Marine Band San Diego

Marine Band San Diego welcomes new hundreds of new families into the Marine Corps through our support of Recruit Graduation, military ceremonies, recruiting efforts, and community relations events. The band’s objective for every performance is to instill audiences with a sense of pride and American patriotism while reaffirming the values, customs, and traditions that best represent the United States Marine Corps.

Officially formed in 1921, Marine Band San Diego has served the Commanding General’s mission of finding and making America’s newest Marines. In its early years, the ensemble gave weekly concerts at Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park, drawing regular audiences exceeding 15,000 with one of these concerts notably attended by the “March King” himself, John Philip Sousa. To this day, American marches remain a core staple of the band’s performance literature, and they are still performing at the historic organ pavilion.

Today, the band consists of 49 enlisted Marines and one Marine officer. Marine Band San Diego performs weekly at morning colors and graduation ceremonies aboard the depot for thousands of family members celebrating completion of a rigorous 13-week bootcamp training cycle. The band executes approximately 350 performances annually for military ceremonies, civic ceremonies, and community relations events. Additionally, Marine Band San Diego supports recruiting efforts for Western Recruiting Region by performing in high schools and colleges in all states west of the Mississippi River.

Marine Band San Diego showcases many different ensembles to serve its mission including concert band, ceremonial marching band, popular music group, brass band, brass quintet, and jazz combo. The goal of each performance is to instill a feeling of American pride and patriotism while sharing the rich history of the Marine Corps.

Notable performances for Marine Band San Diego include the Rose Bowl Parade, Hollywood Christmas Parade, and regular appearances for professional sports teams such as the San Diego Football Club, San Diego Padres, and San Francisco 49ers. Our members have also augmented international performances in Japan, Italy, Switzerland, and France for the annual commemoration of the Battle of Belleau Wood.

While the Marines of the band are highly skilled musicians, they also actively maintain basic combat skills including physical fitness, rifle marksmanship, water survival, and close combat. Marine Band San Diego will be ready to serve the nation’s call.

Location:
El Capitan High School
10410 Ashwood St, Lakeside, CA

Time: 6:00 p.m.

Ensemble: Vocalist

Description: Come support your local high school football team as they honor our men and women in uniform!

For more information, click here.

Location:
Scripps Ranch High School
10410 Falcon Way, San Diego, CA 92131

Time: 7:00 p.m.

Ensemble: Ceremonial Band, Vocalist

Description: Come out and support your local high school football teams as they show appreciation for all the men and women in uniform!

For more information, click here.

Seating Capacity: 1,000 (venues with a seating capacity of less than 1,000 will be considered on a case-by-case basis)

Stage Size: 45 feet wide by 35 feet deep (This excludes space for the wings, an acoustic shell, curtains, backdrops, or downstage area in front of the band). Portable stages should not exceed 18 inches in elevation.

Floor Size: 50 feet by 50 feet. (Gymnasium set up, for example).

Storage Area: 2,500 square feet of accessible backstage space is recommended for the band’s equipment. This space must be in a secure, convenient location during the performance. Equipment cannot be stored outside the facility.

Stage Equipment: Marine Band San Diego provides its own stage risers, chairs, music stands, and conductor’s podium. If available on-site, the band prefers to perform with an acoustic shell.

Dressing Rooms: Marine Band San Diego requests two main dressing rooms for approximately 30 men and 10 women.
Dressing rooms must be located in the same facility as the concert venue and have access to restrooms separate from the audience. For schools, classrooms are okay to use as dressing rooms, as long as they can be secured the entire time the band is onsite. Windows must be covered for privacy.

Lighting: Overhead lighting should be white (no gels), bright enough to read newsprint without difficulty and should not hinder musicians’ ability to see the director. Downstage lighting must be adequate, as should any lighting for stage extensions. Please do not use spotlights. The site should provide a technician to operate the house lighting panel. Decorative background lighting is permissible, but not required. If available, red and blue lights are typically best suited for Marine Band San Diego performances.

Audio Equipment: Marine Band San Diego provides its own audio equipment, including microphones, cables, mixer, and processing and graphic EQ, and can also provide a speaker system suitable for small and medium venues. However, when available, using the venue’s installed speaker system is preferred. Additional specifications are outlined below for venues with dedicated audio systems:
• When the installed house system is used, the Marine Band San Diego recording engineer will provide a mono, line-level signal to the house mixer that should be routed through the house system at nominal level without EQ or compression.
• Sends for left, center, right, and fills can be provided as needed. These sends can come from the mix position or back stage right.
• A stage box, which includes preamps and wireless microphones, will be placed back stage right. This stage box requires a single, dedicated 20-amp outlet with isolated ground (sound power).
• The stage box will be connected to the mixer via a cat6 snake that must be run from the stage box to the mixer at the mix position.
• The mix position should be in-house, reachable with a 150 ft snake, and not located under a balcony/overhang. The mix position cannot be behind a window (removable or not).

