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Gov­er­nors Island’s Musi­cal History

Dec 11, 2020 3:34 pm

Many vis­i­tors know Gov­er­nors Island as a des­ti­na­tion for music. Musi­cal events, fes­ti­vals and per­for­mances delight vis­i­tors through­out the pub­lic sea­son every year, like this year’s annu­al Porch Stomp and African Film Fes­ti­val Inc.’s Fam­i­ly Day Cel­e­bra­tion. These mod­ern musi­cal events con­tin­ue the long tra­di­tion of music on Gov­er­nors Island that stretch­es back cen­turies, much of it accom­pa­ny­ing the Island’s his­to­ry as a mil­i­tary base. 

As ear­ly as 1750, the Amer­i­can provin­cial reg­i­ment sta­tioned on the Island includ­ed a band. Musi­cians remained part of mil­i­tary post­ings through the fol­low­ing decades as the Island changed hands in theAm­er­i­can Rev­o­lu­tion. In the ear­ly 19^th cen­tu­ry, music took a more promi­nent role on the Island with the estab­lish­ment of the Sixth Infantry Band School. Though the school remained on the Island for only a short time before it was moved to West Point, it began a tra­di­tion of train­ing musi­cians on Gov­er­nors Island that last­ed over a century. 

The new School of Prac­tice for U.S.A. Field Musi­cians opened on Gov­er­nors Island in the 1830s. The school trained musi­cians in fife and drum, adding bugle after the Civ­il War. Between fifty and nine­ty stu­dents, ini­tial­ly quar­tered in the case­ments of the South Bat­tery, attend­ed the school at one time. They were known as the Music Boys, an apt nick­name for a group that skewed young; in 1860, two-thirds of the 60 Music Boys were between the ages of 13 and 16. Field musi­cians would per­form mul­ti­ple times each day, per­form­ing bugle calls like reveille in the morn­ing and retreat in the evening, as well as at dai­ly dress parades. The army band would also play at cer­e­mo­ni­al occa­sions, like wel­com­ing vis­it­ing dig­ni­taries, at mil­i­tary funer­als, and at the Island’s esteemed gar­den parties. 

In the 20^th cen­tu­ry, one of two Army Music Schools for bands­men called­Gov­er­nors Island home. It boast­ed a high­ly selec­tive band­leader train­ing pro­gram; only five of 75 appli­cants were admit­ted for the inau­gur­al class in 1911. Demand for mil­i­tary musi­cians grew dur­ing World War 1, with the ranks of the Recruit Band swelling to near­ly 50 enlist­ed sol­diers being trained for duty at home and abroad. In 1916, the War Depart­ment cre­at­ed the Third Dis­ci­pli­nary Band com­posed of pris­on­ers housed in Cas­tle Williams to raise morale and pro­vide voca­tion­al train­ing. With­in a few years of its for­ma­tion, over 115 men had been mem­bers of the band and about 90 per­cent had qual­i­fied for assign­ment to a mil­i­tary band when restored to duty or allowed to reen­list. The Cas­tle Williams band was so pop­u­lar that it com­pet­ed with the famed Six­teenth Infantry Band for Sat­ur­day night spots and hol­i­day par­ties at the Offi­cers’ Club, some­times per­form­ing even more fre­quent­ly than the enlist­ed band.

The Army Music School depart­ed Gov­er­nors Island in 1921, relo­cat­ing to Wash­ing­ton, D.C., though mul­ti­ple bands remained. May­or Fiorel­lo LaGuardia was a par­tic­u­lar fan of the Six­teenth Infantry Band, often invit­ing them to play at Wall Street parades. The U.S. Army Band called Liggett Hall its home as it trav­eled to per­form around the world until the Army left Gov­er­nors Island in 1965. The Offi­cers’ Club con­tin­ued to host musi­cians, one notable reg­u­lar being Burt Bacharach, who played night­ly for a time dur­ing his enlist­ment in the ear­ly 1950s. Bands were often present at social events for the rest of the 20^th cen­tu­ry, includ­ing dur­ing the Coast Guard years, as when the U.S. Coast Guard Band played for two days around the July 4^th fes­tiv­i­ties in 1992. 

Today, vis­i­tors can expect to hear and see all sorts of live musi­cal per­for­mances on Gov­er­nors Island dur­ing the pub­lic sea­son. This music, span­ning genre, era, arrange­ment and scale, echoes the per­for­mances of cen­turies past to keep the tra­di­tion of play­ing music on the Island alive. While the 2020 pub­lic sea­son has end­ed, Gov­er­nors Island’s music venues are nev­er qui­et for long. 

Head­er image: 8^th Infantry Band at Fort Jay, 1906.