Midnight Rider

Midnight Riders Fife and Drum Corps

The Midnight Riders Fife and Drum Corps was established in 1989 to create and perpetuate, through performance, an appreciation for Early American martial and social music as it pertained to the period of the American Revolution. To see the Corps perform is to witness a presentation that began over 200 years ago with General George Washington’s Continental Army. Manuscripts, documents and personal diaries from the 18th Century have been researched and examined to preserve and authentic portrayal. Fifer

The martial musician has played a necessary, and often unacknowledged role in our country’s history. During the Revolutionary War, fifers and drummers were responsible for signaling both commands on the battlefield and in camp, marching the army from one point to another and entertaining the soldiers during off duty hours.

The historically correct uniforms that the Midnight Riders wear depict Colonel Paul Sargent’s Massachusetts Battalion. They have been researched and documented to the period of May, 1775. The forest green regimental coat faced with black is unique to Sargent’s Battalion, which was one of the first five battalions raised to safeguard the Commonwealth of Massachusetts after the historic battle of Lexington and Concord that initiated the American Revolution.

All of the Corps programs are performed on replica 18th Century fifes and drums.

The fifes are made of cocobolo wood and have brass ferrules on each end to keep the instrument from splitting or cracking during cold and dry weather. With one open blow hole to create the tone and six open fingering holes to produce the notes, the fife is in the key of B flat and is tuned with only a single cork. Despite this instruments crude design, it produces a resonance that is very pleasing to the listener.

The drums used by the corps are made of mahogany wood and are only held together by fifty feet of rope. The calfskin drumheads and gut snares are maintained to demonstrate a true representation of the sound that was produced by rope tension field drums.

The Corps, which is made up of musicians from the Metro-Detroit area, performs extensively throughout the year. The Corps strives during each performance to capture the essence of the 18th Century, a time when our founding fathers forged a great new nation.

The Midnight Riders Fife and Drum Corps was established in 1989 as a non-profit organization. As described in the non-profit Internal Revenue Code 501(c)3, the Corps supports itself solely through performance fees, merchandise sales and tax-deductible contributions