Parking: The sponsor must provide parking as close as possible to the loading dock/area for a 26-foot-long box truck, one charter bus, and one 15 passenger van.

Security: Questions regarding security can be directed to the Marine Band San Diego Enlisted Bandleader Master Sgt. Monica Preston at mcrdsd_band@usmc.mil

Misc.: The stage should not have any signs or banners.

Media Coverage: Media are often interested in sharing 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Band concerts as a news item. TV stations may be willing to run the promotional video a week or two before the event. Radio may want to interview the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Band’s director on air. A newspaper may post the press release and a photo on their website and social media. Contacting media is often as simple as emailing the news tip line or editor with the provided press release as the body of the email. Any requests for interviews should be directed to the Marine Band San Diego Production Manager Staff Sgt. Veeder Ransom at: mcrdsd_band@usmc.mil

As a Marine musician, you'll have the opportunity to serve with one of the ten renowned Marine Corps Fleet bands throughout the world. All Marine musicians are assigned as instrumentalists / vocalists during their first enlistment. Follow-on career opportunities for leadership roles within the bands include: Directors, Enlisted Bandleaders, Ensemble Leaders (Enlisted Conductors /  Drum Majors), Production Managers, and Instrument Repair Technicians.

Instrumentalist / vocalist

Musicians perform in a Marine Corps Fleet Band for concerts, parades, ceremonies, and various other official functions in support of the Marine Corps Bands' mission. Musicians perform additional duties in support of band operations, such as supply, administrative assistant, and / or music librarian. Additional increased responsibilities relating to music performance are assigned based on grade / experience, such as instrument section leader or leader of a small ensemble.

Director

Directors serve as the officer-in-charge of Marine Corps Fleet Bands and primary conductor. Directors also manage, administer, and coordinate musical performances, develop budgets and annual operation plans, direct internal operations and training, and supervise the employment of a Marine Corps Fleet Band.

Enlisted Bandleader

Enlisted Bandleaders serve as the senior enlisted Marine of a Marine Corps Fleet Band. Enlisted Bandleaders assist and advise the Director in developing the musical proficiency of the band, planning and scheduling, and supervising the necessary administrative duties of a musical unit.

Ensemble Leader (Enlisted Conductor / Drum Major)

Ensemble Leaders direct, train and manage the musical performances of the full band, to include small ensembles. Additionally, they assist and advise the Director and Enlisted Bandleader on musical development, implementation of musical protocol for ceremonies. They lead the band in concerts, ceremonies, and / or on the march.

Production Manager

Production Managers manage the audio/visual production support for band operations to include: live sound reinforcement and recording, stage lighting, digital media production, and band marketing.

Instrument Repair Technician

Instrument Repair Technicians provide repair and maintenance of musical instruments assigned to a Marine Corps Fleet Band. Additionally, they assist in the purchasing plans of band equipment.

There are two essential elements to the audition process; you must establish your entrance qualifications as a musician and as a United States Marine. The Musician Placement Director is the Marine responsible for reviewing and certifying your musical qualification. A local Marine Corps recruiter will help you determine your Marine Corps entrance qualifications and guide your through the process of becoming a Marine.

In order to become eligible to serve as a Marine musician, musical proficiency must be established in accordance with Marine Corps Audition Standards. By following a two-round process, we establish an applicant's potential for service as a Marine musician. The first round is a screening round, wherein we learn about your musical background and establish the likelihood of you successfully meeting the requirements of the next round. Upon successful screening, you will be invited to participate in the audition round, which consists of a live audition proctored by the Musician Placement Director nearest to your geographical area. This audition round serves as the final assessment for establishing musical entrance qualifications for service as a Marine musician.
 

Screening Round

The screening round is used to establish your musical background and potential to succeed in the audition round. You will be asked to provide audio OR video recordings performing specified musical excerpts and a completed "Sign Up" form submission. 

Audio and video recording must be of a good quality and consist of all excerpts. Your local Musician Placement Director can provide specific guidance, should you have any questions.

Audition Round

Based on successful evaluation of the screening round, you may be invited to perform the audition round. The audition round consists of an in-person audition proctored by the Musician Placement Director nearest to your geographical area. During the audition round, you will perform specified excerpts and sight-read from a collection of short selections. Dates for the audition round are often published or, in some cases, individually scheduled. 

For more information regarding the audition process, including instrument-specific requirements, email: MarineMusic@marines.usmc.mil

To request an audition, visit our Audition Request Form.