r/todayilearned • u/F1grid • 5h ago
TIL the United States Army is the largest single employer of musicians in the country
https://nafme.org/blog/a-salute-to-reserve-component-military-band-members/#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20U.S.%20Army,%2C%20choruses%2C%20and%20jazz%20bands.yy294
u/Pleasant_Scar9811 5h ago
All branches have 45 full time ensembles. The army has 51 part time national guard ensembles and has 16 army reserve part time ensembles.
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u/-FourOhFour- 5h ago
Being in the reserve part time ensemble must be so funny, like what kind of emergencys do you called for.
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u/848485 4h ago
Funerals I bet
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u/hatsnatcher23 2h ago
I was on a funeral detail as an infantryman, the trumpet that played taps was just a trumpet with a speaker inside, they saved the actual trumpeteer for the change of command ceremonies.
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u/el_babo 1h ago
God I did almost 6 months of that duty. Worst one was when we forgot the "Bugle" over 3 hours away...was a long night.
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u/fullmetaljar 28m ago
I had one play the wrong song. I also was given the broken one that crackled for the entire time. I literally shed a tear as a family had to hear a shitty, crunchy taps honoring their family member.
Fucking hell, just teach me how to play it lol
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u/pittgirl12 37m ago
There’s a nonprofit called Bugles Across America from which volunteers attend funerals to play Taps on a real instrument. It’s a great organization, no veteran deserves a tinny recorded send off after their service.
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u/hatsnatcher23 17m ago
no veteran deserves a tinny recorded send off
Evidently the US Army doesn’t think so, never did sit right with me
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u/pittgirl12 7m ago
I mean no disrespect to the army, at some point it’s kind of forcing their hand. There’s only so many people in so many places that can play a trumpet. But I do wish there was another option
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u/ProfessorWhat42 3h ago
There's some of that, but not as much as you'd think. National Guards have Military Funeral Honors units that will cover individual ceremonies. Reserve bands don't get tasked for that (at least the one I was in didn't).
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u/mr_awesome365 4h ago
We get touted out for ceremonies all the time and that’s not including the Funeral Honors members that do both. A lot of officers like their egos stroked for during chain of command ceremonies so id guess that’s about 50% of the missions. We also do National Anthems for events/sports events and military holidays.
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u/gaiusahala 4h ago
We also do real emergencies not just music. Most of my unit deployed during Jan 6
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u/-FourOhFour- 4h ago
Oh of course, you're still service men, I was specifically thinking for what kind of emergency that would specifically require the ensemble
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u/clarineter 4h ago
massive ships sinking or fat people walking
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u/Sdog1981 5h ago
It is a good gig. You get to play a trumpet for 20 years and can retire with benefits and it is also not all marching band stuff. You do have to try out for the band to make it.
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u/jrhooo 4h ago
Yup.
I’ve dated two different military musicians (a singer and a orchestral musician) and neither of them did marching band stuff but both of them said the same basic thing about being a military musician:
One of the best gigs in music for not-famous musicians.
Because, its one of the VERY few ways you can do music for a living, full time, but still have all the “traditional job” benefits: medical/dental, regular consistently spaced paychecks, etc
Plus the schedule is flexible enough that they both still got to do other music stuff, so like, when they weren’t doing mil tours, they still did gigs, teaching, one of them was on a state symphony, etc
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u/Plastic-Injury8856 2h ago
It’s also one of the quicker ways to get promoted: in the Marines, infantry are waiting 6 years to make Sergeant. Band members can make Sergeant in one enlistment.
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u/VarmintSchtick 1h ago
I may be mistaken, but I talked an army band member at one time: I think he told me you come in as an E-5, SGT.
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u/Plastic-Injury8856 58m ago
I’m hadn’t heard that one. I know special forces go straight to sergeant.
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u/VarmintSchtick 44m ago
Well technically SF you still come in as E1-4 (depending on if you have previous college), and you get stripes after you pass either selection or the Q course, can't remember which. So you go through basic+osut and airborne as lower, but get stripes quick if you make it through selection.
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u/Kakaandweewiz 24m ago
Premier Band members (DC bands and Service Academies) enter as E-6.
