A drumoff is a competition between 2 or more high school or university marching band

Marching band

Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...

 drumline

Drumline

A drumline is a section of percussion instruments usually played as part of a musical marching ensemble. High school and college marching bands, drill and drum corps, drum and bugle corps, indoor percussion ensembles, and pipe bands usually incorporate drumlines; however, drumlines can exist...

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Usually, the set contains 3 or more cadences from each side. These are usually the most challenging or visually impressive pieces in the drumline's repertoire. Drumoffs generally take place at half-time or during the third quarter interval of a football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

game. Occasionally, drumoff competitions or tournaments are organized in which the competing drumlines are judged on criteria such as musicianship, visual impact, crowd involvement, and general entertainment value.

Sets can include anywhere from standard cadences, solo exhibitions, or even full-ensemble acts incorporating both battery and keyboard instrumentation.