The United States Naval Academy Band leads a column of Midshipmen on military parade before dignitaries on Worden Field, advances into Navy/Marine Corps Stadium for a contest in American football, escorts a fallen shipmate to his final resting place, or represents the Navy and Naval Academy on “Main Street, USA” in their Memorial Day celebration.
The Concert Band performs a year-round concert series. Performances include programs of light classics, popular melodies, patriotic songs, and marches. It performs at special events including the Side-By-Side concert with local high school musicians chosen to play with the band under the baton of a special guest conductor, and the annual Finale Concert featuring all Naval Academy Band ensembles and closing with Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture”, complete with live cannon fire. Smaller ensembles are featured in the Chamber Music Series, a variety of recitals planned and presented by individual band members. The Electric Brigade, the Navy’s premier Top 40 Band, aids recruiting by acquainting young Americans with the Navy and the United States Armed Forces, in addition to performances for the Brigade of Midshipmen in functions ranging from formal occasions such as the Graduation Ball during Commissioning Week to informal dances, pep rallies, and company picnics. From its 66 members, the band has two jazz groups, brass and woodwind quintets, trombone and clarinet quartets, tuba and percussion ensembles, and two reception combos.
A succession of 26 leaders and hundreds of instrumentalists have been members of the band.
A military band is a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the title of Bandmaster or Music director. Ottoman military bands are thought to be the oldest variety of military marching bands in the world, dating from the 13th century.
Beating Retreat is a military ceremony dating to 17th-century England and was first used to recall nearby patrolling units to their castle.
United States military bands include musical ensembles maintained by the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, United States Navy, United States Air Force, and United States Coast Guard. More broadly, they can also include musical ensembles of other federal and state uniformed services, including the Public Health Service and NOAA Corps, the state defense forces, and the senior military colleges.
The United States Marine Drum & Bugle Corps is the drum and bugle corps of the United States Marine Corps. The D&B is now the only active duty drum and bugle corps in the United States Armed Forces. One of many United States military bands, the United States Marine Drum & Bugle Corps usually consists of about 70 active-duty Marines dressed in ceremonial red and white uniforms. The D&B performs martial and popular music.
The Royal Marines Band Service is the musical wing of the Royal Navy and an independent element of the Royal Marines. It currently consists of five bands plus a training wing – the Royal Marines School of Music at HMS Nelson – and its headquarters is at HMS Excellent, Whale Island, Portsmouth.
Fleet Band Activities (FBA), formerly the Navy Music Program (NMP), is the central management office for nine active-duty fleet bands of the United States Navy. It is located at Naval Support Activity Mid-South in Millington, Tennessee. FBA has the responsibility of coordinating the assignment and distribution of personnel, equipment and funding to the worldwide activities of navy military bands. It also is responsible for managing the application and audition process for potential navy musicians. Personnel from the FBA work directly with the Bureau of Naval Personnel to meet our musician requirements for the fleet.
The Naval School of Music is a United States Navy school located at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek–Fort Story in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The school's mission is to provide specialized musical training to musicians of the Navy and Marine Corps military bands. The school does not provide training for musicians of the Air Force or Coast Guard. The school no longer provides training to Army musicians, although the Army school is co-located with the Navy school and they share facilities.
A corps of drums, sometimes known as a fife and drum corps or simply field music, is a traditional European military music formation. In contrast to a military band, a Corps of Drums' primary role is communication. Historically, music was used as signaling device for keeping the march tempo and delivering commands. Today, the primary role of a Corps of Drums is ceremonial, performing in parades and military ceremonies. Besides drums, this formation may contain a variety of instruments, including trumpets, bugles, and fifes.
A fanfare band, fanfare corps, fanfare battery, fanfare team, horn and drum corps, bugle band, drum and bugle corps, or trumpet and drum band is a military or civilian musical ensemble composed of percussion instruments, bugles, natural horns and natural trumpets. Fanfare bands are the descendants of the old medieval trumpet and drum teams that sounded fanfares on important occasions and are related to drum and bugle corps internationally.
A drum major in the military is the individual leading a military band or a field unit. It is an appointment, not a military rank. Military drum majors utilize a ceremonial mace for giving commands while marching. Many drum majors, particularly American- or British-influenced ones, wear a sash that can carry embroidered badges of their home unit and battle honors; a pair of ceremonial drum sticks are often attached.
Canadian military bands are a group of personnel in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) that performs musical duties for military functions. Military bands form a part of the Music Branch of the CAF, composed of six full-time professional Regular Force bands, 15 Regular Force voluntary bands, and 53 part-time reserve force bands. Bands of the Music Branch are often badged with the unit or Canadian Forces base insignia that they support.
