Often referred to as a musical sport, the drum corps activity combines the pageantry of theater, the musicianship of a symphony orchestra, and the excitement of championship sports. Thousands of youths, ages 14-22, devote their entire summers to this educational activity. By the end of a typical season, they will have traveled over 15,000 miles, slept on many gym floors and performed before thousands of appreciative fans. While they are independent from schools or colleges, they are considered an extension of the music education programs offered at the high school and college level. One of the features that makes a drum corps different from a marching band is its instrumentation.
Drum corps perform with drums and bugles designed specifically for the activity.
The instruments are designed to project sound forward, rather than in various directions as in the case with concert instruments like clarinets and french horns. Drum corps are capable of perfoming a full range of musical repertoires. Drum corps audiences can hear music by composers as diverse as Malcolm Arnold, the Beatles, Stan Kenton, and Peter Tchaikovsky. However, bugle arrangements must be specifically written for drum corps since such music is not available in stores. Over 250 corps of all types are in existence in the U.S. and Canada and still more reside in Great Britain, Europe, Japan, and the West Indies.