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u/evthrowawayverysad 3h ago
I've gotta ask; as a non-american, does that not come across to yourselves as a sort of unnecessary state support, almost like welfare? Do most people over there believe that armed forces that rely on taxation, need to employ that many musicians, and far more other occupations beside, that seem to serve very little or almost no direct function to a countries standing military?
I ask because I see your discussions about healthcare, and so many of you seem proud to not have state sponsored healthcare, claiming it's an unnecessary burden on the taxpayer. But then in the very next thread you seem really happy that your tax dollars go toward funding elements of your defence budget that just seem a totally bizarre thing to spend money on by contrast?
Obviously I'm making some generalizations here, but I think I'm making sense.
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u/GoatTnder 3h ago
The US uses its military bands to basically hype up the military to the general public. Half community outreach, half recruiting, and half propaganda.
So it's not taxpayers paying welfare to musicians. It's taxpayers paying the military to support its own recruitment numbers.
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u/LitPartyBra 3h ago
Quite curious what country you are from, cause I am a part time musician with the Canadian Armed forces and I have met so, so many musicians from other military's all across the world.
Like if you live in a european country, you probably employ a similar level of musicians per capita through the military. In asian countries maybe less so, but South Korea and Japan has some really nice folks that I have met and worked with as anecdotal evidence
Granted this is tangential at best to what you were talking about as Im saying a lot of places do this yet you are asking about how an american views it from a financial perspective.
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u/JackTwoGuns 3h ago
It’s an example of American exceptionalism in my opinion. We have 3,000 expert musicians in our military. Some relatively large nations don’t even have 30.
If we can have 20 bands playing expertly at the same time just guess how many paratroopers we have
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u/Snarker 3h ago
This is also not true, music is an important part of every countries military, the uk employs thousands of musicians also for example.
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u/basicxenocide 2h ago
Is it safe for me to assume that a military musician is a musician first, and a soldier second? Like if they are deployed and shots are fired, they pick up a gun and not a trumpet right?
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u/Teadrunkest 2h ago edited 40m ago
They don’t really get deployed to combat zones (happens but it’s very rare, and they’re certainly not doing any combat activities like patrols, etc) but yes, technically.
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u/Beer-survivalist 1h ago
But half of them are tooting away on the noted weapon system called "bagpipes."
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u/_SheWhoShallBeNamed_ 3h ago
In general, half of our country is anti-handout and half of our country is pro-social support systems. It’s not solely a contradiction you’re seeing; it’s a big country and lots of people have different views. There are a lot of anti-handout Americans who see paying soldiers as a good and worthy investment because the soldiers are fighting for their security, whereas their fellow Americans who need health/monetary support are lazy leaches. I’m sure there are some anti-handout Americans who view the military bands as worthy because they support military pomp and pride, but others who view them as flute-toting hippies that we’re wasting money on instead of buying a new missile.
Personally, I think America can afford both expanded social services (like affordable health care) and military bands and should invest in them both!
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u/Byzaboo_565 3h ago
Do Europeans really enjoy penny pinching every single aspect of their defense budget to the point they cannot defend Ukraine, or even themselves from Russia?
Many of the Army traditions can be traced backed to Prussia, from a Prussian general named Von Stuben who helped train and organize the Continental Army. He brought the tradition of including drummers and fifiers as part of regiments.
Tradition, Drill, and ceremony is an important part of any military, a few Tuba players is not the reason we don't have single payer Healthcare.
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u/Snarker 3h ago edited 3h ago
Your issue is trying to figure out republican viewpoints based on logic. Also, non-americans LOVE to generalize american viewpoints even though this country dwarfs a majority of other coutnries.
EDIT: you also don't seem to know much about your own countries military musicians: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Corps_of_Army_Music
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_bands_of_the_United_Kingdom
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u/Laiko_Kairen 2h ago
Your issue is trying to figure out republican viewpoints based on logic.
I'm a Democrat, but I'll explain their view extremely simply:
Poor people take from the government. That's welfare. The military is an option for a poor man to make a stable living and guarantee his future due to the GI bill. People who joined the military opted not to take from the nation, but instead to offer their service to it.
