The history of Cal Percussion goes back to the origin of the Cal Band. As quoted from the Cal Band History Committee of our Alumni Association:

"The University Cadet Band, the predecessor of the present-day Cal Band, was founded in 1891. After the ROTC absorbed the Cadets, the band members asked the ASUC to sponsor a student-run band which first performed on November 25, 1923. As the Band continued to grow, the first Constitution was written and adopted in 1925, formalizing the unique system of student leadership which continues to this day."

During these times, our drumline consisted of—as was the case for many drum corps and marching bands with a history rooted in Cadets or ROTC—the snare drum, the bass drum, and the cymbals. As the Cal Band grew, our percussion section eventually incorporated the use of the marching glockenspiel—a smaller version of the xylophone or bells, carried about the shoulder and played with a single mallet—and the tenor drums.

Today, Cal Percussion marches these five instruments within the Cal Band, and each plays an indispensable and integral role in the Band and in the section. The percussion sections of many marching bands and drum corps often contain a group of non-marching mallet percussionists, or the pit; as such, these drumlines will typically divide their percussion section into the battery, consisting of the marchers (i.e. snare drums, tenor drums, bass drums, and cymbals), and the pit. However, since Cal Percussion's mallets can be found marching on the field in the visage of a glockenspiel player (or, abbreviated, a "glock"), we divide our percussion section into two categories: the battery (bass drums, tenor drums, snare drums), and the glocks & cymbals, or, as they are endearingly called, the glymbals.

The Cal Percussion culture is a thriving, dynamic one. Cal Percussionists bring in whatever experiences they had before enrollment, and that experience adds to the quality of the line. The structure and nature of the Cal Band, being that it is student-run, has enabled its percussion section to evolve and grow, influenced by various backgrounds in percussion. There is no doubt in our minds that we have the privilege of representing the greatest public university in the world in a very distinct and special way, and that we are California Golden Bears through and through.

Go Bears!