Drum and bugle corps (modern)

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Drum and bugle corps" modern – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article may be written from a fan's point of view, rather than a neutral point of view. Please clean it up to conform to a higher standard of quality, and to make it neutral in tone. (September 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

A modern drum and bugle corps is a musical marching unit consisting of brass instruments, percussion instruments, electronic instruments, and color guard. Typically operating as independent non-profit organizations, corps perform in competitions, parades, festivals, and other civic functions. Participants of all ages are represented within the corps activity, but the majority are between the ages of 13 and 22 and are members of corps within Drum Corps International.^[1]

Competitive summer drum corps participate in summer touring circuits, such as Drum Corps International (DCI) and Drum Corps Associates (DCA) [Now recognized as DCI All-age] Corps prepare a new show each year, approximately 8–12 minutes in length, and refine it throughout the summer tour. Shows are performed on football fields and are judged in various musical and visual categories, or "captions". Musical repertoires vary widely among corps and include symphonic, jazz, big band, contemporary, rock, wind band, vocal, rap, Broadway, and Latin music, among other genres. Competitive junior corps usually spend between 10 and 15 weeks on tour over the summer, practicing and performing full-time.^[2]

The term "modern" is used for the purposes of this article to differentiate it from classic drum and bugle corps, using the time period of the establishment of Drum Corps International as a dividing point in the timeline of the two types of drum and bugle corps.