Corps of Drums
Encyclopedia
A Corps of Drums is a type of military band
, which originated in European armies
in the 16th century. The main instruments of a Corps of Drums are the drum
and the flute
or fife
. Unlike 'full' military marching bands
, Corps of Drums exist within an infantry
battalion
. A Drum major
is the leader of a Corps of Drums. All Corps of Drums soldiers are called drummers (shortened to 'dmr') regardless of the instrument played, in a similar fashion to soldiers from the Royal Engineers
being referred to as sappers.
maintains a Corps of Drums in each infantry battalion except for Scottish and Irish battalions, which have Pipes and Drums
. Rifle regiments such as The Rifles
and the Royal Gurkha Rifles
, whose original method of fighting was not condusive to carrying a drum, instead form a bugle platoon however.
Unlike army musicians who form bands and will usually be limited to medical orderly
duties in wartime, Corps of Drums drummers are principally fully trained infantry soldiers, with recruitment into the Corps of Drums coming after standard infantry training. A Corps of Drums will deploy with the rest of the battalion, and will often form specialist platoons such as assault pioneer
s, supporting fire or force protection
.
Historically, the drum was used to convey orders during a battle, as such the Corps of Drums was a fully integrated feature of an infantry battalion. Later on when the bugle
was adopted to convey orders, drummers were given bugles, but maintained their drums and flutes.
of infantry soldiers would have a single drummer and a single fife player. These two musicians would march at the head of the company, and when not providing uplifting marching tunes, they would be used by the company commander to convey orders, on and off the field of battle. The drummers would be more aptly described as signallers than musicians, as shouted orders were very hard to hear over the din of battle. Later, a bugle would become the preferred means of communication on the battlefield, and the drummers adapted, training on bugles and carrying them in battle, but retaining the drum and the title of drummer.
As time went on, the individual drummers and fife players in each company would be organised at battalion level. They retained their role in each company in battle, but would form one body of men at the head of a battalion on the march. It was necessary to appoint a Drum Major (the equivalent of a Sergeant Major, for the drummers) to be in charge of the drummers and to organise training in the emerging discipline of military drumming while a Fife Major was to be appointed to be the principal fifer and to train future fife players. The 'Corps of Drums' would group together when not on duty with each company, and carry out various roles within the battalion, such as administering military justice and ensuring soldier's billets were secured, thus, the Corps of Drums became attached to the battalion HQ and was organised at battalion level, as opposed to individual company level.
Several different strings of logic have seen Corps of Drums employed in many varied roles. Because the Corps of Drums would often be employed in support of the battalion, in areas such as delivering mail or designating billets, they are often given the role of Assault Pioneers or Supporting Fire (machine gun) platoons.
The Corps of Drums role on the battlefield was originally to signal orders, and therefore some Corps of Drums are organised into signals platoons, operating radios.
Corps of Drums were also employed to march under the parley flag when officers of opposing sides would meet to discuss terms of surrender etc.. Therefore some Corps of Drums fill a liaison role.
Historical duties such as uncasing the Colours
on parade and various privelages still remain in most units. Due to specialist duties and ceremonial aspects of a drummers life, a Corps of Drums will often become unofficial custodians of regimental customs and traditions.
Corps of Drums are drawn from the whole battalion, and are attached to the battalion HQ. Above the Drum Major as the head of the Corps of Drums itself, the Corps is usually answerable to the Battalion's Adjutant
.
. These were originally a rope-tension design with wide wooden hoops and a wooden shell and an animal skin head. In the British Army, this model has been continuously upgraded, with the inclusion of snares, more modern metal rod-tension and plastic heads. The current British Army 97s pattern side drum also has nylon hoops.
The side drum was increasingly decorated throughout the 19th century, until it bore the fully embellished regimental colours of the battalion, including its battle honour
s. As such a regiments drums are often afforded respect.
The second instrument of a Corps of Drums was originally the fife, but has been replaced in the modern era by a flute with keys in the British Army. There is a wide variety of flutes used by Corps of Drums ranging in pitch. The fife and later the flute has been favoured as a war-like instrument due to its shrill pitch and thus the ability to be heard above the noise of battle. Many tunes such as The British Grenadiers
are traditionally played by military flutes.
The bugle replaced the drum mid-way through the 19th century as the most common means of communication on the battlefield. These duties were carried out by the battalion's Corps of Drums, and as such all drummers now carry a bugle.
As the musical role of a Corps of Drums became more ceremonial in the 19th and 20th centuries, more instruments were added to make the Corps of Drums more musically complete. A modern Corps of Drums will thus have a rank of percussion instruments usually consisting of a bass drum
, tenor drum
s and cymbals.
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Drummers originally wore distinct uniforms so as to stand out on the battlefield. This usually consists of lace
, used liberally all over the uniform, in varying patterns. Many early patterns consisted of a "Christmas Tree" pattern in which the chest was covered in horizontal lace decreasing in width downwards, and chevrons of lace down each sleeve. The modern infantry pattern in the British Army is of 'crown-and-inch' lace sewn over the seams down the sleeves, around the collar, and over the seams on the back of the tunic. The crown-and-inch lace itself is about half an inch thick with a repeating crown pattern. The Guards Division
s drummers have the old style "Christmas tree" pattern, with fleur-de-lis
instead of crowns.
Whilst Corps of Drums in the British Army often parade in combat uniforms
and other forms of dress, they will usually parade in the full dress uniform
as above, and as such are one of the few formations which regularly wear full dress in the British Army.
In some regiments, it has become custom for the percussion rank to wear leopard skins over their uniform. This has the dual purpose of protecting the uniform (cymbals have to be muffled against the chest, and therefore would leave vertical marks on a bare tunic) and protecting the instruments themselves (the bass drum can be scratched by uniform buttons). Modern "leopard skins" are made from synthetic fur. Other regiments opt for a simple leather or cloth apron.
Drummers have traditionally been armed with "drummers swords", a shortsword
with a simple brass hilt bearing the Royal Cypher
. The practice of wearing swords has been discontinued by some regiments, though many still do carry the swords, whilst some use an SA80
bayonet
as a modern alternative.
also maintains a 'Corps of Drums', in the form of several side drummers and is made up of Royal Logistic Corps soldiers who serve a short tour as drummers before returning to a field unit. This is not a conventional Corps of Drums, however, as it has no flautists, only drums, and comes under the command of the Band of The Royal Logistic Corps rather than as a separate entity within an infantry battalion however, the only case in the British Army. These drummers stem from drummers placed on the Royal Wagon train in 1799.
are led by 'Buglers', who are trained on both the side drum and the bugle as well as the Herald Fanfare Trumpet (natural trumpet), this section of the band is referred to as the Corps of Drums which since 1903 is now situated at the front of the band. Whilst similar to Army Corps of Drums, these are members of the Royal Marines Band Service (RMBS), although they retain their own rank structure. Members of the RMBS are primarily musicians, however, they also carry out secondary roles (e.g. medics, drivers, force protection etc.) when required.
