Valley Forge Military Academy Trumpeters
Alumni Weekend Chapel 2017
Herald Trumpets:
Members of the Regimental Band, the heraldic trumpets produce a majestic fanfare tone of varying pitches. The band members behind these magnificent instruments are on call to perform for Presidents, Supreme Court Justices and Governors on a regular basis.
These trumpeters routinely perform prior to on-campus Chapel services throughout the school year, and they provide regal significance to special school functions such as military “dining-ins” and the opening of new facilities.
These trumpets were introduced at the Valley Forge Military Academy and College in 1953 by Colonel D. Keith Feltham, Valley Forge’s Director of Music from 1949 to 1976.
The late LT General Milton G. Baker, founder and former superintendent of VFMAC, presented the eight original fanfare instruments to the school’s Regimental Band more than 40 years ago. In 1965, the Pennsylvania National Horse Show Association presented an additional three trumpets after the Band had made its 18th consecutive performance at the annual show in Harrisburg.
In 1989, the Presser Foundation, located in Bryn Mawr, PA, funded the purchase of eight additional fanfare trumpets. Today the collection consists of the full complement of voices, which consists of six B-flat soprano trumpets, six B-flat tenor trumpets, two G-bass trumpets, and two E-flat soprano trumpets.
The original eight heraldic fanfare trumpets have been used on numerous ceremonial occasions associated with royalty:
– Westminster Abbey to herald the Coronation of King George VI
– St. Paul’s Cathedral to herald the Royal Silver Wedding Ceremony
– The wedding of Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh
– Westminster Abbey for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
School On The Rise 