title: Anthony Giddens

text: Giddens has vigorously pursued the theme of globalisation in recent years. He sees the growing interdependence of world society as driven not only by the increasing integration of the world economy, but above all by massive advances in communications. As he has noted when he delivered the BBC Reith Lectures just before the turn of the century, the Internet was in its infancy. However, now it has expanded in a wholly unprecedented way, linking people and organizations across the world on an everyday level as well as intruding deeply into everyday life. Billions of people have access to it and the numbers are growing every day. An increasingly interconnected and wired-up world offers many advantages and benefits, yet it carries new risks too, some themselves of global proportions. In the 21st century, work opportunity and risk combine as never before. Giddens refers to the emergence on a global level of a "high opportunity, high risk society". Both on the level of opportunity and risk we are in terrain human beings have never explored before. We do not know in advance what the balance is likely to be because many of the opportunities and risks are quite new as we cannot draw on past history to assess them.


title: Anthony Giddens

text: Climate change is one of those new risks. No other civilization before the advent of modern industrialism was able to intervene into nature to even a fraction of the extent to which we do on an everyday basis.


title: Anthony Giddens

text: Climate change was referred to in several of Giddens's books from the mid-1990s onwards, but it was not discussed at length until the publication of his work "The Politics of Climate Change" in 2009. Giddens says climate change constitutes a fundamental threat to the future of industrial civilisation as it spreads across the globe. Given that is the case, he asks why are countries around the world doing so little to counter its advance. Many reasons are involved, but the prime one is the historical novelty of humanly induced climate change itself. No previous civilisation intervened into nature on a level remotely similar to that which we do on an everyday level today. We have no previous experience of dealing with such an issue and especially one of such global scope, or of the dangers it poses. Those dangers hence appear as abstract and located at some indefinite point in the future. Giddens's paradox consists of the following theorem. We are likely put off responding adequately to climate change until major catastrophes unequivocally connected to it occur, but by then by definition it would be too late, for we have no way of reversing the build-up of greenhouses gases that is driving the transformation of the world's climate. Some such gases would be in the atmosphere for centuries.


title: Anthony Giddens

text: In his latest work, Giddens has returned to the subject of the European Union, discussed in 2007 in his book "Europe in the Global Age" and in a diversity of articles. In "Turbulent and Mighty Continent: What Future for Europe?", he discusses the likely future of the European Union in the wake of the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Giddens writes as a committed pro-European, but he accepts that fundamental reforms must be made if the European Union is to avoid stagnation or worse. The coming of the euro introduced economic federalism among the eurozone countries and therefore to the European Union as a whole. Some version of political federalism must follow, even if limited in nature. Reforms must confer qualities absent from much of the European Union's history, but which are now required for its future such as flexible and quick-acting leadership, coupled to the greater democratic involvement of citizens. However, he also emphasised that European Union "could still founder, even disintegrate, the result of a chain reaction of circumstances that member states were unable to control". In December 2014, "Turbulent and Mighty Continent" was awarded the European Book Prize, awarded by a selection jury featuring members from many different countries.


title: Anthony Giddens

text: In recent years, while continuing to pursue some of the core themes of his earlier works he has become preoccupied with the impact of the Digital Revolution on world society and on everyday life. That revolution, he argues, must not be identified solely with the advent of the internet, extraordinary although that is. Rather, the Digital Revolution is a massive wave of change washing across the world, driven by the interrelation between the Internet, robotics and supercomputers. It is huge algorithmic power—available to the billions of people who already possess smartphones—that connects the other two.


title: Anthony Giddens

text: Giddens sees the pace and global scope of such revolution as unprecedented in human history and we are probably only in its early stages. Many see the Digital Revolution as primarily producing endless diversity and as acting to dissolve pre-existing institutions and modes of life. Giddens emphasises that from its beginnings it has been bound up with power and large-scale structures too. It is deeply bound up with American global power and has physical form, depending as it does upon global satellite systems and systems, underground cables and concentrations of supercomputers. GPS has its origins in super-power rivalry between the United States and what was then the Soviet Union. The digital universe is also funded by mass advertising and expresses the dominance of large corporations in the world economy.


title: Anthony Giddens

text: The Digital Revolution forms an important part of Giddens's recent preoccupation with the emergence of the high opportunity, high risk society. For example, the advent of such revolution promises fundamental advances in core areas of medicine. New threats and problems abound, both in our everyday lives and in the larger institutions of our societies. Scientists can communicate with one-another in a direct way across the world. The overlap of supercomputers and genetics means that genetic structures can be decoded instantaneously, promising huge advances in conquering major diseases. Medical practice is likely to be transformed through remote monitoring and other digital innovations. At the same time, the overlap of the Digital Revolution with criminality, violence and war is pervasive and dangerous. Military drones are just one example of the continuing involvement of the Digital Revolution with war.


title: Anthony Giddens

text: Emerging developments in artificial intelligence look likely to propel these changes into a new phase of social transformation, whose outlines at present remain hazy, but which look certain to be quite profound. Supercomputers are becoming more and more powerful in terms of their capacity to handle immense amounts of data while quantum computers, with even greater processing capacity, loom on the horizon. At the same time, deep learning—artificial neural networks capable of innovative thinking—is fast advancing. A world-wide debate is going on about how far artificial intelligence can match, or even surpass, human intellectual capabilities. Artificial intelligence and geopolitics, Giddens says, are converging all over again "as the circle of change comes back to its point of origin". In the meantime, China is pouring resources into the further development of artificial intelligence and currently possesses the world's most advanced supercomputer.


title: Anthony Giddens

text: Giddens was a member of the House of Lords Select Committee on artificial intelligence which reported in April 2018. The committee put forward a variety of suggested reforms to apply not only in the United Kingdom, but potentially much more widely as well. These should take place within a common ethical framework to guide intervention on the part of government and of the digital corporations themselves. The power of the digital mega-corporations must be curtailed and subjected to democratic governance, challenging and problematic though such an endeavour is. Artificial intelligence should be developed for the common good. It should follow principles of transparency and fairness and never be allocated the autonomous capability to harm human actors. The major nations and transnational agencies should work towards ensuring that such principles are incorporated into their own codes and practices and applied on a transnational level. The worry is that an artificial intelligence arms race would develop as countries jostle to take the lead both in artificial intelligence generally and in its application to weaponry of diverse sorts. In a much-publicised speech given in 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin observed of advances in artificial intelligence that "whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world". If there is a jostling for advantage among the major powers, concerns of ethics and safety may fall by the wayside in the scramble for advantage, adding to the stresses and strains already visible in the international order.


title: Anthony Giddens

text: Giddens was appointed to a life peerage on 16 June 2004 as Baron Giddens, "of Southgate in the London Borough of Enfield" and sits in the House of Lords for the Labour Party.


title: Anthony Giddens

text: He was elected a member of the Academia Europaea in 1993. He is also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.


title: Anthony Giddens

text: In 1999, he was made a Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator by the Portuguese government.


title: Anthony Giddens

text: In June 2020 it was announced that Giddens had been awarded the Arne Naess Chair and Prize at the University of Oslo, Norway, in recognition of his contributions to the study of environmental issues and climate change. Previous holders of the chair include James Lovelock, David Sloan Wilson and Eva Joly.


title: Anthony Giddens

text: He also holds over 15 honorary degrees from various universities, including recently honorary degrees from Jagiellonian University (2015), the University of South Australia (2016), Goldsmiths, University of London (2016) and Lingnan University (2017).


title: Anthony Giddens

text: Giddens is the author of over 34 books and 200 articles. This is a selection of some of the most important of his works:


title: Marching band

text: A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Most marching bands wear a uniform, often of a military-style, that includes an associated organization's colors, name or symbol. Most high school marching bands, and some college marching bands, are accompanied by a color guard, a group of performers who add a visual interpretation to the music through the use of props, most often flags, rifles, and sabres.


title: Marching band

text: Marching bands are generally categorized by function, size, age, instrumentation, marching style, and type of show they perform. In addition to traditional parade performances, many marching bands also perform field shows at sporting events and marching band competitions. Increasingly, marching bands perform indoor concerts that implement many songs, traditions, and flair from outside performances. In some cases, at higher level competitions, bands will be placed into classes based on school size.


title: Marching band

text: The development of the military band from such predecessors was a gradual development of the medieval and early modern period.


title: Marching band

text: A prototype of the Ottoman military band may be mentioned in the 11th-century "Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk".


title: Marching band

text: The European tradition of military bands formed in the Baroque period, partly influenced by the Ottoman tradition.


title: Marching band

text: In the 18th century, each regiment in the British Army maintained its own military band. Until 1749 bandsmen were civilians hired at the expense of the colonel commanding a regiment. Subsequently, they became regular enlisted men who accompanied the unit on active service to provide morale enhancing music on the battlefield or, from the late nineteenth century on, to act as stretcher bearers. Instruments during the 18th century included fifes, drums, the oboe (hautbois), French horn, clarinet and bassoon. Drummers summoned men from their farms and ranches to muster for duty. In the chaotic environment of the battlefield, musical instruments were the only means of commanding the men to advance, stand or retire. In the mid 19th century each smaller unit had their own fifer and drummer, who sounded the daily routine. When units massed for battle a band of musicians was formed for the whole.