RM Buglers have a similar history to Army 'drummers' in that they were used to convey orders on a ship on drums and bugles, and would then mass onshore into 'Corps of Drums', though they were still expected to work as individual soldiers, also known in slang by the Royal Navy as drummers.
These drummer-buglers trace themselves back to the raising of the Royal Marines in 1664 as a Maritime Foot Regiment, with six drummers attached in its battalions.
Each time a maritime regiment, or from 1672 onward, a marine regiment is disbanded and a new one or new ones appear in it/its place, drummers come in, especially the young ones who liked playing drums and wanted to serve playing them. The 1702 formation of the Marine Regiments and Sea Service Foot Regiments saw the drummers' greatest action at Gibraltar, when they played the drums to support their regiments.
The War of Jenkin's Ear whose see into action 10 Marine Regiments plus an all-American Marine Regiment, all units whose drummers and fifers played alongside their units.
Even through part of the British Army
which in the 18th century was led by the War Office, the Board of Ordnance and the Commissariat, Marines were naval units. Royal Navy officers were at one point part of the Marines. Due to two laws that regulated them and other army units as well as the reinforce the personnel of the Royal Navy, Marine drummers faced a loyalty problem for what drum calls they would have to do and for what branch and what occasion do they play drums for orders, commands and many others.
In 1755, the problem was solved. The Admiralty took over what was then called His Majesty's Marine Forces. Even through at first Royal Navy officers filed the officer ranks, with Lieutenant Colonel then thought as the highest officer rank, 1771 was when they were surprised when a Colonel's promotion happened in the HMMF for the first time.
After their formation, the HMMF's drummers and fifers of the three Marine Divisions played alongside their fellow soldiers in various landings worldwide on behalf of the Royal Navy. They joined their units in the American War of Independence, and a drummer served at James Cook's service during his sea travels.
At Adm. John Jervis's insistence, by King George III's order in 1802, the HMMF was transformed into the HMMF-Royal Marines, albeit larger than today's. Two years later, bomb vessel crews and gunners were now part of the then newly created Royal Marine Artillery. Bugles began penetrating into the RM from then on as part of the RMA sounding bugle calls.
The Royal Navy in the 19th century was short of manpower in the HMMF-RM and RMA. For this, Army units joined the HMMF-RM as replacement units, carrying not only their drummers and fifers but also buglers.
In 1855, during the units' service in the Crimean War, the HMMF-RM became the Royal Marines Light Infantry, later known as the Royal Marine Light Infantry. From then, bugles replaced drums as signalers and order beaters, but the latter would be still useful for drill by the then called drummers and buglers, and from 1867 the RMLI/RMA drummers were called buglers only, serving individually in ships and the RN's shore establishments and artillery units and massed into Corps of Drums for their units on the ground. Fifes fully declined and disappeared in usage in the Corps of Drums. By then, a Bugler playing both the drum and his bugle both to sound orders and do drum calls was a common sight in the RMLI and RMA. By the 1890s, even buglers also trained in using herald trumpets or Fanfare trumpets became commonplace.
A 1902 incident changed the buglers forever. A Coronation Review at Aldershot
was due soon, and the then Sr. Bandmaster of the RMLI, Lt. George Miller, asked his fellow bandmasters to get buglers for his band for the review. The next day at a church parade, he asked 30 RMLI buglers to front the RMLI Massed Bands. They then marched to his own arrangement of Onward Christian Soldiers. Everyone was shocked by this and were amazed that the formation that he used would become a RMLI and RMA military band standard formation setup, and the precision stick drills that he made became a permanent fixture in military events where either or both the RMLI and RMA's presence were needed. Soon later, when the RM began operating the Royal Naval School of Music the next year as a training venue for future bandsmen of the RN, RMLI and RMA, they brought this formation for Royal Navy bands as well, inspiring the modern military bands of some Commonwealth countries like Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei.
1923 would see the buglers of the RMLI and RMA now belong to the Corps of Royal Marines, the Royal Marines of today. Seeing action at the Second World War and in battles before and after the war were the RM's brave Buglers of the new Royal Marines Band Service
, even through separate from the bands themselves. The RMA and RMLI buglers' dress uniforms (dark blue trousers and tunic and red collars and trouser wells) became the Corps full dress of the bands and buglers, with the addition of a Wolseley Pith helmet
as headdress and yellow shoulder cords and slashed cuffs to indicate their long history, heritage and lineage from 1664.
By 1950, the RNSoM became today's Royal Marines School of Music, and the Royal Naval Bands were dissolved. Beating Retreats by both the Royal Marine Bands and the RM Corps of Drums' Buglers began by then, with the venues at Horse Guards Parade and in Portsmouth, among others. In would be only in 1978 that the RMBS would have Buglers as well in its rosters. By the 1970s and 1980s, however only 5 RM Corps of Drums were left as the Deal Depot closed down in 1936 and the Chatham band dissolved in the 1940s, with three at RM England bases in Portsmouth
, Plymouth
and at the Britannia Royal Naval College
(the last is now assigned at HMS Collingwood
), one in the RMSoM (then in Deal
) and another one in Scotland
.
Today there are six RM Bands, all located in Portsmouth (HMS Nelson and the RMSoM), Fareham (HMS Collingwood), Plymouth (HMS Raleigh), Lympstone (Commando Training Centre Royal Marines)& Scotland (HMS Caledonia). All members of the RMBS are trained at the Royal Marines School of Music (HMS Nelson); Buglers' training lasts two years. Basic military skills are taught during four-months of Initial Military Training and if successful, trainee Buglers are then instructed on the bugle, drum & the natural trumpet. Musical skills are refined and supported with additional lessons in music theory and aural perception. Obviously, parade work forms a large part of the curriculum and considerable time is spent developing personal drill & bearing.
Today's RM Corps of Drums contains approximately 60 Buglers who carry out duties ranging from repatriation services (Last Post & Reveille), Mess Beatings (drum displays), Beating Retreat (marching displays) and concerts on behalf of the Royal Marines and the Royal Navy. The Corps of Drums perform for and on behalf of both the RN and the Corps.
there are also cadet-based and civilian Corps who base their music on the military traditions of the country. The Army Cadet Force
use the Army style Corps (flutes/bugles, snare, bass and tenor drums, cymbals and Glockenspiel
s) save for those with Scottish and Irish links that have Pipe band
s instead and those affiliated with the light infantry (especially the now only LI regiment The Rifles
) have a Corps of Drums without the fifes while using only bugles. Those Corps of the Combined Cadet Force
, Royal Marines Volunteer Cadet Corps and the Sea Cadet Corps
use the RN/RM naval and ship style Corps (Snare drums/Bugles, Bass and Tenor drums, cymbals and glockenspiels) and are attached to the main band. Another example of a military style CoD is that of the Royal British Legion, whose bands are modeled on the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Band Service.
