By : Mohan Verma
It will be a memorable day on May 11 for the tourists, visitors and residents of Shimla town, when they will enjoy the unique memorable presentation by the Indian Army Symphony Band at the historic Ridge.
It is a chain of events being celebrated throughout the year under ‘Shimla Celebrates’ Additional Chief Secretary Upma Chaudhary informed media here today.
Ms. Chaudhary said that the Indian Army Symphony Band was raised in 1990 at New Delhi with bandsmen taken from all military bands of the Army to retain the true representation of the entire nation in one band.
In order to add variety to the music, Indian classical music instruments like santoor, sitar, jaltarang were also incorporated with the military band, she added.
The Additional Chief Secretary also said that the Indian Army Symphony band has the unique privilege of performing during the visits of various foreign dignitaries to India at the Rashtrapati Bhawan and during national level functions like Republic Day, Independence Day and Beating the Retreat ceremonies.
She said the Army Symphony Band consists of three sections–the Wood Wind Section comprising flute, piccolo, oboe, clarinet, saxophone and bassoon.
The tone is produced by a column of air vibrating with a pipe that has little vents in its side.
The second, the Brass section comprises the horn, cornet, trumpet, trombone, euphonium and tuba. These instruments are indispensable for melody, sustaining harmony, rhythmic accent and for the weight of their massive tone and flame like sonority, thus contribute to climaxes.
The Percussion section has a variety of instruments that are made to sound by striking or shaking. The glokenspiel, xylophone, vibrophone, chimes, drum, timpani and several others make up the ‘Battery’, as it is sometimes called.
The Symphony Band will present the programme composed by renowned composers like Pandit Ravi Shankar, Maurice Jarre, Venga Boys and AR Rahman, she said.
Other presentations of Army band could also be enjoyed at Ridge on May 13, 15, 17 and 18 at 1700 hours, she added.