title: Marching band

text: In the United States, modern marching bands are most commonly associated with performing during American football games. The oldest American college marching band, is the University of Notre Dame Band of the Fighting Irish, was founded in 1845 and first performed at a football game in 1887. Many American universities had marching bands before the twentieth century, which were typically associated with military ROTC programs. In 1907, breaking from traditional rank and file marching, the first pictorial formation on a football field was the "Block P" created by Paul Spotts Emrick, director of the Purdue All-American Marching Band. Spotts had seen a flock of birds fly in a "V" formation and decided that a band could replicate the action in the form of show formations on a field. The first halftime show at an American football game was performed by the University of Illinois Marching Illini, also in 1907, at a game against the University of Chicago.


title: Marching band

text: Appearing at roughly the same time as the field show and pictorial marching formations at universities was the fight song, which today is often closely associated with a university's band. The first university fight song, "For Boston," was created at Boston College. Many more recognizable and popular university fight songs are borrowed and played by high schools across the United States. Four such fight songs commonly used by high schools are the University of Michigan's "The Victors", the University of Illinois' "Illinois Loyalty", the University of Notre Dame's "Victory March", and the United States Naval Academy's "Anchors Aweigh". During the 20th century, many marching bands added further pageantry elements, including baton twirlers, majorettes, dance lines, and color guards.


title: Marching band

text: After World War I, the presence and quality of marching bands in the American public school system expanded as military veterans with service band experience began to accept music teaching positions within schools across the country, eventually bringing wind music and marching band into both educational curriculum and school culture. With high school programs on the rise, marching bands started to become competitive organizations, with the first national contest being held in 1923 in Chicago, Illinois. State and national contests became common, often featuring parades and mass-band concerts featuring all participating groups. By 1938, competitive band programs had become numerous and widespread, making a national contest too large to manage and leading to multiple state and regional contests in its place. Today, state contests continue to be the primary form of marching band competition in the United States.


title: Marching band

text: Since the inception of Drum Corps International in the 1970s, many marching bands that perform field shows have adopted changes to the activity that parallel developments with modern drum and bugle corps. These bands are said to be "corps-style" bands. Areas where changes have been adopted from drum corps include:


title: Marching band

text: Military bands or corps of drums were historically the first marching bands. Instrumentation in these bands varies but generally consists of brass, woodwinds, and percussion. Due to their original purpose, military marching bands typically march in a forward direction with consistent straight lines. Music is performed at a constant tempo to facilitate the steady marching of the entire military group the band is playing with. The marching step size, or interval, is consistent, and usually at a "6 to 5" (six steps per five yards) or "8 to 5" (eight steps to five yards). This style includes field music units such as drum and bugle corps or bugle bands and/or fanfare bands, pipe bands, and fife and drum corps, as well as police bands of police and fire departments. As a general rule, active duty military marching bands often perform in parades with other military units and march in the same manner as other military personnel.


title: Marching band

text: The United Kingdom keeps the military-style tradition with many civil and youth bands in all of the UK keeping the military band traditions of the country, either as marching wind bands, Corps of Drums, bugle bands, pipe bands, and in Northern Ireland, fife and drum bands. Examples would be the Royal British Legion bands and the bands of the various UK youth uniformed organizations. Styled on the UK military tradition, Fiji's Military Forces also have a marching band and the military band traditions of the Commonwealth of Nations, by extension, reached almost every country of it with military, school, civil and schools bands styled on the traditions of the British Armed Forces and the armed services of Commonwealth countries which were trained by British military personnel, in combination with local and other foreign traditions.


title: Marching band

text: Military styled marching bands are present in a number of European countries in tandem with field music formations like France, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Portugal, Denmark and Sweden. Also, there are a number of military styled civilian bands in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the Baltics, as well as in Spanish-speaking Latin America and Brazil, which also march with field music units due to foreign influences in the band tradition.


title: Marching band

text: Corps style is a competitive style of band, judged in several "captions" that include visual analysis, visual proficiency, color guard, music analysis, brass, percussion, and general effect. As a general rule, corps style bands follow the traditions of the modern drum and bugle corps practice in North America and many other countries.


title: Marching band

text: Traditional style bands, also known as show bands, are marching bands geared primarily towards crowd entertainment and perform on football fields. Typically, they perform a routine before the game, another at halftime, and sometimes after the game as well. Competitive show bands perform only one show that is continually refined throughout a season, while bands that focus on entertainment rather than competition usually perform a unique show for each game. These shows normally consists of three to five musical pieces accompanied by formations rooted in origin from "Patterns in Motion", a book penned by band director William C. "Bill" Moffit, bandmaster of Purdue University All-American Marching Band and University of Houston Spirit of Houston.


title: Marching band

text: A recognizable style of show band is the one fielded by historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). HBCU bands utilize the traditional "ankle-knee" high step and music selections are largely based on R&B, hip-hop, and contemporary popular music. In addition to traditional drill formations, HBCU bands feature heavily choreographed dance routines as part of their performances. Many of these bands may have a twirler line or a dancer line, but not necessarily flag twirlers. One of the most notable depictions of HBCU bands is the 2002 film "Drumline". The history of African-American marching bands was explored through a 2018 exhibition called "Marching On: The Politics of Performance" in New York City. HBCU bands are a significant part of African-American musical culture and HBCU bands often surpass their associated football teams in popularity, a phenomenon that is uncommon among collegiate and high school marching bands. In 1989, as part of the celebrations for the bicentennial of the French Revolution, the Florida A&M University Marching 100, one of the most prolific HBCU bands in the country, was selected as the official representative of the United States in the bicentennial parade.


title: Marching band

text: Another style of show band is that used by many of the Big Ten Conference marching bands, a semi-military and semi-corps style. These bands perform a show that is designed to entertain the audience but feature more traditional symphonic styles of music (marches, film scores, jazz, or older pop music) as well as some contemporary music. Big Ten style show bands have been influential in creating some of the earliest marching band innovations, and the style is used in high schools throughout much of the United States.


title: Marching band

text: Most show bands of either type include the traditional military band instrumentation of woodwinds, brass, and battery percussion. Some also include the front ensemble keyboard percussion, and may also incorporate the use of a color guard for flag, and rifle routines as well as a dance line.


title: Marching band

text: Carnival bands are a United Kingdom variant of show bands. Carnival bands typically march in time to the music, and may also participate in parades and competitions. They contain brass and percussion, but may or may not use woodwinds.


title: Marching band

text: Scramble bands (also referred to as 'Scatter' bands) are a variation on show bands. They generally do not march in time with the music, but, as their name implies, scramble from design to design and often incorporate comedic elements into their performances. Most of the bands in the Ivy League use this style, excepting only Cornell University.


title: Marching band

text: The size and composition of a marching band can vary greatly. Some bands have fewer than twenty members, and some have over 500. American marching bands vary considerably in their instrumentation. Some bands omit some or all woodwinds, but it is not uncommon to see piccolos, flutes, soprano clarinets, alto saxophones, and tenor saxophones (woodwinds are not used in drum corps). E♭ clarinets, alto clarinets, bass clarinets, and baritone saxophones are less common, but can be found in some bands. Bassoons and oboes are very seldom found on a field due to the risk of incidental damage, the impracticality of marching with an exposed double reed, and high sensitivity to weather.


title: Marching band

text: The brass section usually includes trumpets or cornets; French horns, alto horns, or mellophones; tenor trombones; baritone horns or euphoniums; and tubas or sousaphones. E♭ soprano cornets are sometimes used to supplement or replace the high woodwinds, while the mellophone often is used in place of the French horn. Some especially large bands use flugelhorns and bass trombones. Specially designed versions of the lower brass have been created for use while marching. These are typically wrapped in such a way that allows the bell to face toward the audience at all times. Bands may also modify their instrumentation to remove slide trombones completely and replace them with another instrument, such as a valved trombone or marching baritone horn.


title: Marching band

text: Marching percussion (often referred to as the drumline, battery, or back battery) typically includes snare drums, tenor drums, bass drums, and cymbals and are responsible for keeping tempo for the band. All of these instruments have been adapted for mobile, outdoor use. Marching versions of the glockenspiel (bells), xylophone, and marimba are also rarely used by some ensembles. Historically, the percussion section also employed mounted timpani that featured manual controls.


title: Marching band

text: For bands that include a front ensemble (also known as the pit or auxiliary percussion), stationary instrumentation may include orchestral percussion such as timpani, tambourines, maracas, cowbells, congas, wood blocks, marimbas, xylophones, bongos, vibraphones, timbales, claves, guiros, and chimes or tubular bells, concert bass drums, and gongs, as well as a multitude of auxiliary percussion equipment, all depending on the instrumentation of the field show. Drum sets, purpose-built drum racks, and other mounted instruments are also placed here. Until the advent of the pit in the early 1980s, many of these instruments were carried on the field by marching percussionists by hand or on mounting brackets. Some bands also include electronic instruments such as synthesizers, electric guitars, and bass guitar, along with the requisite amplification. If double-reed or string instruments are used, they are usually placed here, but even this usage is very rare due to their relative fragility. Unusual percussive instruments are sometimes used, including brake drums, empty propane tanks, trashcans, railroad ties, stomping rigs, and other interesting sounds. In modern marching band, there is a use of amplification of the front ensemble to help balance out the wind and drumline sections. The use of synthesizers and electronics in the front ensemble can not only help the front ensemble, or "pit", be heard better by the audience and judges, but it can add soundscapes such as voice-overs to help tell the story of a field show, or to add sound effects (for example, a show about nature could have bird/wind/rain sound samples performed by a front ensemble member playing the synthesizer).


