- Precision (march)
"Precision" is the authorized march of
Royal Military College of Canada . It was composed in 1932 byDenise Chabot , wife of Major C. A. Chabot, aRoyal Canadian Artillery officer on staff as professor of French at the College at the time. She earned the degree of Associate of theRoyal Conservatory of Music and was the president of the Kingston Music Club.‘Precision’ was inspired by "Madelon", one of the popular marching songs sung and whistled by the cadets marching on their way to the Riding School, and the favourite song of the Class of
1932 . Mme Chabot improvised a variation on the song, to represent the cadence of the cadets on the march. The composition starts, “We are the gentlemen cadets of RMC We have sworn to love and serve Her Majesty…” The as-yet untitled composition was presented to RMC in the spring of 1932; it was orchestrated for military band by CaptainF. W. Coleman of theRoyal Canadian Horse Artillery . It was used as the theme music for "Precision", anAssociated Screen News film of the cadets in training; Mme Chabot found the name fitting and in1933 called her composition by the same title.Mme Chabot composed ‘Precision’ for RMC, the official march of
Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean , awaltz , and atango .Words
According to the Cadet Handbook issued in 1984, the words to Precision are as follows:
Heads up and swing along;
Hearts light and a ringing song;
Life's but a march and it's easy if your spirit's willing,
Laugh at the ruts and the dust from comrades' milling.Step up and march away;
Keep on smiling all the day;
Shoulder your rifle and hitch your pack up tight,
Take the right of the line and fight.We are the Gentleman Cadets of RMC,
We have sworn to love and serve Her Majesty,
And we'll defend this land of liberty,
And strive to keep our Empire's unity.To Canada, our home, we proudly state,
We'll keep her honour clean and bright,
For Canada and for our Empire great,
We'll march, we'll shout, we'll fight.ee also
*
Authorized marches of the Canadian Forces External links
* [http://www.rmc.ca/other/museum/march_e.html Audio clip of "Precision" at the RMC website]
* [http://www.rmcclub.ca/everitaswp/?p=1249#more-1249 Profile on Mme Chabot in RMC e-veritas]
* [http://www.rmc.ca The Official RMC Website]
* [http://www.rmc.ca/military/ji/ji_e.html Joining Instructions - First Year Officer Cadets]
* [http://www.rmcclub.ca RMC's Alumni Website]
* [http://www.rmc-cmr.ca/other/museum/ RMC Museum]
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