Introducing Staff Sergeant Josh DiStefano
Editors note: After several months of talks with the U.S. Army, we’re happy to add Staff Sergeant Joshua DiStefano as a regular guest blogger to MusicianWages.com.
Josh has played piano as a soldier with the U.S. Army for 14 years and is currently stationed in Belgium as a pianist and arranger with the NATO band. He brings with him a wealth of experience, several tours of duty and the blessings of the U.S. Army to tell us his thoughts on the job. We’re very proud to have him with us.
We’ve asked Josh to write about his Army job in the way that we’ve previously written about cruise ship jobs on our site. We want him to tell us the good, the bad, and all of the details in between. If you have a question about enlisting and working as an Army musician, please post a comment below and we’ll have it sent to Josh. He’s told us that he is really looking forward to hearing from our readers and to answering questions as best he can.
Expect an article from Josh about once a month, as his schedule permits. His first post is below.
Boot Camp and Military Music School
“Get those duffel bags over your heads, Privates!” Barked the Drill Sergeant. A huge intimidating man, with fire in his eyes.
“I don’t want to see any elbows bending! Hey you, straighten out those arms!”
It was about this time that I began to question my decision to join the Army Band.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I’d had a plan. Had worked it all out my senior year between exams and keg parties:
I was to going move back to LA and score music for film and television (I did major in film scoring, after all), with a fallback plan of being a rock star.
Upon my return, I’d landed a couple interviews with smaller production companies. They went like so:
Me – “How did you like my demo reel?”
Them – “We weren’t that impressed.”
“Oh.”
“Sorry kid, but we’re looking for someone with a little more experience.”
“If nobody hires me, how can I get any experience?”
“That’s a very good question… well, thanks for stopping by.”
And that was that.
Seeing as my rock band had dissolved, the back-up plan wasn’t looking so hot, either.
I needed a job.
I could have taught school. They were so desperate for teachers at that time, they were hiring anybody with a college degree. I could have hustled for gigs and taught lessons. This was the option of choice for most of my colleagues. I could have walked down the block and gotten a job at In ‘n Out Burger. They do have tasty burgers.
But instead, I enlisted and shipped off.
I left the comfort of my old bedroom (at my mom’s house) and stepped into the great unknown.
I was scared and anxious, all my friends were trying to talk me out of it. I had no cousins or uncles to ask about it. My Dad never served in the Army, and had no war stories for me to fall back on.
All I knew about the Army was what I’d seen on TV. Platoon, Full Metal Jacket (I know they’re Marines, but you see my point), G.I. Joe (the cartoon). Hardly an informed decision.
They promised me I would see the world , jam with amazing players, experience things other folks only dream about…. And they would pay off my student loans!
“I want to go to Japan.” I said.
“How about Alaska?”
“Uhhhhh…. ” stammer stammer. “…sure, just get me out of here.”
Shaved my head, said my goodbyes, drove away in a government car.
Basic Training
“Lift your duffel bags over your heads! Come on Privates, we haven’t got all day! Now drop ‘em!”
Machine gun-like thumps as the 40 pound bags hit the ground.
“Oh, you don’t want to do it together, No team players here. We got us a bunch of individuals! Let’s try it again! Lift ‘em up! Higher Privates, we’re waiting on you! Okay, on three, drop ‘em. One, two… three!”
Thumpity – thump. A far cry from the single unified thud we so desperately wanted to hear.
“If you can’t follow simple instructions, how the hell are you supposed to survive in combat?! You just got your buddy killed!! Now lift ‘em up!!”
This grueling scene repeated for about an hour.
Push ups, running, shouting, no sleep, more shouting, more push ups, less sleep. Meals woofed down in 5 minutes.
It was a long 8 weeks.
My main goal was to be invisible, have the Drill Sergeants not even know my name. I wanted to be a faceless body in the middle of the group. This was not as tough as it sounds. The beauty of Basic Training was that there was always somebody slower, fatter, or someone who had a real problem with authority and was just itching to tell off the Drill Sergeants (I could never understand where these people came from, I mean it’s the Army. What were they expecting?).
I just kept my mouth shut and did what I was told.
Run, shoot, roll in the mud. Counting down the days until it was over, and I was back in music school…
Military Music School
Similar to college, with more yelling, less debauchery, and lots of horn players REALLY into drum corps.
- 5:30 am – Physical Training (read – more push ups)
- 7:30 – Grab your instruments (which meant bass drum or cymbals for me) and march around for an hour, learning all the steps for proper military turns.
- 8:30 – Concert band. Count for 95 bars then hit the triangle. Oh wait, the conductor stopped the band on the 87th bar. Start again from bar 17. Stop. (me struggling to remain conscious). Start again, keep going. Day dreaming, I miss my triangle hit. The conductor stops the band, scolds me. groan.
- 11:30 – Lunch
- 13:00 – Piano lesson, I had two great teachers – both skilled and knowledgeable players. I learned a lot from both of them.
