What Does It Take to Make the Marine Corps Band?

First, anyone that wants to be in any of the 12 fleet Marine bands has to be a Marine first (the only exception is the President's Own Marine Band....they don't go through boot camp nor do they deploy). Every Marine, regardless of job or rank, is a Rifleman first. This is different from the other branches. No matter if you are a tank mechanic, underwater basket-weaver, or in my case, a musician, every Marine is a Rifleman first and foremost.

I've been playing the saxophone for eight years, ever since 5th grade at the age of 10. I was privately taught by a former Marine musician for half of my music career, and I know he had a profound impact on my musical ability. What is amazing is that I had a phenomenal middle school band director by the name of Mr. Newton who reinforced and expanded on what I learned privately, at school. Finally, I had two great high school band directors that undoubtedly gave me a great deal of musical experience -- both from the playing standpoint and from leadership positions in the band program such as section leader and drum major. There is no way I would have made it into the band without both of my high school band teachers' help; they challenged me in ways that ultimately opened a multitude of doors for me. Mr. Wade gave a multitude of leadership courses; I learned countless life values and skills that I am very grateful for have learning. Mr. Ewell, a saxophone player himself, challenged me daily by his AP music theory course and demanding concert band classes. He also gave me a few private lessons! Long story short, I learned so much from my time in high school that it would be impossible to give any more examples without boring you to death. Anyway, here is a video from one of my performances during my senior year:



The musical audition for the Marine Corps band isn't hard if you have been playing throughout your time in grade and high school. The requirements for a woodwind player are very straight-forward:

• Know all 48 major, natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor scales, along with the chromatic scale throughout the rang of your instrument. The MTA, or Musician Technical Assistant, will ask you to play these randomly...of course, he or she won't be able to ask you to play every scale, but being prepared and knowing each of these scales like the back of your hand will help immensely in increasing your general score.
• Perform a solo piece. Pick a piece that shows off your talents: musicianship, finger dexterity, range and overall skill. Their website says it has to be a Grade IV, but if it has challenging rhythms you should be good to go.
• Sight-reading. Easily the most important part of the audition as it is worth 50% of the overall score. You will sight-read a multitude of styles ranging from classical to jazz to Sousa marches to Latin and so on, as well as rhythmic meters such as common time, cut-time, 6/8, 12/8, 3/4, and much more. This will also take up the majority of the 30-minute audition. The best way to prepare for this is to just practice. You will be given a couple of minutes to look over each piece before you play it, so just remember to look at the road map, composer/style/title, key and time signature. Play smarter, not harder.

Out of a 4.0 grading scale, you must get a 2.7 to pass. A 3.0 is considered good college level, while a 4.0 is perfect. I got a 2.85 and my friend got a 2.91, both on our first tries. Remember that you can audition as much as you like...but keep in mind that it is extremely difficult to schedule an audition; there are only a handful of auditioners to screen all the aspiring Marine musicians around the country. Personally, it took a couple of months to get a date set to meet with the musician recruiter; this wasn't necessarily bad because it did give me that much extra time to practice.

Nothing can replace talking to your local musician recruiter. Get hold of a local recruiting station and ask them for a musician recruiter's number. Ask plenty of questions. It's your future. Enjoy this video that highlights the auditioning process: