Eight fifers and drummers, dressed in authentic 18th Century uniforms, will perform their drills at 11:30 a.m. Thursday at the Daley Center Plaza.
The Colonial Williamsburg Fife and Drum Corps will be making their appearance, preceding the World Cup banner auction, in connection with the “British Delft from Colonial Willamsburg” exhibition, which opened Saturday at the Art Institute.
Members of the corps will be wearing red coats, as did their predecessors, who wore that color to easily distinguish them on the battlefield from the infantry line soldiers, who wore blue coats.
In 1778 the Virginia general assembly passed a bill that created the Virginia State Garrison Regiment, which replaced three state regiments that had been called north to join the Continental Army under George Washington. The main purpose of the new unit was to defend the eastern portion of Virginia, especially the peninsula on which Williamsburg, the capital, was located.
The fife and drum corps represents the musical counterpart of that regiment. The corps still utilizes school-aged boys, with the exception of the drum major. Its membership has grown from a handful in 1958 to the current 32.
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Before its introduction to this continent, the fife-a cylindrical, side-blown flute with six finger holes and no keys- had been widely used as a martial signal instrument throughout Europe. Today’s snare and bass drums are replicas of 18th Century field drums used by both American and European forces. As is the custom, they are made of ash shells and hoops with calfskin heads and gut snare, and are beaten with wooden mallets.