Fife and drum corps
A fife and drum corps is a musical ensemble consisting of fifes and drums. In the United States of America, fife and drum corps specializing in colonial period impressions using fifes, rope tension snare drums and rope tension bass drums are known as Ancient Fife and Drum Corps.[1] Many of these ensembles originated from a type of military field music.
Instrumentation[edit]
A fife is a woodwind instrument in the transverse flute family, which sounds an octave above the written music and has 6 tone holes (some have 10 or 11 tone holes for added chromatics). Most fifes are wood - blackwood, grenadilla, rosewood, mopane, pink-ivory and other dense woods are superior; maple and persimmon are inferior, but often used, particularly as entry-level instruments. Some corps have used metal fifes. In Civil War corps, bugles are sometimes part of the instrumentation.
Rope-tension snare and bass drums are tightened using tugs or ears that apply pressure to the rope, which is transferred to the heads when the rope compresses the counter hoops, causing them to move slightly closer together. The drum heads used are usually made of lamb or calf skin, or plastic drum heads made by many drum manufacturers. Unlike in the British corps, the single tenor drum is not customarily used in American fife and drum ensembles.