 On the day of his inauguration in 1925, President Calvin Coolidge signed a special act of Congress. It was a law that brought together a group of musicians stationed at the old Navy Yard. And it created a new military band, which today has been called one of the finest bands in the world. Members of the Navy Band come from Juilliard, the Eastman School of Music, Curtis, or any one of a dozen of the best schools in the nation, including the Navy's own School of Music in Norfolk. Before entering the band, each player undergoes a difficult audition and is selected solely on the basis of having the highest musical ability. Concert band on stage, concert band on stage for Morning Bricker. As leader of the Navy Band, Commander Anthony A. Mitchell is a veteran of 30 years service in Navy music. You get up just a little of the allies on the march. Played in the sort of attack, don't forget the attack diminuendo, lots of bright attacks. We can't get maybe something a little more out of it this time than we did before, huh? Nice and crisp. We want it crisp. We want it to be heavy, but we want it to be exciting. We want to punch it out. Just punch it out nicely. Watch coming off of those long notes. We've got to wait for that beat to come in there, man. Once the tempo has started, it should stay with you from then on. It's well and good, but now we need just a little bit of do whatever it's telling you about. Little bit of that body creep in there now. If you'll tongue it sharply, it will still come out. It'll still come out in a nice and menacing. Little bit of that body creep in there now. Let the body creep in. Without it appearing to be too broad for a march style of... Can't you hear the difference? The difference is right there. All of a sudden you've got sound. You've got sound coming out of your band. Rather than a lot of technicalities. You have sound, quality. You can actually hear now. Da, you can hear them. You can hear what this number is actually. When it comes at me, it's all together different. You followed it. If you would be down here where I am, you would see it. I mean, you would hear it. So much better. Just a tactic shot, please. Here we go. That's his name the other day was making a good point of something. I mean, we should remember a lot of the fine things that he said. I think he had a lot on the ball. And it's just that sudden... Very effective, you know. And mainly the reverberation is coming from the percussion. You've got to be double careful. You've got to immediately stifle your... the end, right? So don't forget. Don't forget to do that. Stifle those where mentioned, especially in the percussion. Next. One, two. The rehearsal is a critical time of decision in developing the performance of a musical score. It is the empty canvas on which a conductor will experiment until he obtains his own personal mode of expression. During the difficult hours of bringing a composition to life, he will demand ever-increasing quality from his players until he is thoroughly satisfied with their performance. That way you will lighten everything. You've got 70 men playing brass instruments, and all this heavy instruments. We've got to lighten them. And it sounds tremendous. All of a sudden it becomes a nice, light, moving instrument instead of this big, heavy brass woodwind sound and people say, we're going to hear a band, we're going to hear a big mass of instruments. You don't have to hear a mass of instruments. They can hear a good symphonic sound. Art everybody right there. This is the fifth attempt at a new score, a classical composition that is more demanding than the march. If it goes well, he will not interrupt their performance for a hundred years, the feeling of a bygone era. Band members still practice in the empty spaces of the old building. The color guard will come in, the band will play the anthem, remain for the invocation, play music, and then the band will depart. All right, sir, if anything further comes up or any clarification you need, please call me. Otherwise, we'll see you that evening in 1830. Yes, sir, thank you for that. Goodbye. As the Navy band grew in size and stature through the years, its duties became more diversified. To its concert band, it would later add a dance band, an honors band for ceremonial occasions, and a dozen smaller specialized ensembles. As its responsibilities grew, so did the need for jobs that would keep some of the players from playing. Administration, supply and maintenance, accounting and public information, jobs that are as necessary today as that of performing. The administration of the band is the responsibility of its executive officer and assistant conductor, Lieutenant Donald Stauffer, a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and the man who will eventually become the band's leader. But the heart of the band is the arranging staff. For it is here where music is created, where ideas are translated to musical notation that will eventually take the form of melodies and harmonies. Now, in the introduction I was thinking of this flute by itself being way down here. And then with the harp coming in something like this. Chief Ernie Forte at the piano and Chief Ben Mitchell Morris together represent over 50 years of service in the Navy band. They are working on a new arrangement of an American folk song. The end result of this work will be a finished composition, music to be copied, rehearsed, talked about, and one day performed before the public. Higher key, I think would be better. We put it down in A. That's a good key. All right. Now, anything else you can think of here? Well, let's try that first line, see how that sounds. Give me the introduction with the flutes, and I'll see how that sounds. Here's the gift. Now, in the third section, I think that maybe we can introduce a chorus with you also. On the third section? Yes. That's good. There you go. I think a lot, yes. Very good. Is the band's official composer, like Chief Forte, his job is to create music. In the background, in a foreign bassoon, please, we have to have it much more legato, very neutral, sounding completely out of the way, completely out of the way of the flute. Could I hear a little bit of that background? It doesn't sound like the two parts are equally balanced. Exactly. Right at 20. Oh yeah, there's a clarinet in the bassoon. Just play. Three before 20. Why don't we start there? I'll give you the cue, all right? When summer arrives in the nation's capital, the band begins its annual season of outdoor concerts. And now, all the hard work during the year, all of this rehearsals and arranging and administrative tasks are finally channeled into the most important job of all, performing the four alive audience. Mr. Dick Bay, may I help you please? That's right. Maybe band does concerts every Monday on the capital steps at 8 o'clock and every Thursday at 8.30 down to Potomac Watergate. That's June through August. So we start at the capital, and then we end up following Thursday to Watergate. You want lights, likely? Yeah, we want lights. We need light on the leader there. You know, he's always in the dark. And the C-channels go in there. And our solos. And solos. Do you use the banners? Are we going to use the banners this year? We'd like to use the banner down there at the Watergate. That's a tremendous thing if we can get up there. A lot of tourists go by with cameras and take a picture, and they really don't know which band it is until they see that banner. The C-channels don't. I would say until I hear them. The C-channels operate well back in that shell, because it projects their sound. But then the banner is shot, if you pick them in there, because you can't, we can put them, move them over, if possible. Well, let's see. We're not having the solos festival outside this year. Outside? Yeah, we'll have that. We'll have them in the auditorium. You want to go outside with the children's concert this year? Uh... No, we'll go inside, maybe, in the fall. But we'll see, we'll see what turns out. The summer concerts in Washington begin in June and end in August. A pattern the band has followed since the days of the Civil War. But tonight's concert at the Lincoln Memorial has a special meaning. For at the end of this season, Commander Anthony Mitchell retires after 30 years of dedicated service in Navy music. When he leaves, a new leader will take the podium. And so the tradition of good music that has always been the hallmark of the Navy band will continue through the years. To this country is music. And through its music, a vision of history and the uncommon valor of the American Fighting Man. A vision which remains a very special gift. As long as there are people who want to hear good music, there will be bands of musicians, such as these Navy men, who come together to perform on a warm summer evening in the nation's capital. And they will sing the songs and play the stirring marches that entertain us and remind us of our good heritage.