SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Marine Corps Band New Orleans visited the Coservatorio de Musica Puerto Rico in San Juan, Oct. 18, 2016, to provide Master music classes to students attending the conservatory and to perform with them during the Marine Forces Reserve Centennial concert event.
Before kicking off the concert event, members of the band’s jazz ensemble provided classes to students attending the university. They performed different pieces for the students, listened to the student’s play their own arrangements, discussed important aspects of being successful musicians and taught steps to properly engage an audience.
“The type of impact they have on an audience is very important, they need to be thinking about what they want the audience to gain from their performance,” said Master Sgt. Timothy Otis, Marine Corps Recruiting Command head of musician procurement and guest musician with Marine Corps Band New Orleans. “That thought is the genesis of everything else, ‘what song I am going to pick, what kind of music I am going to play, what type of instrumentation I should use,’ all the other things fall under what type of impact we want to have on this audience.”
Following completion of the classes, the conservatory students joined the Marine Corps band to perform the Centennial celebration concert, a first for both sides. This allowed the students to experience performing different types of music for the public, while also allowing the community to learn about the Marine Corps Reserve. The combination worked very well.
“The exposure to professional musicians in the military tends to rub off. It shows the discipline that the students later need to exhibit when they become professionals in the civilian world,” said Rafael E. Irizarry, conductor of the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music Band, and associate conductor of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra. “To have the Marines collaborate with the band in this context will enhance their development as young musicians and professionals in the future. We are very thankful for this opportunity.”
Alfonso Piacentini, a student with the conservatory’s band, added that they gained a lot from working with each other, and was impressed that both bands managed to come together to sound like one.
Through the joint effort, the Marines and students were able not only to bring the history and lineage of the Marine Corps Reserve to the Puerto Rican community, but also to leave a lasting impression on each other’s lives.
“My favorite experience has been working with the conservatory students and the director for the Puerto Rico symphony. I think that the personal interaction we have with people is important,” said Otis. “When they are on the stage, it is one Marine and a Puerto Rican student sitting next to each other. They both are going to remember that for a lifetime.”
“Someone in the audience may whistle a tune on the way home from a performance and it might stick with them,” Otis continued. “But someone who is sitting right next to you and performed with you, that’s the most effective way to reach them the students.”