U.S. military bands

United States military bands include musical ensembles maintained by the United States Army, United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, United States Air Force, and United States Coast Guard. More broadly, they can also include musical ensembles of other federal and state uniformed services, including the Public Health Service and NOAA Corps, the state defense forces, and the senior military colleges.

During the colonial period, most British army units posted in the area that would become the United States had bands attached. The first recorded instance of a local American military band was in 1653 in the New Hampshire militia. The oldest extant United States military band is the United States Marine Corps Band, formed in 1798 and known by the moniker "The President's Own". Currently, the U.S. armed forces field eleven "premier ensembles", as well as more than 100 smaller, active-duty and reserve bands.

Bands provide martial music during official events including state arrivals, military funerals, ship commissioning, and change of command and promotion ceremonies; they conduct public performances in support of military public relations and recruitment activities such as street parades and concerts; and they provide popular music groups to entertain deployed military personnel. Most bands of the U.S. armed forces reconfigure into combat units during wartime during which they have non-musical responsibilities, including guarding prisoners of war and defending command centers.

Unlike Canada, the United Kingdom, and some other nations, the United States federal armed forces do not maintain any "voluntary bands", or bands composed of unpaid civilian musicians who dress in military uniforms. All U.S. military bands are composed of regularly enlisted or commissioned military personnel. One exception to this is the U.S. Coast Guard Pipe Band, which is drawn from the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary.

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