title: Marching band

text: A rare inclusion in a marching band that is becoming more popular is the use of electrophones in a marching band. The most common electric instrument seen is a bass guitar, but some schools also use keyboards and lead guitar. To make the electric instruments usable, external power in the stadium is often used, but some groups may use a car-battery mechanism that requires a car battery and a converter to give the instruments and amplifiers remote power. Also, some groups may use a small gasoline-powered generator.


title: Marching band

text: Many bands have auxiliaries that add a visual component to the performance. For ceremonial bands, this could be a traditional color guard or honor guard. For drum & bugle corps and corps-style field bands, this could include dance lines, majorettes, auxiliary units may be collectively referred to as color guard or visual ensemble.


title: Marching band

text: Auxiliaries may perform as independent groups. In the early 1970s, color guards began to hold their own competitions in the winter (after the American football season, and before the beginning of the summer drum and bugle corps season). These became known as winter guard. There are also numerous dance competitions in the off-season.


title: Marching band

text: The color guard of a marching band or drum and bugle corps may contain sabers, mock rifles, and tall flags. In modern bands, other props are often used: flags of all sizes, horizontal banners, vertical banners, streamers, pom-poms, even tires, balls, and hula hoops or custom-built props. The color guard may also employ stage dressing such as backdrops, portable flats, or other structures. These can be used simply as static scenery or moved to emphasize drill, and are often used to create a "backstage" area to store equipment and hide personnel when necessary.


title: Marching band

text: While military color guards were typically male, band color guards tend to be primarily female, though it is becoming more common for men to join as well. A few independent units are all-male. Guard members nearly always wear a special uniform or costume that is distinctive from that of the band, not necessarily matching in design or color. The men's and women's guard uniforms are usually designed in one of two ways: nearly identically, but with gender-specific parts (i.e. skirts) adapted for the use of the opposite sex; or complimentarily, with the two uniforms designed similarly but with variations in color or form. The color guard uniform, especially in a high school marching band, need not be in school colors; in fact, they rarely are. These uniforms are designed to represent a certain aspect of the halftime show, characterize the guard members through costumes, or tell some sort of story, and can thus be in any design or color (a surprisingly common complaint among the high school audience is that guard uniforms and equipment "aren't school colors").


title: Marching band

text: Indoor color guards have become popular within high schools and universities throughout the United States. These groups perform a theme-based show in competitions after the outdoor marching band season ends. Indoor color guard shows are typically performed in school gymnasiums and are adjudicated.


title: Marching band

text: Irishman Patrick S. Gilmore started the concept of a bandleader. A marching band is typically led by one or more drum majors, also called field commanders, who are usually responsible for conducting the band (sometimes using a large baton or mace, though such tools are used rarely in modern marching bands for conducting) and are commonly referred to as the leader of the band. When there is more than one drum major, one may be the head drum major, who often stands upon an elevated podium located on the 50-yard line while conducting, whereas the other(s) often conduct from convenient angles (should the marching block not be facing forward) and function as an apprentice of sorts. The number of members in the band often determines how many drum majors are needed, based on the complexity of the show (in which case, in a three-person scenario, one stands on the 50-yard line while another stands on the 30-yard line and the third stands on the other 30-yard line), and occasionally, additional individuals may be asked to perform brief conducting duties if beneficial in a particularly tricky part of the show (more often, such people are those on the sidelines or in the pit). The modern-day concept of the drum major has been exponentially expanded upon by George N. Parks, often known as the "Dynamic Drum Major," through his Drum Major Academy. Bands may also be led by a more traditional conductor, especially during field shows, where a stationary conductor on a ladder or platform may be visible throughout the performance. Aural commands—such as vocal orders, clapping, or a whistle—may be used to issue commands as well. In show bands, particularly in HBCU and Big Ten bands, drum majors often have a visual on-field role with a baton or mace, with the job of conducting assigned to the band director(s). In these cases, the number of drum majors is often based on tradition, rather than being in proportion with the number of musicians. For example, the Florida A&M Marching 100 fields one drum major for each president in the university's history. Other leaders within the band may include field lieutenants and captains of sections such as brass, drumline, and woodwinds, and members that lead a section, squad, row, etc.


title: Marching band

text: Some bands assign drum majors the dual role of leading and conducting the ensemble on the field. This is most common in traditional military-style groups, such as Texas A&M's Fightin' Texas Aggie Band: the drum majors march with the band, sound whistles to coordinate movement, and use maces to keep time by thrusting them up and down (rather than toward and away from the body, as is typical in American military bands).


title: Marching band

text: The size of the band may not only determine how many drum majors there are, but how many section instructors are needed as well. Section instructors function like the music director but are mainly responsible for teaching members of a given section. Because they are commonly previous members of the section they teach, they can provide better instruction to combine the needs of the show with the characteristics of the given instrument.


title: Marching band

text: As bands require leadership from within as well as from without, section leaders are usually selected from among the members of each instrumental section (a "section" comprises all the band members who play the same musical instrument). The section leader is always an experienced band member and is usually selected by the band director (rather than elected or self-appointed) for his or her leadership skills and experience. The section leader is responsible for the minute-to-minute instruction of his or her section members, and reports to the drum majors and the band director. Many larger bands appoint more than one section leader per section, with each having a "head" section leader, whether formally or informally designated as such. College-level military bands may use the term "section sergeant" or "section officer" in place of "section leader."


title: Marching band

text: The director provides general guidance, selects the repertoire, interprets commentary and evaluations from judges, and auditions or recruits prospective members. What content is not provided by the director may be contracted from arrangers (who compose original works or adapt existing works) and copyists (who reproduce parts of the score), choreographers, and drill designers (primarily for field bands). With the assistance of section instructors, the director also teaches performance techniques—musical, martial, and visual—and assesses the pool of talent, choosing leaders and soloists as needed. The director also selects venues for public performance and oversees the staff that help provide funding and equipment. Many opportunities for member improvement are present: the director may organize clinics with various professionals, send representatives to specialty schools or camps, or plan trips abroad for education or exhibition.


title: Marching band

text: Large bands also require many support staff who can move equipment, repair instruments, and uniforms, create and manipulate props used in performances, and provide food, water, and medical assistance. Additional staff may be utilized when the band hosts functions such as competitions and reviews. In high school bands, these activities are usually performed by volunteers, typically parents of band members or the band members of the lower grades. These people are often referred to as "runners" or "boosters". Significant support staff for college bands and independent corps are typically paid by the university or the corps organization, respectively.


title: Marching band

text: The goal of each band's performance is different. Some aim for maximum uniformity and precision; others—especially scramble bands—want to be as entertaining as possible. Many U.S. university marching bands aim for maximum sound impact on the audience. Some bands perform primarily for the enjoyment of their members. However, there are some common elements in almost all band performances. The following overview is heavily focused on the U.S. marching band tradition.


title: Marching band

text: The traditional music of the marching band is the military march, but since show bands also evolved from the concert and brass band traditions, music has always been varied. Often, music from other genres is adapted for the specific instrumentation of a marching band.


title: Marching band

text: Commercial arrangements that are tailored for the average band instrumentation are also available. Many bands typically have a repertoire of traditional music associated with the organization they serve. Some competitive bands use an arrangement of popular music varied for marching band, as well as music from a movie or other such theme. However, the largest and most successful marching bands tend to steer clear of show tunes and popular music, instead preferring compilations or arrangements of classical or traditional concert pieces (i.e. Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" or Puccini's "Nessun Dorma") or of entirely new compositions.


title: Marching band

text: Music may be memorized, or it may be carried on flip folders, which are held by lyres that clip onto the instruments. Having music memorized is usually considered an advantage for competitive bands, and at competitions, there is usually a penalty for the use of the sheet music on the field written into the scoring rubric. Practically, memorization prevents obstruction of vision caused by the folders. The memorization of music is usually a matter of pride for the marching band, however, bands that regularly pull from expansive libraries and perform dozens of new works each season are more likely to utilize flip folders.


title: Marching band

text: The glide step, also commonly known as the "roll step," involves bringing the heel gently to the ground with the toe pointed up, and then rolling forward onto the toes before lifting the foot to continue forward. While marching to the rear, the weight is placed continually on the ball of the foot with the heel elevated. This style is used by both marching bands as well as drum and bugle corps. The style, in comparison to high step, gives drill formations a more fluid appearance, allowing for better control of more difficult formations and various styles of music. With this control also comes the ability to perform a much broader range of tempos. Proper execution of a roll step gives a player marching at 40 beats per minute the same smooth tone as a player marching at 180. The roll step allows for much better control of the upper body, and thus better control of the air support needed for playing.


title: Marching band

text: Some bands, and a select few drum and bugle corps, use a bent-knee variant of roll step, usually known simply as "bent knee," in which the members roll from heel to toe but lead the next step with the knee instead of the foot, then planting the heel of the next foot by straightening the leg.


title: Marching band

text: The high step is a style of marching used by many colleges and universities, including most bands of HBCUs and the Big Ten. Four primary sub-variants of the high are used:


title: Marching band

text: An integral part of this style of marching is known as "stop action," meaning that all movement ceases momentarily at the apex of each step. This requires a band to have a great deal of stamina, though is effective visually. High step marching is often accompanied by a horizontal swing of the player's body or instrument.