Civilian Corps are also formatted after their respective services, with Corps patterned after those of the Army, Navy and the Royal Marines in instrumentation and marching style becoming commonplace.
Corps of Drums that are attached to the unit military bands), Glockenspiel
s, Bass drums, cymbals and, on some corps, single and multiple tenor drums. Timpani
, vibraphone
s and marimba
s are used in concerts. Sometimes even a Turkish crescent
is used to symbolize the band. Whatever the configuration, a drum major always leads the Corps during military and civil parades and other events, and in modern Corps even majorettes and pom pom dancers are a part of its roster.
Military Corps of Drums belong and are attached to the bands of the Bundeswehr Military Music Service while civilian Corps are dedicated civil bands and youth bands assigned in cities and towns all over Germany.
they are also called as Drumfanfares and Klaroenkorps (Drum and lyre bands, Fanfare band
s and Drum and Brass bands) and in Indonesia
as Marching bands.
In the Netherlands, the basic instrumentation is
Military drum bands in the Armed forces of the Netherlands would simply have only 2 or 3 of these basic instruments.
Optional or permanent instruments in these bands are flutes and piccolos, bugles, natural horns, valved bugles and brass instruments (Soprano bugles and trumpets, mellophones, Baritones, Sousaphones and Contrabass bugles).
These bands are attached to the main marching band, similar to French bands, but also perform as stand alone bands. They are led by a Drum Major, and can have majorette
s and color guard
s, the latter now more separated from the band.
In the 1990s however these bands became paramilitary-styled and even adopted the traditions of British military bands of the Guards Division and the Royal Marines, but some of these bands chose the American marching band and drum and bugle corps practice. Some of these bands also adopted woodwind instruments turning them into full time military marching bands, and almost all drum bands use English voice commands and not Dutch commands and only a few use whistle commands and the mace moments.
In Indonesia, the Corps are treated both as military, civil or school marching and show bands and in some cases as drum and bugle corps
, and are either attached to the main marching band or as stand alone bands (such is the case of many Corps of Drums in Indonesia) thus the instrumentation of these bands are:
They are led by 1-6 Drum Majors and can have a separate Director of Music (in civil and police bands only), majorettes and color guards. The drum majors in these bands have a unique use of the mace in order to corrdinate the timing and precision of the band. The Indonesian Corps also has dancing bass drummers either wearing uniforms or costumes (such is the case in the Corps of Drums of the Indonesian Armed Forces units), a unique feature of these Corps.
Another unique characteristic is that Military and Police Corps of Drums tenor and bass drummers and contrabass buglers wear combat or everyday uniform instead of the full dress uniform while playing or in performance or rehearsals.
Military Corps of Drums belong to the Chilean Armed Forces' three services, the Carabineros de Chile
and the Chilean Gendarmerie
and differ in instrumentation and officers in charge (only in the Chilean Navy).
The military style Corps also inherit the British Corps' tradition of carrying drummers' swords attached to the belts in their dress uniforms.
Civilian Corps are usually school or college-based bands with the addition of a percussion section (Snare drums, bass drums and cymbals) and glockenspiels and are either part of a school marching band or as a standalone band in itself. In these bands, a Fife Major leads the band's fifers/flautists while on duty, and also assist the drum major and the bugle major. There are some civil Corps of Drums which are associated with municipal and city governments, and universities and colleges like the CoD of the National College.
Like the Chilean Corps, these bands have differences in configuration and instrumentation in the Ecuadorian Armed Forces. But the Corps snare and tenor (sometimes bass) drummers often play on drums that are painted in the service or unit colors (sometimes in the colors of Guayaquil, which are blue and white for the CoDs of the Ecuadorian Navy
) and in the case of the Military Superior School "Eloy Alfaro" and the Military High Aviation School "Cosme Rendella", have the unit/school insignia attached to the bugles' and fifes' tabards.
The typical Ecuadorian Corps, called as the Peloton Comando (Commando Platoon) but are also called as the Banda de Guerra (War Band), just like in Chile in several schools and colleges, is led by a Drum Major and is composed of:
Ecuadorian Civil Corps of Drums are similar only to the Army and Air Force Corps but are based as youth bands stationed in schools across the nation. Notable exceptions include the Corps of Drums of the Ecuadorian National Police. Like military Corps, they are led by a drum major in all their activities. But in some Corps, there are some majorettes and tambourine players.
The Corps is led by a single Drum Major. In some Corps even brass instruments are added into the bugle section.
Corps of Drums in the Peruvian Armed Forces and the National Police of Peru (formerly the Civil Guard of Peru and the Peruvian Republican Guard), plus school or college based and town bands and Corps are composed of snare or field drums, single tenor drums, multiple tenor drum (in school Corps), bugles and glockenspiels in addition to the regular snare and bass drums and cymbals.Tambourine
s are common within the school-based Corps, with female majorette
s assisting the conductor or the school band drum major or music director.
Even through separate from the main marching band, a part of the band itself or as a band of its own, they are both useful as military-based and civil-based bands. The drums are either covered with cloth tabards with or painted in the military service or (for civil bands) in the school or college colors. The bugles, trumpets and glockenspiels are attached with small tabards with the military service, police, school or college insignia or emblem shown.
Military band
A military band originally was a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the title of Bandmaster or Director of Music...
, which originated in European armies
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
in the 16th century. The main instruments of a Corps of Drums are the drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
and the flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
or fife
Fife (musical instrument)
A fife is a small, high-pitched, transverse flute that is similar to the piccolo, but louder and shriller due to its narrower bore. The fife originated in medieval Europe and is often used in military and marching bands. Someone who plays the fife is called a fifer...
. Unlike 'full' military marching bands
Military band
A military band originally was a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the title of Bandmaster or Director of Music...
, Corps of Drums exist within an infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
battalion
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...
. A Drum major
Drum Major
A drum major is the leader of a marching band, drum and bugle corps, or pipe band, usually positioned at the head of the band or corps. The drum major, who is often dressed in more ornate clothing than the rest of the band or corps, is responsible for providing commands to the ensemble regarding...
is the leader of a Corps of Drums. All Corps of Drums soldiers are called drummers (shortened to 'dmr') regardless of the instrument played, in a similar fashion to soldiers from the Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
being referred to as sappers.
