History
The dusty, long-forgotten logbooks of our early American men of war tell us little about the evolution of music in the Navy. What we do know is that the United States Navy Band has an exciting and rich history that is steeped in the great traditions of our emerging nation. The Navy and Navy music literally "grew up" together to each become a powerful force in our nation's history. The rich traditions of Navy music stem from the historic Washington Navy Yard, the oldest naval establishment in the United States. The Navy Band makes its home in the "Sail Loft," a building that housed not only the early sail makers, but later, as the "Gun Factory," produced some of our ships' most fearsome armaments, the long guns.
Music has been a part of Navy life ever since that unknown fifer and drummer reported for duty aboard the USS Ganges, commanded by Captain Robert Dale, USN, and set sail from Delaware Bay in 1798, only 30 days after the Navy Department was formed. Captain Dale's order on May 11, 1798, read in part: "The Lieutenant of Marines, when appointed, will immediately proceed to enlist twenty-one privates, 1 serjeant, 1 corporal, and 2 musicians, to serve as Marines, in the Navy of the United States." The pay of a musician in those days was listed as "Seven dollars a month." Music did much to soften the rigors of shipboard life in those times. As chantymen sang songs depicting life at sea, sailors working on deck joined in singing the refrain.
During the next century, music continued to grow in inportance as an integral part of naval tradition. The first "real band" in the U.S. Navy, however, was deliberately shanghaied. In 1802 while the USS Boston was in port at Messina, Sicily, a local band came aboard and treated the American crew to a concert. The Captain was so pleased that he immediately set sail for America with the band still aboard. Bands continued to become a valuable section of the crew on many Navy vessels, including the Constitution, Constellation, and other ships deeply involved in the history of our young and growing country.
As the needs of the Navy took on new dimensions during the 1800s, so too did Navy musicians. The development of more shore-based bands led to the creation of the Naval Academy Band, which grew in size and importance during the Civil War. The first authorized band for midshipmen was actually provided by fifer William Bealer and drummer John Jarvis. This "Band of Music," as the two were called, began the tradition of music as a most important part of Academy life. Other band units on ships and at shore stations played a major role in promoting morale among sailors and civilians alike.
By the turn of the century, a need for qualified musicians throughout the Navy led to the establishment of the first Musician Training School at St. Hellena, Va., in 1902. A Navy orchestra made up of students performed nightly concerts aboard a decommissioned frigate, the Richmond, for the Skipper and the general public. There was little training at the school in these early days and it served mainly as an assembly point for bands en route to ships that had requested such groups. During this period musicians were enlisting under two different programs. In one, if they enlisted as an apprentice musician but failed to qualify, they were retained in the Navy as a regular seaman. If, however, they enlisted as a "landsman for musician" and failed to make the grade, their enlistment was terminated and they returned to civilian life. The best known landsman for musician was the Navy Band's second leader, Commander Charles Brendler. With qualified musicians now being sent to the fleet, the stage was set for the creation of what would become the United States Navy Band.
In 1903 the forerunner of the Navy Band arrived for duty at the Washington Navy Yard where Bandsmaster Brenner directed a unit of sixteen men that established Navy music in our nation's capital. The next significant step in the development of the Navy Band occurred in 1916 when a seagoing band led by Bandmaster E. Totino was ordered to the Navy Yard to join a seventeen-piece band of the presidential yacht Mayflower, under the direction of Bandmaster Henry Peterson. This combined group of 34 musicians was known as the Washington Navy Yard Band and assigned rehearsal spaces at the Receiving Station on the west side of the yard near the coal pile for the yard power plant.
It was Admiral Arthur Willard who in 1918 realized the public relations potential of the band and took an active interest in promoting them in and around the Washington area. The increased activity of the band created the problem of suitable rehearsal space that Adm. Willard solved by permitting the band to rehearse mornings in the Sail Loft. Every morning thereafter, until the Navy quit making sails in the 1930s, the Sailmakers cut and stitched their canvas to the rhythms and melodies of band music. That same year saw the ranks of the band swell to around eighty members due to the World War I draft. The increase in men and talent made it possible to start a small orchestra within the band.
During the war years some great centralizing force was needed to bring the American nation to a singleness of purpose and instill a national consciousness vital to the success of our wartime efforts. The value of music in achieving results in this direction was quickly realized in the government and in a short time service bands were recruited to full strength and equipped with the best instruments available. Large and capable bands stirred the hearts of Americans from coast to coast during the war. Musicians of international fame entered the Navy, many enlisting from the great symphony orchestras and others from the world's famous bands. The nation's people wanted music, our soldiers and sailors wanted music and the government gave them good music. At last the unifying and encouraging power of a stirring melody was completely appreciated by our government.
Many famous musicians had much to do with the growth and professionalism of the band, including the famed bandmaster, John Philip Sousa. In 1917, Sousa was asked to assist in the Navy's musical development with the increase of musical talent. Within one month Sousa had over six hundred enlistments for the band. Sousa's Battalion Band better known as the "Jackie Band," went on tour and was instrumental in earning the over 21 million dollars for the Liberty Loan Drive. Sousa was later promoted to Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserve and liked his title and uniform so much that he used it the rest of his life.
 Lieutenant Charles Benter Leader, 1925-1942 |
Early in 1919 a bandmaster named Charles Benter transferred from the fleet to the Washington Navy Yard Band. This was the beginning of the Benter era which would last until 1942. Benter was born in 1899 and enlisted as an "apprentice boy" when he was thirteen years old. By the time he was twenty-one he became the youngest bandmaster in the United States Navy. During World War I he was Bandmaster of the band aboard the USS Connecticut, flagship of Admirals Dunn, Rodman and Glennon. From there he made the historic transfer to the Washington Navy Yard Band where he was to become the "Father of the United States Navy Band."
Armistice and demobilization of the uniformed services after World War I led to a rapid disappearance of the great bands that had stirred the nation. As the servicemen returned home, so too did the artists who made our Navy's music so outstanding. The Washington Navy Yard Band had dwindled down to less than twenty men, but the Navy Department, aware of the value of good band music, demanded a musical unit that would superbly represent the United States Navy, both in the nation's capital and throughout the country. Bandmaster Benter set out to recruit musicians from around the country to bring the band to its authorized strength of 30 men.
1920 marked the beginning of the Navy Band's long association with radio as a small orchestra began broadcasting from a hangar at the Anacostia Naval Air Station. In 1922 the band began performing concerts at the Capitol Plaza on Monday eveings, a series which has continued without interruption except for brief periods of renovations to the Capitol building. That same year, the Navy Department began referring to "The Navy Band" instead of the Washington Navy Yard Band that was in keeping with Benter's plan to make the band the official band of the U.S. Navy.
Early in 1923 the Navy Band accompanied President Harding on a trip to Alaska. On each stop the band would parade down the street or form a semicircle to play marches. President Harding was stricken with a heart attack and died on August 2. The band played Chopin's Funeral March for the cortege from the Palace Hotel to the San Francisco train station.
