Editing Drum and bugle corps (modern) (section)

== History ==
{{More citations needed|date=August 2020}}
Modern drum and bugle corps stems from a rich American and Canadian military history, separate from other marching musical activities. Towards the end of World War I, advancements in radio technology rendered using drum and bugle corps for communication obsolete. When the war concluded in 1918, there was no longer a need for these instruments. The instruments were sold to veteran organizations such as the [[Veterans of Foreign Wars|Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW)]] and the newly founded [[American Legion|American Legion (AL)]]. These veteran organizations would become the first sponsors of civilian drum and bugle corps. The veteran's initial goal was finding ways to engage with their communities while maintaining a connection to military traditions and values. Drum and bugle corps became the perfect vehicle for adapting military musical traditions to civilian life.<ref>Filosa, Matthew. "Electronics Integration and Sound Reinforcement in the 21st Century Marching Arts." PhD. diss., Florida State University, 2019. ProQuest (27544387).</ref> Beginning after [[World War I]] through the 1970s, corps and competitions were often sponsored by the VFW, [[Scout troop|Boy Scout troop]]s, churches, fire departments, [[Rotary International|Rotary clubs]], the [[Royal Canadian Legion]], and the [[American Legion]]. Owing to many of these groups' roots, corps were traditionally militaristic. By the late 1960s, many corps wanted more creative freedom and better financial compensation than was offered by their sponsoring organizations. Some felt the prize-money structures, based on competitive placement, were not fairly compensating all corps for their appearances. Additionally, some felt the current judging rules were stifling musical and theatrical possibilities. At the peak of North American drum corps participation (with perhaps a thousand active corps in the U.S. and nearly as many in Canada), several corps decided to "unionize", as stated by Don Warren (founder of the [[The Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps|Cavaliers]]). They formed their own organizations, which ultimately led to the formation of [[Drum Corps Associates|Drum Corps Associates (DCA)]] in 1965 and [[Drum Corps International|Drum Corps International (DCI)]] in 1972. By this time, many corps had already lost their church or community sponsors.

For the corps that remained, longer travel times were necessary to attend the shrinking numbers of contests, further adding to the financial and time demands on the organizations and their individual members. At the same time costs for the increasingly complex field shows mounted and creative and instructional demands rose leading many competitive corps to falter and become inactive. By the late 1990s only a fraction of the corps that existed in the 60s and 70s remained, although several new corps, some of which have become very successful, did start up along the way.

Freed from the traditional and more-restrictive judging rules of the late 1960s, corps began making innovative changes such as the use of B{{music|b}} brass instruments, wide-ranging tempos, intricate asymmetric drill formations, elaborate guard costumes and props, and the use of stationary orchestral percussion instruments. A few corps still utilize the traditional G [[bugle]] which is very rarely found in DCI marching units.