title: Marching band

text: When band members are marching in one direction but want to focus their sound in another, they may rotate their bodies at the waist, so that only the upper portion of the body faces in the direction of play. This is known as "lateral marching", but is more commonly known as either "shifting", "traversing", or "sliding". A lateral march is not a change in the direction of march, only in the direction the upper body faces. Percussion players, whose large drum harnesses often prevent them from twisting their torsos, and sometimes tuba and sousaphone players, instead uses a "crab step" when moving sideways. During a crab step, the musician crosses one leg over the other, either marching on the toes or rolling the foot sideways. Percussionists may also substitute roll step when their instruments would interfere with performing the high step.


title: Marching band

text: A true direction change involving the feet moving in a new direction requires either a "prep step" or a "pivot", both of which are sometimes referred to as a "flank" or “stab”. To perform a prep step, on the last count of movement in the first direction a marcher plants the foot with the heel turned outward at half the angle of the turn desired, with the upper body still facing forward. On the next count, the other foot snaps into position completing the turn. The upper body may or may not turn with the lower body. Some bands plant the heel on the prep step rather than the toe but preserving the angle of the foot. To perform a pivot, the marcher pivots between directions over the ball of the foot on the last count instead of using a prep step.


title: Marching band

text: A "back march" may be used when the band wishes to move in the opposite direction from where it is projecting its sound. There are several ways to back march, one of which is to walk backward, putting each foot down and rolling from the toe to the heel (the exact reverse of the roll step). Another variation involves marching on the platforms of the feet, dragging the toe of the moving foot on the ground. Backward marching usually employs the same preference for leg straightness as forward marching (if the band marches with legs completely straight while marching forwards, they also do so while marching backward, to preserve uniformity of style). Using peripheral vision to align oneself to formations or field markings is even more important during backward marching.


title: Marching band

text: When a band is not moving, the members may "mark time", or march in place. The step used usually resembles the step that is used for marching forward, though mixing a high step mark time with a roll step march (or vice versa) produces an interesting visual effect. For a typical mark time, the foot is raised to the ankle bone of the opposite leg. The toe should not come off the ground and the knee should not come out much past the still-straight leg.


title: Marching band

text: Some bands mark time by bringing their feet up to their knee—known as "high-mark time". Some bands practice marking time during concert arch with the toes coming off of the ground to give the marcher a greater sense of marching while standing still. The heel should hit the ground on the beat. Some bands forgo marking time and instead come to a complete halt when not marching. Traditionally, the drumline would put their feet in a V-shape and lift their feet fully off the ground a few inches. This is to avoid hitting the drums.


title: Marching band

text: Even when marking time, it is considered good form for all band members to stay "in step"—that is, step with the same foot at the same time. A large majority of bands "step off" with, or start marching on, the left foot. Staying in step is generally easier when the band is playing music or when the drums are playing a marching cadence.


title: Marching band

text: When the band and percussion are not playing, rhythm may be maintained in a variety of ways: a drummer may play taps or rim shots, the drum major may clap or use a woodblock, a drum major or band member may vocalize a sharp syllable like "hit," "hut," or "dut," or band members may chant the military call of "left, left, left right left." Band members may count the steps of the move out loud to keep the entire band together. Typically, most moves consist of any number of steps that are a multiples of two or four, due to most marching band music being in even-numbered time signatures. Even-numbered time signatures aid in staying in step because they assign odd-numbered counts to the left foot, and even-numbered counts to the right foot. If a band member is on the wrong foot, for instance, odd on the right foot and even on the left, this is referred to as being "out of step". When a band member is completely off tempo, it is referred to as being "out of phase".


title: Marching band

text: In parades, bands usually line up in a marching block composed of ranks and files. Each member tries to stay within his or her given rank and file, and to maintain even spacing with neighboring musicians. It is traditionally the responsibility of the people at the end of each rank and the front of each file to be in the correct location; this allows other band members to use them as a reference, also known as "guiding".


title: Marching band

text: Band members also try to keep a constant pace or step size while marching in parade. Step sizes usually vary between 22 and 30 inches (56–76 cm) per stride. A step size of 22.5 inches is called an "8-to-5" step because the marcher covers five yards (about 4.6 m) in eight steps. A step size of 30 inches is called "6-to-5" because five yards are covered in six steps. Because yard lines on an American football field are five yards apart, exact 8-to-5 and 6-to-5 steps are most useful for field shows.


title: Marching band

text: A drum cadence, sometimes called a "walk beat" or "street beat," is usually played when the band is marching, oftentimes alternating with a song, and is typically how a band keeps time while not playing music. Alternatively, a drum or rim shot may be given on the odd beats to keep the band in step. Between songs and cadences, a roll is usually given to indicate what beat in the measure the band is at. Cadence tempo varies from group to group.


title: Marching band

text: In Minnesota, Upstate New York, and Wisconsin, bands may perform on city streets with compact formation elements, sometimes referred to as a street show. These shows are judged using similar criteria as any other marching band competition. Elements of difficulty increase with street marching competitions because of the varying widths of streets in each community. Street marching is typical for bands who operate during the spring and early summer months. Typically, a band that performs in street marching competitions does not become involved with field marching, and vice versa. Various venues exist for street marching competitions between high school marching bands.


title: Marching band

text: While playing music during a field show, the band makes a series of formations, called drill, on the field, which may be pictures, geometric shapes, curvilinear designs, or blocks of musicians, although sometimes it may be pure abstract designs using no specific form.


title: Marching band

text: Typically, each band member has an assigned position in each formation. In many show bands and most drum corps, these positions are illustrated in a handheld booklet called a drill book (also known as a dot book). Drill books, or drill charts, show where each person stands during each set of the show. The drill charts include yard lines and hashes as they would be on an actual football field, which shows the band members where to stand relative to the yard lines and hashes. There are many ways of getting from one formation to the next:


title: Marching band

text: Players may point the bells of their instruments in the direction they are moving, or "slide" (also called traverse) with all the bells facing in the same direction. They may also point it towards the center of the field. Bands that march in time with the music typically also synchronize the direction of individuals' turns and try to maintain even spacing between individuals in formations (called intervals). Sometimes bands specifically have wind players turn their instruments away from the audience to emphasize the dynamics of the music.


title: Marching band

text: Auxiliaries can also add to the visual effect. Backdrops and props ("scrims") may be used on the field that fit the theme of the show or the music being performed. In comedic shows, particularly for university bands, an announcer may read jokes or a funny script between songs; formations that are words or pictures (or the songs themselves) may serve as punch lines.


title: Marching band

text: In some marching bands, the drum majors have the option to give out a set of commands to the rest of the band either vocally, by hand command, or by a whistle. These commands originated from the military history of marching band. Different bands might have different sets of procedures such as the number of counts it takes to carry out the command, but the overall result is the same.


title: Marching band

text: Aside from field show and parade, competitions among secondary schools can also have the "march off" (also "concentration block" or "drill down"). This event involves all participants on the field following the commands of the director or a drum major. If a participant makes a mistake, either by execution or wrong timing, then the participant falls out of the field. A winner is crowned when there is only one participant left on the field.


title: Marching band

text: Each musician in a marching band creates sound waves. The waves from each musician, traveling at the speed of sound, reach the other musicians, field conductors, and listeners at slightly different times. If the distance between musicians is large enough, listeners may perceive waves to be . Typically, in this case, listeners perceive that one section of the band is playing their parts slightly after another section. This "delay" effect is informally referred to as "ensemble tear" or "phasing" (not to be confused with the music composition technique of the same name).


title: Marching band

text: Consider also that viewers perceive the movement of marchers as light waves. Since light travels faster than sound, viewers may perceive that movement is out of phase with the sound. Sound waves may also reflect off parts of the stadium or nearby buildings.


title: Marching band

text: For example, if two musicians, one standing on the front sideline of the football field and one on the back sideline, begin playing exactly when they see the beat of the conductor's baton or hand, the sound produced by the musician on the front sideline reaches listeners in the stands noticeably before the sound played by the back musician, and the musicians are seen to move before the sound reaches the stands.


title: Marching band

text: Ensemble tears can occur when musicians on the field listen to the pit. Because of the way sound waves travel, the sound pit produces first bounces off the back bleachers and then is heard by the ensemble. By the time the ensemble hears them, they are already late in timing. Because of this reason, the norm is to ignore the pit and let them listen to the ensemble for timing.


title: Marching band

text: Nearly all marching band personnel wear some kind of uniform. Military-style uniforms are most common, but there are bands that use everything from matching T-shirts and shorts to formal wear. The school or organization's name, symbol, or colors are commonly applied to uniforms. Uniforms may also have substantially different colors on the front and back, so if band members turn suddenly ("flank"), the audience sees a striking change of color. Band members at many Ivy League schools wear a jacket and tie while performing. The Southern Methodist University band wear a different combination of jackets, vests, ties, shirts, and pants for each half (changing before halftime) of each game and no clothing or uniform combinations are repeated during the marching season. The Alma College Kiltie Marching Band is famous for wearing kilts made of the official Alma College tartan.


