The Hart Medley was one of our first medleys put together in the early days of our group. Both the fife and drum parts are straight out of a Civil War era fife and drum instructor by Col. H. C. Hart and the crisp, clear melodies and strong drum beats make this historical piece one of our favorites.
The Hart Medley
- Frog in the Well
- Moonlight Quickstep
- Old Zip Coon
- The Red-Haired Boy
When President Lincoln called up the troops in 1861, training field-music groups became part of the general activity. Col. H.C. Hart’s New and Improved Instructor for the Drum (1862) is among the most interesting of the contemporary texts. The drum beatings are notated in a strange “code” very much like one of the systems used in Basel to this day. The exact lineage of this notation is unknown to me. The final beating in this medley later became known as the Connecticut Halftime, made famous when J. Burns Moore published his The Art of Drumming in 1934. –Jim Clark
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