Washington, D.C. -- “What do you actually do?” As a member of the Singing Sergeants, the Official Chorus of the United States Air Force, I hear this question all the time. People are curious. They see us performing in public and wonder what we do with the rest of our time. The short answer is we honor those who have served, inspire Americans to patriotism and service, and positively impact our global community. The long answer is a little more complicated.
We support military ceremonies by singing our national anthem. Senior Master Sgt. Robert Harrelson, Superintendent of the Singing Sergeants, recently had the opportunity to sing for the installation of the newest Secretary of the Air Force, the Honorable Heather Wilson. Senior Master Sgt. Bradley Bennet sang the national anthem at President George W. Bush’s second inauguration. My own most meaningful anthem experience was a wreath-laying ceremony at the Air Force Memorial on the one-year anniversary of the death of six airmen just days before Christmas in December 2015.
The Singing Sergeants honor veterans and inspire patriotism through over 100 public performances each year. We have the opportunity to tour the United States, meeting veterans and military families at every performance. We celebrate the veterans in our audiences through patriotic selections and our medley of service songs.
High school and college-level musicians are often invited to join us on stage, giving students the opportunity to perform alongside us as we demonstrate Air Force excellence and professionalism. The Singing Sergeants also communicate the Air Force message to millions on local and nationally broadcast television during national holidays including Independence Day, Memorial Day and Veterans Day.
We positively impact our global community through a variety of outreach efforts including our participation in the Embassy Adoption Program. A partnership between Washington Performing Arts and D.C. Public Schools, the Embassy Adoption Program connects local fifth and sixth grade students to embassies in Washington, D.C. Students spend the school year studying the history, government and culture of their assigned country, including its national anthem.
The Singing Sergeants visit schools to teach those national anthems in the original language and provide a video for students and teachers to practice with after the lesson. With anthems in languages such as Arabic, Azerbaijani, Japanese, and Luxembourgish, the Embassy Adoption Program has challenged students and the Singing Sergeants alike. The culmination of the year of study involves a field trip to the embassy or ambassador’s residence where students perform the national anthem and demonstrate what they have learned during the school year. I had the great pleasure of traveling to the Belgian ambassador’s residence with fifth-graders from Janney Elementary School in June 2017. The students performed the Belgian national anthem in French for the ambassador and his wife as well as several skits they had written about the history and culture of Belgium.
The Singing Sergeants also provide entertainment support to the highest level of U.S. military and government leadership. Small groups from the Singing Sergeants frequently perform at the residence of the Chief of Staff of the Air Force while General and Mrs. Goldfein host foreign dignitaries. Through communication with General Goldfein’s staff, musical programs are designed specifically to entertain the guests of honor. This often involves learning pop and folk music from around the world to perform for international guests in their native languages. The joy and pride on a guest’s face when he or she sees that representatives of the U.S. Air Force have taken the time to learn and perform music from his or her country is very powerful in the intimate setting.
Pentagon officials have reported to our leadership that this has had a tremendous impact on international relations. These performances can drastically change the mood of a tense meeting and have helped smooth the way for progress and compromise on an international scale. Additionally, the Singing Sergeants provided caroling for two of Vice President Biden’s Christmas parties in December 2016. And, in summer of 2017, Attorney General Sessions attended a Singing Sergeants concert on the steps of the Capitol Building.
Like every musical flight in the U.S. Air Force, the Singing Sergeants are part of a deployment rotation. Technical Sgt. Julia Cuevas has deployed twice during her career with the Singing Sergeants, in 2010 and 2015. She traveled to Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan and Qatar, where she entertained troops, performed at embassies, participated in school programs and performed for local civilians. “Part of our job is to bring a piece of home to deployed troops,” says Sgt. Cuevas. “Listening to live music is an experience that can’t be completely replicated by recordings and videos. We’re there to give them that relaxed experience.” Sergeant Cuevas described playing wherever there was a stage, in addition to fire stations, flight lines, chow halls, and hospitals. “Sometimes people are too busy to come to a concert, so we bring the music to them.”
On a day without a performance, the Singing Sergeants spend their time rehearsing and working on mission support duties. The Singing Sergeants’ rehearsals are as varied as the music our ensemble performs. Rehearsals can involve the full group or a small ensemble singing with concert band, combo, piano, or a cappella. We might be reading new music, perfecting musical details, checking our memorization, or working on choreography. At any given time, the Singing Sergeants are preparing for a variety of upcoming engagements in choral, classical and contemporary vocal styles.
Mission support duties are all of the non-musical responsibilities that contribute to mission success. Each airman-musician in the U.S. Air Force Band has at least one mission support duty that makes each of our performances possible. These jobs include working on flight and squadron-level operations, planning tours, designing marketing products, coordinating educational outreach events, distributing and collecting music, creating travel documents, facilitating auditions, posting to social media and many other behind-the-scenes efforts. On the rare occasion when there is a day without performances or rehearsals, the Singing Sergeants devote their work day to mission support duties and individual practice.
The Singing Sergeants currently have openings for sopranos and tenors. If you are a versatile, professional singer with an interest in serving your country, we would love to hear from you. Recorded auditions are due 3 November and live auditions will be held in Washington, D.C. on 19 and 20 December. Information about our vacancies can be found at http://www.music.af.mil/Careers/.