Sailor's Corner: March Band Dorks?
“Music is the literature of the heart; it commences where speech ends.”
― Alphonse de Lamartine
It’s like I blinked and it’s 2015. December was filled with music, merry-making, a large-scale production and a Midwest Conference. As if that wasn’t enough of a whirlwind, the next few weeks were filled with family and children, lots and lots of wrapping paper, and very little quiet time.
I entered the building earlier this month for the first time since the New Year. All is the same, except for one thing: I have now been a member of the U.S. Navy Band for officially one year. This time last year, I was gallivanting around the area, getting fitted for uniforms, meeting with officers, and getting acquainted with the beltway. Now I have all my uniforms, I’ve met all the officers, and the beltway and I have continue to duke it out during my morning commute.
But it’s essentially a gift to walk into a place prepared to make music. I don’t ever take this for granted. Maybe you’ve seen the video of Sportscaster Jim Rome’s now infamous tweet calling out marching band members as “dorks”. Well, he got eloquently schooled by Sgt. 1st Class Lauren Curran about what it is that military bands actually do.
“The character is much more important to us than whether or not something seems cool,” she states, after encouraging him to join a rehearsal with the Army Field Band to see firsthand the discipline, technique and difficulty of the kind of training they have to go through every day. I’ll definitely be following this story in the hopes that Mr. Rome will take her up on the offer. Thank you, Sgt. Curran, for speaking so well on behalf of military bands.
--Musician 1st Class Maia Rodriguez