Corps of Drums in the British Army
The British ArmyBritish Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
maintains a Corps of Drums in each infantry battalion except for Scottish and Irish battalions, which have Pipes and Drums
Pipe band
A pipe band is a musical ensemble consisting of pipers and drummers. The term used by military pipe bands, pipes and drums, is also common....
. Rifle regiments such as The Rifles
The Rifles
The Rifles is the largest regiment of the British Army. Formed in 2007, it consists of five regular and two territorial battalions, plus a number of companies in other TA battalions, Each battalion of the Rifles was formerly an individual battalion of one of the two large regiments of the Light...
and the Royal Gurkha Rifles
Royal Gurkha Rifles
The Royal Gurkha Rifles is a regiment of the British Army, forming part of the Brigade of Gurkhas. The Royal Gurkha Rifles are now the sole infantry regiment of the British Army Gurkhas...
, whose original method of fighting was not condusive to carrying a drum, instead form a bugle platoon however.
Unlike army musicians who form bands and will usually be limited to medical orderly
Orderly
A medical orderly , is a hospital attendant whose job consists of assisting medical and/or nursing staff with various nursing and/or medical interventions. These duties are classified as routine tasks involving no risk for the patient.- Job details :Orderlies are often utilized in various hospital...
duties in wartime, Corps of Drums drummers are principally fully trained infantry soldiers, with recruitment into the Corps of Drums coming after standard infantry training. A Corps of Drums will deploy with the rest of the battalion, and will often form specialist platoons such as assault pioneer
Assault Pioneer
An Assault Pioneer is an infantry soldier who is responsible for:* The construction of tools for infantry soldiers to cross natural and man-made obstacles as well as breaching of enemy fortifications;...
s, supporting fire or force protection
Force protection
Force protection or FP is a term used by the US military to describe preventive measures taken to mitigate hostile actions in specific areas or against a specific populous, usually Department of Defense personnel , resources, facilities, and critical information.-See also:*Pentagon Force Protection...
.
Historically, the drum was used to convey orders during a battle, as such the Corps of Drums was a fully integrated feature of an infantry battalion. Later on when the bugle
Bugle (instrument)
The bugle is one of the simplest brass instruments, having no valves or other pitch-altering devices. All pitch control is done by varying the player's embouchure, since the bugle has no other mechanism for controlling pitch. Consequently, the bugle is limited to notes within the harmonic series...
was adopted to convey orders, drummers were given bugles, but maintained their drums and flutes.
History
It is known that by the early 16th century, each CompanyCompany (military unit)
A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 80–225 soldiers and usually commanded by a Captain, Major or Commandant. Most companies are formed of three to five platoons although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and structure...
of infantry soldiers would have a single drummer and a single fife player. These two musicians would march at the head of the company, and when not providing uplifting marching tunes, they would be used by the company commander to convey orders, on and off the field of battle. The drummers would be more aptly described as signallers than musicians, as shouted orders were very hard to hear over the din of battle. Later, a bugle would become the preferred means of communication on the battlefield, and the drummers adapted, training on bugles and carrying them in battle, but retaining the drum and the title of drummer.
Current role
Eventually, as the use of musical instrument on the battlefield diminished, Corps of Drums looked to fill specialist roles within the battalion while still retaining their original role for ceremonial practices.Several different strings of logic have seen Corps of Drums employed in many varied roles. Because the Corps of Drums would often be employed in support of the battalion, in areas such as delivering mail or designating billets, they are often given the role of Assault Pioneers or Supporting Fire (machine gun) platoons.
The Corps of Drums role on the battlefield was originally to signal orders, and therefore some Corps of Drums are organised into signals platoons, operating radios.
Corps of Drums were also employed to march under the parley flag when officers of opposing sides would meet to discuss terms of surrender etc.. Therefore some Corps of Drums fill a liaison role.
Historical duties such as uncasing the Colours
Colours, standards and guidons
In military organizations, the practice of carrying colours, standards or Guidons, both to act as a rallying point for troops and to mark the location of the commander, is thought to have originated in Ancient Egypt some 5,000 years ago...
on parade and various privelages still remain in most units. Due to specialist duties and ceremonial aspects of a drummers life, a Corps of Drums will often become unofficial custodians of regimental customs and traditions.
Corps of Drums are drawn from the whole battalion, and are attached to the battalion HQ. Above the Drum Major as the head of the Corps of Drums itself, the Corps is usually answerable to the Battalion's Adjutant
Adjutant
Adjutant is a military rank or appointment. In some armies, including most English-speaking ones, it is an officer who assists a more senior officer, while in other armies, especially Francophone ones, it is an NCO , normally corresponding roughly to a Staff Sergeant or Warrant Officer.An Adjutant...
.
Instruments
The main instrument of a Corps of Drums is the Side drumSnare drum
The snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom...
. These were originally a rope-tension design with wide wooden hoops and a wooden shell and an animal skin head. In the British Army, this model has been continuously upgraded, with the inclusion of snares, more modern metal rod-tension and plastic heads. The current British Army 97s pattern side drum also has nylon hoops.
The side drum was increasingly decorated throughout the 19th century, until it bore the fully embellished regimental colours of the battalion, including its battle honour
Battle honour
A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags , uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible....
s. As such a regiments drums are often afforded respect.
The second instrument of a Corps of Drums was originally the fife, but has been replaced in the modern era by a flute with keys in the British Army. There is a wide variety of flutes used by Corps of Drums ranging in pitch. The fife and later the flute has been favoured as a war-like instrument due to its shrill pitch and thus the ability to be heard above the noise of battle. Many tunes such as The British Grenadiers
The British Grenadiers
The British Grenadiers is a marching song for the grenadier units of the British and Commonwealth militaries, the tune of which dates from the 17th century. It is the Regimental Quick March of the Grenadier Guards, Corps of Royal Engineers, the Honourable Artillery Company and the Royal Regiment of...
are traditionally played by military flutes.
The bugle replaced the drum mid-way through the 19th century as the most common means of communication on the battlefield. These duties were carried out by the battalion's Corps of Drums, and as such all drummers now carry a bugle.
As the musical role of a Corps of Drums became more ceremonial in the 19th and 20th centuries, more instruments were added to make the Corps of Drums more musically complete. A modern Corps of Drums will thus have a rank of percussion instruments usually consisting of a bass drum
Bass drum
Bass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...
, tenor drum
Tenor drum
A tenor drum is a cylindrical drum that is higher pitched than a bass drum.In a symphony orchestra's percussion section, a tenor drum is a low-pitched drum, similar in size to a field snare, but without snares and played with soft mallets or hard sticks. Under various names, the drum has been used...
s and cymbals.
Uniform
Lace
Lace is an openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. Lace-making is an ancient craft. True lace was...
