On Friday, Oct.13, “The President’s Own” United States Marine Corps Band lined the stage of Augustana with their instruments and bright red uniforms, as students and members of the community gathered to fill the seats of Augustana College’s Centennial Hall. The event was open to the public, and tickets were completely sold out.
The band tours regions around the United States each year. After having canceled their 2013 tour due to a government shutdown, “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band made their reappearance in the Quad Cities in 2018. This year’s performance marks their first performance in the Quad Cities in five years. The band is 225 years old, and this was their 17th performance in the Quad Cities.
Carl Collins, the band director at North Scott High School in Iowa, said he had connections within the band and said it took some effort to make this performance happen.
“I’ve known musicians that were in the band,” Collins said. “I reached out to the band and said we would love to have the band in the Quad Cities when you go on tour.”
Collins said that the way that he felt during his first time listening to the Marine band inspired him to host the band here.
“It was a long time ago, and it was absolutely one of the finest wind band concerts I’d ever heard,” Collins said. “As band director, I thought, man, we need to get these guys in front of our students.”
Beth Plunk, the principal flutist of the band and a native of the Quad Cities, said she was excited to be at Augustana.
“I’m very excited to be able to perform at this school,” Plunk said. “Throughout our performances, we connect people, especially, we connect veterans with their time and service by playing their service songs. Sometimes they also come up to the stage and talk about when they served.”
The Marine Band is composed of people from all over the nation, which includes connections between Augustana College and the Marine Band members.
Elizabeth Matera, alumna of the Marine Band and current Augustana music professor, shared more about her experience in the band and said she hoped people would take something away from the experience.
“I was in the band for 26 years,” Matera said. “My favorite thing was being in such an elite group of musicians and also getting to be at so many historical events in DC. Also, I was hoping that people would take away the appreciation for the high level of musicality and musicians in our American military organizations.”
As the performance approached the end, each of the service songs rumbled through the walls of Centennial Hall, joined by claps from the crowd in the honor of those who had served in each of the military branches. The last song the band played was the Marine song. When the song finally ended, all of the musicians stood up as a gesture of respect to their branch.