title: Marching band

text: The components of a band uniform are numerous. Common design elements include hats (typically shakos, pith helmets, combination hats or other styles of helmets) with feather plumes, capes, gloves, rank cords, and other embellishments. The USC Spirit of Troy Marching Band and Troy University's Sound of the South Marching Band wear traditional Trojan helmets. It is also common for band uniforms to have a stripe down the leg and light-colored shoes, or spats over dark shoes to emphasize the movement of the legs while marching. Similarly, uniforms may feature additional components which highlight movement of the upper body, such as the "wings" worn by the University of Minnesota's marching band to highlight flanking movements on the field. Competitive bands, however, many times opt for matching uniforms, especially pants and shoes (usually white or black) to hide the visual effect of members who are out of step as seen from a distance. Occasionally, a band forgoes traditional uniforms in favor of costumes that fit the theme of its field show. The costumes may or may not be uniform throughout the band. This kind of specialized uniform change is usually confined to competitive marching bands.


title: Marching band

text: Drum Majors, the field commanders and band directors, usually do not wear the regular band uniform, to better distinguish them from the rest of the band. Some wear more formal outfits or costumes that match the theme of the music, or most commonly a differently-designed version of the regular band uniform, often employing different colors (especially white) or features such as capes. Some (especially at the college level) still employ the tall wool-lined shako or much larger bearskin (both often derisively referred to as a "Q-Tip hat"). Sousaphone players may use a military-style beret or entirely forgo the use of a head covering, as most hats may be in the way of the bell. Some auxiliary groups use uniforms that resemble gymnastics outfits: Often, these uniforms are themed, drawing inspiration from the music. Many auxiliary groups change the outfits they use from season to season based on the needs of the band, although some that do also have a "base" uniform for occasions such as parades or other ceremonies.


title: Marching band

text: Music for parade and show bands is typically learned separately, in a concert band setting. It may even be memorized before any of the marching steps are learned. When rehearsing drill, positions and maneuvers are usually learned without playing the music simultaneously—a common technique for learning drill is to have members sing their parts or march to a recording produced during a music rehearsal. Many bands learn drill one "picture" or form at a time, and later combine these and add music.


title: Marching band

text: Rehearsals may also include physical warm-up (calisthenics, running, etc.), "music warm-up" (generally consisting of breathing exercises, scales, technical exercises, chorales, and tuning), "basics" (simple marching in a block to practice proper technique), and "sectionals" (in which either staff or band members designated "section leaders" rehearse individual sections).


title: Marching band

text: When learning positions for drill, an American football field may be divided into a 5-yard grid, with the yard lines serving as one set of guides. The locations where the perpendicular grid lines cross the yard lines sometimes called "zero points" or gacks, may be marked on a practice field at eight-, four-, or two-step intervals. Alternately, band members may only use field markings—yard lines, the centerline, hash marks, and yard numbers—as guides (but note that different leagues put these markings in different places).


title: Marching band

text: For members to learn their positions more quickly, they may be given "drill charts", which map their locations relative to the grid or field markings for each formation. In other groups, spray chalk or colored markers are used to mark the location of each person after each set of drill, with a different color and, sometimes, shape for each move.


title: Marching band

text: Some bands use small notebooks, also known as a dot book or drill book, which they hang about their necks, on the drum harness, or around the waist. These contain pages of "drill charts", which often either give a picture or list coordinates that band members use to find 'pages' or 'sets' on the field. Coordinates are normally listed in 8-to-5 steps off the front sideline and front and back hashes, along with the number of 8–5 steps off of the yard line listed on each page. Some bands are even using small plastic pouches that hang about their neck on an adjustable strap, which has a zipper pocket for holding drill, flags to mark sets, and a pencil. There is also a clear plastic window in front to display the current part of drill being worked on at that point in time.


title: Marching band

text: Uniquely, the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band of Texas A&M University requires its members to create their own reference cards by hand as they learn each new drill. This is due to the band’s traditional straight-line military style, which emphasizes long periods of continuous marching in a single direction at a standard angle, thus requiring members to focus on the uniformity of the entire band rather than their individual position on the field.


title: Marching band

text: Members may also group into squads, ranks, sections, or (especially with scramble bands that primarily form words) letters. Instead of each member having an individual move, moves are then learned on a squad-by-squad (rank-by-rank) basis.


title: Marching band

text: Most bands meet in the summer, normally in August for summer training, or prior to the specific marching season (known as band camp). This involves learning basic marching fundamentals such as the type of marching step the band uses, commands from the drum major, and how to move on field. The band is also given music to learn for their show. Drill for the show may or may not be provided to learn during band camp. The camp takes place outdoors on the field for marching, and in a band hall for music-only rehearsals. Sectionals, or rehearsals including all of one instrument (e.g. flute sectional), take place during this time. Directors may use time during band camp to place band members in their sections based on playing or marching level and ability. This time can also be used for the potential drum majors to showcase their abilities and for the band director to choose who is head drum major. For bands that require auditions for the band, drumline, or auxiliary, auditions may happen the first few days for placement. Band camp usually lasts 1–2 weeks, but in the case of a more advanced marching band, camp may last up to a month. In most university bands, band camp means an earlier move-in date for university students in the band.


title: Marching band

text: Marching bands serve as entertainment during American football games, which may also be known as pep band. For college and high school marching bands, this is the primary purpose of the ensemble. The home team's band plays the national anthem before kickoff (often as part of a pre-game show), as well as other music while in the stands during the game. Bands cheer with the cheerleaders, and some bands create their cheers. Marching bands then perform a show during halftime. When both teams' bands are present, it is a common protocol for the visiting band to perform first. After halftime, some high school bands use the third quarter of the game to take a break and get food. College bands and some high school bands do not have such breaks but continue playing in the stands during the entirety of the game. The band often stays the entire game, playing the school's fight song and alma mater at the end of the game regardless of the outcome.


title: Marching band

text: Three National Football League teams designate an official marching band: the Washington Commanders, Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens. Marching bands were once common fare during Super Bowl halftime shows during its earlier years but were later replaced by short stadium rock concerts from high-profile recording artists, some of which have incorporated marching bands into their performances. Marching bands are otherwise uncommon at the professional level.


title: Marching band

text: In competition, marching bands are usually judged on criteria such as musicality, uniformity, visual impact, artistic interpretation, and the difficulty of the music and drill. Competition exists at all levels but is most common in the U.S. among secondary school bands and drum and bugle corps. Performances designed for a competition setting usually include more esoteric music (including but not limited to adaptations of modern orchestral pieces). Many traditional-style bands compete in contests known as a Battle of the Bands, similar to the Atlanta Classic from the movie Drumline. There are also competitions at the national level, such as the Bands of America (BOA) Grand National Championships through Music for All .


title: Marching band

text: Although its legitimacy is often called into question, competitive marching band is sometimes considered a sport, due in large part to the physical exertion required in combination with teamwork. Many HBCU marching band fans refer to marching band as "marching sport." Sports Illustrated considered the activity a sport in 1987, describing the Drum Corps International World Championships “one of the biggest sporting events of the summer.” In the same article, Sports Illustrated quoted basketball coach Bobby Knight, "If a basketball team trained as hard as these kids do, it would be unbelievable. I like to take my players [to watch drum corps] to show them what they can accomplish with hard work and teamwork. Besides, once they see them practice 12 hours a day, my players think I’m a helluva lot easier.”


title: Marching band

text: In his presentation to the American College of Sports Medicine's annual meeting in 2009, researcher and exercise physiologist Gary Granata presented research after studying members of the Avon High School Marching Black and Gold, noting "At the top levels of marching band and drum corps, you get a level of competition and athleticism that is equal to a Division I athletic program." Granata further pointed out, "Performers are constantly moving, and often running, at velocities that reach 180 steps or more per minute while playing instruments that weigh up to 40 pounds."


title: Marching band

text: Moreover, in an ESPN segment from 2005, researchers from Indiana State University placed devices on Drum Corps members that recorded metabolic rates during performances and practices, utilizing measurements of oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide production, and heart rate. The findings were that the performer's metabolic rates matched those of marathon runners halfway through a marathon, while the heart rate was more along the lines of someone who was running a "400 or 800-meter dash."


title: Marching band

text: Spring and early summer parade marching (or street marching) are popular in the northern midwest and Upstate New York, where temperatures are moderate enough for students to march distances in standard uniforms. Performance styles range from traditional block marching to elaborate productions with evolving drill patterns.


title: Marching band

text: Some circuits in the United States continue to hold field show competitions during the summer months. Much like drum corps, these bands rehearse and tour full-time for about a month from mid-June to mid-August. Such circuits include the Mid-America Competing Band Directors Association, or MACBDA, and the Catholic Youth Organization circuits.


title: Marching band

text: The Honda Battle of the Bands is an annual marching band exhibition that features performances by HBCU bands. Seemingly contradictory to the name, Honda's "battle" is not a competition in the traditional sense. That is, no winner is crowned during the event. Rather, the bands compete for the favor of the audience, each other, and the greater community.


title: Marching band

text: WAMSB (World Association of Marching Show Bands) is an international organization holding many competitions throughout the world. Its World Championships are held annually in the summer in a different country. Past host nations include Canada, Brazil, Japan, Malaysia, Denmark, Germany, Italy, & Australia. WAMSB sanctioned events happen in 32 nations.


title: Marching band

text: The Central Indiana Track Show Association hosts contests in Indiana during the summer. The championships for CITSA is the Indiana State Fair Band Day competition, held every August at the Indiana State Fair.


