Quality Sporrans for less money

[OC Richard]

I don't know why he's called a DRUM major.

In the military, he's the highest-ranking drummer in the pipes & drums.

In civilian pipe bands it's a different story. Many civilian pipe bands don't have a drum major.

Rather, drum majors compete at Highland Games against each other. Some of the competing drum majors aren't attached to any specific band.

Around here, some drum majors have uniforms to match two or three different bands, and will do gigs with those bands.

ALL the drummers are in darker tartan kilts...

Military drummers have generally worn the ordinary uniform of their regiment, while pipers have long worn unique uniforms different to any other members of their regiment.

This includes the dark green doublet (originally specific to pipers, later spreading to the rest of the soldiers), wide black leather dirk belt and sword belt with silver fittings, etc.

In the Black Watch it so happens that the pipers wear Royal Stewart tartan kilts rather than Black Watch kilts.

In non-kilted regiments, for example the Scots Guards, the drummers (like the rest of the regiment) are in black trousers with bearskins while the pipers alone are in Highland Dress.

Here are members of the Scots Guards military band (that is, brass & woodwind) at right, pipers at centre, and a Pipes & Drums drummer far left.

You can see that drummers wear a uniform similar to the band, which is in turn similar to the ordinary Scots Guards soldiers, however as you see the drummers' tunics are quite ornate with crown lace (braid).

People often confuse the bearskin headdress worn by the Guards with the feather bonnets worn in Highland Dress. As you can see they look quite different to each other.