As many eyes turned towards the inauguration on January 20th, I wanted to share about an overlooked aspect of the festivities. Since 1801, “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band has been the provider of music for Presidents and has played at every inauguration. This means the only inaugurations it has not played at in some capacities were George Washington’s and John Adams’!
Lieutenant Colonel Ryan Nowlin, the 29th director of the President’s Own, was the director for the festivities, along with Master Gunnery Sergeant Duane King, the 40th Drum Major of the President’s Own. The band was supposed to perform in the parade before getting to the ceremony and performing both prelude music and during the actual ceremony.
The musical program included mostly Americana, but there were some other genres of music played as well. The prelude music was a mix of marches and traditional folk tunes, including “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” and “Amazing Grace.” This music showed off the playing abilities of the top military band in the country. The ceremony music is not seen as musically challenging, but to play that many marches perfectly takes talent. Many John Philip Sousa marches were played, including “The Diplomat,” “Hands Across the Sea” and the Marine’s march of “Semper Fidelis.”
The President’s Own does more than just play a concert. It is their job to play “Hail Columbia” once the oath of office is administered to the Vice President and “Hail to the Chief” once the oath of office is administered to the President. There is even a person whose sole job is to let the conductor know when to start each piece so that they are on schedule. This year, that job belonged to their Operations Officer Lieutenant Colonel Douglas R. Burian.
Kathryn McElfresh
Staff Reporter
