When Swedish King Gustavus I marched into Stockholm, drummers and fifers played in the front during Midsummer Eve, the year of 1523. The musical tradition of fifes and drums is thereby quite old. In Europe we know that the fife was used as early as in the 14th century.
The instruments were used to signal troops and each signal had it’s corresponding, pre-determined order.
The music at the King’s Guard has left it’s track in Stockholm and the Swedish culture through strong personalities, such as the poet and composer Carl Michael Bellman’s “Rörande corporal Bohmans begravning” (Concerning Corporal Bohman’s Funeral), also known as “Undan ur Vägen” (Out of the Way). This march was the regimental march for the King’s Guard during Bellman’s career and it was borrowed, in accordance with the era’s customs, for Bellman’s epistle.
Fifes were left in the war organization until 1824 when, due to a more scattering fighting strategy, it was replaced by the bugle. At the Life Guards, however, a Fife and Drum corps still existed under the guidance of the legendary drum major C F “handsome” Herrman. This corps was resigned in 1894.
In 1989 the Guards officer Hans Augustin, now Regimental Major of the Dragoons, reintroduced a new drum corps on a volounteer basis. Members are recruited from miliary personell at the Life Guards as well as civilians from the greater Stockholm and Uppsala area.