Deconstructing Fusilier
When populating my fictional music festival with bands, I used some I had prepared earlier, for other books. I needed some new ones, and one I came up with I called Fusilier. This is composed of men and women who wear period military uniform and play kettle drums and fifes. When I invent this kind of thing, it generally just comes to me, but I sometimes deconstruct the process afterwards.
In the case of Fusilier, I believe one of the sources was probably a Eurovision act I saw a few years ago. The song was called Only Teardrops and the introduction consisted of drummers and flutes. The fifes may have come from the Punchbowl Farm series of books which I read in the 1960s and 70s. In one of the stories Lindsey, who had been saving up for a flute, bought a fife instead because it was less expensive. I remember knowing what a fife was because of the old song Soldier Soldier. Finally, there's the poem Following the Drum and, even longer ago, a book called The Ship from Simnel Street. So, there you are... the band Fusilier... It just came to me. Or did it?
In my first year at high school we were all offered the chance of learning a musical instrument; the choices were trumpet, violin and bassoon. I chose bassoon because a) I had never heard of it and b) everyone else had already chosen trumpet or violin. Not quite the same as choosing the 'less expensive' option, but I can't imagine what my band name would have been based on that history... (I do still have my bassoon though, it's hanging above my piano in the dining room)
ReplyDeleteBassoon of course! A few days ago I was talking to a young man who was playing the bassoon outside the local supermarket - he was doing Christmas carols by request and he told me a bit about the instrument.
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