Corps of Drums - Corps of Drums in The British Army

Corps of Drums in The British Army

The British Army maintains a corps of drums in each infantry battalion except for Scottish and Irish battalions, which have pipes and drums. In regiments with more than one battalion, each battalion will maintain a corps of drums which may be massed up on occasion.. Rifle regiments such as The Rifles and the Royal Gurkha Rifles, whose original method of fighting was not conducive to carrying a drum, may instead form a bugle platoon. All corps-of-drums soldiers are called drummers (shortened to 'dmr') regardless of the instrument played, similarly to use of the term "sapper" for soldiers of the Royal Engineers, Members of pipes-and-drums units are called "pipers".

Unlike army musicians who form bands and will usually be limited to medical orderly duties in wartime, corps of drums drummers are principally fully trained infantry soldiers, with recruitment into the corps of drums coming after standard infantry training. A corps of drums will deploy with the rest of the battalion, and will often form specialist platoons such as assault pioneers, supporting fire or force protection.

Historically, the drum was used to convey orders during a battle, so the corps of drums was a fully integrated feature of an infantry battalion. Later on, when the bugle was adopted to convey orders, drummers were given bugles, but also maintained their drums and flutes.