The marching arts are a collection of fine arts related activities that are closely associated with wind music. The marching arts include, but are not necessarily limited to

marching band A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who play while marching. Historically they were used in armed forces and many marching bands remain military bands. Others are still associated with military units or emulate a military sty ...

, drum corps, mummers string bands, pep band,

color guard In Military, military organizations, a colour guard (or color guard) is a detachment of soldiers assigned to the protection of Colours, standards and guidons, regimental colours and the national flag. This duty is highly prestigious, and the mil ...

winter guard Winter guard (sometimes spelled "winterguard") is an indoor Color guard (flag spinning), color guard sport and performance art derived from military ceremonies. Modern winter guard is a competitive, performance-based activity which incorporates c ...

, and indoor percussion. All of these activities are supported at both the high school, collegiate, and adult levels. Although marching and pep bands initially existed to fill the role of halftime entertainment at

football games Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' generally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonl ...

, the modern marching arts, while maintaining their enduring traditions, have grown into stand-alone activities. The marching arts often participate in competitive events with panels of

adjudicator An adjudicator is someone who presides, judges, and arbitrates during a formal dispute or competition. They have numerous purposes, including preliminary legal judgments, to determine applicant eligibility, or to assess contenders' performan ...

s assessing the groups on a number of captions. Some of the captions often assessed in competition are: music performance (ensemble), music performance (individual), music effect, visual performance, visual effect, general effect,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

, woodwinds, and drum majors, among others.

Governing bodies

Several governing bodies exist to adjudicate and promote the marching arts:

Drum corps

Drum Corps International Drum Corps International (DCI) is a governing body for drum and bugle corps. Founded in 1971 and known as "marching music's major league," DCI develops and enforces rules of competition and judges at sanctioned drum and bugle corps competitions t ...

Drum Corps Associates Drum Corps Associates (DCA) was a governing body for modern all-age and senior drum and bugle corps (modern), drum and bugle corps in North America. Its responsibilities included sanctioning competitions, certifying adjudicators, maintaining and e ...

* Drum Corps Japan * Drum Corps Europe

Marching band

* Bands of America * USBands * Tournament of Bands *

Mid-America Competing Band Directors Association The Mid-America Competing Band Directors Association (MACBDA) was a governing body and summer high school marching band competition circuit based in the Upper Midwest. The circuit's competitive season traditionally began in June, and previously i ...

Winter guard

Winter Guard International Winter Guard International (WGI) is an American governing body that sanctions championship events for three competitive performing arts activities: winter guard, percussion ensembles, and indoor wind ensembles. WGI was founded in 1977 in respon ...

References

Marching bands {{Marching-band-stub