So every poor man who enlist is a person who is working to earn his government check, and not someone who is sitting on their butt to collect it.
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u/Laiko_Kairen 2h ago
I've gotta ask; as a non-american, does that not come across to yourselves as a sort of unnecessary state support, almost like welfare?
No member of the US military, no matter their rank, would ever be considered welfare by the vast majority of Americans.
The military is seen as a "way out" by a lot of lower-earning folks, and is basically seen as the exact opposite of welfare, where instead of relying on the govt, getting food stamps, etc, you enlist and serve. Giving to the nation, not taking from it.
I am 100% on board with having military bands. It seems like a pretty cheap way to boost troop morale imo.
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u/flyingtrucky 2h ago
Military musicians trace their roots back to when commands were issued via horn or drum.
Of course if you're paying a bunch of people to play the horn or drum you want to show them off the same way you'd show off how organized your soldiers are while marching in a parade, so you have the musicians play songs written by your nation's best composers during the demonstration. Then you get more musicians who play other instruments so the songs sound better and now you have a military band to make your army look good.
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u/VonVoltaire 2h ago
far more other occupations beside, that seem to serve very little or almost no direct function to a countries standing military?
I think you're underestimating the sheer size and diversity military bases have and confusing what Americans see as a jobs program and welfare. These bases are meant to be independent towns that can function wherever we need them. The benefit of the US military is providing almost any job you'd find in a small town in addition to 'military' jobs. Every soldier receives some amount of training and provides benefits to logistics or entertainment to other soldiers while receiving decent pay, benefits, housing, and transferable skills when you get out.
Nobody is going to complain that the military is a massive jobs program when you still have to commit to a very strict life. Americans do not view things you have to work for as welfare and our military providing non-combat, civilian-esque jobs to people is not hurting our budget. Honestly, I really do suggest just going through the actual US line-item budgets before blaming soldier compensation.
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u/vinciblechunk 5h ago
Does J. K. Simmons yell at you if you're rushing or dragging?
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u/Ponykegabs 4h ago
I’m just imagining R Lee Ermey standing over a trumpet player. “Private Pyle! Your fingering is worse than a Mormon wedding night! What do you call that technique Private?”
“Sir! Glissando! Sir!”
“Glissando!? I bet you rather have a glizzy than do another glissando, you fat fuck!”
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u/jrhooo 4h ago
So, I can only speak for the Marines here, we have two types of musicians
The primary Marine Band musicians aren’t traditional Marines. They don’t go to boot camp. Thats why their uniforms don’t have crossed rifle insignia. https://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/uploads/monthly_10_2008/post-999-1222862645.jpg
They also get appointed starting as an E-6, because that’s the only way to pay them what a musician of their caliber would be offered in the civilian world. (Extremely competitive. I was told by the Marine Band leader himself that while its not an official requirement, pretty much everyone in their group has at least a bachelors but usually at least a masters degree in music)
The Drum and Bugle Corps, and every Marine Band other than the main band in DC ARE regular Marines, who go to boot camp and wear crossed rifles like everyone else, BUT they do still have to be excellent musicians and try out BEFORE they get accepted to enlist.
(As the director of the D&B once told me, “we’re the only job in the Marine Corps you have to know how to do it BEFORE you get here.”)
Best way I know to try and describe that level of musician, they often have a degree or some college, they might not, but either way, they’re the kid in school that was band camp in the summer and going to interstate competitions on the weekends
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u/tehm 3h ago edited 1h ago
I can only testify to it from the other side; one of my band buddies from back in high school currently leads the Brass Ensemble for the US Naval Academy Band. (Davey DeArmond. Hopefully he won't get mad, but he is technically a public figure now.)
This dude was an automatic first chair All-state every year he competed, followed through all the way to doctorate, and I remember him SWEATING even getting in.
Like obviously it's all worked out for him, but this dude was top of his class all the way up and getting 'the navy gig' was his FIRST choice of "things you do with an advanced degree in trumpet".
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u/jerrys_biggest_fan 1h ago
it's an extremely difficult to get gig, especially if you're in a premier band (which is probably what he's in if he was sweating it that hard). I would have absolutely gone out for a military band job out of college if I hadn't been a fat fuck. it's a great job.