title: Marching band

text: Most high school marching band competitions occur in the fall when the majority of schools begin classes. In the United States, there are two national competition circuits in which bands can compete: Bands of America and the United States Scholastic Band Association (USSBA).


title: Marching band

text: The USSBA was formed in 1988 through the help of the Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps. Over 700 high school bands compete during the Fall season with bands of similar size and talent. Each competition provides approximately 40 professional judges who give feedback on the show's programming and design. At the season's end, the top 50 bands are invited to compete in the US Scholastic Band Championship, which is hosted at a college or professional stadium.


title: Marching band

text: Bands of America is the other major circuit that conducts several competitions throughout the fall season. Competitions include Regional Championships, held in collegiate stadiums in locations such as Pennsylvania, California, Ohio, Texas, and North Carolina, and Super Regional Championships held in NFL stadiums in cities such as Atlanta, Indianapolis, and St. Louis. The season accumulates with the holding of Grand National Championships, considered the top event for high school marching. Grand Nationals takes place in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana in early to mid-November. The three-day event concludes with the top 12 highest scoring high school bands, out of the more than 90 who participate, performing in Grand National Finals on Saturday night. Due to the stiff competition, with bands traveling to the event from throughout the country, many people consider the champion the best high school marching band in the country. There are no qualifications for any Bands of America events, including Grand Nationals. Admittance is based on a first-come, first-served basis.


title: Marching band

text: Many states have their own competition circuits, as well as their own rules for competitions in their circuits. Several colleges host annual independent competitions, with varying degrees of prestige—such as the Contest of Champions at Middle Tennessee State University, which is the longest-running high school band contest in the United States.


title: Marching band

text: To make competitions fair, bands normally split into different "classes" or "divisions" based on certain factors. One popular classification system uses the size of the school to split up the competing bands. This is the method used by Bands of America, the Indiana State School Music Association, Kentucky Music Educators Association and the University Interscholastic League. Alternatively, the number of band members determines the class—with the largest bands being Division I, and smaller bands being classified as Division II, III, and IV.


title: Marching band

text: The Sudler Trophy and Sudler Shields are awards bestowed each year by the John Philip Sousa Foundation on one university marching band and one high school marching band. The awards do not represent the winner of any championship, but rather a band surrounded by great tradition that has become respected nationally. No school may be honored with either award twice while under the same director.


title: Marching band

text: Most marching bands in Canada are organized by the Canadian Band Association or by Canadian universities:


title: Marching band

text: Although many bands have still retained the British tradition for marching bands, most have also adopted the style utilized by their American counterparts. Canadian military bands are often associated with civilian marching bands. Many of the civilian marching bands that exist today, such as the Oshawa Civic Band, The Concert Band of Cobourg and the Toronto Signals Band, have military roots and were formerly Canadian Army bands. In the case of the aforementioned bands, their lineage is shared with the bands of The Ontario Regiment, the 6th Northumberland Militia and the 2nd Armoured Divisional Signals Regiment respectively. In the early to mid 20th century, the Canadian Forces maintained drum and bugle corps, which were similar in instrumentation and organization to civilian marching bands.


title: Marching band

text: In Taiwan, the National Marching Band Association is the main organizer of local marching bands in the country. It is currently located at its headquarters in the Neihu District of Taipei City. The Taipei First Girls' High School currently sports one of the most acclaimed marching bands in the country.


title: Marching band

text: The first marching bands were introduced in Malaysia during the British colonial period and has since grown and increased its importance. The most common are found in the Malaysian Armed Forces, however, in recent years, there has been a rise in the number of show bands and drum corps in the country. Although the Ministry of Education organizes most school marching bands, other organizations have made consistent efforts to organize local marching bands.


title: Marching band

text: In Russia, there are not many school or local marching bands in existence, with most being government-sponsored military and police bands, as well as several bands operated by the local governments. The marching bands of the Russian Armed Forces are organized by the Military Band Service in the Ministry of Defence. Also known as "Marshiruyushchiye orkestr" (loosely translated to Марширующие оркестр, which means Marching Orchestra in Russian), notable Russian marching bands include the Band and Corps of Drums of the Moscow Military Music College, whose cadets are famous for setting the pace for the annual Victory Day Parades on Red Square. These types of bands only came into existence after 1991 when the Soviet Union ceased to exist. During the Soviet era, civilian like marching bands were extremely rare, with one of the only non-military bands having been employed in the late 1930s and early 1940s during National Sports Day parades in the capital of Moscow. Other Russian marching bands include the Drummers Group of the Boarding School for Girls of the Ministry of Defense of Russia and the Moscow & District Pipe Band. The country has hosted many marching band tattoos within the last 70 years, including the Spasskaya Tower Military Music Festival and Tattoo in Moscow and the Amur Waves International Military Bands Festival in Khabarovsk.


title: Marching band

text: The traditions of both the Singapore Police Force Band and the Singapore Armed Forces Bands soon inspired the creation of the Singaporean marching band tradition. By the 1960s, school and college marching bands, corps of drums and drum and bugle corps began to be commonplace (the latter in cadet units), as well as bands of youth uniformed organizations and universities, all following the armed forces pattern and British and Malayan (later Malaysian) precedence. The People's Association became the first civilian organization to form a dedicated marching band in 1965-66, and the Ministry of Education followed suit with a teachers' band made up of band instructors. Today the Ministry of Education is responsible for overall control over the school, college, university and polytecnic bands within Singapore, with two dedicated cadet bands.


title: Marching band

text: Some of Singapore's oldest high school marching bands are from the Raffles' Institution, St. Joseph's Institution, Victoria School, Bukit Panjang Government HS and the Anglo-Chinese School.


title: Marching band

text: The SPF has the country's three uniformed pipe bands, the Women's Police, SPF and Gurkha Contingent Pipe Bands, all raised in the late 1960s. Civilian pipe bands were formerly present in the PA, Boys Brigade and the Port of Singapore Authority.


title: Blaise Diagne International Airport

text: Blaise Diagne International Airport (, ) is an international airport near the town of Diass in Thiès Region, Senegal, east of downtown Dakar. It serves as the main airport for Dakar, replacing Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport, which had become too small. It is named after Blaise Diagne, the first black African elected to France's parliament in 1914. Regular flights are operated from it to destinations across many parts of Africa, as well as to Europe, Macaronesia, the Middle East, and the USA.


title: Blaise Diagne International Airport

text: The airport was originally expected to be operational at the end of the year 2011, but this date was pushed back by almost a year in September of that year.


title: Blaise Diagne International Airport

text: In September 2012, Senegalese Prime Minister Abdoul Mbaye announced that the airport would open in the first quarter of 2014.


title: Blaise Diagne International Airport

text: In January 2015, word spread that the airport would open in June 2015. On April 4, 2015 Reuters announced a new opening date for early 2016.


title: Blaise Diagne International Airport

text: The expected building costs rose to 566 million euros, with over 400 million coming from the Saudi Binladin Group.


title: Blaise Diagne International Airport

text: The Train Express Regional is a rail-link between the airport and Dakar. It opened on 14 January 2019 .


title: Departments of Colombia

text: Colombia is a unitary republic made up of thirty-two departments (Spanish: "departamentos", sing. "departamento") and a Capital District ("Distrito Capital"). Each department has a governor ("gobernador") and an Assembly ("Asamblea Departamental"), elected by popular vote for a four-year period. The governor cannot be re-elected in consecutive periods. Departments are country subdivisions and are granted a certain degree of autonomy.


title: Departments of Colombia

text: Departments are formed by a grouping of municipalities ("municipios", sing. "municipio"). Municipal government is headed by mayor ("alcalde") and administered by a municipal council ("concejo municipal"), both of which are elected for four-year periods.


title: Departments of Colombia

text: Each one of the departments of Colombia in the map below links to a corresponding article. Current governors serving four-year terms from 2015 to 2019 are also shown, along with their respective political party or coalition.


title: Departments of Colombia

text: The indigenous territories are at the third level of administrative division in Colombia, as are the municipalities. Indigenous territories are created by agreement between the government and indigenous communities. In cases where indigenous territories cover more than one department or municipality, local governments jointly administer them with the indigenous councils, as set out in Articles 329 and 330 of the Colombian Constitution of 1991. Also indigenous territories may achieve local autonomy if they meet the requirements of the law.


title: Departments of Colombia

text: Article 329 of the 1991 constitution recognizes the collective indigenous ownership of indigenous territories and repeats that are inalienable. Law 160 of 1994 created the National System of Agrarian Reform and Rural Development Campesino, and replaced Law 135 of 1961 on Agrarian Social Reform; it establishes and sets out the functions of INCORA, one of the most important being to declare which territories will acquire the status of indigenous protection and what extension of existing ones will be allowed. Decree 2164 of 1995 interprets Law 160 of 1994, providing, among other things, a legal definition of indigenous territories.


title: Departments of Colombia

text: Indigenous territories in Colombia are mostly in the departments of Amazonas, Cauca, La Guajira, Guaviare, and Vaupés.


title: Departments of Colombia

text: When it was first established in 1819, The Republic of Gran Colombia had three departments. Venezuela, Cundinamarca (now Colombia) and Quito (now Ecuador). In 1824, the Distrito del Centro (which became Colombia) was divided into five departments and further divided into seventeen provinces. One department, Istmo Department, consisting of two provinces, later became Panama.


title: Departments of Colombia

text: With the dissolution of Gran Colombia in 1826 by the Revolution of the Morrocoyes ("La Cosiata"), New Granada kept its 17 provinces. In 1832 the provinces of Vélez and Barbacoas were created, and in 1835 those of Buenaventura and Pasto were added. In 1843 those of Cauca, Mompós and Túquerres were created. At this time the cantons ("cantones") and parish districts were created, which provided the basis for the present-day municipalities.


title: Departments of Colombia

text: By 1853 the number of provinces had increased to thirty-six, namely:Antioquia, Azuero, Barbacoas, Bogotá, Buenaventura, Cartagena, Casanare, Cauca, Chiriquí, Chocó, Córdova, Cundinamarca, García Rovira, Mariquita, Medellín, Mompós, Neiva, Ocaña, Pamplona, Panamá, Pasto, Popayán, Riohacha, Sabanilla, Santa Marta, Santander, Socorro, Soto, Tequendama, Tunja, Tundama, Túquerres, Valle de Upar, Veraguas, Vélez and Zipaquirá. However, the new constitution of 1853 introduced federalism, which lead to the consolidation of provinces into states. By 1858 this process was complete, with a resulting eight federal states: Panamá was formed in 1855, Antioquia in 1856, Santander in May 1857, and Bolívar, Boyacá, Cauca, Cundinamarca and Magdalena were formed in June 1858. 1861 saw the creation of the final federal state of Tolima.


title: Departments of Colombia

text: The Colombian Constitution of 1886 converted the states of Colombia into departments, with the state presidents renamed as governors. The states formed the following original departments:


title: Attempted assassination of Bob Marley

text: Seven armed men raided the residence of reggae musician Bob Marley in Kingston, Jamaica on December 3, 1976, two days before he was to stage a concert in an attempt to quell recent violence. Politicians from across the political spectrum hoped to capitalize on Marley's support. While Marley remained neutral, many viewed him as tacitly supporting the prime minister Michael Manley and his democratic socialist People's National Party (PNP). Marley and three others were shot, but all survived.


title: Attempted assassination of Bob Marley

text: Bob Marley claimed to be uninvolved in Jamaican politics and had originally agreed to play the Smile Jamaica Concert on the condition that the concert would not be political. However, after Manley moved the elections up to December 15, both parties considered Marley's concert scheduled just ten days before to be an endorsement for the PNP.


title: Attempted assassination of Bob Marley

text: At 8:30pm, on December 3, 1976, two days before the Smile Jamaica Concert, seven men armed with guns raided Marley's house at 56 Hope Road. Marley and his band were on break from rehearsal. Marley's wife, Rita, was shot in the head in her car in the driveway. The gunmen shot Marley in the chest and arm. His manager, Don Taylor, was shot in the legs and torso. Band employee Louis Griffiths took a bullet to his torso as well. There were no fatalities.


title: Attempted assassination of Bob Marley

text: Bob Marley told concert chairman Trevor Philips that the leader of the Jamaican Labour Party, Edward Seaga – Michael Manley's political opponent – was alleged to have ordered his bodyguard, Lester "Jim Brown" Coke, to be present during the shooting. Nancy Burke, Marley's neighbour and friend, recalled hearing Wailers percussionist Alvin Patterson say "Is Seaga men! Dem come fi kill Bob!" After the shooting, numerous reports indicated that the gunmen returned to Tivoli Gardens, a neighbourhood loyal to the JLP and home to the notorious Shower Posse.


title: Attempted assassination of Bob Marley

text: After the shooting, the American embassy sent a cable titled "Reggae Star Shot: Motive probably political". In the cable, Ambassador Gerard wrote:


title: Attempted assassination of Bob Marley

text: Timothy White, in his Marley biography, claimed that information he received from JLP and PNP officials, as well as US law enforcement officials, led him to believe that Carl Byah "Mitchell", a JLP gunman, was contracted by the CIA to organize the Marley shooting and that Lester Coke, aka Jim Brown, led the charge on Hope Road.


title: Attempted assassination of Bob Marley

text: Don Taylor, Marley's manager, claimed that both he and Marley were present at court in which the gunmen who shot Marley were tried and executed. According to Taylor, before one of the shooters was killed, he claimed the job was done for the CIA in exchange for cocaine and guns.


title: Attempted assassination of Bob Marley

text: Despite the shooting, Marley promised he would perform one song at the Smile Jamaica Concert on December 5 at National Heroes Park, Kingston. In the event, Bob Marley & The Wailers played for 90 minutes.


title: Monsey, New York

text: Monsey (, ) is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States, located north of Airmont, east of Viola, south of New Hempstead, and west of Spring Valley. The village of Kaser is surrounded by the hamlet of Monsey. The 2020 census listed the population at 26,954.


title: Monsey, New York

text: Rockland County was inhabited by the Munsee band of Lenape Native Americans, who were speakers of the Algonquian languages. Monsey Glen, a Native American encampment, is located west of the intersection of State Route 59 and State Route 306. Numerous artifacts have been found there and some rock shelters are still visible. The Monsey railroad station, which received its name from an alternate spelling of the Munsee Lenape, was built when the New York & Erie Railroad passed through the glen in 1841.


title: Monsey, New York

text: In the 1950s, Monsey was a one stoplight town with a single yeshiva. By 1997, Monsey had 112 synagogues and 45 yeshivas.


title: Monsey, New York

text: Located in Monsey is the Houser-Conklin House, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.


title: Monsey, New York

text: On December 28, 2019 it was the site of a mass stabbing in the home of a Hasidic rabbi who was hosting a Hanukkah party, leaving five injured and one dead.


title: Monsey, New York

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 2.2 square miles (5.8 km), of which 2.2 square miles (5.7 km) is land and 0.04 square mile (0.1 km) (0.90%) is water.


title: Monsey, New York

text: As of the census of 2017, there were 22,043 people, 3,984 households, and 2,596 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 6,554.3 per square mile (2,533.9/km). There were 4,244 housing units at an average density of 1,400.0/sq mi (541.2/km). The racial makeup of the CDP was 95.8% White, 3.0% African American, 0.03% Native American, 1.05% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.70% from other races, and 1.08% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 2.86% of the population. 43.98% speak English at home, 41.48% Yiddish, 6.88% Hebrew, 2.69% French or a French creole, 1.85% Spanish, and 1.24% Russian.


title: Monsey, New York

text: There were 2,981 households, out of which 58.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 78.0% were married couples living together, 6.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 12.9% were non-families. 10.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 4.74 and the average family size was 5.16. In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 48.6% under the age of 18, 10.5% from 18 to 24, 18.2% from 25 to 44, 16.3% from 45 to 64, and 6.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 19 years. For every 100 females, there were 106.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 106.6 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $45,194, and the median income for a family was $45,911. Males had a median income of $41,606 versus $33,576 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $14,000. About 25.4% of families and 30.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 37.8% of those under age 18 and 9.2% of those age 65 or over.


title: Monsey, New York

text: Monsey is a major center of Orthodox Judaism in the United States, along with several other cities such as Kiryas Joel, Kaser, Spring Valley, and New Square. It is the largest center of Hasidic Judaism in the United States outside of New York City, with approximately 5,400 households (4.2% of the world's Hasidic population). The migration to Monsey began in the late 1940s when New York City's Orthodox Jews were seeking affordable real estate for their quickly growing communities. These spaces offered the possibility of moving en masse and establishing enclaves where they could lead lives based on "halakha" (Jewish religious law) without coming into regular conflict with their non-Orthodox neighbors. This represented a major, distinct suburban demographic shift for these communities. Major Hasidic sects represented in Monsey include Satmar, Vizhnitz Monsey, and Belz, with the Rebbes of Berditchev, Lizensk, Lizensk (Rokeah), Nikolsburg, Sambor Yerushalayim-Monsey, Sassov, Shinave, Spinka Monsey, Stanislov, and Vizhnitz Monsey sects being resident in the community. Vizhnitz maintains a cemetery in Monsey.


title: Monsey, New York

text: On December 28, 2019, Monsey was the site of a mass stabbing in the home of a Hasidic rebbe of the Koson sect who was hosting a Hanukkah party, leaving four injured and one fatality.


title: Managed services

text: Managed services is the practice of outsourcing the responsibility for maintaining, and anticipating need for, a range of processes and functions, ostensibly for the purpose of improved operations and reduced budgetary expenditures through the reduction of directly-employed staff. It is an alternative to the break/fix or on-demand outsourcing model where the service provider performs on-demand services and bills the customer only for the work done.


title: Managed services

text: Under this subscription model, the client or customer is the entity that owns or has direct oversight of the organization or system being managed, whereas the managed services provider (MSP) is the service provider delivering the managed services. The client and the MSP are bound by a contractual, service-level agreement that states the performance and quality metrics of their relationship.


title: Managed services

text: Adopting managed services is intended to be an efficient way to stay up-to-date on technology, have access to skills and address issues related to cost, quality of service and risk. As the IT infrastructure components of many SMB and large corporations are migrating to the cloud, with MSPs (managed services providers) increasingly facing the challenge of cloud computing, a number of MSPs are providing in-house cloud services or acting as brokers with cloud services providers. A recent survey claims that a lack of knowledge and expertise in cloud computing rather than offerors' reluctance, appears to be the main obstacle to this transition. For example, in transportation, many companies face a significant increase of fuel and carrier costs, driver shortages, customer service requests and global supply chain complexities. Managing day-to-day transportation processes and reducing related costs come as significant burdens that require the expertise of Transportation Managed Services (or managed transportation services) providers.


