On October 11, musicians from the United States Navy Band performed at the Meridian auditorium during Mustang Block. Students from the Meridian Wind Ensemble played alongside them for a song, performing ‘Washington Post March.’
The Navy band started by playing ‘The Star Spangled Banner’. After the national anthem, they played several classical songs. They then moved on to play a medley of songs including ‘Friend Like Me’ from ‘Aladdin’, ‘For the First Time in Forever’ from ‘Frozen’ and ‘Be Our Guest’ from ‘Beauty and the Beast’, ending their performance by playing the ‘Avengers’ theme song.
“It was exciting to see how the student body enjoyed themselves,” said Band Director Mary Jo West. “It would be great to see more music infused in our MHS culture.”
There are 11 Navy bands stationed across the world. The different bands play different genres of music and perform in different places around the United States and 40 other countries for state and diplomatic purposes. To honor the long naval tradition, musicians from the Navy Band perform 6,000 performances yearly across the United States and around the world.
The musicians had various reasons for enlisting.
“I had studied trombone in college, and wanted any way to play. Now, I’ve been doing this for 17 years,” Senior Chief Musician Colin Wise said.
“I wanted to do a large amount of music and serve my country at the same time,” Chief Musician Bill Edwards reasoned.
