The traditional music of the marching band is the military march, but since show bands also evolved from the concert and brass band traditions, music has always been varied. Often, music from other genres is adapted for the specific instrumentation of a marching band.
Commercial arrangements that are tailored for the "average" band instrumentation are also available. Military and university bands typically have a repertoire of "traditional" music associated with the organization they serve. Many competitive bands will choose to use an arrangement of popular music varied for marching band, as well as music from a movie or other such theme.
Music may be memorized, or it may be carried on flip folders that clip onto the instruments, called lyres. Having music memorized is usually considered an advantage for competitive bands, and there is usually a penalty for the use of the sheet music on the field written into the scoring rubric. Practically, memorization prevents obstruction of vision caused by the folders.
The field leader in drum & bugle corps is called a drum major. Some corps appoint more than one, but there is usually one designated chief drum major who leads the corps in both marching direction and musical direction. Traditional corps drum majors are effective showmen who command the corps in all venues. Early in the 20th Century, commands were usually issued either through a mace or baton, and/or with whistle signals. Eventually this evolved into vocal commands and manual signals, although military units still maintain the baton-signaling methods.
The color guard and non-musical marching members in drum & bugle corps largely developed out of military honor guards. Over the years, some corps have included baton majors and majorettes — but largely, the auxiliary units have consisted of tall flag carriers (8' foot pikes), rifles (developed from military rifle drill teams) and saber squads.
The drum & bugle corps still maintains an honor squad, consisting of the corps' country's National Flag and "protectors", or "sidearms". Often, the honor squad will contain rifle or saber carriers, or carriers of sponsors/posts' flags. Sometimes the "sidearm" member is just that — someone who sports a gun holster.
In the 1960s and prior, most color guards tended to be small, consisting of a few squads. As most big corps — again, with exceptions — were often all-male, many color guards were all-female in order to provide a marching opportunity for young women. There have, however, been many all-girl and all-male corps throughout drum and bugle corps' rich history, up to the present time. But prior to 1960, there were far more, which provided competitive opportunities for those corps who wished them, often without the touring requirements of today. And some units/areas of the country had mixed-gender corps going back decades.
Today, now that gender is culturally less divisive and the requirements of corps memberships being military veterans (to a certain percentage) is uncommon, sections are much more rarely limited by gender. Mostly during the late 1960s, flag lines in particular mushroomed in size. During the days of execution drill, wherein yardlines on football fields were more rare and optional, the color guard often was an integral part of drill "dress" (positioning by sight, interval and direction).
The percussion section consists of two distinct but equally important divisions: the front ensemble or "pit" and the drumline or "battery" ensemble.
Front ensemble members perform on orchestral percussion instruments, including marimbas, xylophones, vibraphones, glockenspiel, timpani, various types of drums, cymbals, gongs and many other auxiliary percussion instruments. As the physical nature of these instruments requires them to be stationary, the pit is typically stationed at the 50 yard of the front sideline, closest to the audience. Full-sized corps feature between 8-12 members in their front ensembles. Many corps now make use electronic amplification so that delicate percussive instruments can be heard in the stadium setting. However, amplification has also been used for the more controversial purposes of talking, singing, and "drumspeak" (beat boxing). Prior to 1982, corps did not have a "pit". Some corps (Phantom Regiment and Blue Devils among them) placed a single tympanist on the 50 yard line just inside the sideline. This performer was on the field. Since 1982, there has been a pit in front of the field, and the days of marching keyboard instruments and tympani have disappeared.
The battery consists of percussionists who march on the field along with the hornline and color guard. They commonly play four types of instruments: the marching snare drum, tenor drums (also known as "quads", or "tenors"), marching cymbals, and marching tonal (pitched from high to low) bass drums. In large DCI-related competing corps, the battery typically consists of 7–10 snare drummers, 4–5 tenor drummers, 4–6 cymbal players, and 5–6 bass drummers. Many corps within the last few years have disposed of their cymbal lines in order to utilize the members for additional instrumentation. The cymbal lines that still exist, however, are known for their signature visual effects, as well as contributing various metallic musical effects. Corps that currently use cymbal lines are the Santa Clara Vanguard, the Crossmen, Pacific Crest, the Academy, and the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps
