BRUCE P. GLEASON
Historian, Author, Musician
Stemming from the tradition of rallying troops and frightening enemies, mounted bands played a unique and distinctive role in American military history. Their fascinating story within the U.S. Army unfolds in this latest book from noted music historian and former army musician Bruce P. Gleason.
Sound the Trumpet, Beat the Drums: Horse-Mounted Bands of the U.S. Army, 1820 – 1940 is available at your favorite local bookstore, and Magers & Quinn, Target, Bookshop.org, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, J.W. Pepper, and Eurobuch, and directly from the University of Oklahoma Press.
"Bruce Gleason has provided us with a salutary, well-documented introduction to a neglected subject. Packed with engrossing details, lively anecdotes, and rare images, Sound the Trumpet, Beat the Drums will enlighten and entertain all readers interested in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century music, military history, and American studies in general."
—James A. Davis, author of Music Along the Rapidan: Civil War Soldiers, Music and Community During Winter Quarters, Virginia
cold war cadence: A Military musician's Berlin memoir, 1988 – 1991
Calumet editions, 2024
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Setting himself apart from the millions of people who have thought, “I should be writing a book,” Bruce Gleason does it in spades with Cold War Cadence: A Military Musician's Berlin Memoir, 1988 – 1991. Providing a fascinating review of not only the work of army bandsmen and women, Dr. Gleason also offers more than a glimpse of the historic city of Berlin as well as the Prussian and Nazi ghosts that still reside there.
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“Acclaimed historian, Bruce Gleason has written another captivating book. This time, it’s personal—a memoir of his U.S. Army enlistment while stationed in Berlin, Germany. His account of the fall of the Berlin Wall—told within the context of Nazi and Prussian history—followed by German reunification coupled with tales of his travels through Europe and Asia is a must-read for all with an interest in world history.” — Jill Sullivan, author of Bands of Sisters, U.S. Women’s Military Bands of World War II
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CAVALRY TRUMPETERS AND KETTLEDRUMMERS: THE BIRTH OF THE MOUNTED BAND
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​(to be released by Indiana University Press in January 2027)
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​​​​Cavalry Trumpeters and Kettledrummers is the first history of how horse-mounted musicians shaped military ceremony, communication, and culture from the Middle Ages into the 20th century.
Blending musicology, military history, and cultural studies, author Bruce P. Gleason draws on archival sources, art, and military records from across Europe and beyond to trace how these mounted musicians evolved from battlefield signalers to symbols of prestige, discipline, and power. Beginning with Middle Eastern trumpeters and kettledrummers playing in battle during the Crusades, mercenaries brought the tradition back to Europe, where it gradually gained other instruments, resulting in fanfare ensembles of trumpets, horns, valved brass bands, and bands that combined various woodwind and brass instruments. Gleason details their operational roles, ceremonial functions, and influence on both military and civilian musical traditions.
Richly illustrated and grounded in meticulous research, Cavalry Trumpeters and Kettledrummers tells the story of how mounted military music became one of the most striking and enduring traditions in Western culture, revealing a world where music, ceremony, and warfare were deeply connected.
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