title: Managed services

text: The evolution of MSP started in the 1990s with the emergence of application service providers (ASPs) who helped pave the way for remote support for IT infrastructure. From the initial focus of remote monitoring and management of servers and networks, the scope of an MSP's services expanded to include mobile device management, managed security, remote firewall administration and security-as-a-service, and managed print services. Around 2005, Karl W. Palachuk, Amy Luby, Founder of Managed Service Provider Services Network acquired by High Street Technology Ventures, and Erick Simpson, founder of Managed Services Provider University, were the first advocates and the pioneers of the managed services business model.


title: Managed services

text: The first books on the topic of managed services: "Service Agreements for SMB Consultants: A Quick-Start Guide to Managed Services" and "The Guide to a Successful Managed Services Practice" were published in 2006 by Palachuk and Simpson, respectively. Since then, the managed services business model has gained ground among enterprise-level companies. As the value-added reseller (VAR) community evolved to a higher level of services, it adapted the managed service model and tailored it to SMB companies.


title: Managed services

text: In the new economy, IT manufacturers are currently moving away from a "box-shifting" resale to a more customized, managed service offering. In this transition, the billing and sales processes of intangible managed services, appear as the main challenges for traditional resellers.


title: Managed services

text: The global managed services market is expected to grow from an estimated $342.9 Billion in 2020 to $410.2 Billion by 2027, representing a CAGR of 2.6%.


title: Managed services

text: In the information technology area, the most common managed services appear to evolve around connectivity and bandwidth, network monitoring, security, virtualization, and disaster recovery. Beyond traditional application and infrastructure management, managed services may also include storage, desktop and communications, mobility, help desk, and technical support. In general, common managed services include the following applications.


title: Managed services

text: A Managed IT Services Provider (also known as an 'MSP') is a third-party service provider that proactively monitors & manages a customer's server / network infrastructure, cybersecurity and end-user systems against a clearly defined Service Level Agreement (SLA). Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), nonprofits and government agencies hire MSPs to perform a defined set of day-to-day management services so they can focus on improving their services without worrying about extended system downtimes or service interruptions. These services may include network and infrastructure management, security and monitoring.. Most MSPs bill an upfront setup or transition fee and an ongoing flat or near-fixed monthly fee, which benefits clients by providing them with predictable IT support costs. Sometimes, MSPs act as facilitators who manage and procure staffing services on behalf of the client. In such context, they use an online application called vendor management system (VMS) for transparency and efficiency. A managed service provider is also useful in creating disaster recovery plans, similar to a corporation's.


title: Managed services

text: The managed services model has been useful in the private sector, notably among Fortune 500 companies, and has an interesting future in government.


title: Managed services

text: Main managed service providers originate from the United States (IBM, Accenture, Cognizant), Europe (Atos, Capgemini) and India (TCS, Infosys, Wipro).


title: Arrow

text: An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers called fletchings mounted near the rear, and a slot at the rear end called a nock for engaging the bowstring. A container or bag carrying additional arrows for convenient reloading is called a quiver.


title: Arrow

text: The use of bows and arrows by humans predates recorded history and is common to most cultures. A craftsman who makes arrows is a fletcher, and one that makes arrowheads is an arrowsmith.


title: Arrow

text: The oldest evidence of likely arrowheads, dating to c. 64,000 years ago, were found in Sibudu Cave, current South Africa. Likely arrowheads made from animal bones have been discovered in the Fa Hien Cave in Sri Lanka which are also the oldest evidence for the use of arrows outside of Africa dating to c. 48,000 years ago. The oldest evidence of the use of bows to shoot arrows dates to about 10,000 years ago; it is based on pinewood arrows found in the Ahrensburg valley north of Hamburg. They had shallow grooves on the base, indicating that they were shot from a bow. The oldest bow so far recovered is about 8,000 years old, found in the Holmegård swamp in Denmark.


title: Arrow

text: Archery seems to have arrived in the Americas with the Arctic small tool tradition, about 4,500 years ago.


title: Arrow

text: Arrow sizes vary greatly across cultures, ranging from eighteen inches to six feet (45 cm to 150 cm). However, most modern arrows are to in length. Arrows recovered from the "Mary Rose", an English warship that sank in 1545 whose remains were raised in 1982, were mostly long. Very short arrows have been used, shot through a guide attached either to the bow (an "overdraw") or to the archer's wrist (the Turkish "siper"). These may fly farther than heavier arrows, and an enemy without suitable equipment may find himself unable to return them.


title: Arrow

text: The shaft is the primary structural element of the arrow, to which the other components are attached. Traditional arrow shafts are made from strong, lightweight wood, bamboo or reeds, while modern shafts may be made from aluminium, carbon fibre reinforced plastic, or a combination of materials. Such shafts are typically made from an aluminium core wrapped with a carbon fibre outer. A traditional premium material is Port Orford Cedar.


title: Arrow

text: The stiffness of the shaft is known as its "spine", referring to how little the shaft bends when compressed, hence an arrow which bends less is said to have more spine. In order to strike consistently, a group of arrows must be similarly spined. "Center-shot" bows, in which the arrow passes through the central vertical axis of the bow riser, may obtain consistent results from arrows with a wide range of spines. However, most traditional bows are not center-shot and the arrow has to deflect around the handle in the archer's paradox; such bows tend to give most consistent results with a narrower range of arrow spine that allows the arrow to deflect correctly around the bow. Bows with higher draw weight will generally require stiffer arrows, with more spine (less flexibility) to give the correct amount of flex when shot.


title: Arrow

text: The weight of an arrow shaft can be expressed in GPI (grains per inch). The length of a shaft in inches multiplied by its GPI rating gives the weight of the shaft in grains. For example, a shaft that is long and has a GPI of 9.5 weighs . This does not include the other elements of a finished arrow, so a complete arrow will be heavier than the shaft alone.


title: Arrow

text: Sometimes a shaft will be made of two different types of wood fastened together, resulting in what is known as a footed arrow. Known by some as the finest of wood arrows, footed arrows were used both by early Europeans and Native Americans. Footed arrows will typically consist of a short length of hardwood near the head of the arrow, with the remainder of the shaft consisting of softwood. By reinforcing the area most likely to break, the arrow is more likely to survive impact, while maintaining overall flexibility and lighter weight.


title: Arrow

text: A barreled arrow shaft is one that tapers in diameter bi-directionally. This allows for an arrow that has an optimum weight yet retains enough strength to resist flex. A Qing dynasty arrow shaft was examined by archery enthusiast Peter Dekker and found to exhibit the following qualities:


title: Arrow

text: The resultant point-of-balance of the arrow shaft was thus 38.5% of the length of the arrow from the tip. Barreled arrow shafts are considered the zenith of pre-industrial archery technology, reaching their peak design among the Ottomans.


title: Arrow

text: The arrowhead or projectile point is the primary functional part of the arrow, and plays the largest role in determining its purpose. Some arrows may simply use a sharpened tip of the solid shaft, but it is far more common for separate arrowheads to be made, usually from metal, horn, or some other hard material. Arrowheads are usually separated by function:


title: Arrow

text: Arrowheads may be attached to the shaft with a cap, a socketed tang, or inserted into a split in the shaft and held by a process called hafting. Points attached with caps are simply slid snugly over the end of the shaft, or may be held on with hot glue. Split-shaft construction involves splitting the arrow shaft lengthwise, inserting the arrowhead, and securing it using a ferrule, sinew, or wire.


title: Arrow

text: Fletchings are found at the back of the arrow and act as airfoils to provide a small amount of force used to stabilize the flight of the arrow. They are designed to keep the arrow pointed in the direction of travel by strongly damping down any tendency to pitch or yaw. Some cultures, for example most in New Guinea, did not use fletching on their arrows. Also, arrows without fletching (called bare shaft) are used for training purposes, because they make certain errors by the archer more visible.


title: Arrow

text: Fletchings are traditionally made from feathers (often from a goose or turkey) bound to the arrow's shaft, but are now often made of plastic (known as "vanes"). Historically, some arrows used for the proofing of armour used copper vanes. Flight archers may use razor blades for fletching, in order to reduce air resistance. With conventional three-feather fletching, one feather, called the "cock" feather, is at a right angle to the nock, and is normally nocked so that it will not contact the bow when the arrow is shot. Four-feather fletching is usually symmetrical and there is no preferred orientation for the nock; this makes nocking the arrow slightly easier.


title: Arrow

text: Natural feathers are usually prepared by splitting and sanding the quill before gluing. Further, the feather may be trimmed to shape, die-cut or burned by a hot electrically-heated wire. It's crucial that all the feathers of an arrow have the same drag, so manual trimming is rarely used by modern fletchers. The burning-wire method is popular because different shapes are possible by bending the wire, and the fletching can be symmetrically trimmed after gluing by rotating the arrow on a fixture.


title: Arrow

text: Some fletchings are dyed. Two-toned fletchings usually make each fletching from two feathers knit together. The front fletching is often camouflaged, and the rear fletching bright so that the archer can easily track the arrow.