Music to march to

Available for over a year

Why do soldiers march in time, and what role does music play in keeping them together? The military march may now be a familiar part of the classical repertoire, but it began as a practical response to the changing battlefield, helping soldiers to drill and move as one. Catherine Fletcher talks to Rachel Johnson of the Royal Northern College of Music and Lieutenant Colonel Lauren Petritz-Watts from the Royal Corps of Army Music who has served as a musician in the British Army over the last twenty years. They consider what marches and marching mean today, explores how military bands combine ceremony, morale and influence, and asks what sounds we might hear when they are told to “win hearts and minds”. Producer: Ruth Watts