what do you think? or are they just a haven for musicians who can`t get gigs?

I would say yes. If you were to make it into these bands it would usually mean everyday you practice and get together with th e band to practice for some upcoming thing. But basically joining these bands is like being at a music conservatory in the sense that you dont do anything but play!

They are amazing groups to play in and listen, if you are for joining the military. You do have to play a lot of music most of us wouldn`t want to play on a daily basis, but still, pretty damn good to have on hthe resume, and amazing groups with amazing pay in general.

I don`t know about the amazing pay part. I looked at the air force band page and they only pay you about $1500 a month in the beginning. that hardly qualifies as "killer pay" in my book. However, I do suppose being able to play your instrument every day of your life without having to worry about where the next paycheck is coming from would be cool. I wanted to check out the marines band page but the link is messed up.

Also, I`m curious if musicians have to trade in their horns for guns when required.. Like would you be playing in some parade in Iraq and then all of a sudden have be toting mortars around because an entire division just got wiped out?

The great pay I thought of if more consistent pay, and pretty decent for not having to worry about where the next gig is.

As for fighting, although you do have to enlist, the band people are always the last to actually go to war, even after the reserves are drained. So it would be highly unlikely that you would join the band and end up actually in combat. But hey.... with this President, you never know.....

Hey, Don`t forget about the early pension benefits, you get that regular income for life. That`s a bit of longer term security.

If you were to make the Marines "President`s Own" you are automatically promoted to staff seargant i believe and you get pain 50k a year.

Oh then they pay for you school.. Not a bad gig.

Any MACOM band will promote you to E6 and even if you dont make the macom bands The band is the fastest promoting group in the army. enter at e3 graduate school of music you get promoted to E4 18 months later E5 if you dont get in to much trouble. and with in 3and 1/2 years from joining you could get your E6. Just be good work hard and yea it was a good gig.

Ok one more thing depending on the band you get in to, you will probobly never see a combat zone, and if you do you are at the "rear guard" which is guarding the important guys, inother words you might go to iraq but you probobaly wont be anywhere near a "hostile area." You will go through basicv and learn to shoot an m16 an m249(saw) an m203(gernade launcher) an AT4 (rocket launcher) throw some gernades and get yelled at alot by your drill sargent. It a tun of fun if you can keep your mouth shut for about 9 weeks.

Allow me to preface my comments here with the fact that I have been in the Navy Music Program for 15 years and love my job. Being a military musician is a great way of life. You get paid to play music, and you get benefits such as medical, dental, commissary and exchange priveleges (equates to paying less on base for food, clothes and gas) free houseing, food allowance, educational benefits, re-imbursed for costs associated with military mandated moves, and if you stay in for 20 years you get a pension. Where else as a full time musician can you find that in the civilian sector? One of the differences between the Army and Marines as compared with the Navy and Air Force Band systems is that as an Army or Marine Bandsmen you also are trained as a warfighter. Your secondary mission might be assignment to guard the headquarters company when deployed to a combat zone or run convoy duty as a guard. In the Air Force and Navy, you are not assigned a secondary mission. Your only job is to play music. Having said that, each band is autonomous and provides for it`s own upkeep. Thus as an Air Force or Navy Musician you may have a collateral duty as a van driver, librarian, custodial duties, sound tech, public affairs officer, personell records maintenance etc. Please dont think I am slamming the Army and Marines. I have the most respect for them. If your interests take you outside of playing music and into learning other skills, than the Army and Marine Programs offer you this opportunity. Another often overlooked or confusing point to many is the difference between the fleet-field bands and the special bands. The military bands in Washinton D.C. and the respective service Academy Bands (like the Naval Academy Band) are all considered special bands. When an opening occurs in these particular bands, it is announced in Major trade journals and an audition is held to hire for that particular spot. These particular bands are composed completely of players who are of the same caliber as any Major Symphonic Orchestra and competition to get in one of these bands is fierce. You also start out at the paygrade of E-6. For the rest of the bands, you can audition at any time by calling a recruiter to set up an audition for you. The quality of the fleet bands is quite high. Many of our bandsmen have their college degrees and have already had civilian performance experience other than college. With the DC Bands you will be hired to play in the Concert Band or the Big Band and you may get to play in other smaller groups, but most of your playing experience will be in one style of music and one format. In the Fleet you will get experience performing in the many different styles and formats such as rock band , big band, combo, brass quintet, woodwind quintet, dixieland band, marching band, concert band etc. Yes, you will at times have to play music that you may not like or enjoy, but name one free lance musician that only takes certain types of gigs and I will bet he is also working at your local pizza hut and not recieving to many calls for gigs. Everywhere that I have been with the Navy, I have also played civilian pay gigs in the local community. You do have time to pursue other interests outside of the military. If any of you have further questions about life as a military bandsman, please e-mail me at jazboneken@yahoo.com