"What if there are a bunch of speakers around you? Which one do you salute?"
Salute the loudest or closest speaker. "What if you're a civilian driving on a military base or by a military base? What do you do during the national anthem? Would you get out of your car?" On an Air Force base, you just have to pull over and wait until the end of the song. On most Army bases, people get out of their car. "Which one do you like better: Taps or Reveille? Why?" I like Taps more because it's more soothing, and helps me remember other peoples' sacrifices to keep us free. "Do they play Reveille and Taps EVERY day? Even on the weekend? At EVERY base?" They usually play only during the weekdays, but sometimes they'll play on the weekends if there is a large training mission. Reveille and Taps are played on most bases. Not always at forward operating locations though where there may be more enemies present. "Wouldn't you get those songs stuck in your head if you hear them every morning and night?" You get used to hearing them and don't get them stuck in your head because you are usually busy thinking about many other things. I enjoy still waking up my kids with Reveille even though we do not live on a base anymore, but they don't usually like that! -Lt Col Matt Youmans
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"Too many to count! I have been at least 20 types of live performing dedicated ensembles. A dedicated ensemble to me, is where the number of musicians and instruments/people playing those instruments is consistent, and we rehearse our music together to prepare for a performance. 3 of those were punk bands, the rest were a mix of jazz bands, orchestras or wind ensembles or chamber groups and some variation of those. This is over the span of the last 17 years. In a single year, I may only be in 4 ensembles. This year I have my trombone quartet, a jazz band, and two orchestras that I am responsible to learn music for and rehearse with regularly. I will also pick up single concert performances or recording sessions throughout the year with different groups as a freelance musician!" -Brooklynne Audette "I know that I make a mistake every time I play - I asked my quartet friends Ben, Lauren, and Chris if they made mistakes and they all said yes - and on every song! We try to practice enough so that we don't mess up when we play, but we are still humans and are not perfect. Sometimes the mistake is obvious to everyone, but often times no one notices except the person who made the mistake." -Brooklynne Audette "I have concerts almost every week! I will be performing 7 concerts for 6 different groups in February! How long I practice is such a good question! I say this because it has taken me many years to learn how practicing is supposed to work. I practice my fundamentals or basics of trombone for maybe 4 hours a week right now - and I can mix that into preparing for concert music. I end up practicing differently for different groups. For the Paper Clips trombone quartet, I have performed the same music with the same people for about 6 months now, so I don't need to practice that anymore, its performance ready and my muscle memory from doing that music so much sticks around. The same can be said for my jazz band the ACME Jazz Company. I've been playing the same music with them since 2008. For other groups - Sometimes I have to rely on my fundamental practice to prepare me for a concert. The one I did last night I had to show up and read the music given to me the night of and wasn't given a sneak peek of what I might be doing in advance! That is where being able to read music and having spent that fundamental practice time on my instrument helps me be able to perform in that situation! I might be asked to play an orchestra concert, and given 2 weeks to learn the music before the concert - this is where I have to practice that music specifically and I will probably spend about 2-3 hours per song of focused practice. Some of my practice I don't count in that is listening to recordings of the music from different orchestras and following along with my sheet music to understand how my instruments voice fits in with the ensemble, to understand the rests I have to count and get familiar with the way the music sounds so I am confident about my entrances and style. What is important with practice is consistency! For example, I would have better results if I practiced for 1 hour 3 days a week vs 5 hours 1 day a week. Cramming doesn't help as much as repetition and focus! Which reminds me, I have some practicing I need to do today!" -Brooklynne Audette "I have played too many songs to count! Just this past week, I played 19. Some weeks are more, some are less." -Brooklynne Audette "I don't know. More than a hundred. Not as many as I would like. Looking back, one thing I would change in my musical training is that I would have spent more time learning new repertoire and a little less time polishing the same smaller repertoire." -David McCarthy How do you see the flag on base during the national anthem? Is it on a really high flag pole?3/14/2024 "Most bases have one central flag that is raised and lowered each day. Reveille is played at 6am when they raise the flag in the morning. At 5pm, they play the national anthem and take the flag down. And then at 9pm or 10pm, depending on the base, they play Taps. This means it's time for bed! Except, of course, those that have to work overnight. There are loudspeakers all over base through which music is played. We stand and salute the flag during Reveille and the national anthem if in uniform. If not in uniform, we stand. Same thing for Taps. Taps is not just for bedtime, but also as a reminder to honor those who have died in service to our country." -Lt Col Matt Youmans
"Haha. That's a great question. I really had to think about it. I think I would say yes, in the sense that I have played music with students, and they figured something out in it that I hadn't noticed before. Last spring some of my students and colleagues did a performance of "Joy Boy" by Julius Eastman. One of my students was singing the top line, and she started phrasing in a way that made sense to everyone in the room. She was making the music better, making all of us better." -David McCarthy "According to Air Force Instruction 1-1, Airmen (all military members) salute during the national anthem to show respect for the United States flag. So, during the national anthem and when in uniform, we will salute the US flag if visible. If we don't see a flag but the music plays, we salute towards the music source.
We usually don't sing the national anthem unless you volunteer to do so as part of a ceremony. The national anthem is played or sung at every formal event (probably once per month), and played on bases every day, usually at 5pm. When the anthem plays on base, all non-emergency traffic stops. All personnel outside stop moving and salute. It's actually really neat to see." -Lt Col Matt Youmans, USAF |
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April 2024
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