The Drum Major Codex is a project fueled by years of passion, love, and dedication to the marching arts. The lessons I have learned, the pedagogy that I have strengthened, and the materials I have created over the years teaching countless students led to this book. This project had its difficulties, as anything worthwhile does, but the thing that kept me going when it was difficult was the knowledge of how beneficial this book could be to drum major students and band directors (especially new band directors with little to no drum major background).

The core reason as to why The Drum Major Codex exists is that I wanted to provide a resource for drum majors that I wish I had when I was one, and that would’ve made my life a lot easier and less confusing at the time. Many people who seek to become drum majors, or already are, are intimately familiar with being too hard on themselves for the mistakes that they make and things not going well. It is easy to blame yourself for what goes wrong, even if it's because of the things that you don’t know what you don’t know. At times, being a drum major can feel like it is a “trial by fire” where you have to throw yourself into it and try your best to keep your head above water, resulting in shaken self-confidence and higher levels of self-doubt. The purpose of the DMC is to clear up that uncertainty, doubt, and lack of clarity by providing a detailed, drum major-specific resource for the learner (or the educator who will go on to teach this information to their drum major students).