, used liberally all over the uniform, in varying patterns. Many early patterns consisted of a "Christmas Tree" pattern in which the chest was covered in horizontal lace decreasing in width downwards, and chevrons of lace down each sleeve. The modern infantry pattern in the British Army is of 'crown-and-inch' lace sewn over the seams down the sleeves, around the collar, and over the seams on the back of the tunic. The crown-and-inch lace itself is about half an inch thick with a repeating crown pattern. The Guards Division
Guards Division
The Guards Division is an administrative unit of the British Army responsible for the administration of the regiments of Foot Guards and the London Regiment.-Introduction:...
s drummers have the old style "Christmas tree" pattern, with fleur-de-lis
Fleur-de-lis
The fleur-de-lis or fleur-de-lys is a stylized lily or iris that is used as a decorative design or symbol. It may be "at one and the same time, political, dynastic, artistic, emblematic, and symbolic", especially in heraldry...
instead of crowns.
Whilst Corps of Drums in the British Army often parade in combat uniforms
Army Combat Uniform
The Army Combat Uniform is the current combat uniform worn by the United States Army. It is the successor to the Battle Dress Uniform and Desert Camouflage Uniform worn during the 1980s and 1990s. It features a number of design changes, as well as a different camouflage pattern from its...
and other forms of dress, they will usually parade in the full dress uniform
Full dress
Full dress is a category dress codes that refers to most formal clothing available in Western society.-Civilian:For a civilian, during the Victorian and Edwardian period, this corresponded to a frock coat in the day, and white tie at night...
as above, and as such are one of the few formations which regularly wear full dress in the British Army.
In some regiments, it has become custom for the percussion rank to wear leopard skins over their uniform. This has the dual purpose of protecting the uniform (cymbals have to be muffled against the chest, and therefore would leave vertical marks on a bare tunic) and protecting the instruments themselves (the bass drum can be scratched by uniform buttons). Modern "leopard skins" are made from synthetic fur. Other regiments opt for a simple leather or cloth apron.
Drummers have traditionally been armed with "drummers swords", a shortsword
Shortsword
Shortsword may refer to a number of weapons intermediate between the sword and the dagger*short Iron Age swords**Gladius, an early ancient Roman sword **Xiphos, a double-edged, single-hand sword used by the ancient Greeks...
with a simple brass hilt bearing the Royal Cypher
Royal Cypher
In modern heraldry, a royal cypher is a monogram-like device of a country's reigning sovereign, typically consisting of the initials of the monarch's name and title, sometimes interwoven and often surmounted by a crown. In the case where such a cypher is used by an emperor or empress, it is called...
. The practice of wearing swords has been discontinued by some regiments, though many still do carry the swords, whilst some use an SA80
SA80
The SA80 is a British family of 5.56mm small arms. It is a selective fire, gas-operated assault rifle. SA80 prototypes were trialled in 1976 and production was completed in 1994....
bayonet
Bayonet
A bayonet is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit in, on, over or underneath the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar weapon, effectively turning the gun into a spear...
as a modern alternative.
The Corps of Drums of the Royal Logistic Corps
The Royal Logistic CorpsRoyal Logistic Corps
The Royal Logistic Corps provides logistic support functions to the British Army. It is the largest Corps in the Army, comprising around 17% of its strength...
also maintains a 'Corps of Drums', in the form of several side drummers and is made up of Royal Logistic Corps soldiers who serve a short tour as drummers before returning to a field unit. This is not a conventional Corps of Drums, however, as it has no flautists, only drums, and comes under the command of the Band of The Royal Logistic Corps rather than as a separate entity within an infantry battalion however, the only case in the British Army. These drummers stem from drummers placed on the Royal Wagon train in 1799.
Royal Marines Corps of Drums
Royal Marines BandsRoyal Marines Band Service
The Royal Marines Band Service is the musical wing of the Royal Navy. It currently consists of five Bands and its headquarters is the Royal Marines School of Music at HMS Nelson in Portsmouth dockyard.-History:...
are led by 'Buglers', who are trained on both the side drum and the bugle as well as the Herald Fanfare Trumpet (natural trumpet), this section of the band is referred to as the Corps of Drums which since 1903 is now situated at the front of the band. Whilst similar to Army Corps of Drums, these are members of the Royal Marines Band Service (RMBS), although they retain their own rank structure. Members of the RMBS are primarily musicians, however, they also carry out secondary roles (e.g. medics, drivers, force protection etc.) when required.
RM Buglers have a similar history to Army 'drummers' in that they were used to convey orders on a ship on drums and bugles, and would then mass onshore into 'Corps of Drums', though they were still expected to work as individual soldiers, also known in slang by the Royal Navy as drummers.
These drummer-buglers trace themselves back to the raising of the Royal Marines in 1664 as a Maritime Foot Regiment, with six drummers attached in its battalions.
History
Drums were, in 1664, used for the raising of the Duke of York's and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot, the Admiral's Regiment. The Regiment's 1,200 personnel had per company 6 snare drummers, the ancestors of the Royal Marines Bands Corps of Drums. The Holland Regiment soon came after them. They were later to be called The Buffs, the Old Buffs and Howards's Buffs.Each time a maritime regiment, or from 1672 onward, a marine regiment is disbanded and a new one or new ones appear in it/its place, drummers come in, especially the young ones who liked playing drums and wanted to serve playing them. The 1702 formation of the Marine Regiments and Sea Service Foot Regiments saw the drummers' greatest action at Gibraltar, when they played the drums to support their regiments.
The War of Jenkin's Ear whose see into action 10 Marine Regiments plus an all-American Marine Regiment, all units whose drummers and fifers played alongside their units.
Even through part of the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
which in the 18th century was led by the War Office, the Board of Ordnance and the Commissariat, Marines were naval units. Royal Navy officers were at one point part of the Marines. Due to two laws that regulated them and other army units as well as the reinforce the personnel of the Royal Navy, Marine drummers faced a loyalty problem for what drum calls they would have to do and for what branch and what occasion do they play drums for orders, commands and many others.
In 1755, the problem was solved. The Admiralty took over what was then called His Majesty's Marine Forces. Even through at first Royal Navy officers filed the officer ranks, with Lieutenant Colonel then thought as the highest officer rank, 1771 was when they were surprised when a Colonel's promotion happened in the HMMF for the first time.
After their formation, the HMMF's drummers and fifers of the three Marine Divisions played alongside their fellow soldiers in various landings worldwide on behalf of the Royal Navy. They joined their units in the American War of Independence, and a drummer served at James Cook's service during his sea travels.
