Drum Corps United Kingdom
Encyclopedia
Drum Corps United Kingdom (DCUK) is a governing organization for drum and bugle corps in the United Kingdom. DCUK operates the British drum corps circuit which holds drum and bugle corps competitions for corps across the country. It is part of the national charity - Marching & Performings Arts UK - http://www.mpauk.org.uk
Competitive corps participate in competitions between the months of July & September, traditionally the British Drum Corps Championships occurs on either towards the end of September. Competitions occur various surfaces and arenas and are judged by a panel of volunteers on general effect, visual performance, and musical performance. Every year, each drum corps prepares a single new show, approximately 8–15 minutes in length, and carefully refines this throughout the entire summer year. This focus on a singular show takes advantge of the large amount of time needed to honing and refining a modern drum corps program, with a momentum that continues to build up to the last performance of the season.
or Jazz
, with songs fitting for the style.
Many Drum Corps performances begin with a Prologue
which is usually linked into one of the main tunes that the corps is playing in the show.
The most typical Corps consists of:
Bugles
Soprano
Bugles (High Pitched)
Mellophone
Bugles (Medium Pitched)
Baritone
Bugles (Mid-Low pitch)
Contrabass Bugle (Bass Pitch)
Marching Percussion
Bass
Drum
High Tension Snare
Drum
Tenor
Drums
Static Percussion
Arrangement of Static Orchestral Percussion instruments for instance:
Marimba
Xylophone
Tubular bell
s
Visual Members
The visual section of a drum corps is referred to as the Colour Guard, these marching members are there purley for visual decoration. Using flags,Wooden Sabres and Rifles as a norm, however on rare occasions a drum corps show can revolve around the colour guard performance with the use of props
.
Competitive corps participate in competitions between the months of July & September, traditionally the British Drum Corps Championships occurs on either towards the end of September. Competitions occur various surfaces and arenas and are judged by a panel of volunteers on general effect, visual performance, and musical performance. Every year, each drum corps prepares a single new show, approximately 8–15 minutes in length, and carefully refines this throughout the entire summer year. This focus on a singular show takes advantge of the large amount of time needed to honing and refining a modern drum corps program, with a momentum that continues to build up to the last performance of the season.
Musical composition and instruments
A typical DCUK show revolves around one central theme, for instance Frank SinatraFrank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
or Jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, with songs fitting for the style.
Many Drum Corps performances begin with a Prologue
Prologue
A prologue is an opening to a story that establishes the setting and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one, and other miscellaneous information. The Greek prologos included the modern meaning of prologue, but was of wider significance...
which is usually linked into one of the main tunes that the corps is playing in the show.
The most typical Corps consists of:
Bugles
Soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
Bugles (High Pitched)
Mellophone
Mellophone
The mellophone is a brass instrument that is typically used in place of the horn in marching bands or drum and bugle corps....
Bugles (Medium Pitched)
Baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
Bugles (Mid-Low pitch)
Contrabass Bugle (Bass Pitch)
Marching Percussion
Bass
Bass (instrument)
Bass describes musical instruments that produce tones in the low-pitched range. They belong to different families of instruments and can cover a wide range of musical roles...
Drum
High Tension Snare
Snare
Snare may refer to:* Snare trap, a kind of trap used for capturing animals* Snare drum* SNARE , a family of proteins involved in vesicle fusion* The Snares, a group of islands approximately 200 kilometres south of New Zealand...
Drum
Tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
Drums
Static Percussion
Arrangement of Static Orchestral Percussion instruments for instance:
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 ...
Xylophone
Xylophone
The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets...
Tubular bell
Tubular bell
Tubular bells are musical instruments in the percussion family. Each bell is a metal tube, 30–38 mm in diameter, tuned by altering its length. Its standard range is from C4-F5, though many professional instruments reach G5 . Tubular bells are often replaced by studio chimes, which are a smaller...
s
Visual Members
The visual section of a drum corps is referred to as the Colour Guard, these marching members are there purley for visual decoration. Using flags,Wooden Sabres and Rifles as a norm, however on rare occasions a drum corps show can revolve around the colour guard performance with the use of props
Theatrical property
A theatrical property, commonly referred to as a prop, is an object used on stage by actors to further the plot or story line of a theatrical production. Smaller props are referred to as "hand props". Larger props may also be set decoration, such as a chair or table. The difference between a set...
.