Pipes, Percussion and Patriotism
By Eileen M. Carlton
Loudoun Border Guards bring music of Revolution to life: Music can be found in those quiet and refined situations where some act as if they knew Mozart personally.
Just as easily, music is found vibrating from the rap and hip-hop clubs of Harlem to the folk houses of San Francisco.
But the music that many Americans want to hear this time of year is the music that was often both the background and the mainstay of the battlefield, the music that gave the soldiers the impetus to keep on fighting.
The strong, steady percussion of the drum, the spirit-lifting rhythms and high-pitched notes of the fife have been heard on battlefields around the world beginning -- according to several historic sources -- in the 14th century in Turkey.
Today, it is usually heard only during parades that pay homage to the past and to the heroes who helped bring into existence the United States of America and everything it stands for.
Two people who became involved with this genre brought it to the children and adolescents of Loudoun via New York City and Charles Town, W.Va., and named the group the Loudoun Border Guards.
Anne and Cormack Quinn started playing in fife-and-drum corps as children. That was, Anne said, some 40-odd years ago. She plays the fife, Cormack the drums.
“My husband and I have both been part of this hobby for many years,” Anne explained. “We started as children growing up in New York City and continued into adult life.”
The Quinns moved to Loudoun in 1993, living first in Sterling and moving to Leesburg in 1995. When they first began the Loudoun Border Guards in 1996, the Quinns worked closely with the Loudoun Museum. Eventually the Quinns established their own nonprofit in 2001 as part of Music in Time Inc. Today the couple lives in Charles Town, W.Va.
Anne said the current junior membership is about 10 individuals between the ages of 10 and 18. There are about eight senior members as well.
“These are members who have passed the age of 18 years, but who come back and help us,” Anne said.
These musicians hail not only from Loudoun but also from Fairfax County, Falls Church, Poolesville, Md., and West Virginia.
“We are the only youth- oriented group like this in the area at this time,” Anne said.
The goal is multifaceted -- to play music and to illustrate, in a very tactile way, an important part of the history of this country.
The Web site reports the following information about the Loudoun Border Guards.
The group has performed all over the East Coast, including the Kennedy Space Center and New York City.
The uniforms are of an 1855 militia style.
Every other year the Loudoun Board Guards host a muster in Leesburg where other fife and drum corps from throughout the world come to perform. The LBG hosted the 2007 National Muster in Leesburg, for its biennial, Spirit of Freedom Fife & Drum Muster
Rehearsals are Fridays at 7 p.m. at Leesburg United Methodist Church.
A muster in the fife and drum world is a gathering of many fife and drum corps that usually march a parade through town out to the muster field. From there, each corps performs a show for the public. The performances are followed by a jam session in which all fifers and drummers gather and play music for hours.
Traditionally, a muster served as a social gathering on the town green where townsfolk shared recipes, stories and music, while the colonists prepared for the impending conflict with the British.
Now the muster serves as a gathering of fife and drum musicians to share friendship and music.
The next muster is planned for 2009 in Leesburg.
“We are teaching history in a very unique fashion,” Anne said. “Fife and drum is the original folk music of the United States, and we are continuing that tradition. It's unlike any school program. This is not something you do for school credit. It becomes a lifelong hobby.”
Contact the writer at ecarlton@timespapers.com