- 14:00 – Combo rehearsal – this was fun. Had a fantastic (but very hard-nosed) guitar player running the show.
- 15:00 – Theory and ear training. Pretty basic stuff.
- Squeeze in a couple hours of mandatory practice time.
- Dinner.
- Sleep.
- Repeat. for. six. months.
Sprinkle in couple urinalyses and the occasional room inspection, and you’ve got some quality Army music training.
On the weekends, I would pound cheeseburgers and pitchers of cheap beer with my classmates. This kept us sane. We were excited to graduate and get to our perspective bands. Sharing what we’d heard about this band versus that one, comparing Basic Training horror stories and college pranks.
And then, one sunny September morning it was official – I was an Army Bandsman.
I packed my things and headed north. Fairbanks, Alaska. I was the new pianist for the 9th Army Band.
It was the best decision I ever made.
SSgt. Josh DiStefano
Staff Sergeant Joshua DiStefano is a piano player, arranger and composer for the U.S. Army. He has toured the world as military musician and released a CD he recorded while deployed in Iraq. For more information on Josh and his CD, please visit Josh's page at CD Baby. For more information about the Army Band please visit the the Army Bands Website.
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Hi Sammi,
Your friend won’t gain anything extra by sticking it out for a music degree as opposed to a general studies degree. The benefit that college adds to possible promotion are based solely on credit hours.
Everybody in the band field will join at the same rank -Specialist/E4. Regardless of education.
I hope this helps,
Josh
Sounds great! Thank you for your help, he will be very relieved!
Hi Josh, why don’t you pay us, the military band of the Lebanese Army, a visit here in Beirut, Lebanon.
Hi Lt.
I’d love to come down and meet you guys. Maybe we could do a joint band concert?
Josh
hello: how can i join the army band? i live in Puerto Rico, US
Hi Jose,
Contact Master Sargeant Dan Shannon – daniel.shannon@usarec.army.mil
He’ll get you pointed in the right direction.
Josh
Hi SSgt Josh,
Thanks for your articles, they are very helpful. As you are based in Belgium, where I am from, I was just wondering how life as an army musician was over there? Is it as diverse (musically spoken) as the US or UK army bands? Do they have Jazz, big band, rock, funk ensembles as well or is it just marching music?
Also, as a Belgian, is it possible to join de NATO army band? Is this a particular band?
Sorry for all these questions, but I’m very interested in the subject. Could you eventually send me a link to more info about the subject?
Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Michel Radermecker
Josh, I am a professional musician that is 33 years old and due to the collapse of the economy needs a stable career. I have lost everything. I am being supported by my mother and father now. I have some questions, I am an advanced player and don’t know how grueling the audition is. I don’t know if I should go ahead and wait nad work with my two professors on serious improvisational techniques and styles along with my advanced program of Mastering the Piano by Will Barrow (is online), To make sure that I am totally cool headed and calm and confident when I go in there. I read sheet music like its nothin. I use to be in bands where I would have to come up with runs, breaks, and broken chord progressions to add flavor and fullness to the song when all I was given was a lead sheet with the words and chords. Do they just want you to play chords over and over again like an amateur more or less, or is it something like, Here: 3/4 timing here is 10 chords, play them in a Blues style you have 5 minutes, Go!” I started when I was 3 1/2 and basically read sheet musci and ad lib. Bruce Hornsby, Elton John, Billy joel, Jim Brickman(he’s a jerk by the way, I played with him in Richmond once at the landmark) are mostly what I play like. I am not well versed in Latin style. I was trained on digital keyboards such as the clavinovas, and grand and baby grands. So, I am use to a certain feel of the keys. Please be descriptive as much as you can. I would really appreciate it. I really need to start over and get my life back on track and I know I can do this, I just want to be as prepared as possible. Also, I am a competitive body builder and since I am older I do have injuries that demand certain supplements to stay ahead of the inflammation, bursitis and arthritis. nothing illegal, but definitely mandatory. Syn-flex is used to keep my inflammation down in the knees. It’s what the pro cyclists use. Will they allow me to take my liquid joint complexes to basic and have them with me, as well as my creatine, and vita tabs? Also, will they allow me to work out more than the usual fitness that they do? Like a gym or something there in my free time? Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jayjay
JayJay, if you want to try to join as a piano player, look into as soon as absolutely possible. You have several good things going for you: you can read music well, follow chord progressions, etc. and have lots of background with these genres of music. On the piano side, Josh would be better at giving you further insight. You have mainly one thing going against you: your age. I know these restrictions on age for enlistment, etc are always changing. I want to say perhaps age 35 is the current one, but I’m not sure. I would get with a recruiter (have him/her refer you to a band liaison) and ask many questions. Piano players have just about always been in very high demand. As for the medical stuff, I’d let the recruiter handle that. Once you pass the audition (which I think you will, even now), he/she will do whatever it takes to get you to join.