bigdigit5

just wondering what everyone thinks of the military bands. i might go in their to play music for one of them

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(shaking hands) hi, my name is michael and im a much better trumpet player and musician than you.

beartrumpet74

I was a Navy musician for 4 years and toured extensively all around the world. I have a lot of opinions about military bands both good and bad. To tell you more, I would need to know more about you, and your musical goals.
If you are interested in hearing my thoughts just pm me on the site here and I will take the time to really get into any details you may want to hear.
Best wishes
Matt Lawson

777

I was in the Army band for 4 years. Can be a good experience.

Look heavily into the Air Force & Navy bands. They are typically of a better calibur, but more importantly, they seem to allow you to be a musician more and a military person less than in the Army of Marines. In fact, I'd steer clear of the Marines altogether.

What kind of questions do you have?

Brad

stchasking

Don't you have to have a bachelors degree to get into a military band? I have a trumpet playing friend who, out of high school, joined the Air Force to play in the band and was sent to aircraft hydraulics school when he failed the audition.

I think times have changed. Do any of you have some good stories? Maybe some bad stories?

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ccNochops

Geez....2nd MAW band here, loved it, great musicians, great bands, best looking uniform of all the services.........Semper fi

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C130guy

Check out this video of a Navy band:

YouTube - Trumpet Solo - Virgin De La Macerena

wvtrumpet

Great gig! The DC bands are killer and really worth a look from any serious player. I wish I had gone that direction. My best friend is in the Army Blues, and they are a great group to be a part of. I have had other friends in the Presidents Own, etc.... Really a fantastic opportunity for a musician. Gotta admit and no offense to anyone that took part in one, but not sure I would want to be a part of a post band.

rowuk

The military bands vary in the type of gigs that they do depending where they are.
I was stationed in Stuttgart, Germany(Headquarters 7th Army) from 1974 to 1977 in the Army band. We played about 2/3rd public relations to 1/3 military gigs. It was great duty with a lot of great people. I learned a lot about survival on the road.
Volunteer for 3 years, if you like it - reenlist, if not you will have a lot of experience to show for the time invested! After passing the audition at West point, they looked up the positions available, and I volunteered for a specific band.
I think the air force requires a degree, the army doesn't.

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Shermy

I was in the Marine Band San Diego for 4 years. San Diego was nice...

It truly depends on quite a few factors on how good or bad the experience will be for you. My wife and I both enlisted in the Marine Corps as musicians. We were given a pitch from someone we knew in college that went through it and had a very positive experience. When we went in, we both had music degrees. We were 2 of 5 or 6 in the band that had degrees.

Our leadership (one of those factors that will determine your experience) was made up of a band officer (college grad who was in the ranks for about 6 yrs before becoming our officer), drum major (had about 16 years in and came in straight out of high school - an awesome leader), and enlisted band leader (had about 18 years in and came in straight out of high school). Our band officer was a yes man, which isn't that great when the leadership above him thinks the band needs to do every commitment that gets thrown at them.

Some of the other factors that may affect your experience is how your leadership treats you, what type of music you will be playing, what types of events you will be playing for, etc. At San Diego, because it was the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, we had to perform weekly graduations - standing out on the parade grounds while a few hundred new recruits ceremoniously graduated from boot camp. We would play the occassional Sousa or Alford march and then march them through "parade" with "Washington Post" or the like - I can still play all of the trumpet parts in my sleep. We'd also do morning colors ceremonies (again, lots of Sousa and Alford, and the occassional marching band versions of various things like movie themes, various pop music, etc.) We did a summer concert series which consisted of your basic (college level) wind ensemble repertoire. These concerts also consisted of opening with a "show band" (we did a Blues Brothers tribute and some other stuff from Tower of Power, Chicago, etc.).

The band wasn't all that bad. Most of the musicians could hold their own. When you rehearse together for 8+ hours a day, day in and day out, and then have performances on top of that, it's going to sound pretty good.

Our experience, if you can't already tell, wasn't that great. We got a little burnt out on music, and we were over worked, to say the least. Some of the positives; we've built some great lasting friendships, got to live in San Diego, saved a ton of money because we were married (got money for housing and food on top of our paycheck, so we were basically able to sock away our whole paycheck), got to play our instruments - even if it wasn't our favorite type of music. Some of the negatives; long hours, Sousa, bad leadership, Sousa, leadership in Quantico (HQ) that changed the policy on married couples (married couples would no longer be stationed together because when they are stationed together it lowers morale ?!?!?!?!?!!?), Sousa, the possibility of being stationed apart, with our current band officer, or enlisted band leader if we reenlisted.

Not all Sousa is bad. Just after playing it so much, it really got to me. I love Manhattan Beach.

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johnmarkpainter

As a kid I got to sit in with the Army Field Band/Concert Band.
They were REALLY good. I was only 14 but was getting recruited pretty hard for a while (I was playing in some local College groups).

I am personally 'allergic' to Sousa :)
But to hear it played that well was a great experience.

jmp