Drum Majors--They Keep the Beat of History

I'm new to this whole blogging thing but I wanted to share a passion of mine with people. My passion is history. I love learning about our past, I think it is the most fascinating subject out there. Saying that, I thought my first topic that I would choose to share the history of would be drum majors. I was recently named drum major of our small high school band and wanted to know more about the art of them.

Being drum major in the early days, wasn't anything like it is today. They were hard at work defending their players. Literally defending them from the war. It all began in 1650 with the British Army of Drum Corps. Armies, back then, were given directions or signals by bugle sound or drum cadence. These bugles and drums were of cours directed by a, you guessed it, drum major! These drum majors had an extremely important job. They were responsible for anything from the way you dressed, to who could join, and even had to make sure that no got in the line of fire, as well as making sure the bugles and drummers played the right beat. However, these strict rules started to fade into what it is today in the 1700's. Today most drum majors are used to conduct the ensemble they are in charge of. They will also traditionally wear fancier looking attire.