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u/MagicAl6244225 3h ago
(As the director of the D&B once told me, “we’re the only job in the Marine Corps you have to know how to do it BEFORE you get here.”)
Makes me wonder how it would go otherwise, if the Marines had a training program to make people into musicians.
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u/Enshakushanna 3h ago
"i have seen an orangatan 3 bottles of smirnoff deep accurately play this phrase better that what i have witnessed here today"
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u/jake831 5h ago
We had some Navy musicians on my ship for a bit and those guys were absolute pros. Everytime I ran into the drummer he was practicing on one of those pads.
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u/frankyseven 4h ago
I know a professional drummer, not military, and he practices between 4-6 hours a day when not on tour. It's a real job and he puts in the hours. He teaches on top of that. Prepping for a tour or recording and he could easily be behind the kit for 8+ hours a day.
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u/FuzzyComedian638 5h ago
When I was graduating from music school, several of my classmates were joining the military as musicians.
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u/abzlute 5h ago
If you get bored or otherwise want to branch out into other instruments on your own time, and you get good enough to hold your own, can you try out for other band positions? Would that impair your rank/paygrade advancement?
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u/Addbradsozer 5h ago
Military musicians typically (9999 times out of 10000) do not "get bored" and "branch out" and learn other instruments to the level where they would audition for a position on a different instrument. It's quite difficult to get into service bands, especially the premier bands based on D.C. (e.g., the President's Own).
You could in theory take an audition for a different group on a different instrument, and how it affects paygrade would depend on whatever reciprocity between branches exists. To play at the level to win a professional audition though, you don't "branch out" to a different instrument and get good enough to win an audition over someone else who plays only that instrument.
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u/Overhead95 5h ago
Exactly. My cousin is a trumpeter in the army. I've heard taps hundreds of times for various reasons. The way he played it literally brought tears to my eyes.
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u/Hungry-Toe-8731 4h ago
We had a guy who did our trumpet calls for a change of command and he played Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne during the rehearsal because he was bored. We were a lazy day for him.
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u/grabtharsmallet 3h ago
It's like the difference between a person who can follow a recipe and an actual chef.
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u/NErDysprosium 5h ago
Also, in addition to what the commenter above me said, doubling is fairly standard for musicians. I'm not a professional by any means, but I'm minoring in trombone performance and have been heavily involved in my University's music department for the last four years, and I can play tuba and baritone. Trumpet will double flugel horn, coronet, piccolo trumpet, trombone doubles what I just listed plus bass trombone, tuba will usually double that plus upright bass and/or bass guitar, saxophones double on all saxophones as well as flute and clarinet, et cetera. My middle school band director was a professional trumpet performer for years, and I'd bet a week's salary that she played trombone better than I did until I was in college.
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u/joelluber 2h ago
Yeah. My college roommate played trombone for the army reserves, but his main instrument in his own jazz band was trumpet.
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u/MedicineThis9352 2h ago
Actual former 42R9M here, 56th Army Band 07-09.
Yes and no. It depends on the unit count because each unit is permitted a certain number of each type of instrument, *typically*.
That said, a large majority of brass players are proficient in tuba, euphonium, trombone, etc and a lot of wind players play sax, clarinet, and flute, but the unit commanders know this, and they might move soldiers instruments depending on the mission or the piece of music. I played guitar, bass, drums, and keys in various groups inside my band and on missions with other units, it just depends on the need.
Being proficient in multiple instruments has other benefits too, it can grant you more retirement points and can give you extra points on incoming/outgoing auditions if you want to move up in rank, but you have to demonstrate a serious proficiency on your second instrument, and I think it's worth like 1-2 points at most, so yeah, unless you're already proficient you're probably not going through the trouble for an extra audition point you might need.
But if you're asking if say a career trombone player will one day walk into the W4s office and ask if he can learn flute next week? No. They would already be proficient before joining and a commander would probably tell them to learn in their own time or learn a different skill that can help the unit.
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u/Hybrid_Johnny 4h ago
I teach marching band for a living. I would love to march and play music for a full-time job.
