Parade concerts occupy a special place in activities of modern military bands. Years of practice show that the most relevant form of the parade concert performance entails two parts: a march parade and a concert section. The bandmaster uses the manual conductor’s technique in the concert section, while a twirling baton is used to manage the band in the march parade, the bandmaster of which is called the drum major or “tamburmajor”.This article describes the origin and functional particularities of the drum major’s position in the armed forces of Europe and Russia. Throughout the entire period of the position’s existence, the uniform of drum majors has been notable for its splendor, picturesqueness and dress-up severity. Apart from managing the band on the march and training of musicians, other requirements could be imposed on drum majors in the 17th and 18th centuries. Moreover, this article considers the topical issue of a correct term for the tamburstock (twirling baton).The author puts forward an assumption of a connection between the tamburstock and the battuta: their formal and functional similarity help to determine the most likely time of appearance of the twirling baton — tamburstock. The obvious influence of German music culture on the development of Russian military music since the time of Peter I explains our term “tamburstock” for the twirling baton.The criteria and methods of using the twirling baton emphasize its importance when conducting a band and express the colorfulness and improvisation features typical for a parade concert. The inclusion of the new “majorettes” genre in the program section of band performances is conditioned by the fact of its active development not only in the United States and Europe, but also in Russia. Due to the operational versatility and widespread demand of the tamburstock in recent decades, there has been an interest in its use by military musical groups of Asian countries.