Drum major

Drum major as staff leader of a music band in Vienna (2006)

Drum major (middle)

Gunnery Sergeant Benjamin Becker as drum major of the US Navy band on Red Square (2010)

Drum Major and Central Military Band of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (2014)

A drum major (French tambour-major , English drum major ), also a corps commander called into a marching band to the musicians (the "Drum Corps"). When moving, he proceeds at a moderate pace and, as staff leader, directs the musicians by making sweeping movements with a long, decorated drumstick - also known as a stick or kisses for short . Even during carnival or rifle parades , the drummers (drum tours) and, if necessary, other musicians are conducted by a drum major. The term comes from the field of military music .

Word origin and history

The term is made up of the French tambour ("drum" or "drummer") and major . A drum major is literally the superior of the drummers. The designation as a major is misleading insofar as it is not a question of the military rank of a major who is one of the staff officers . The office of drum major was exercised by a non-commissioned officer , i.e. from a lower rank .

From the High Middle Ages to modern times , the drum major was the leader of the drummers who marched ahead of the armies on the battlefield or at parades . Originally an ensign directed the drummers with his flag. Later the drum major conducted with a staff about waist high.

The drum major in literature

The drum major is playing a key role in the drama Woyzeck by Georg Buchner . There he is the rival of the protagonist Woyzeck and has an affair with his girlfriend Marie, which later leads to a tragic murder. The drum major is described in the work as a proud, powerful figure.

The eponymous figure in the prose work Ideas. The book Le Grand by Büchner's contemporary Heinrich Heine is a French drum major. He later draws on this in the poem The Drum Major .

In Lulu by Strauss and Torneys ballad Tambour Leroi believed dead French hires Dauphin in the War of the First Coalition as a drummer in the Austrian army.

literature

• Walter Transfeldt: Word and Custom in Army and Fleet. 9th, revised and expanded edition. Spemann, Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-440-81060-7 .
• Reinhold Müller, Manfred Lachmann: minstrel, trumpeter, hoboist. From the history of the German military musicians. Military publishing house of the German Democratic Republic, Berlin (East) 1988, ISBN 3-327-00852-3 .

Web links

Commons : Tambourmajor  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wiktionary: Tambourmajor  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• The drum major altbasel.ch
• The drum major in the drumming parade Guidelines of the Bavarian Brass Band Association for marching music and marching music evaluation for Bavarian drumming parades, edition 2012 (PDF, 31 pages)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Duden online: Drum major
2. ↑ The drum major altbasel.ch
3. ↑ Heinrich Heine: The drum major