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Other former MTAs include CWO-3 Mike Laird, who leads the 2dMarDiv Band; Warrant Officer Stephen Giove, Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., Band; CWO-2 Forest Brown, III MEF Band; and CWO-2 Ben Bartholomew, 2d MAW Band. CWO-3 Laird and Master Gunnery Sergeant Matt Farquhar, enlisted conductor and staff noncommissioned OIC at the Navy School of Music, Naval Amphibious Base Norfolk, Va., were among the earliest MTAs. Several current drum majors and enlisted conductors also served as MTAs.
The assignment is a demanding one that requires long days and extensive travel throughout a multistate district. “Musician recruiters spend [a typical] week on the road giving career talks at schools, speaking to faculty and conducting auditions and clinics,” said Staff Sergeant Mike Stanley, an outstanding instrumentalist who served as small-ensemble leader and enlisted conductor before his selection as MTA of the 4th Marine Corps District, based in New Cumberland, Pa.
According to SSgt Stanley, MTAs also help schedule Marine band tours in their districts to support recruiting efforts. “Marine bands are the keepers of tradition,” he said. “The message of honor, courage and commitment is a story each of our bands will deliver with the Marine Corps story. There is no more powerful conduit for delivering this message than with a Marine band performance.”
MTAs work closely with local recruiters, training them to identify applicants with musical aspirations whom they can refer to the district MTA for an interview and audition. Those who qualify can be promised band duty under the Musician Enlistment Option Program, or MEOP, but qualifying isn’t easy.
The tightened audition process ensures that every musician will be able to perform at the Corps’ high standards. Each brass and woodwind applicant must demonstrate mastery of an instrument and knowledge of musical theory. They must perform a prepared solo, sight-read various styles of music and demonstrate an understanding of all major and minor scales “throughout the practical range of the instrument.” Percussionists face their own daunting requirements.
Few high school musicians can meet the high standards of today’s bands, even after passing muster to become Marine recruits. Therefore, even though MTAs consider it important to plant the idea of a Marine band career early with high school students, they spend more time canvassing college music programs to find those who can qualify through MEOP. Colleges and universities remain the MTAs’ main market for scouting talent.
Signing up qualified musicians for a four-year MEOP active-duty tour isn’t always an easy sell. Most exceptional students aspire to a future in a symphony or popular jazz groups. Their mentors often urge them to pursue such a course despite a ruthlessly competitive market where more than 100 applicants may compete for a single symphonic opening.
“Marine music is always battling for the best musicians willing to serve their country,” said CWO-2 Flores. “It can be extremely difficult to convince parents that this is a viable option, but sometimes their instrumental mentors are the biggest obstacle. Unless their music teacher or college professor supports their decision, we usually have to wait a few years for applicants to find out for themselves that this is the best option.”
Being Marines, the recruiters are well-armed when they go into the fight for talent. They can offer qualified applicants the opportunity to work as full-time musicians for full-time pay, traveling and performing in concert halls and at prestigious events around the country and abroad. Band members attend advanced training at the Navy School of Music or qualify for instrument-repair school. They receive regular promotions, drawing increased pay.
SSgt Stanley said the Corps can promise qualified college graduates incentives “easily comparable to what entry-level band directors receive.” What’s more, they can continue their education through the Tuition Assistance Program. And, of course, few incentives can match the pride of becoming a Marine.
Attesting to the attractiveness of a Marine Corps career are the many former school band directors and other musical professionals in the ranks of Marine bands. Further evidence is high retention among the men and women who opt for a career in Marine music, a clear indication of job satisfaction. The highest reenlistment numbers, in fact, are found among the bands that have been deployed.
Still, recruiters have to compete against other service programs that may offer more generous enlistment incentive programs and don’t deploy musicians to combat areas. Some students and their parents clearly shy away from a possible combat commitment. Yet the disconnect between other services’ band programs and primary defense responsibilities have left them vulnerable to recent cutbacks, at a time when the Marine program is being bolstered.
“Some other services have experienced cuts largely because they have drifted away from their primary role as military musicians,” according to SSgt Stanley. “Our emphasis on being Marines first and foremost will always place us in the traditional role of Marine musicians. If that means picking up a weapon and standing a post, then we will do that too.”
When an applicant survives initial screening, the MTA has the final say on whether he or she qualifies for the music program. Yet no applicant simply is turned away because of failing to make the cut musically. “We don’t turn our backs on those who fail to qualify as musicians, leaving the applicant and the recruiter high and dry,” SSgt Stanley said. “We explain the other options available through a Marine Corps career.”
CWO-2 Flores said the students who make their way to the stage after his band’s concerts are interested not only in the music program, but “they view our band as an example of the many opportunities that the Marine Corps offers and assume they can expect the same level of professionalism in every occupation.”
SSgt Brian Brickey, a recruiter for the southwest Ohio district that includes Kings High School, agreed. “Concerts such as the one the Parris Island band delivered at the local school are an awesome way to educate people about the Marines,” he said. “The bands are able to project through their music what it means to be a Marine.”
While MTAs welcome every new recruit signed up for the Corps, they still are responsible for finding the qualified men and women needed to fill band slots that open up each year in a program that numbers nearly 1,000 musicians. Fortunately, generally steady band enlistment numbers have allowed recruiters to continue signing up the highly talented, highly motivated instrumentalists needed to keep Marine Corps music soaring.
“We get some resistance from family members at times, but we are in a position to turn people away,” said SSgt Stanley. “If they don’t like the fact that we deploy, they can join the Navy or Air Force bands. We want those young men and women who will accept the challenge of becoming a Marine.”
Editor’s note: Don Bedwell, who followed his two brothers into the Corps and served with the First Marine Division Band in the 1950s, still plays trumpet in a Dixieland band in Cincinnati. He watched his grandson graduate from Parris Island in June.
