The

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

Drum and Bugle Corps is the

military band A military band is a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the ti ...

and

drum and bugle corps Drum and bugle corps is a name used to describe several related musical ensembles. * Drum and bugle corps (modern), a musical marching unit * Drum and bugle corps (classic), musical ensembles that descended from military bugle and drum units retu ...

of the

, which is a federal service academy in the

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is ...

based

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. Like its counterpart at the

Air Force Academy An air force academy or air academy is a national institution that provides initial officer training, possibly including undergraduate level education, to air force officer cadets who are preparing to be commissioned officers in a national air for ...

, it is staffed by midshipmen from the Brigade of Midshipmen. It provides support to the brigade as well as the

Plebe Summer Plebe Summer is the summer training program which is required of all incoming freshmen to the United States Naval Academy. The program lasts approximately 7 weeks and consists of rigorous physical and mental training. The stated purpose of Plebe S ...

Regiment. Until the addition of woodwinds in June 2021, it was the oldest continuously active drum and bugle corps in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It currently performs over 70 times per year.

Overview

US Navy 091231-N-3879H-098 Members of the U

It was founded in 1914 as the Midshipmen Drum and Bugle Corps. After a baseball game performance between St. John's College and the USNA, during which the 16-member band was led on the field by Midshipman R.W. Cary, the idea of a D&B Corps quickly came into fruition with a band forming and growing to the size of 59 over the next decade. By January 1922, it went defunct before being revived in 1926 at the request of Admiral Louis McCoy Nulton. The reason for its original disbandment was due to the deeming of it as a "luxury not a necessity" by Nulton's predecessor as superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy. Throughout the 30s and 40s, it would get the nickname of "The Hell Cats" by affectionate supporters. Its numbers fluctuated over the years and by September 1945, was reorganized to include 25 new tenor bugles, 5 baritones and 18 field drums among others. It was officially incorporated into the Brigade of Midshipmen on 16 March 1946 through an order that stated that the corps were to "participate in Brigade functions". Today, it performs many of the functions that are designated for a typical college

marching band A marching band is a group of musical instrument, instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass instrument, brass, woodwind instrument, woodwind, and percus ...

, including providing pep bands for USNA's sports teams as well as performing drill routines for events like the Army-Navy Game. Most of these college-like events take place at the

Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium is an open-air stadium located off the campus of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Opened in 1959, it serves as the home stadium of the Navy Midshipmen college football and lacrosse team ...

in Annapolis. It also serves as a military band for functions in which it provides martial music. It also is present during noon meal formation as well as dress parades. It is additionally a public relations asset for the USNA. It also participates in drum and bugle competitions, particularly inter-service competitions sponsored and organized by

Drum Corps International Drum Corps International (DCI) is a governing body for junior drum and bugle corps responsible for developing and enforcing rules of competition, and for providing standardized adjudication at sanctioned drum and bugle corps competitions througho ...

. It has performed for presidents such as

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

, and Ronald Reagan. In 2014, the Corps celebrated its

centennial {{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation) A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years. Notable events Notable centennial events at ...

anniversary.

Staff

The drum and bugle corps has the following personnel staff: *Matthew Halligan – Corps Director and Percussion Head *Chris McMahan – Front Ensemble Instructor *Todd Clontz – Brass Instructor *Aaron Peach – Brass Instructor *Kim Mogensen – Brass Instructor * Staff Sergeant Selena Maytum – Brass Instructor *Chris Previc – Visual Instructor *Matthew Manturuk – Front Ensemble Consultant *Kevin Meyer – Front Ensemble Consultant * Senior Chief Dan Schaffer – Senior Enlisted Advisor * Commander Logan Schulze – Officer Representative

References

{{United States military bands, state=collapsed United States Naval Academy Bands of the United States Navy Military units and formations established in 1914 Ceremonial units of the United States military Drum and bugle corps Military academy bands

Overview

Staff

See also

References