Interesting Facts about Marching Bands in the USA

6 min readSep 7, 2020

Did you know the history of marching bands goes back to European warfare? Yes, each army had a marching band that would precede the rally with drums, horns, and percussions.

Brief History of Marching Bands

The instance of a marching band used in the war can be found in the movie “Barry Lindon (1975)” by Stanley Kubrick. The marching bands precede the British Regiment marching into the field in a battle against the Germans.

MarchingBands.bands point out,

“Musical instruments have played an important role in the military of many cultures for thousands of years. In Euro-American culture, drums ordered the daily lives of the average soldiers, providing cadences for marching and signal for battle, as well as marking routine activities such as meal and bedtime.”

European military instruments became prevalent in America (New World) along with the colonization by Europeans. They were used in much the same way. As militias formed in the towns and villages of colonial America to rise against the British government, drummers played an important role in summoning men from rural areas to take up arms.

Revolutionary War drummers and fifers were used in each battle to signal the soldiers to fire. This came into effect because in the hazy fog of battle, the visual command was more or less impossible and musical instruments were the only way to convey orders to the troops.

Later, the combination of the fife and drum became known as military field music. They were used to provide the daily signals telling the soldiers to wake up, eat, and go to bed.

High School/College Marching Bands

Today, almost every high school and college in the US organize marching bands for various occasions. The children are specifically sent to school camps where they get to socialize with other fellows and play instruments of their choice. The tradition continues until college and university where they can earn a spot in the university marching band and perform for a wide range of purposes.

Many American Universities had marching bands before the turn of the 20th Century. Today, they form an integral part of the school culture.

Marching band tradition was incorporated into schools when John Philip Sousa, who headed the U.S. Marine Band (1880–1892), popularized it across the country. He took the band in entourage across the US and Europe. Although he introduced the first marching band, it wasn’t until the military veterans from World War I who took up jobs in American public school and introduced marches, music, and band assembly.

This is the very reason why many military traditions still survive in modern marching bands such as dress codes, ranks, and commands such as “forward March,” and “about-face.”

Musical Instruments

The musical instrument most prevalent in the marching bands is the snare drum. Another is fife made out of a single piece of wood with six finger holes. It was basically the traditional pairing of the drum and fife.

The use of the snare drum is still prevalent in almost every high school and college marching bands. Also known as a side drum, it hangs on a sling at the player’s side. The drum has two skinheads. The drummer beats the batter head (top) with two sticks. The snare head (bottom) when placed against the head gives the instrument its characteristic “buzzy” sound.

With time, new traditions and practices were introduced such as color guard, majorettes, or a dance team. The instruments used in the marching band got bigger and diverse with the introduction of Tenor drums, Bass Drum, Cymbals, Bells or Glockenspiel, Wood Blocks; Brass Instruments such as trumpets, Cornet, Trombone, Mellophone, Sousaphone Tuba; Woodwind instruments such as flute, Clarinet, Piccolo, and Saxophones.

3 different types of marching bands

Military Style

As the name suggests, Military style marching band takes inspiration from historical military bands. They are characterized by a consistent marching step size and tempos strictly between 120–140 beats per minute.

Corps Style

It’s most closely related to high school marching band style putting emphasis on electronic music and full-body movements.

Traditional Style

Also known as “Show Band,” they focus more on crowd entertainment. HBCUs have a recognizable showband style.

2 Types of Marching Style

The steps or marching style follows either High step or Glide. In the High Step, the foot is raised notably high when taking a step. The glide step follows a stable movement throughout the performance.

Many bands use “glide step” for movement. Also known as roll step, it involves bringing the heel to the ground with the toe pointed up and then rolling forward onto the toes before lifting the foot.

The Tradition Continues

The American football games made marching bands even more popular by making them perform at the halftime. Most school and college marching bands perform during the halftime of interschool/college football games.

The first halftime show performed by a marching band was the University of Illinois Marching Illini in 1907 in a game against the University of Chicago.

Marching bands can vary where some have fewer than 20 members while others have 500. Marching bands vary in their instruments as well. Some marching bands deploy more brass section with fewer woodwinds. The Ohio State University Marching Band has 225 instruments and features no woodwinds.

For a well-balanced sound, marching bands use heavier brass section with fewer woodwinds. The drum links will usually feature the least number of instruments. Each member of the band is elaborately dressed and decorated. They’re often ranked placed accordingly.

The History of Black College Marching Band

The Black marching bands formed as part of the military. The earliest historically black college and university (HBCU) band started at the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute.

The great showmanship of today’s marching band started at Florida A&M University (FAMU) in 1946. By the 1960s, HBCU marching bands had developed a distinctive style that would continue still today.

HBCU bands utilize the traditional “ankle-knee” high step and music selections are largely based on R&B, hip-hop, and contemporary popular music.

They also introduced heavily choreographed dance routines as part of their performances. Today, it is one of the biggest draws during the American football halftime. One of the most notable depictions of HBCU bands is the 2002 movie Drumline starring Nick Cannon.

Alabama A&M University, Alabama State University, Stillman College, Talladega College, and Tuskegee University are some of the popular Black College marching bands from Alabama that are still performing today.

Competitive Marching Bands

With the rise in popularity, colleges and universities started organizing marching band competition. It’s more common among secondary school bands and drum and bugle corps.

Competitive marching band is sometimes considered a sport due in large part to the physical exertion required.

There are different competitions held throughout the country namely Spring competitions, summer competitions, Fall competitions, and Sudler Trophy and Sudler Shield.

List of Most Recognized Marching Bands in the US

According to GreatValeyColleges.net, these are the 10 best college marching bands in the US today. (They’re selected and ranked for their Hollywood affiliation, awards and recognition, and historic relevance)