THE Air Force uses ceremonial music on parades
for two purposes. These are to coordinate the actions of troops, e.g., marching
in step or the advance in review order; and to give added significance to
a specific, ordered action, for example, a general salute, incidental music
for a parade inspection or showing the colour.
Our most significant piece of music is the official march, March Past of
the RAAF. This was composed in 1985 by the then Director Air Force Music,
SQNLDR Ron Mitchell. Until then, the Air Force used the RAF equivalent as
its official march. This well-known march was composed in two parts. The
first was the work of English composer Sir Henry Walford Davies, the Master
of the King’s Musick, who wrote it in 1918. His composition combined
the rhythms of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service bugle
calls, representing the amalgamation of both those Services. The second
part of the March Past was composed by Sir George Dyson.
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