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High School
Marching Bands in Tennessee A marching band is a group
of instrumental
musicians who generally perform outdoors, and who incorporate
movement – usually some type of marching and other movements –
with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes
brass, woodwinds, and
percussion instruments and the music usually incorporates a strong rhythmic component
suitable for marching. All marching bands use some kind of uniform, often
military-style uniforms with shakos, pith helmets, feather plumes, capes,
gloves, and the school or organization's name or symbol. In addition to traditional
parade
performances, many bands also perform
field shows at special events (such as football games) or
at competitions. Marching bands are generally categorized by function and
by the style of field show they perform. Increasingly, marching bands are
performing indoor concerts, in addition to any "pep band" duties, that
implement many of the songs, traditions, and flair from outside
performances. Marching bands can be categorized
based on primary function, instrumentation, and style. Active duty military marching
bands often perform in parades with other military units and march in the
same manner as other military personnel. Due to a lack of competition
venues, military personnel, and interest, almost all military marching
bands have disappeared from schools in the United States; two notable
exceptions are the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band from Texas
A&M and the Highty-Tighties of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets. There is also a pocket of about 80 high school
military marching bands in East Texas. They have formed the National Association of Military Marching
Bands in order to
preserve the tradition of military marching. Bugle bands are a subset of
military bands that use non valved instruments, typically B flat bugles.
Some bugle bands, like Burgess Hill Marching Youth extend their range by
using instruments such as the jaghorn. In the UK traditional youth bands
compete on the TYMBA (Traditional Youth Marching Bands Association) circuit. TYMBA is an
organization that was set up in the 1980s by a like minded group of people
to cater specifically for youth bands executing military style drill and
music. Parade bands
generally play marches.
Instrumentation varies, and can contain anything from bagpipes or
fifes and
drums all the way
to full wind and percussion sections. Many military and veterans' organizations
have their own parade bands. Show bands
(field shows) have the main role of performing at sporting events, and
competitions, such as American football
games. They perform a field show before the game and at halftime (and
sometimes after the game as well). Show bands typically march in time to
the music, and may also participate in parades and competitions. Show
bands contain brass and
percussion instruments, but may or may not use woodwinds or a
percussion pit. Typically, the show is not merely marching in
lines. All show bands march as to create designs, curves, and moving
illusions as their music progresses during the show. Carnival Bands are a UK variant of Show bands. Carnival
bands typically march in time to the music, and may also participate in
parades and competitions. Carnival
Bands contain brass and percussion, but
may or may not use woodwinds. The main competition body for carnival bands is The
Carnival Band Secretaries League. Scramble bands are a variation on show bands. They generally do not
march in time with the music, but, as their name implies, scramble from
design to design and often incorporate comedic elements into their
performances. Most of the bands in the Ivy
league use this
style. Drum and bugle corps is a genre of marching ensemble descended from military signaling
units that is distinctly divided into classic and modern corps. Both groups have long, continuous histories and
developments separate from marching bands. As the name implies, bugles and drums form the musical background of the corps, but modern
competitive drum corps incorporate other brass instruments and orchestral
percussion. Governing bodies of competitive drum and bugle corps include
Drum Corps International (for junior corps) and Drum Corps Associates (for all age corps) in America, Drum Corps United Kingdom and Drum
Corps Europe in Europe,
and Drum Corps Japan in Japan. |
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Eric Stoneking
Copyright © 2004,
2005, 2006, 2007 [Liberty
High School Mountaineer Bands] [Liberty High School Alumni Band] [Liberty High School Danceline] All
rights reserved.
Revised: 07/27/07