The Calithumpian band was an informal student musical group that was popular during 1869-1870, utilizing an unusual assortment of noisy instruments. Other “calithumpian bands” existed during the 19th century; the term “callithump” refers to boisterous and noisy parades.
The 1870 Trinity Tablet reported that Trinity College’s Calithumpian Band, a campus musical group, came together as the result of certain students’ desire to make musical noise, wryly stating that “Lack of musical abilities, then, and an internal desire for something musical are the prime causes of Calithumpianism.”
Primitive and humorous in nature, the group consisted of “a goodly number of zealous members” playing a variety of instruments listed in the Tablet as “a drum, a flageolet, two cornets, two flutes, a dinner bell, a whistle of great power, a watchman's rattle, a triangle, two pairs of tin cymbals, a holtz-instrument, and a horse-fiddle.” The “holtz instrument” was a made-up “instrument” comprised of a tin kettle, pot, pan, dish, and can arranged on a board in order of size, not unlike a xylophone. The “horse-fiddle” was a box with a thin board and strings attached across the opening, with a makeshift bow of wood.
The “Calithumps” performed mostly in private, but also on occasion at informal College gatherings, such as during the Burning of Anna Lytics, leading the way during the burial of the football on Compensation Day, or at an evening outdoor performance. Indoor performances were not typical, given the noisy nature of the instruments. By December of 1873, the banjo had become a popular instrument which many students took up, putting an end to the Calithumpian Band and “those musical instruments which used to make the night hideous.”
The History of Trinity College (1967) by Glenn Weaver, pp. 163-164.
Trinity Tablet, 12/31/1873.
Trinity Tablet, 02/15/1870.