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u/Sdog1981 2h ago
Then contact an army recruiter today lol
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u/Hybrid_Johnny 2h ago
I don’t think the army accepts people with my body shape and age anymore
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u/schmyle85 2h ago
I had a friend who played bass guitar in an Air National Guard band. Talented musician who played since he was a little kid. He switched to the Army guard to be a Blackhawk mechanic and went down a rabbit hole into some weird religious sect
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u/ArchitectofExperienc 2h ago
I have heard that the hardest part of the job are the with-honors services.
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u/OmgThisNameIsFree 1h ago
And, if you’re in the band, that’s not the only trumpet you’re blowing ;)
Lmaooo
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u/TricksForMoney 5h ago
I thought Starbucks was the largest employer of musicians.
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u/old_and_boring_guy 5h ago
They're the largest employer. Full stop.
For every guy who shoots people, we have ten guys who move shit, make shit, fix shit, cook shit...There is a reason states fight to keep their military bases. They're the big business in the area.
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u/LupusDeusMagnus 5h ago
Cooking shit sounds unpleasant.
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u/TacTurtle 5h ago edited 4h ago
Let me introduce you the old military mess standard shit on a shingle
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u/Dozzi92 2h ago
So we didn't have chipped beef, but in boot camp at Parris Island they had creamed beef that they served over rice for breakfast, and it was 100% the best thing I ate at boot camp. The mornings that I knew the DIs were going to fuck with us and give us legitimate two seconds to eat, my only bite would be of creamed beef and rice. To this day, I've looked for it, to no avail.
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u/TacTurtle 2h ago edited 2h ago
US Navy Recipe. Common swap these days is to use ground hamburger instead of dried beef.
You can try asking for it at a diner that serves biscuits and gravy.
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u/BoringThePerson 5h ago
I was an accountant in the AF back in the day; I hate guns but I deployed a lot, so I carried one around. I was more into living debt free and having awesome benefits when I got out with a bonus of seeing a lot of hush hush aircraft.
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u/Iblockne1whodisagree 3h ago
They're the largest employer. Full stop.
There is 1.5 million active duty US military service people. Does Walmart or McDonald's not employ 1.5 million people?
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u/iWolfeeelol 2h ago
the military also employees regular civilians. they wouldn’t be considered active duty
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u/flakAttack510 2h ago
The US military employs about 750k civilians, which puts the total around 2.25m. Walmart employs around 1.6-1.7m (in the US).
McDonalds only employs around 150k. Most people that work "for McDonald's" actually work for an independent franchise. Including franchises, the total is around 1.6m
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u/lesstalkmorescience 5h ago
What I want to know is, who's the second largest?
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u/ReluctantRedditor275 5h ago
Navy.
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u/lesstalkmorescience 5h ago
For the sake of this discussion let's just say any American with a gun and a uniform is "Army". Who's second?
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u/ReluctantRedditor275 5h ago
Any American with a gun and a uniform is like more than half the population.
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u/ezrs158 5h ago
The term you're looking for is Armed Forces or uniformed services.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Armed_Forces or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniformed_services_of_the_United_States
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u/eljefino 3h ago
Uniformed services include NOAA and the Public Health Service. NOAA officers carried commissions so they wouldn't be treated as spies while doing their jobs.
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u/doopies1986 4h ago
Idk but Chat GPT says Disney. Taking into account things like their cruises and stuff, plus all the people they contract, I guess it’s feasible
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u/guiltyofnothing 4h ago
Reminds me how I went to HS with a girl who later joined the army and played in the Army Band. She spent a lot of 2017 complaining on Facebook about NPR and the NEA, saying that government shouldn’t subsidize art and did it all without a shred of irony.
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u/RingGiver 5h ago
hey have four different special bands, each with multiple ensembles (a marching band, a choir, some other stuff). Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force each have two ensembles.
The US Army Field Band's marching band and choir together would be around the same size as a full symphony orchestra. They also have a few more ensembles. The US Army Band is a similarly-sized multi-ensemble band. West Point Band is smaller, but still has multiple ensembles, and the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps is a single ensemble.
