branding

A marketing goal and methodology which involves elevating hype over substance; of imparting great value to the name whether or not the thing so named is worth anything at all.

Coca-Cola and Pepsi are successful examples of branding, even though the value of soft drinks and preferring one over the other is debateable.

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DCI

n. and adj.

Acronym for Drum Corps International, a political organization formed by a few persons in 1972 out of a short-lived precursor called The Combine. The originally stated goals of both The Combine and DCI were to provide a consistent, single nonprofit organization to serve independent drum and bugle corps, which at the time numbered in the many 100s, rather than a broad mix of sponsoring organizations. Today, DCI serves DCI and its member groups, which are estimated as numbering 70 or so interrelated groups. These member groups resemble marching bands without woodwinds more than they do drum and bugle corps. Discussions as to whether DCI is drum and bugle corps are hotly political. DCI's primary interest today is one of continued corporate branding rather than support of and service to the drum and bugle corps genre.

DCI may be drum corps of some kind, but it's not drum and bugle corps nor is it the best marching band I've seen.

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brass band

Brass band is a musical genre which employs brass and percussion instruments. It differs from a marching band in that a brass band does not have woodwind instruments, such as saxophones, oboes, flutes, fifes and bassoons.

While brass bands and drum and bugle corps are both musical genres which are defined by the use of instruments classed as brass and percussion, the two genres differ as follows. A brass band:

-- may or may not have an honor guard -- a drum and bugle corps must have an honor guard;
-- may or may not observe patriotic or historically military traditions and values as a drum and bugle corps must (this is due to the often strictly civilian nature of band instruments as opposed to the purely military history of drums and bugles as signalling weapons);
-- is focused first on instrumentation and the playing of instruments, not (always) first being a fraternal group, as drum and bugle corps are;
-- plays band instruments in a variety of keys - drum and bugle corps use single key brass instruments throughout their hornline;
-- may or may not play outdoors or march - while a few drum and bugle corps may be organized as a "concert" or non-marching group, they still only perform with marching outdoor instrumentation; and
-- identifies with and honors band people and band history, while drum and bugle corps identify with and honor drum and bugle corps history, all other outside musical genres being optional and less vital than one's own genre.

Some categories of brass bands, such as traditional British brass bands, observe strictly regulated rules regarding size and type of instrumentation.

The brass band marched from the parade route into the center of the park, and performed a wonderful summer concert for the community.

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Drum and Bugle Corps

n.

singular: corps (pronounced CORE)

plural: corps (pronounced CORZ)

A military-styled marching music fraternal genre, epitomized by Canadian and American corps sponsored by veterans organizations primarily between the 1920s and the 1970s, and still in existence today. Bugles are bell-front brass instruments with or without horizontal valves or slides used to change pitch, and unlike bands the entire hornline is in the same key, usually G. Drums are marching drums, primarily snares and bass drums. Color guards most closely resemble military honor guards.

You could hear the drum and bugle corps from miles away.

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