"Believe It Or Not" Historic Medley by J.J. Donnelly and V.L. Mott

Описание: The U.S. Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps Center for Martial Music presents the first known recording of "Believe It Or Not" by J.J. Donnelly and V.L. Mott. (U.S. Army video by Staff Sgt. Faith Santucci; Audio Engineer Staff Sgt. Ross Mitchell)

This arrangement of “Believe It Or Not” was sourced from a collection of tunes compiled, transposed, and transcribed by Arthur I. Ferrante. The Vol. 1 collection, “Fife: Method Book, Manual, Music Collection”, includes fife and drum music from the 18th through 20th centuries and was published posthumously in 1998. The main purpose of the Ferrante volume is to preserve fife music and drum corps history, and this march provides a glimpse into stylistic elements consistent with a “modern” corps that incorporated all three instrument groups of fifes, bugles, and drums.

The march tune “Believe It Or Not” was written by J.J. Donnelly and V.L. Mott, date unknown. The fife part is played in unison and likely would have been performed using traditional 6-hole fifes. TOGFDC made the decision to play on 10-hole grenadilla wood fifes and incorporate some alternate fingering options to better align with the unit’s modern sound quality.

There are two bugle parts which would have historically been played on G bugles. Our buglers chose to perform on TOGFDC's three-valve bugles designed after a Civil War-era cornet, but to play without depressing the valves to better imitate the sound quality and execution of a traditional, valveless G bugle.

The score’s original percussion parts cite snare drum, bass drum, and cymbals. The cymbal part is not notated in the score and was reimagined with mindfulness towards historical context and style by TOGFDC Bass Drum Musician Staff Sgt. Kevin Hanrahan.

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