At Adm. John Jervis's insistence, by King George III's order in 1802, the HMMF was transformed into the HMMF-Royal Marines, albeit larger than today's. Two years later, bomb vessel crews and gunners were now part of the then newly created Royal Marine Artillery. Bugles began penetrating into the RM from then on as part of the RMA sounding bugle calls.
The Royal Navy in the 19th century was short of manpower in the HMMF-RM and RMA. For this, Army units joined the HMMF-RM as replacement units, carrying not only their drummers and fifers but also buglers.
In 1855, during the units' service in the Crimean War, the HMMF-RM became the Royal Marines Light Infantry, later known as the Royal Marine Light Infantry. From then, bugles replaced drums as signalers and order beaters, but the latter would be still useful for drill by the then called drummers and buglers, and from 1867 the RMLI/RMA drummers were called buglers only, serving individually in ships and the RN's shore establishments and artillery units and massed into Corps of Drums for their units on the ground. Fifes fully declined and disappeared in usage in the Corps of Drums. By then, a Bugler playing both the drum and his bugle both to sound orders and do drum calls was a common sight in the RMLI and RMA. By the 1890s, even buglers also trained in using herald trumpets or Fanfare trumpets became commonplace.
A 1902 incident changed the buglers forever. A Coronation Review at Aldershot
Aldershot
Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...
was due soon, and the then Sr. Bandmaster of the RMLI, Lt. George Miller, asked his fellow bandmasters to get buglers for his band for the review. The next day at a church parade, he asked 30 RMLI buglers to front the RMLI Massed Bands. They then marched to his own arrangement of Onward Christian Soldiers. Everyone was shocked by this and were amazed that the formation that he used would become a RMLI and RMA military band standard formation setup, and the precision stick drills that he made became a permanent fixture in military events where either or both the RMLI and RMA's presence were needed. Soon later, when the RM began operating the Royal Naval School of Music the next year as a training venue for future bandsmen of the RN, RMLI and RMA, they brought this formation for Royal Navy bands as well, inspiring the modern military bands of some Commonwealth countries like Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei.
1923 would see the buglers of the RMLI and RMA now belong to the Corps of Royal Marines, the Royal Marines of today. Seeing action at the Second World War and in battles before and after the war were the RM's brave Buglers of the new Royal Marines Band Service
Royal Marines Band Service
The Royal Marines Band Service is the musical wing of the Royal Navy. It currently consists of five Bands and its headquarters is the Royal Marines School of Music at HMS Nelson in Portsmouth dockyard.-History:...
, even through separate from the bands themselves. The RMA and RMLI buglers' dress uniforms (dark blue trousers and tunic and red collars and trouser wells) became the Corps full dress of the bands and buglers, with the addition of a Wolseley Pith helmet
Pith helmet
The pith helmet is a lightweight cloth-covered helmet made of cork or pith...
as headdress and yellow shoulder cords and slashed cuffs to indicate their long history, heritage and lineage from 1664.
By 1950, the RNSoM became today's Royal Marines School of Music, and the Royal Naval Bands were dissolved. Beating Retreats by both the Royal Marine Bands and the RM Corps of Drums' Buglers began by then, with the venues at Horse Guards Parade and in Portsmouth, among others. In would be only in 1978 that the RMBS would have Buglers as well in its rosters. By the 1970s and 1980s, however only 5 RM Corps of Drums were left as the Deal Depot closed down in 1936 and the Chatham band dissolved in the 1940s, with three at RM England bases in Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
, Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
and at the Britannia Royal Naval College
Britannia Royal Naval College
Britannia Royal Naval College is the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy, located on a hill overlooking Dartmouth, Devon, England. While Royal Naval officer training has taken place in the town since 1863, the buildings which are seen today were only finished in 1905, and...
(the last is now assigned at HMS Collingwood
HMS Collingwood (establishment)
For ships of the same name see HMS Collingwood.HMS Collingwood is a stone frigate of the Royal Navy. It is the lead establishment of the Maritime Warfare School and the largest naval training organisation in Western Europe...
), one in the RMSoM (then in Deal
Deal, Kent
Deal is a town in Kent England. It lies on the English Channel eight miles north-east of Dover and eight miles south of Ramsgate. It is a former fishing, mining and garrison town...
) and another one in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
Today there are six RM Bands, all located in Portsmouth (HMS Nelson and the RMSoM), Fareham (HMS Collingwood), Plymouth (HMS Raleigh), Lympstone (Commando Training Centre Royal Marines)& Scotland (HMS Caledonia). All members of the RMBS are trained at the Royal Marines School of Music (HMS Nelson); Buglers' training lasts two years. Basic military skills are taught during four-months of Initial Military Training and if successful, trainee Buglers are then instructed on the bugle, drum & the natural trumpet. Musical skills are refined and supported with additional lessons in music theory and aural perception. Obviously, parade work forms a large part of the curriculum and considerable time is spent developing personal drill & bearing.
Today's RM Corps of Drums contains approximately 60 Buglers who carry out duties ranging from repatriation services (Last Post & Reveille), Mess Beatings (drum displays), Beating Retreat (marching displays) and concerts on behalf of the Royal Marines and the Royal Navy. The Corps of Drums perform for and on behalf of both the RN and the Corps.
Instruments
Like the British Army, Military Snare (Side) Drums (MSD) are the principal instrument of the Corps of Drums, however, another core instrument is the bugle. Bass drums are often used during parades and drum displays, while cymbals and single tenor drums are used during parades and ceremonies only. Herald Fanfare Trumpets (natural trumpets) are also performed on such occasions where a bugle fanfare would be inappropriate for such.British civilian and cadet corps of drums
As well as Army and Navy/Royal Marines Corps of Drums, in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
there are also cadet-based and civilian Corps who base their music on the military traditions of the country. The Army Cadet Force
Army Cadet Force
The Army Cadet Force is a British youth organisation that offers progressive training in a multitude of the subjects from military training to adventurous training and first aid, at the same time as promoting achievement, discipline, and good citizenship, to boys and girls aged 12 to 18 and 9...
use the Army style Corps (flutes/bugles, snare, bass and tenor drums, cymbals and Glockenspiel
Glockenspiel
A glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...
s) save for those with Scottish and Irish links that have Pipe band
Pipe band
A pipe band is a musical ensemble consisting of pipers and drummers. The term used by military pipe bands, pipes and drums, is also common....
s instead and those affiliated with the light infantry (especially the now only LI regiment The Rifles
The Rifles
The Rifles is the largest regiment of the British Army. Formed in 2007, it consists of five regular and two territorial battalions, plus a number of companies in other TA battalions, Each battalion of the Rifles was formerly an individual battalion of one of the two large regiments of the Light...
