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The Road to the Inaugural

  • Published
  • By MSgt Brian McCurdy and TSgt Jay Heltzer
  • USAF Band
Bolling AFB, Washington, DC --  Every Inaugural Parade has required a tremendous amount of preparation by The United States Air Force Band. This year, members from each of the band's seven units came together to form a 99-piece marching band. The level of marching experience varied from one individual to the next. Ceremonial Brass members were accustomed to marching than others, and this was mainly due to the nature of their duties at Arlington National Cemetery. Many marched only a few times each year, while a select few had only done their marching at previous Inaugurals. Because of these various levels of experience, the band required a week of rehearsal before the big event.

After the first rehearsal one thing was clear: the weather had little sympathy for those who had to march in formation outside! With the temperature holding steady at 34 degrees and the rain unrelenting, band members reviewed every aspect of the perfect march step.

Those responsible for training the 99-piece band for marching in the Inaugural Parade were Senior Master Sgt. Scott Hinds, Master Sgts. Daniel Valadie & Kent Baker, and Technical Sergeant Joe Bello.

"We have to move together--like a school of fish," said Sgt. Baker, Non-commissioned-officer-in-charge of training, "You must maintain a natural arm swing, six inches to the front, and three to the rear."

For those of us in the back, it was virtually impossible to hear the commands shouted out by the Drum Major, Chief Master Sergeant Ed Telekey. "Watch the mace, and listen for the roll-off from the percussion section," the Chief said. The Drum Major is responsible for keeping the entire band together, and he uses the mace to signal various commands to the band--namely when to stop, go, play, cut-off, and most importantly, when to render proper honors to the commander in chief.

Day 2

On the second day of rehearsals, there were several media outlets present to document the occasion. The weather once again did not cooperate with our situation, and the Band marched through the morning darkness against a cold, steady rain. Luckily, Band members are issued accouterments for foul weather. Because of the unique size of the ensemble, we rehearsed inside a hangar at Andrews Air Force Base. We were coached by our Drum Major, Chief Master Sgt. Ed Telekey. This was Chief Telekey's sixth Inaugural parade.

Colonel Dennis M. Layendecker, Commander and Music Director of The USAF Band, offered some musical pointers. "Play the phrases expressively. Whatever we do in here we'll lose 50% of in the parade," the Colonel said. He was referring to the fact that it is very difficult to march outside in the cold, maintain a perfect interval, avoid the distraction of the worldwide attention, and still play musically! With so much starting and stopping during a parade of this magnitude, the music needed to be second nature.

After the indoor portion of the rehearsal was complete, it was time to move outdoors to the flight line. This was a great opportunity for members of the local media to get some video shots of the Band. Throughout the morning, various local news programs were popping in and out of our rehearsal with live feeds, and they were also taping material for future use in late day and evening news broadcasts.

Clarinetist Technical Sgt. Ben Bowers gave a taped interview for one of the local radio stations, as well as for Voice of America. "It was new," he said afterwards, "and I really liked it." Needless to say, while we are used to performing for thousands or even millions of people, giving an interview is not something that we do every day.

Intonation is one of the major pitfalls of performing in cold conditions. It was also difficult to form a steady embouchure with cold facial muscles. None of this mattered, because it prepared us for Inauguration Day where we would likely have the same conditions.

Once we perfected our music and marching, Lt. Colonel Alan Sierichs, the Deputy Commander of The USAF Band, gave some much needed words of encouragement, "I am amazed at your incredible professionalism, especially in these conditions!" I think many of us were amazed, too.

Day 3

On the third day of rehearsals, Chief Master Sgt. Elizabeth Schouten to reflected about her past Inaugural experiences. This was her seventh parade, and she had seen almost every possible scenario.

Recalling the 1985 Inaugural parade, which was cancelled due to the extreme cold, she said, "We had done all of the preparations, just like this year, but the decision was made to cancel the parade. Those of us who took part still received the Air Force Achievement Medal for our work."

Colonel Elizabeth Borelli, the Commander of the 11th Operations Group joined the band for rehearsal on the flight line. She was able to experience many of the challenges first-hand, and much of the rehearsal was to the tune of F-16's and Navy jets doing exercises on and off the runway.

Day 4 - The Dress Rehearsal

On Sunday, January 11, all the military units, as well as some of the civilian marching bands, participated in a full run-through of the Inaugural parade. The entire parade route was closed to traffic in order to facilitate the rehearsal.

One of the aspects rehearsed was getting through security. Each member had to be screened and each bus swept. With such anticipation for this Inaugural in particular, security was not to be taken lightly. All of this had to be accomplished in a timely fashion, and everything went off without a hitch.

Despite the fact it wasn't an official performance, there were still people on the streets, waving, taking pictures, and celebrating, while many joggers, church-goers, and tourists had puzzled looks on their faces. The actual parade march during our rehearsal took about 1 ½ hours. This included two ten-minute delays while we waited for some discrepancies to get straightened out in front of us.

During the parade rehearsal, the band marched to a drum cadence and played two marches: The Washington Post and Trombones Triumphant. As the band got closer to the Presidential viewing stand, there were signs posted by the Inaugural Committee to let bands know when to stop playing and render honors. There were very specific signals from our drum major and percussion section that allowed us to clearly execute this.