For the most part, Confederate Bands were usually smaller because of manpower requirements and the need for instruments. Many confederate Bands consisted of as few as five or six musicians playing instruments they had picked up from defeated or captured Union Bands. An exception to this was the Stonewall Brigade Band of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. Brass choirs of instruments existed in the south before the war with the Moravian Brass choirs. Their musicianship was unpareleled in the 1850s. Other confederate bands of less than ten members probably lacked the polish of the "Stonewall" band.

At the beginning of the war and throughout, Union bands were larger and perhaps better equipped to handle the duties of a Regimental or Brigade Band, with individuals assigned to the task. Many of the bands had a "Regimental march or quickstep" that was composed excusively for their regiment, and in many cases these marches or quicksteps were complex and difficult to perform, requiring a more advanced degree of musicianship.

Union Regimental and Brigade Bands consisted of from twelve to as many as twenty four musicians. The larger bands might also have one or two woodwinds.

Field music was an important part of a Civil War soldiers life and was recognized as such by the officers who took extra measures to provide it.