) have a Corps of Drums without the fifes while using only bugles. Those Corps of the Combined Cadet Force
Combined Cadet Force
The Combined Cadet Force is a Ministry of Defence sponsored youth organisation in the United Kingdom. Its aim is to "provide a disciplined organisation in a school so that pupils may develop powers of leadership by means of training to promote the qualities of responsibility, self reliance,...
, Royal Marines Volunteer Cadet Corps and the Sea Cadet Corps
Sea Cadet Corps (United Kingdom)
The Sea Cadet Corps is a UK national youth organisation sponsored by the Royal Navy and open to young people between the ages of 10-18 years old. The SCC is the UK's largest Naval Cadet Force with over 30,000 cadets and adult volunteers...
use the RN/RM naval and ship style Corps (Snare drums/Bugles, Bass and Tenor drums, cymbals and glockenspiels) and are attached to the main band. Another example of a military style CoD is that of the Royal British Legion, whose bands are modeled on the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Band Service.
Civilian Corps are also formatted after their respective services, with Corps patterned after those of the Army, Navy and the Royal Marines in instrumentation and marching style becoming commonplace.
Corps of Drums in Germany
In Germany, Spielmannszug, Tambourkorps and sometimes Trommlerkorps are the names given to the German Corps of Drums, whether it is a military formation or a civilian formation. The instrumentation of these are, commonly fifes and snare drums (just like the BundeswehrBundeswehr
The Bundeswehr consists of the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities...
Corps of Drums that are attached to the unit military bands), Glockenspiel
Glockenspiel
A glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...
s, Bass drums, cymbals and, on some corps, single and multiple tenor drums. Timpani
Timpani
Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
, vibraphone
Vibraphone
The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
s and marimba
Marimba
The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...
s are used in concerts. Sometimes even a Turkish crescent
Turkish crescent
A Turkish crescent, is an elaborate percussion instrument traditionally used by military bands...
is used to symbolize the band. Whatever the configuration, a drum major always leads the Corps during military and civil parades and other events, and in modern Corps even majorettes and pom pom dancers are a part of its roster.
Military Corps of Drums belong and are attached to the bands of the Bundeswehr Military Music Service while civilian Corps are dedicated civil bands and youth bands assigned in cities and towns all over Germany.
Corps of Drums in the Netherlands and in Indonesia
Drum Bands are the Dutch and Indonesian terms for the Corps of Drums, but in the NetherlandsNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
they are also called as Drumfanfares and Klaroenkorps (Drum and lyre bands, Fanfare band
Fanfare band
Fanfare Bands, Fanfare Corps, Fanfare Battery or Trumpet and Drum Bands are the Marching bands composed of percussion instruments, Natural horns and Fanfare trumpets which are common in Germany and France...
s and Drum and Brass bands) and in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
as Marching bands.
In the Netherlands, the basic instrumentation is
- Snare drums
- Bass drums
- Multiple and single tenor drums
- Cymbals
- Glockenspiels
- Flutes, Fifes
Military drum bands in the Armed forces of the Netherlands would simply have only 2 or 3 of these basic instruments.
Optional or permanent instruments in these bands are flutes and piccolos, bugles, natural horns, valved bugles and brass instruments (Soprano bugles and trumpets, mellophones, Baritones, Sousaphones and Contrabass bugles).
These bands are attached to the main marching band, similar to French bands, but also perform as stand alone bands. They are led by a Drum Major, and can have majorette
Majorette
Majorette is a French toy manufacturer which mostly produces small die-cast cars, particularly in 1:64 scale. Traditionally, Majorette was centered in the area of Lyon.-History:...
s and color guard
Color guard
In the military of the United States and other militaries, the color guard carries the National Color and other flags appropriate to its position in the chain of command. Typically these include a unit flag and a departmental flag...
s, the latter now more separated from the band.
In the 1990s however these bands became paramilitary-styled and even adopted the traditions of British military bands of the Guards Division and the Royal Marines, but some of these bands chose the American marching band and drum and bugle corps practice. Some of these bands also adopted woodwind instruments turning them into full time military marching bands, and almost all drum bands use English voice commands and not Dutch commands and only a few use whistle commands and the mace moments.
In Indonesia, the Corps are treated both as military, civil or school marching and show bands and in some cases as drum and bugle corps
Drum and bugle corps (classic)
Classic drum and bugle corps are North American musical ensembles that descended from military bugle and drum units returning from World War I and succeeding wars. Traditionally, drum and bugle corps served as signaling units as early as before the American Civil War, with these signaling units...
, and are either attached to the main marching band or as stand alone bands (such is the case of many Corps of Drums in Indonesia) thus the instrumentation of these bands are:
- Snare drums
- Bass drums
- Single tenor drums
- Multiple tenor drums
- Cymbals
- Glockenspiels
- MelodicaMelodicaThe melodica, also known as the "blow-organ" or "key-flute", is a free-reed instrument similar to the melodeon and harmonica. It has a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. Pressing a key opens a hole,...
s (in school marching bands) - Flutes/Piccolos (in the CoDs of the Indonesian National Armed Forces)
- TrumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s and soprano BugleBugleBugle is a brass musical instrument.Bugle may also refer to:* Contrabass bugle, lowest-pitched instrument in the drum and bugle corps hornline* Bugle , common names of flowering plant genus Ajuga...
s - FlugelhornFlugelhornThe flugelhorn is a brass instrument resembling a trumpet but with a wider, conical bore. Some consider it to be a member of the saxhorn family developed by Adolphe Sax ; however, other historians assert that it derives from the valve bugle designed by Michael Saurle , Munich 1832 , thus...
s and Flugel bugles - MellophoneMellophoneThe mellophone is a brass instrument that is typically used in place of the horn in marching bands or drum and bugle corps....
s and Horn bugles - Baritone bugles and Marching Baritone hornBaritone hornThe baritone horn is a member of the brass instrument family. The baritone horn has a predominantly cylindrical bore as do the trumpet and trombone. A baritone horn uses a large mouthpiece much like those of a trombone or euphonium, although it is a bit smaller. Some baritone mouthpieces will sink...
s - Contrabass bugleContrabass BugleThe contrabass bugle, usually shortened to contra, is the lowest-pitched instrument in the drum and bugle corps hornline. It is essentially the drum corps' counterpart to the marching band's sousaphone: the lowest-pitched member of the hornline, and a replacement for the concert tuba on the...
s
They are led by 1-6 Drum Majors and can have a separate Director of Music (in civil and police bands only), majorettes and color guards. The drum majors in these bands have a unique use of the mace in order to corrdinate the timing and precision of the band. The Indonesian Corps also has dancing bass drummers either wearing uniforms or costumes (such is the case in the Corps of Drums of the Indonesian Armed Forces units), a unique feature of these Corps.
