Photo By Sgt. Therese Prats | U.S. Army Reserve Sgt. Christine Won, a 78th Army Band flutist, performs in the Battle...... read more read more
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JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. – U.S. Army Reserve Bands square off during a 99th Readiness Division battle of the bands contest; an end cap to a division-wide, four-day, multi-unit training assembly at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, Apr. 9, 2022.
Units across the 99th RD gathered to sustain readiness to fight now and transform to maintain dominance as the world’s premier land fighting force. Concurrently, small teams from the 78th Army Band from JBMDL, New Jersey, the 198th Army Band of Rochester, New York and the 380th Army Band assigned to Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia performed in a friendly competition.
“Music is a universal language we can connect with a variety of communities and cultures,” said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Luis Santiago, 78th Army Band commander. “Generally people think that Army bands are only in marches and parades, but today our audiences saw other genres of music and the capacities that we have.”
Each band performance garnered cheers and applause with small breaks between each ensemble, showcasing notes of jazz, brass and salsa.
“Visiting schools or holding public concerts allows us to put a face to the Soldiers that the community don’t normally get to see,” Santiago added.
Musical performance teams (MPTs) are compact modular units ranging from five-25 personnel are designed to provide highly agile music support capabilities and are able to deploy separately from the main band to support operations. MPTs will sometimes lend each other personnel support during joint missions, adding an extra trumpet or flute player in order to round out teams, but is uncommon to have so many bands perform under one roof.
“We haven’t actually ever played with the 78th Army Band or the 198th Army band,” said Sgt. First Class Nesstor Delica, 380th Army Reserve Band vocalist and trumpet player. This is the first time in several years where we’ve had the opportunity to see what other MPTs from each of the bands can do.”
As the USAR prepares to celebrate its 114th Birthday on April 23, 2022, unit leaders are encouraged to employ the services of Army Bands across the spectrum of operations.
“U.S. Army Bands help share the gift of music and enhance our force generators strategic messaging through a common language,” said 1st Sgt. Brian Endlein, 78th Army Band first sergeant. “With music we can help ring in this year’s birthday theme of ‘Americas Army Reserve and its people, Shaping Tomorrow’.”
| Date Taken: | 04.09.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 04.21.2022 22:35 |
| Story ID: | 419020 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, NJ, US |
| Web Views: | 156 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Battle of the Bands: Readiness to the sound of music, by Nicholas J. De La Pena, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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