This is a list of marching bands. Major types include collegiate and military. At least 16 U.S. colleges have had scramble bands, which are also included in this list.
This is a list of marching bands. Major types include collegiate and military. At least 16 U.S. colleges have had scramble bands, which are also included in this list.
A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. They are most popular in the United States, though not uncommon in other parts of the world. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Most marching bands wear a uniform, often of a military style, that includes an associated organization's colors, name or symbol. Most high school marching bands, and some college marching bands, are accompanied by a color guard, a group of performers who add a visual interpretation to the music through the use of props, most often flags, rifles, and sabers.
A military band is 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 Music director. Ottoman military bands are thought to be the oldest variety of military marching bands in the world, dating from the 13th century.
Beating Retreat is a military ceremony dating to 17th-century England and was first used to recall nearby patrolling units to their castle.
The Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming is a British Army training establishment that provides instruction on Scottish pipe band music to military pipers and drummers.
United States military bands include musical ensembles maintained by the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, United States Navy, United States Air Force, and United States Coast Guard. More broadly, they can also include musical ensembles of other federal and state uniformed services, including the Public Health Service and NOAA Corps, the state defense forces, and the senior military colleges.
A military tattoo is a performance of music or display of armed forces in general. The term comes from the early 17th-century Dutch phrase doe den tap toe, a signal sounded by drummers or trumpeters to instruct innkeepers near military garrisons to stop serving beer and for soldiers to return to their barracks and is unrelated to the Tahitian origins of an ink tattoo.
A corps of drums, sometimes known as a fife and drum corps or simply field music, is a traditional European military music formation. In contrast to a military band, a Corps of Drums' primary role is communication. Historically, music was used as signaling device for keeping the march tempo and delivering commands. Today, the primary role of a Corps of Drums is ceremonial, performing in parades and military ceremonies. Besides drums, this formation may contain a variety of instruments, including trumpets, bugles, and fifes.
The Royal Military College of Canada Bands is the official group of bands of the Royal Military College of Canada. The group is composed of four sections: the brass and reed, the pipes and drums, highland dancers, and choristers. Total band membership consists of 105 Officer Cadets from the college. Officer Cadets in the band practice three days a week in the morning on top of attending their individual full-time university programs.
A fanfare band, fanfare corps, fanfare battery, fanfare team, horn and drum corps, bugle band, drum and bugle corps, or trumpet and drum band is a military or civilian musical ensemble composed of percussion instruments, bugles, natural horns and natural trumpets. Fanfare bands are the descendants of the old medieval trumpet and drum teams that sounded fanfares on important occasions and are related to drum and bugle corps internationally.
A drum major in the military is the individual leading a military band or a field unit. It is an appointment, not a military rank. Military drum majors utilize a ceremonial mace for giving commands while marching. Many drum majors, particularly American- or British-influenced ones, wear a sash that can carry embroidered badges of their home unit and battle honors; a pair of ceremonial drum sticks are often attached.
Canadian military bands are a group of personnel in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) that performs musical duties for military functions. Military bands form a part of the Music Branch of the CAF, composed of six full-time professional Regular Force bands, 15 Regular Force voluntary bands, and 53 part-time reserve force bands. Bands of the Music Branch are often badged with the unit or Canadian Forces base insignia that they support.
A fanfare trumpet, also called a herald trumpet, is a brass instrument similar to but longer than a trumpet, capable of playing specially composed fanfares. Its extra length can also accommodate a small ceremonial banner that can be mounted on it.
A police band is a military-style band operated or sponsored by a police force. Police bands provide ceremonial support for civic events, and perform at police observances such as funerals and police academy graduations. Most police bands consists exclusively of professional police officers, while others consist of personnel of law enforcement and other special agencies. Like military bands, their repertoire is mostly composed of ceremonial marching music and honors music.
The Indian military bands consists of musicians from the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force. Indian military bands regularly participate in international festivals and take part in celebrations dedicated to various national events. These bands are permanent participants in the Delhi Republic Day parade on the Rajpath. Today, the Indian Armed Forces have more than 50 military brass bands and 400 pipe bands and corps of drums. A Tri-Services Band refers to a joint Indian Armed Forces military band that performs together as a unit. At the Spasskaya Tower Military Music Festival and Tattoo in Moscow, the band consisted of 7 officers and 55 musicians. The Military Music Wing of the Army Education Corps is the principal educational institution of the armed forces that provides instruction to musicians of all ranks. Instruction is also provided by the Military Music Training Center and the Indian Navy School of Music.
A mounted band is a military or civilian musical ensemble composed of musician playing their instruments while being mounted on an animal. The instrumentation of these bands are limited, with the musician having to play their instrument, as well as steer the animal to the designated location. Most mounted bands, therefore, use instruments that can easily be held, such as bugles, horns, and Fanfare trumpets. Timpani and glockenspiels are also a common feature, usually located at the head of a band. Although a band that is mounted on any member of the families Equidae and Camelidae are considered to be a mounted band, horses are most commonly used, mostly being employed in military bands in Europe, North and South America, and some parts of Asia.
Sri Lankan military bands refer to the joint-service musical units of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces representing the Sri Lanka Army, the Sri Lanka Navy, and the Sri Lanka Air Force. The three bands mentioned, which were established in 1949, 1952 and 1970 respectively and are the seniormost in the armed forces. They are composed of many ceremonial marching bands as well as concert bands which are base for the band's success. The band participates in main social and cultural events, including formal state visits and military parades. All army regiments also contain a regimental band for ceremonial duties.
The Royal Military Band "Johan Willem Friso", also informally called the Band of the Royal Netherlands Army or the Johan Willem Friso Military Band is a Dutch military unit in the Koninklijke Landmacht which is the seniormost of all the military bands in the Netherlands Armed Forces, as well as the oldest of the four professional bands currently in existence in the army. It provides musical support for ceremonial events of national importance involving the army, the government, and the Dutch royal house. The repertoire of the band ranges from a variety of different genres, including military marches and contemporary/classical arrangements of symphonic music.
The Band and Bugles of the Rifles is a military band serving as the regimental band for The Rifles, the sole rifle regiment and the largest in the British Army. It is the senior most of three bands in the regiment and is the only one that is part of the regular army. Uniquely, it employs bugles at its front, a tradition that goes back to the conflicts of the 18th century. Major Séan O’Neill is currently serving as the Director of Music (DOM) of the band and bugles. It is part of the Royal Corps of Army Music.
Navy bands in Canada are part of the Royal Canadian Navy's command structure and overseen by the Music Branch of the Canadian Forces and the Directorate of History and Heritage of the Department of National Defence.
The military bands of the United Kingdom are musical units that serve for protocol and ceremonial duties as part of the British Armed Forces. They have been the basis and inspiration for many military bands in the former British Empire and the larger Commonwealth of Nations as well as musical organizations in other countries. Military musical units with British influence include United States military bands, the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Music Corps and the Military Band of Athens. British military bands are controlled by the military music departments of the three services that compose the armed forces. These include the Royal Marines Band Service, the Royal Corps of Army Music, and the Royal Air Force Music Services. British style brass bands and carnival bands were then and are currently inspired by the British Armed Forces and its brass bands, especially of the Army's regular and reserve formations, as they follow a similar format as it relates to brass and percussion instruments.
