Klarinet Archive - Posting 000003.txt from 1994/11

From: David Lechner <dlechner@-----.NET>
Subj: Re: Navy Band or Symphony?
Date: Tue, 1 Nov 1994 10:35:38 -0500

On Mon, 31 Oct 1994, Chris W. Castillo wrote:

>
> Is anyone in or know anything about the Navy Band? I'm trying to find
> out if they make money at all. That's one of my options (I always
> dreamed of being an officer in the Navy).

[some stuff editted out]

When I was an undergraduate at Yale in the early `70's there were a
number of people in the graduate level music program (I knew them from
the concert band, though I was not myself a music major.) who had been in
military bands and then returned to school after leaving the service. It
used to be a fairly good way to get funding for college if a person was
good enough to get in. I also remember a high school band director I
knew who had funded his studies by playing saxophone for a hitch in the
army. However, a _lot_ has changed in the military in the last twenty
years and I would ask any recruiter I spoke with to carefully spell out
the specifics and conditions of my assignment before I signed my enlistment
papers. I taught German and English for several years in the `80's to soldiers
stationed in (then "West") Germany and witnessed a lot of situations in
which someone was promised the opportunity to take classes and then
shanghai'ed into driving some bozo lieutenant's jeep when he/she was
supposed to be attending my German 101 (or whatever) class.

This is straying from the group's focus, so I'll close by saying
that I think military band work might offer excellent potential as a
stepping stone, but I would go in with my eyes open.

Perhaps someone here has more direct experience and can share it with you.

--David Lechner

   
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