Annotation:Surgeon's Call
X: 1 T:Surgeon's Call S:Bruce & Emmett's Drummers and Fifers Guide (1862), p. 36 M:2/4 L:1/16 K:G Bc|d2ed c2B2|AGAB GABc|d2ed c2B2|AGAB G2:| |:Bc|d2ef g2fg|afge dcBA|d2ef g2fg|afge d2:| Q:Allegro %%MIDI program 72 %%MIDI transpose 8 %%MIDI ratio 3 1 Hz2|B>GA>F G2g2|f>de>^c d3=c|B>GA>F G2g2|f>de>^c d2 (3(def)| g>dB>G e3e|d>e (3(dcB) A3c|B>GA>F G2g2|f>ga>f g2||
SURGEONS' CALL. American, March (2/4 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. In past centuries the professions of surgeon and physician were related, but different, callings, and the former was not always held in the highest esteem. More than once riots broke out at the site of public executions in England when surgeons tried to claim dead bodies after a hanging for purposes of dissection. The military codified a musical signal to summon men to see the surgeon when needed, in the form of a fife and drum call. When it was played those men ill but ambulatory would walk to the surgeon's tent and queue to be treated in turn. In the American Civil War the Army of the Potomac directed the Surgeon's Call to be played at 6a.m., shortly after reveille at dawn and the police call fifteen minutes afterwards.
The tune was suggested as a polka for New England contra dances by Randy Miller and Jack Perron.
