Corps-Style Marching/Drill/Odd Meters

The most natural time signature in which to march is 4/4 (and similar variants, including 2/4 and 6/8). It is consistent, predictable, and is similar to a normal walking motion. It is how we have been learning how to march, and it is also the most common family of time signatures.

But not all music is in 4/4 time. What does it look like when there are exceptions? There are 3 broad categories of progressively increasing rarity and difficulty.

This case refers to time signatures with an odd number of beats per measure, but which still have a consistent downbeat. Examples include 3/4, 9/8, 5/4, and similar. When there are an odd number of beats in a measure, some measures will still start on the left foot, but some measures will start on the right foot. Here are two measures of 3/4 time:

One Two Three One Two Three

Left Right Left Right Left Right

This is not usually a problem, but if somebody becomes out of step, it does become more difficult to recover. No longer can you just find Beat 1 and know that you should be on the left foot. This is by far the easiest and most common of the strange time signatures (typical high school bands can march tempos like 3/4 no problem), but it can mess with people's muscle memory.

This case refers to time signatures that have an unusual downbeat. Examples include 5/8, 7/8, and similar. The difficulty is that there can be a different amount of time between consecutive strong downbeats.

Specifically, these time signatures are usually subdivided musically into pairs of 2 and 3 beats. For example, each measure in 7/8 time might "feel" like groups of 2 + 2 + 3 beats.

ONE two THREE four FIVE six seven ONE two THREE four FIVE six seven

Or alternatively, it can be counted as

ONE two ONE two ONE two three ONE two ONE two ONE two three

So depending on your place in the measure, each step can last either two or three beats.

LEFT two RIGHT two LEFT two three RIGHT two LEFT two RIGHT two three

Sometimes 5/4 can also be included in this case, if the music is marched with a 2 + 3 feel or a 5/4 clave feel.

This is a tricky feeling that requires a lot of focus and practice to build the technique for. And it's even harder for somebody to recover if they ever become out of step. Advanced high school bands and experienced drum corps will use complex meters to enhance the difficulty of their show. Sometimes complex meters are even sprinkled among normal measures, so you'll be playing in 4/4 and there's one sudden measure of 5/8 to keep people on their toes.

A polyrhythm is when there are two different tempos going on at the same time. You might intentionally be marching at a different speed than the music, or you might even be marching at a different speed than other marchers.

For example, maybe the music is played in 4/4, but the ensemble is marching to the quarter-note-triplet. Or perhaps the music is in 6/8 time, and the low brass is marching to the dotted quarter note, while the high brass is marching to the regular quarter note. Here is how that would be counted:

ONE two three FOUR five six ONE two three FOUR five six

LEFT two three RIGHT two three LEFT two three RIGHT two three

+

ONE two THREE four FIVE six ONE two THREE four FIVE six

LEFT and RIGHT and LEFT and RIGHT and LEFT and RIGHT and

Polyrhythms are very rarely used and take a great deal of focus from every member, but elite groups can add one in for an impressive effect.