The West Point Band is the U.S. Army's oldest active band and the oldest unit at the United States Military Academy, traces its roots to the American Revolutionary War. At that time, fifers and drummers were stationed with companies of minutemen on Constitution Island, across the river from West Point. In 1778, General Samuel Holden Parsons' 1st Connecticut Brigade crossed the Hudson River and established West Point as a permanent military post. After the American Revolution, Congress disbanded most of the Continental Army, but "the 55 men at West Point", members of the 2nd Continental Artillery, remained as they were. Among their ranks stood at least one drummer and one fifer, who alone maintained the tradition of military music at West Point.
The United States Air Force Academy Drum and Bugle Corps also known as the Flight of Sound is the drum and bugle corps of the United States Air Force Academy and a military band in the United States Armed Forces. Unlike United States Air Force Academy Band, the drum and bugle corps is staffed by USAFA cadets from the Cadet Wing. 80 cadets make up the band, with 60% of the members being from the freshman class. The two bands perform in different uniforms, with the former wearing the full dress uniform of the United States Air Force while the latter wears the standard cadet uniform. Compared to the United States Marine Drum and Bugle Corps, it is not a full time band.
Russian military bands fall under the jurisdiction of the Military Band Service of the Armed Forces of Russia, which is the official music service for the Russian Armed Forces, and led by the Senior Director of Music, a billet of an officer with the rank of a Colonel or a general officer. There are currently between 200 and 300 military bands in the Russian Armed Forces that span across the military as well as all uniformed services in the country. Unlike most western nations, the Armed Forces does not maintain any bands composed of volunteering civilian musicians, as all bands, active or reserve, are manned by graduates of the military music training centers stationed anywhere in the country, as well as of civilian conservatories. While choirs may be attached to military bands, individual staff choirs do not exist in the Russian Armed Forces, since they have attached instrumental ensembles or orchestras. As of 2009, all military musicians are paid around 13,000 rubles ($169.65) for their service in the Armed Forces and other uniformed organizations.
The Indian military bands consists of musicians from the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force. Indian military bands regularly participate in international festivals and take part in celebrations dedicated to various national events. These bands are permanent participants in the Delhi Republic Day parade on the Rajpath. Today, the Indian Armed Forces have more than 50 military brass bands and 400 pipe bands and corps of drums. A Tri-Services Band refers to a joint Indian Armed Forces military band that performs together as a unit. At the Spasskaya Tower Military Music Festival and Tattoo in Moscow, the band consisted of 7 officers and 55 musicians. The Military Music Wing of the Army Education Corps is the principal educational institution of the armed forces that provides instruction to musicians of all ranks. Instruction is also provided by the Military Music Training Center and the Indian Navy School of Music.
Sri Lankan military bands refer to the joint-service musical units of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces representing the Sri Lanka Army, the Sri Lanka Navy, and the Sri Lanka Air Force. The three bands mentioned, which were established in 1949, 1952 and 1970 respectively and are the seniormost in the armed forces. They are composed of many ceremonial marching bands as well as concert bands which are base for the band's success. The band participates in main social and cultural events, including formal state visits and military parades. All army regiments also contain a regimental band for ceremonial duties.
The United States Naval Forces Europe Band (NAVEUR Band) is the musical component of the United States Naval Forces Europe - Naval Forces Africa, a subordinate command of the United States European Command and United States Africa Command. It acts as the de facto American musical unit for Europe. As a United States Navy band, it is part of the Navy Music Program. Currently stationed in at Naval Support Activity in Naples, Italy, it operates under the direct control and supervision of the Commander of NAVEUR.
The Pacific Fleet Band is a United States Navy military Band that is attached to the United States Pacific Fleet based at Naval Station Pearl Harbor. It performs at civilian/military ceremonies, military parades, and unit/community events. It operates under the direct control and supervision of Fleet Band Activities, the official navy music program. It is alsk under the operational control of the Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet.
The United States Naval Academy Drum and Bugle Corps is the military band and drum and bugle corps of the United States Naval Academy, which is a federal service academy in the United States Armed Forces based Maryland. Like its counterpart at the Air Force Academy, it is staffed by midshipmen from the Brigade of Midshipmen. It provides support to the brigade as well as the Plebe Summer Regiment. Until the addition of woodwinds in June 2021, it was the oldest continuously active drum and bugle corps in the United States. It currently performs over 70 times per year.
United States
