The drum was used by armies since the days of the ancient Greeks, Romans,
Egyptians, Chinese, and so on!  The fife, however, wasn't invented until the late
1400s in central Europe, near Switzerland.  It wasn't long before the armies of that
area in Europe saw a military advantage in the fife (their high, shrill sound, which
would easily be heard on the battlefield) and began using them.  In 1511, the fife
was mentioned among the military instruments of the Germans.  By the mid-1500s,
France and England began to use them as well, and soon, nearly every "advanced"
nation employed their use in their armies.  In fact, King Henry VIII sent all the
way to Vienna to obtain fifes.
 
However, there came a time when not everyone enjoyed to hear their shrill
sound!  Such a case arose in Great Britain during the Commonwealth, when fifes
were completely banned, not just in the military, but in the civilian world as well.
And even after the King returned in 1660, the fife was still not in use.  In 1678,
however, a new instrument was introduced to the army: the hautboy or oboe.  This
instrument became extremely popular, especially with bands of musick, and it could
be possible that the oboe's popularity is a major reason the fife did not return
until almost seventy years later.  In the rest of Europe, however, especially
France and Germany, the fife was still a primary instrument in the army.  But
despite their popularity in the rest of Europe, it wasn't until around 1745, when
fifes were once again used in the British military.  In the 1750s, the exposure
to both British and French fifes and drums during the French and Indian War, also
known as the Seven Years' War, really began to increase in their popularity in
Colonial America.

Up until the American Revolution, most fifes and instruction books were
produced in England.  A few instrument makers in the colonies did make fifes, but
they usually turned out in slightly different keys or sizes.  Therefore, as a result
of the lack of standardization, English fifes were much more preferred.  The same
went with the drums, but because drums were never banned by the English
Government, drum makers in America were slightly more common.

When war broke out, the amount of trade between England and the colonial
governments was almost non-existent; thus the Continental Army could not get
English instruments.  As a result, there came a great demand for American-made
instruments.  Mattson and Walz claim that because so many fifes were out of tune,
General George Washington demanded that a standardized size and key be made, so
that all fifes would be able to play with each other! 

The American Revolution not only brought changes to American
fifes, but also to the calls used by the Continental Army.  A call is a musical
representation of a command given by an officer, either in battle or in camp.
In camp, these calls, often referred to as camp duties, told the soldiers what
to do and when to do it.  The first known record of signals by the French is the
collection by Mersenne (1635), and according to Raoul Camus, "the Artillery
Company of London exercised in 1638 to three specific airs for the fife."

Although, calls were known by the Americans, there was still a need
for improvement.  Prior to the Revolution, a common practice in both European
and the Continental armies was each regiment or brigade had their own versions
of the calls.  And even from that, each country had different versions (such as 
in the British Army, "The English duty" versus "the Scots duty."  Soon after the
Revolutionary War broke out, General Washington began seeking a way to
standardize these calls and have one set version for the whole Continental Army.
In his Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States,
Baron Friedrich von Steuben provided nine calls for the Army, which officially
went into effect in 1779 (although were already starting to be enforced at the
"Valley Forge encampment of the winter of 1777-78").  Some examples of these
calls included "The Assembly," "The Reveille," "The Retreat" (call to end the
day's work), and "The Tattoo" (call to put out lights). Von Steuben's manual
also included twelve signals, such as "To go for Water," "To go for Provisions"
(which used the tune Roast Beef of Old England), "For the front to advance
quicker," "For the drummers" (later simply known as Drummer's Call), and
"For the Church call."

Their use for performing calls, however, was not the only purpose of fifes
and drums in the military.  When on the march or during peaceful times in camp,
these musicians were expected to play music to keep up the soldiers' morale and
to keep the men focused and out of trouble.  W.H. Russell of The Times supports
this when he says, "every military man knows how regiments, when fatigued on the
march, cheer up at the strains of their band, and dress up, keep step, and walk
on with animation and vigour when it is playing."  There are thousands upon
thousands of tunes that date during and prior to the time of the Revolutionary
War.  Some very popular tunes of the Continental Army included "The Campbells
are Coming," "Chester," "The White Cockade," "The Liberty Song," and of course,
"Yankee Doodle." British fifers and drummers often played tunes like "British
Grenadiers," "Men of Harlech," "Derry Down," "The World Turned Upside
Down" (also known as When the King Enjoys His Own Again), as well as "Yankee
Doodle" to ridicule the colonists.


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