Navy Bands
There were many
other changes taking place in the early era of the Navy. While it is impossible
to determine exactly when the first Navy band was formed, one of the early recollections
of a band was back in 1802 in the Italian port of Messina. A local group of
musicians was invited to play aboard a visiting Navy ship. This turned out to
be the last they saw of the shore line for some time. The sailors liked their
music so well that they forgot to tell the musicians the ship was getting underway.
In 1812 the American frigate United States acquired an eight-piece band
of French-Italian musicians who had enlisted aboard a French ship, but were
captured by the Portugese and taken to Lisbon. Here they signed on the British
warship Macedonian which was captured by the Americans. The band ended
up playing on the decks of the famous ship United States.
Later, many ships, such as the warship Cyane, organized various types
of musical units as early as 1820. The crew of Constitution formed a
20-piece band in 1825. By 1827 this unit became the first known Navy band to
be formally shipped aboard an American warship.
William Raymond enlisted as a Musician in 1820 at Norfolk, Virginia and received
10 dollars a month for his efforts. Musician James F. Draper signed aboard the
frigate Brandywine in July 1825, and had the notation "$10 a month"
entered next to his name in the ship's log. On 31 August 1826, John Page had
his rating changed from Seaman to Master of the Band, and in September Ordinary
Seaman William Tuton became a Musician, both aboard Constellation.
Navy bandsmen were first recognized officially in 1838, when the pay tables
of the Navy Register listed the grades of Bandmaster, First and Second
Class Musicians. The number of Navy bands fluctuated but gradually increased
in succeeding years through the Civil War until the turn of the century, although
it appears that no particular method of procurement or training of musicians
was practiced.
The first of a series of fleet musician schools was established in 1903 at St.
Helena, Virginia in an effort to improve the training and performance of bands
in the Navy. In 1935 Lt. Charles Benter, Leader of the Navy Band, Washington,
D.C., established a Band School. In 1941 the school was detached from the Navy
Band, and became the United States Navy School of Music with Boatswain (later
Lieutenant) James Thurmond as the first officer in charge. The Navy School of
Music remained at the Naval Receiving Station, Anacostia, Washington, D.C. until
1964 when the school was redesignated as the School of Music, with a Commanding
Officer, and moved to its present quarters on the Naval Amphibious Base, Little
Creek, Norfolk, Virginia. The School of Music is now a multi-service command
which provides training for Army, Navy and Marine Corps Musicians. Today some
50 bands and 1,500 enlisted and officer musician personnel serve in Navy bands
throughout the world.
Information Courtesy of Naval Historical Center