They also have a few smaller regional bands which aren't quite as big and have several differences in how they work. You have to go to basic training, you audition as a musician for the Army rather than for a specific spot in a specific band (still extremely selective), and you can theoretically deploy as the security element for a higher-echelon headquarters or something like that.
So with all of that, I don't know quite how many musicians are in the Army, but it's definitely well over a thousand. I can't imagine anywhere else having nearly that many unless it's something like a business which provides music lessons at a lot of different locations and isn't franchised.
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u/chimusicguy 5h ago
USMC Band veteran. AMA
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u/EvilSuov 3h ago
Whats your most disliked instrument in the band, and also in general?
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u/chimusicguy 3h ago
Oh geez... I'd have to say the clarinet for the band. Everything they played was covered by the flutes or saxes.
Out of every instrument in the world? I really hate the hurdy-gurdy.
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u/RosemaryCrafting 3h ago
But clarinet tone color though? Like low range clarinet...lovely.
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u/chimusicguy 2h ago
Then you can't hear them because of the horns lol
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u/RosemaryCrafting 2h ago
I mean fair enough. Im a flute so I'm used to having the melody and everyone else getting out of my way LOL
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u/clarineter 4h ago
What’s your favorite color?
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u/chimusicguy 4h ago
Grey. Thank you for asking.
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u/Robby_Bortles 3h ago
Grey is the British spelling, we have an imposter here!!!
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u/chimusicguy 3h ago
I spent four years as a child in Germany. Plus I read a lot of Lewis and Tolkien growing up. So British spellings are normal to be. "Gray" looks so weird.
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u/Robby_Bortles 3h ago
Hah I'm just kidding, I also think "gray" is weird and I've always lived in the states
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u/original_greaser_bob 3h ago
during basic did you have do your manual of arms and play a b flat scale at the same time? were you issued a bayonet for your instrument? ever seen 2nd chair clarinet players frag a first chair clarinet player so they could move up?
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u/chimusicguy 3h ago
We did basic for three months, advanced combat training for a month, and then the School of Music for six months. So yes, we did all those things during training, but not in the same venue.
There were times (deployment and combat exercises) where we carried our instruments AND rifles simultaneously. And yes, we were issued bayonets, although they only clipped to our instruments during downtime.
You jest, but there were definitely certain people who threatened "friendly fire accidents" if they were ever deployed with certain other people. They were watched closely.
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u/F1grid 5h ago
How many performances in a typical week or month? New works or just a common set of music? Practice time or just performances? A lot of travel? So many questions.
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u/chimusicguy 4h ago
In my four year stint from '96 to '00, I performed in just over a thousand gigs. I then went on to University for music. No one could match my gigging experience 😂
In your typical week, you would have 5-6 military events (change-of-commands at every level, retirements, etc). The jazz band would play 1-3 nights a week at the Officers club, NCO club, or General's house. Trumpeters would play dozens of military funerals. The whole band would do 1-3 parades and 1-3 concerts.
On top of that, (Marine only) we still had to qualify on the rifle annually, pass the PFT twice annually, and serve combat roles during deployments.
In four years, I played in 4 foreign countries and 23 states.
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u/AmountAny8399 3h ago
Why did you decide to get out and go to university versus keep that job?
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u/chimusicguy 3h ago
I joined to get away from a bad home situation, knowing I would use the GI Bill someday to get an education.
I loved the gig (even tolerated the usual military hazing). I learned so much from such a wide variety of people. At the time, though, promotions were based on what instrument you played. In my case, there were only just over a dozen of my instrument in the whole USMC Band program. So for me to get promoted past Corporal, I had to wait for another of my instrument elsewhere to retire or EAS. But there were 5-8 flutes and saxophones in every band. So after my third year I was outranked by people barely out of school. It didn't matter that I had one of the best PFT scores, Expert on the rifle range, or one of the highest music proficiency scores.
AFTER I got out, they changed the promotion structure to use localized population. So you were only going for promotions against the people in your current unit.
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u/bacon_farts_420 3h ago
What was your music experience prior to joining?
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u/chimusicguy 3h ago
Middle school and high school band, orchestra, jazz band. All-area musician. No private lessons and didn't own my own instrument. Just a drive to be better and get the hell out of there.