Another unique characteristic is that Military and Police Corps of Drums tenor and bass drummers and contrabass buglers wear combat or everyday uniform instead of the full dress uniform while playing or in performance or rehearsals.
Corps of Drums in South America
Inspired by the German style Corps of Drums, South American Corps differ in instrumentation and size.Chile
Similar to the German Corps, the Chilean Corps of Drums are both military and civil bands, the Bandas de Guerra (War Bands) that the Chileans call them.Military Corps of Drums belong to the Chilean Armed Forces' three services, the Carabineros de Chile
Carabineros de Chile
thumb|250px|Carabineros de Chile, patrolling a street in [[Santiago, Chile|Santiago]]The Carabiniers of Chile, are the uniformed Chilean national police force and gendarmerie, created on April 27, 1927. Their mission is to maintain order and create public respect for the laws of the country...
and the Chilean Gendarmerie
Chilean Gendarmerie
The Chilean Gendarmerie, in Spanish Gendarmería de Chile, is the title of Chile's uniformed national prison service. The title is historic, and the service is not an actual gendarmerie. The service evolved out of Chilean Army units which were given police and prison duties.It is an armed service...
and differ in instrumentation and officers in charge (only in the Chilean Navy).
- Chilean ArmyChilean ArmyThe Chilean Army is the land arm of the Military of Chile. This 45,000-person army is organized into seven divisions, a special operations brigade and an air brigade....
: Snare drums, fifes, bugles (led by a drum major and a bugle major) - Chilean NavyChilean Navy-Independence Wars of Chile and Peru :The Chilean Navy dates back to 1817. A year before, following the Battle of Chacabuco, General Bernardo O'Higgins prophetically declared "this victory and another hundred shall be of no significance if we do not gain control of the sea".This led to the...
: Snare drums, fifes, bugles (led by a drum major) - Chilean Air ForceChilean Air ForceThe Chilean Air Force is the air force of Chile, a branch of the Chilean military.-History:The first step towards the current FACh was taken by Teniente Coronel Pedro Pablo Dartnell, when he founded the Servicio de Aviación Militar de Chile on December 20, 1910, being trained as a pilot in France...
: Snare drums, bugles (led by a drum major and a bugle major) - Chilean Carabiners: Snare drums, bugles (led by a drum major and a bugle major)
- Chilean Gendarmerie: Snare drums, fifes, bugles (led by a drum major and a bugle major)
The military style Corps also inherit the British Corps' tradition of carrying drummers' swords attached to the belts in their dress uniforms.
Civilian Corps are usually school or college-based bands with the addition of a percussion section (Snare drums, bass drums and cymbals) and glockenspiels and are either part of a school marching band or as a standalone band in itself. In these bands, a Fife Major leads the band's fifers/flautists while on duty, and also assist the drum major and the bugle major. There are some civil Corps of Drums which are associated with municipal and city governments, and universities and colleges like the CoD of the National College.
Ecuador
Corps of Drums in Ecuador are both military and civil bands. These Corps are very similar to the German Corps, but with the addition of bugles and the single tenor drum.Like the Chilean Corps, these bands have differences in configuration and instrumentation in the Ecuadorian Armed Forces. But the Corps snare and tenor (sometimes bass) drummers often play on drums that are painted in the service or unit colors (sometimes in the colors of Guayaquil, which are blue and white for the CoDs of the Ecuadorian Navy
Ecuadorian Navy
The Ecuadorian Navy is responsible for the surveillance and protection of national maritime territory and has a personnel of 7,258 men to protect a coastline of 2,237 km which reaches far into the Pacific Ocean...
) and in the case of the Military Superior School "Eloy Alfaro" and the Military High Aviation School "Cosme Rendella", have the unit/school insignia attached to the bugles' and fifes' tabards.
The typical Ecuadorian Corps, called as the Peloton Comando (Commando Platoon) but are also called as the Banda de Guerra (War Band), just like in Chile in several schools and colleges, is led by a Drum Major and is composed of:
- Snare drums
- Fifes (only in the Ecuadorian Army and Ecuadorian Air Force)
- Bugles (common in all three services, principal instrument in the Ecuadorian Navy)
- Single tenor drums
- Bass drums (optional and common in some Corps)
- Cymbals (optional and in some Corps)
- Glockenspiels
Ecuadorian Civil Corps of Drums are similar only to the Army and Air Force Corps but are based as youth bands stationed in schools across the nation. Notable exceptions include the Corps of Drums of the Ecuadorian National Police. Like military Corps, they are led by a drum major in all their activities. But in some Corps, there are some majorettes and tambourine players.
Venezuela
Similar to Germany and Colombia's, the Venezuelan Corps of Drums are both military and civil bands, and like Colombia's, Peru's and Ecuador's contain the same instrumentation of :- Snare drums
- Bass drums
- Cymbals
- Single tenor drums (slung)
- Glockenspiels
- Bugles
The Corps is led by a single Drum Major. In some Corps even brass instruments are added into the bugle section.
Peru
Peruvian Corps of Drums are both military and civil bands, with differences in instrumentation. In whatever combination, it's led by a Conductor, Major or Majorette as a separate band or is attached to the main school or military marching band led by the Director of Music, with the drum major or majorette leading.Corps of Drums in the Peruvian Armed Forces and the National Police of Peru (formerly the Civil Guard of Peru and the Peruvian Republican Guard), plus school or college based and town bands and Corps are composed of snare or field drums, single tenor drums, multiple tenor drum (in school Corps), bugles and glockenspiels in addition to the regular snare and bass drums and cymbals.Tambourine
Tambourine
The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....
s are common within the school-based Corps, with female majorette
Majorette
Majorette is a French toy manufacturer which mostly produces small die-cast cars, particularly in 1:64 scale. Traditionally, Majorette was centered in the area of Lyon.-History:...
s assisting the conductor or the school band drum major or music director.
Colombia
Colombian Corps of Drums, similar as they are with those of Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Venezuela but are different in leadership, are led by a minimum of 3-6 drum majors or majorettes, and are composed instrumentally of:- Snare drums
- Field/precision snare drums
- Bass drums
- Single tenor drums
- Multiple tenor drums (civil Corps)
- Cymbals
- Glockenspiels
- Bugles and trumpets
- Tambourines (civil Corps)
- Conga drums (civil Corps)
- Timbales (civil Corps)
- Suspended cymbals (civil Corps)
- Natural trumpets (military Corps only)
Even through separate from the main marching band, a part of the band itself or as a band of its own, they are both useful as military-based and civil-based bands. The drums are either covered with cloth tabards with or painted in the military service or (for civil bands) in the school or college colors. The bugles, trumpets and glockenspiels are attached with small tabards with the military service, police, school or college insignia or emblem shown.