A pipe band is a musical ensemble consisting of pipers and drummers. The term used by military pipe bands, Pipes and Drums, is also common.
The most common form of pipe band, the Scottish pipe band, consists of a section of pipers, a section of snare drummers (often referred to as 'side drummers'), several tenor drummers and a single bass drummer. The entire drum section is known collectively as the drum corps. The tenor drummers and bass drummer are referred to collectively as the 'bass section' (or in North America as the 'midsection'). The band follows the direction of the pipe major; when on parade the band may be led by a drum major, who directs the band with a mace.
Standard instrumentation for a pipe band involves 6 to 25 pipers, 3 to 10 side drummers, 1 to 4 tenor drummers and 1 bass drummer. Occasionally this instrumentation is augmented to include additional instruments (such as additional percussion instruments or keyboard instruments), but this is typically done only in concert settings.
