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 Too Many Military Bands?
Author: GeorgeL 2017
Date:   2010-08-24 14:25

There is an article/opinion in today's Washington Post about the number of military bands. While it may not make sense for the article to be rehashed here, some knowledgeable people may want to add their thoughts to the Post's comment section.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/23/AR2010082304711.html?hpid=topnews



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 Re: Too Many Military Bands?
Author: David Spiegelthal 2017
Date:   2010-08-24 15:27

As a Washington Dc-area resident, I'm of two minds about the subject. On the one hand, I have many friends and acquaintances who are retired or current military band members. On the other hand, the presence of so many competent military musicians around here, who have a recognizable 'pedigree' to music contractors and such, has made it very hard for civilians such as myself to get gigs (even non-paying ones) with local bands and orchestras.

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 Re: Too Many Military Bands?
Author: Ed Palanker 
Date:   2010-08-24 15:35

Well even though my tax money goes towards paying for all those bands and our orchestra's are suffering and get little if any gov't money I say. TGFMBs. Music is a hard enough profession to get a decent paying job and the military bands offer many of our outstanding musicians a way to make a living and serve our nations soldiers and communities at the same time. If it weren't for those bands I would have many more former students unemployed in the music field then I do already and that goes for many other teachers as well. Go Military Bands! ESP http://eddiesclarinet.com

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 Re: Too Many Military Bands?
Author: Paul Aviles 
Date:   2010-08-24 23:05

As a military band booster myself, my initial reaction is OF COURSE YOU NEED MORE MILITARY BANDS !!!!! There used to be MANY more in years past and the argument for chipping away at the existing ones is usually strictly monetary. The monetary argument is a false one in that a band's budget pales immeasurably compared with that of bullets, tanks, airplanes, etc, and yet you reap so much in terms of morale and community relations (also recruiting) that they are an economic steal.


The above mention of competition for local musicians is valid in D. C., however I would humbly submit a second to Ed Palanker's comment that the military positions themselves are employment that would not have been there at all without the military bands.


WE NEED MORE MILITARY BANDS !!!!!!



...................Paul Aviles

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 Re: Too Many Military Bands?
Author: DAVE 
Date:   2010-08-25 00:40

I can't find the operating costs online for the entire military budget, but certainly it doesn't even approach the cost of this death machine:
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1912203_1913321,00.html

And they wanted to order 132 of these things!

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 Re: Too Many Military Bands?
Author: tonyl 
Date:   2010-08-25 01:00

Thanks Ed!

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 Re: Too Many Military Bands?
Author: GLHopkins 
Date:   2010-08-25 02:40

Obama's got too many czars, but not too many military bands.

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 Re: Too Many Military Bands?
Author: Lelia Loban 2017
Date:   2010-08-25 14:52

I don't think the military bands fall into the "waste, fraud and abuse" category. For one thing, as noted above, they cost a small fraction of the budget. The military bands I hear in the Washington, D. C. area make excellent music (not all of it traditionally military). I think The President's Own and the other top-level outfits are among the best concert bands in the country. As such, they boost morale and they also (to put it crudely) have propaganda value.

Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.

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 Re: Too Many Military Bands?
Author: redwine 
Date:   2010-09-08 19:20

Hello,

Luckily, the author of this article writes so poorly that, hopefully, noone will pay it any attention.

Ben Redwine, DMA
owner, RJ Music Group
Assistant Professor, The Catholic University of America
Selmer Paris artist
www.rjmusicgroup.com
www.redwinejazz.com
www.reedwizard.com



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 Re: Too Many Military Bands?
Author: Don Gross 
Date:   2010-09-08 23:47

How soon we forget. My great grandfather was the Bandmaster of both the 5th Cavalry and 10th Infantry Regiment bands from 1885-1905. Fortunately, he served in the post-Civil War era when military bands did not use back-firing brass instruments so that the troops behind them could hear them and be inspired as the bands led them into the bloody battles.



Post Edited (2010-09-08 23:55)

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 Re: Too Many Military Bands?
Author: Don Gross 
Date:   2010-09-08 23:51
Attachment:  George W. Gross & Frederick D. Gross.JPG (28k)

How soon we forget. My great grandfather Frederick D. Gross, (on the right; his brother, George W. Gross, the third Bandmaster of the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band on the left) was the Bandmaster of both the 5th Cavalry and 10th Infantry Regiment bands from 1885-1905. Fortunately, he served in the post-Civil War era when military bands did not use back-firing brass instruments so that the troops behind them could hear them and be inspired as the bands led them into the bloody battles.



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