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Re: military band question

Author: crnichols
Date: 2008-06-02 02:32

I speak from an Army point of view as I understand it.
It is possible, but difficult if you're not in a MACOM band (these are bands that work for 4-star general officers).
The reason for this is additional duties are less time-consuming for the band members as they are usually more heavily staffed, and more time can be devoted to musical development (i.e. practicing and study).
When you're working full-time in a line band, it's tough to keep up with the students you're competing against in terms of preparing for the auditions. Also, the style of playing required by a regular band in comparison to a premier band is a bit different. The instrumentation commonly encountered in regular army bands allows for 4-5 clarinets, and often these sections are understrength. You may me one of three clarinets competing with six trumpets. Premier bands usually have the 2 to 1 balance the other way. Basically, line bandsmen often play too loud to fit into a premier band clarinet section. An audition coordinator for one of these bands clued me into this. I'm not aware of anyone that has recently made this jump in the food chain. I think Tom Puwalski, a regular poster on the BBoard, did make this jump, but that was quite some time ago.
"Seniority" only exists (and is also largely dependent on the commander of the ensemble) in the instance that a civilian and an existing soldier are deemed equally qualified. In this instance, the existing soldier may be offered the position over the civilian as they are a "guaranteed" hire. There is no chance that they'll be hired only to drop out of basic training thus wasting an entire audition process.
Truth be told, the whole thing boils down to who can do the job best!

Christopher Nichols, D.M.A.
Assistant Professor of Clarinet
University of Delaware

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