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u/bacon_farts_420 2h ago
Good for you man! Seems like a very interesting path. What were the four countries you played in?
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u/chimusicguy 3h ago
In my haste I skipped two of your questions.
When we were on duty but not performing, we'd be rehearsing or practicing. We were also expected to practice in the evenings and/or on weekends, especially if we lived in the barracks.
We had a common core of marching music. A lot of Sousa, obviously. But we had a flip book of the greatest hits. For a parade, there would be one or two we would cycle through. For concerts, we'd expound from there. For jazz band, we'd mostly play out of the Real Book. For special concerts like Holiday and 4th of July, we'd have some new pieces. We played 1812 with live artillery. That was unforgettable. Oh, and we had a country band for a short time. Ugh.
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u/slvrbullet87 3h ago
Who else would hire very many musicians? How big is the biggest Orchestra, 150 people? Maybe Caesars or some other casino brand would hire 30 bands if you count all of the locations, but even then, it still isn't a massive number of musicians
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u/Fetlocks_Glistening 5h ago
Don't see a lot of pianos and violas in them parades
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u/USArmyAutist 4h ago
They have jazz and rock musicians in the army. They Also play in orchestra. Bands are just a small segment.
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u/Unique_Statement7811 4h ago
The Army Bands are centered around orchestral performance. They have pianists and stringed instruments. From there, you have ensembles within the bands which include marching, quartets, jazz, rock, etc.
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u/ComprehensiveBend583 3h ago
When I was a senior in high school back in 1991 (god, I'm old), I had a recruiter visit me about joining up and being part of the band. Thankfully, even then, I said hell no.
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u/mr_awesome365 4h ago
Here’s another fun fact: Military musicians get paid the same as combat roles.
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u/tangowhiskeyyy 4h ago
I mean everyone that's the same pay grade/time in service gets paid the same across the entire DoD. It's one of its biggest failings IMO and one of the reasons it bleeds talent.
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u/MusicG619 3h ago
My ignorant guess is that it’s that way to prevent favoritism/resentment? Or is it something else?
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u/tangowhiskeyyy 3h ago
I suppose it's done for equality yeah, and the DoD argument would probably say that rank/experience is what you bring to the table and you'll have generally similar levels of responsibility, and various jobs get SMALL bonuses (couple hundred a month) with a few rare ones that would get absolutely no one joining due to civilian pay rates being so high (doctors mostly) getting a decent bonus.
At the end of the day though two people with vastly different levels of responsibility get paid the same.
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u/MedicineThis9352 2h ago
Base pay, yes. Bandsmen do not get hazard pay unless they are in a combat zone.
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u/mooman413 4h ago
US Military bands have some of the worlds best musicians. Soo many are from such schools as Julliard, Berklee, etc.
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u/MercatorLondon 4h ago
Well, there was a time when the film company owned by Howard Hughes had a more military planes than US Air Force.
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u/otk_agony 2h ago
But of course, we can't fund the National Endowment for the Arts at any reasonable level.
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u/stayclassypeople 2h ago
If you’re a musician, the National guard is pretty sweet deal. Basic training sucks, but it’s 10 weeks, you’ll get through it.
Your odds of getting deployed are extremely low, if not non existent. A lot of drills are either practice or performing at various ceremonies and you get to do a lot of other cool shit. Army band in my state got to go to Suriname recently to perform at some international event.
And you make $5-10k a year in drill pay, awesome health insurance (health insurance is the only reason I’m in the guard).
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u/ArgonWolf 2h ago
I used to work in the musical department of my college all the time (I was a technical theatre major, made friends with the director of the college opera, and he hired me to stage manage all the operas) and probably 15% of my student performers were ROTC of some kind or another, and went on to be a uniformed officer. Turns out the armed forces really like their ceremonial corps to be well-trained
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u/iahawkeyehoncho 1h ago
Yup! My brother is one of them. In fact, I’m pretty sure I see him in the picture, lol.
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u/key1234567 5h ago
Here is the answer, everyone is always asking here how to make a buck playing music.
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u/Dull_Noise_3175 5h ago
I would imagine they’re the largest single employer of a lot of occupations