Photo By Sgt. Jennifer Arnold | Staff Sgt. Jamie Edwards, a saxophone player assigned to the 25th Infantry Division...... read more read more
SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii - The 25th Infantry Division Band held a Halloween Spooktacular Concert on Oct. 30, 2021, at Weyand Field on Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, which featured the 25th ID Band’s Concert Band and Rock Band playing a variety of Halloween songs for the local military community.
The Spooktacular Halloween Concert put on by the 25th ID Band started its planning stages as far back as May 2021. The idea was launched off of the success of the band’s Memorial Day Concert, and the training, music selection, personnel management started as soon as the Halloween Concert date was determined.
“Training up to the concert was somewhat rigorous,” Spc. Ethan Miller, bassoon player and vocalist, of the Band stated and recalled, “I played bassoon on three pieces and sang six songs with the rock band so it took hours of preparation just to be ready for rehearsal. So this training experience taught me to manage my time in the weeks and days before rehearsals in order to try and simulate a performance.”
The Band aspires to produce a minimum of two Concert Band performances for the local communities each year. These performances are culminating events, comparable to other Battalion's versions of Joint Readiness Training Center rotations.
“In regards to the train up, it's just like any other Army organization. We developed a plan. We decided where and when, we chose what we were going to do, and we executed by phase,” stated Cpt. Reyna Creamer, Commander of the 25th Infantry Division Band. “Honestly, our organization is absolutely professional...[the Soldiers] are one hundred percent proud and love what they do, so it's exciting to see the end product and the faces of people when they get to see what we deliver.”
Training for an event of this magnitude took substantial time and effort, which began four months prior to the actual performance. In preparation for the Spooktacular, the Band conducted twice weekly full ensemble rehearsals, weekly section trainings, and weekly preparation meetings. Once it reached two weeks before the event, the full ensemble rehearsals transformed into logistical technical rehearsals consisting of coordination with the sound support and lighting crews.
The Band's holiday performances attract an immense amount of family and friends from the local community. The promotion of the concert started as early as Labor Day. This gave the publicity section of the unit adequate time to promote the Spooktacular to all facets of the local community. The goal was to have everyone aware of the event so they could be afforded the opportunity to attend and enjoy.
The Band is Creamer’s first Command position. She took on the role in October 2020 after a gap in band commander leadership.
“I’m an HR officer and although it's a very thankless job, I know that someone needs to do it. Someone needs to take care of the documents. Someone needs to make sure that people get paid, and I think that the band is the same. No one really thinks about all the hard work and dedication that is needed in order to create a show or concert or anything of that sort. People always assume they're going to be ready to go as soon as we ask for them, and that's not a thing,” Creamer recalls. “For me, it showed how much detail is required and how much needs to be communicated to the other organizations here on installation and outside in the Pacific Theater...[The details] is something that is lost and people truly do not understand that we operate just like any other unit.”
The Spooktacular Concert was presented as a way to kick off the holiday season with familiar favorites of Halloween such as, “Thriller” by Michael Jackson and the “Theme from Harry Potter.” The ultimate objective was to boost morale in the local military community, while also inspiring community members to join in and play music with the Band.
The Spooktacular performance was tremendously successful, drawing the largest total audience the Band had received the entire year. Scores of community members approached unit members with compliments of the concert and were visibly blessed by this community event.
Miller recalls his favorite part of the concert was, “...performing the 'Thriller' dance. Dancing is not something you typically see at an Army Band concert. The 'Thriller' dance is well recognized so we put many hours of work in to make it clean. The result was excellent…I don’t think they expected it, so I know it really added to the quality of the performance and had an impact on our audience.”
“Thriller” was the closing song that the Concert Band and Rock Band played together to close out the show and leave a lasting impression on the audience.
Miller proclaims, “The most fulfilling part of the train up for this concert was collaborating with my fellow band members to put on an awesome show for our military and civilian community.”
Book the 25th ID Band at 808-655-9759 or email usarmy.schofield.25-id.mbx25th-id-band-request@army.mil.
| Date Taken: | 10.31.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 12.26.2021 16:54 |
| Story ID: | 411719 |
| Location: | WAHIAWA, HAWAII, US |
| Web Views: | 61 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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