Navy School of Music

The U.S. Armed Forces School of Music (formerly and still widely known as the Navy School of Music) is a United States Navy school located on board Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base in Norfolk, Virginia. The school's mission is to provide specialized musical training to musicians of the Navy, Army, and Marine Corps military bands. The school does not provide training for musicians of the Air Force or Coast Guard.

Establishment of the Navy School of Music

The U.S. Navy School of Music was founded at the Washington Navy Yard by order of the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation on 26 June 1935. The school was originally run by the U.S. Navy Band, with members of the Navy Band teaching classes and private lessons in addition to their regular performance duties with the band. After the commencement of World War II, these duties were deemed too onerous for the Navy Band personnel and the school was separated from the band and relocated to the Anacostia Naval Receiving Station in Washington, D.C. on 24 April 1942.

Inclusion of Other Services in Training

The Marine Corps was given an allocation for 15 students in 1946 and the first Marine Corps students enrolled in 1947. The school was renamed "U.S. Naval School of Music" to reflect the fact that the school now trained not only Navy personnel but all personnel of the naval service.

In 1950 the Army reached an agreement with the Navy to begin training Army musicians at the Naval School of Music. The first class of 150 Army students began training in January 1951.

Move to Little Creek

On 13 April 1961 the Secretary of the Navy announced plans for the US Naval School of Music to be relocated to Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base. On 12 August 1964 the doors to the Naval School of Music in Washington, D.C. were secured. The USS Caddo Parish and the USS Monmouth County proceeded to Little Creek loaded with musical instruments and Army and Navy personnel. Each ship had a band aboard to play honors as it passed George Washington's tomb in Mt. Vernon, Virginia. This was the first time an Army band performed honors on a Navy ship for president George Washington. The ships landed at the base on the morning of 13 August 1964. The school was renamed "U.S. Armed Forces School of Music" concurrent with the move. One of the highlights of the move of the School of Music was the dedication ceremony concert, which included Arthur Fiedler, conductor of the Boston Pops, conducting the School of Music Concert Band.

The Army Music School

The earliest formal training for U.S. Army musicians was at the "School of Practice for U.S.A. Field Musicians" at Fort Jay on Governor's Island, New York. Musical training was first held at this location in 1809, but training wasn't formalized at this location until shortly before the Civil War. Between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of the twentieth century, training was often sporadic and not standardized.

In 1911, Frank Damrosch, director of the Institute of Musical Art (later renamed The Juilliard School), and Arthur A. Clappe, a graduate of the Royal Military School of Music, began a formal school for Army bandmasters at Fort Jay. By 1914 the school had added a course of basic musical training to the program of instruction. The school grew rapidly, along with Army bands as a whole, during World War I.

In February 1920, the Army Music School at Fort Jay was designated a Special Services School of the Army. In September 1921 the school was moved to the Army War College, Washington D.C. This ended the affiliation with the Institute of Musical Art, which lasted 10 years and provided the Army with many outstanding leaders; among the school's graduates during the Fort Jay years was composer Percy Grainger. The school was closed by the Army in 1928.

The Army re-opened the school and re-established bandmaster training in June 1941. After training what the Army considered to be enough bandmasters, the school was again closed on 1 January 1944. Bandsmen for the Army received on-the-job training for the next several years and there were no advanced-level course for bandmasters or senior enlisted leaders.

The Army began consolidating musical training with the Navy in 1951, but maintained separate, Army-only bandsmen courses at several other locations until January 1956. Since 1956 the Army has conducted musical training only in conjunction with the Navy School of Music.

The Navy retains control over training and administration and "owns" the curriculum ; the commanding officer, executive officer, and training officer (with the exception of one Marine Corps officer) have always been Navy officers. The Army contingent was designated "U.S. Army Element School of Music" in 1951; however, due to recent force-structure realignment, the Army contingent was redesignated "U.S. Army School of Music" in 2005.

External links

* [https://www.npdc.navy.mil/css/som/ U.S. Navy School of Music official site]
* [http://schoolofmusic.army.mil/ U.S. Army School of Music official site]
* [http://bands.army.mil/ U.S. Army Bands official site- contains extensive history of U.S. Army Bands]