Royal Military School of Music

Kneller Hall

The Royal Military School of Music (RMSM) in Twickenham, West London, trains musicians for the British Army's twenty-nine bands. It is part of the Corps of Army Music.

The school is based at Kneller Hall, which was the country house of the court painter Sir Godfrey Kneller, and was rebuilt after a fire in 1848. The school was established in 1857^[1] at the instigation of Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, Queen Victoria's cousin and the commander-in-chief of the army . He had attended a parade in Africa and was greeted by a number of army bands who proceeded to play the national anthem in a number of different key signatures. He decided that there should be some standardisation in army music and so formed the RMSM.

For many years the commandant was Colonel Thomas Shaw-Hellier, owner of the Hellier Stradivarius.

The school is open to men and women, and the commitment to the army is for a minimum of four years. The Corps of Army Music is the largest employer of musicians in the United Kingdom, and it promotes itself to potential recruits as an opportunity to earn a salary as a musician, something which can be hard to do. The music taught and performed is not restricted to martial music, but also includes jazz, swing, middle-of-the-road, popular, baroque, mainstream symphonic and operatic music.

The Royal Military School of Music Museum at Kneller Hall has a collection of musical instruments, music, documents, prints, manuscripts, paintings and uniforms showing the history of military music; it is open to the public by appointment.^[2]

References

External links

• Royal Military School of Music website

Coordinates: 51°27′18″N 0°21′03″W / 51.4551°N 0.3507°W / 51.4551; -0.3507