Barmy trumpet has place at Ashes battleground

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Thursday, 30 November 2006

Cricket officials should allow the Barmy Army trumpet to play its proper role at the Adelaide Ashes Test Match tomorrow (Friday 1 December) because the trumpet has a clearly defined place on the Ashes battleground, according to a University of Adelaide academic.

Associate Professor Mark Carroll, a musicologist from the University's Elder Conservatorium of Music, says the trumpet has cultural and historical significance.

"Music in general, and wind instruments in particular, have long accompanied life's rituals; birth, marriage, work, death, and so forth," Dr Carroll says.

"In calypso cricket the West Indian conch shell is used in a celebratory way, proclaiming the coming together of different nationalities in a great sporting contest.

"The Barmy Army's use of the trumpet, however, seems to trace its origins to the use of the trumpet in war, as a kind of rallying cry for the troops.

"To some, the raucous trumpet sounds that accompany the Barmy Army's tour of duty to the Antipodes during the current Ashes campaign are a mere irritation, but a deeper social and cultural significance can be attributed to the instrument," he says.

Dr Carroll says that among the earliest and possibly best known uses of the trumpet - or rather its ancient forbear, a ram's horn - appears in the Old Testament, when it was used to breach the walls of Jericho.

"Judging by the current performance of the English cricket team, a similar time might elapse before we see the Barmy Army trumpeter leading his foot soldiers onwards to victory! Nevertheless, officials should reconsider their decision to ban the trumpet during play."

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