The Royal Artillery Band

The Royal Artillery Band

The Royal Artillery Band has been based in Woolwich since 1763, home of the Royal Artillery since 1716.

The Royal Artillery had a 'Drum and Fife' as long ago as 1557 at St Quinten, but it the need for a 'Band of Musick' in the Regiment that led to the formation of the Royal Artillery Band in 1762 at Minden, Germany.

The Royal Artillery Orchestra enjoys recognition as the oldest established orchestra in Great Britain and one of the few ensembles within military music able to perform as a symphony orchestra and symphonic wind band.

From a humble beginning of just musicians who had to be proficient on both wind and string instruments, the band grew in size in the late 1960s to over 100 musicians.

Today the band employs over 40 musician and is one of the 22 regular bands in the Corps of Army Music.

Maj Tim Arnold - Director of Music

Major Tim Arnold served with the Royal Green Jackets band in Germany, Northern Ireland, Canada, Iran and Cyprus, and the Band of the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment in Hong Kong, Korea and Japan, before training at the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall, and graduating as Bandmaster Army Air Corps in 1994.

During his time at Middle Wallop he completed a degree with the Open University and was awarded a Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music in conducting and of Trinity College in music teaching. In 1998 he passed the Advanced Certificate of Music at Kneller Hall, and was commissioned into the Queen's Division as Director of Music of the Minden Band.

Under Major Arnold's direction the Minden Band completed a series of recordings of works by English composers culminating in Walton's ‘Orb and Sceptre' for the Golden Jubilee. The band also toured extensively, performing in Canada, Denmark, France, Germany and Italy, and supporting troops in the Falkland Islands, Kosovo and Sarajevo.

In 2005 Major Arnold was assigned to a new post as a Staff Officer in the Manning and Career Management Division in Glasgow, where he was responsible for the career management of all Corps of Army Music soldiers, and for rebalancing all the bands after the ‘restructuring' cuts of 2006, from which the Corps lost seven bands.

After two years in Scotland, Major Arnold picked up the baton again in September 2007 as Director of Music Royal Artillery Band. He plans to restore the orchestra to its position in the forefront of Army Music, to widen the horizons of the band across Europe, and to develop the repertoire of wind band, big band and orchestra with a programme of concerts and CD recordings.

In his spare time, as the Corps' Sailing Officer, Major Arnold leads offshore expeditions for the Corps of Army Music. He has taken crews to Tenerife, Portugal and the Hebrides, and last year won the Infantry Regatta with a Minden Band crew at Seaview on the Isle of Wight. Earlier this year he entered the first ever Corps of Army Music team to compete in the Army Regatta - no trophies yet, but early days!