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Thursday, October 17, 1963 Kingsport News ITThe Air Force Band: Military, Music, FunBY ROD GIBSONTimta-News StuJf Writ»rThe drummer of the band was playing the tom-tom drums frantically during a lierfonnance. The sign was given by the conductor to hit the gong behind him, but when he turned to hit it, it was not in its place.The drummer looked overhead, his mouth open, as if to say, “Only pod could have taken It.,. it was here when I started.”On cue, the gong was hit bv Capt. Harry H. Meuser, win had crawled out on the stage on hands and knees, attached a wire to the gong, and pulled it back off stage. Like almost every performance, a member of the United States Air Force Band pulled the unex* peeled. The audience can never tsli the difference, but during a professional sounding performance, there Is no telling what shenannigans are being pulled by these military musicians.ilt; Yr i?Ten local High School band students played with the United States Air Force Baiid Wednesday afternoon. They were Steve Lambert, clarinet, Bill Chapel, baritone. Chip MciVeer, snare drum, and Jim Poston, cornet, ail of Dobyos-Benncti High School;Ronnie Davidson, cornet, Jerry Sanders, clarinet, and Danny Crawford, clarinet, all of Sullivan High School; Tom Clark, recording bass, Ketron High School; Melvin Drum-goole. trombone, Douglas High School; and Eddie Welch, bass horn, Lynn View High School, sr tr ☆“God never meant for so many nuts to be put together,” Sgt. Hairy Gleeson, whotravels with the band. said. And yet when he said “nuts/' there was a tone of respect.At the concert here last night the band played selections from “The Music Man.” Anything can happen during this selection. During one performance, the band had a stand-in conductor who always gave the upbeat on * We've Got Trouble” instead of the downbeat. One night when he gave the downbeat where the downbeat was due, the band broke up. laid down their instruments and cheered. The audience loved it.Gleeson said that the night after he was married in June, the band was playing “Music Man” selections, when onemusician broke out with “TheWedding March.” The audience never noticed it, but Gleeson heard it and broke up.“Capt. Meuser was conducting and looked at me as if I were ready for section fi,” he said.The members of the Air Force Band arc professional musicians. Many of them hold degrees in music and are ex-pereinced musicians from some of the top symphony orchestras in the country.But they also are a military organization, although with more advantages and more select duty than most military outfits, but the same comradeship. The group consists of the young quipstcrs and the veteran servicemen who have pul in their 20 years and are aiming for their 30th.Most of them are sergeants. Many of them become staff sergeants after only a few months in the service, a rating that comes to most servicemen only after the first hitch.Yet how can an airman 3rd class play before the President, a job which the Air Force Band and Symphony Orchestra must do often. The “Strolling Strings,” another Air Force group, has been playing at the White House almost weekly, according to Meuser.Meuser and the men of the band say that “playing the While House is just another job.” “We are hired to entertain them, they are not there to entertain us/1 one veteran member said.According to Meuser. Kennedy has an affinity for pens. The day after newsmen played up the fact that Kennedy pocketed the 17th pen used to sign the nuclear ban treaty, the Strolling Strings played the White House. In need of a pen for an autograph. Kennedy borrowed Meuser’s (through the chief usher). The President calmly pocketed the pen and Meuser did not get it back until three days later.with part of the Air Force Symphony Orchestra and a select Air Force Scottish band. Kennedy requested the bandto play all “authentic Irish selections and members of the Scottish band were sent to New York to be tailored for tailor made Irish kilts, to replace their usual Scottish garb.The Air Force Band may well be one of the most traveled bands in existence, ft visits just about every country and makes tours 'in just about every state in the U.S.Most of the tours only last for three months of the year. The rest of the time the hand spends in Washington rehearsing or playing governmental functions.Musicians and servicemen have one thing in common , , they love to complain. Being both, some members of the Air Force Band are top com* plainers.“1 do not like to play music, but I like to listen to it.” one21-year-otd member of the band said. “There just Is no future in music ... i am just serving but my time in the besi way I know how.”“Music has been my whole life,” one man who has been with the band since il began said. “One thing with this band that you do not have with civilian bands is security . . . the longer you are in music, the fewer kicks you get from it.“I guess i'll be an old funky jazz musician when I get out,” a younger clarinetist said jokingly.“They don't mean it.” Gleeson said. “A musician is a strange breed. Nothing is quite right in the spot they are playing. Some of the cnmplainers who have been discharged have come io listen to us on tour. Their usual story is,. ‘What I wouldn’t do lo get back playing with the band again. I miss it\”One thing for sure, there is a certain atmosphere inthe Air Force Band that will be hard to find in others.For instance, the time when the conductor was directing ihe band in a musical interpretation for children. At one point, the narrator said t:. . ,and the percussions said,” which was to be followed by about every percussion instrument the band had in stock.Meuser threw out his arm in the direction of the percussion section, but suddenly noticed that instead of a roar from many drums, the most he could get would be a “tinkle” from a single triangle that had replaced the other instruments — a ‘’surprise’1 just for him. He tried to stop his arm movement, but had such force behind it that he threw his shoulder out of joint and was out of commission for a few performances.But for the most part, the audience never notices the pranks that keep this one of Ihe best spirited and best playing bands of the country.
Newspaper Details
Kingsport News
Kingsport, Tennessee, US
Thu, Oct 17, 1963
Page 23
Full Page
Clipped by
Kingsport P.
TN, USA 27 Apr 2023
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