Bandsman(Musician) branch
With the Band branch we come to the end of the RCN rate badges series.
The RCN had no official Band (Musician) branch prior to WWII. Any bands produced in the small interwar period RCN, were of a volunteer band nature & there was a fairly good volunteer band conducted by CPO Fairweather at HMCS Naden in the late 1930's just prior to WWII.
In 1939 the Band branch was officially sanctioned by Naval Heaquarters & some extremely competant naval bands were produced during WWII. A Naval School of Music was established at HMCS York in Toronto, Ontario, headed up by Lieut (later Lieut Commander) Alfred Zeally, RCNVR. Zeally was an accomplished professional musician & conductor. This school recruited, trained & posted competant civilians musicians for the RCN bands on both coasts as well as the HMCS Niobe Band in Scotland.
The major bands of the RCN in wartime were those at HMCS Stadacona (Halifax), HMCS Naden (Esquimalt BC), & HMCS Cornwallis (the RCN New Entry training centre at Deep Brook, NS). These three bands were quite large, the band at Cornwallis at times exceeded 60 musicians. There were also smaller bands at the various RCNVR Naval Divisions across Canada.
Unfortunately after the cessation of hostilies at the end of WWII all RCN & RCNVR Bandsmen were demobilized to civilian life.
Last edited by RCN; 25-11-09 at 04:22 PM.
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20-11-09, 07:21 PM
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