards across the military and to provide musical leadership. There was also an acknowledgement of developments in France, where the place of military music was recognised through its intimate relationship with the Paris Conservatoire. When Kneller Hall opened it was unique in the British music education system in that it was resolutely committed to the sole objective of producing music professionals, each of whom was inevitably destined for work as a full-time musician immediately following graduation. The School had an imaginative and wide-ranging curriculum that taught performance and sophisticated theoretical skills. Students were expected to be proficient in harmony and counterpoint, and familiar with the canonical classical repertoire (regular trips to London concerts and operas were built into the curriculum) and the dance repertoire of the day. All students were required to be proficient on at least one instrument from two different families. Before passing out, each bandmaster student was also required to compose and direct a setting of an Anglican service in the School’s chapel. There were two categories of student: those nominated from regiments who showed the potential to become bandmasters, and band boys, who could also be nominated from regiments or might be recruited directly from the industrial schools which were designated to supply appropriately talented young musicians. 1
