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We want to welcome to Veterans Radio today Colonel Jason Feddick of the Marine Corps
retired.
Colonel, welcome to Veterans Radio.
Jim, thanks so much for having me on.
Well this is a really unique opportunity to tell some stories that I think people probably
have never heard about.
Colonel Feddick was the 28th Director of the President's Own United States Marine Band.
That's quite a high honor and must have been really the pinnacle of your career, Colonel.
Oh absolutely and honestly a complete surprise.
You know this job of Director of the Marine Band is the same job that John Philip Sousa
once held.
He was the 17th Director of the Band in the 1880s.
And when I joined the service to join the President's Own I could have never imagined
that someday they'd give me the honor of leading this distinguished unit.
Well let's kind of start at the beginning.
How did a nice New England kid like you from New Hampshire end up in the Marine Corps?
I would say completely by accident.
My grandfather served in World War II so we had a little bit of service in the family
but not a whole lot.
I was training to be a music educator actually at the University of Massachusetts I should
say and my idea was to be a band director.
So I was about to get my degree and I was traveling on a little bit of a tour over summer
kind of an internship with a group called the American Wind Symphony and I saw an advertisement
for the Marine Band.
They had an opening for clarinet and the way that the President's Own finds its Marines
is we audition like civilian orchestras because we are trying to find musicians who are fully
trained out of the gate and educated to jump right in and start doing their job on behalf
of the President and the Marine Corps.
And so the auditions often have civilians who will come to audition and if they win
the audition and they are qualified to enlist in the Marine Corps and healthy enough to
get a security clearance they enlist for service in the Marine Band and they stay there for
their entire careers which of course as you know is very unusual in the service and certainly
in the Marine Corps.
So I decided to take a chance and take this audition.
I was 21 years old.
I didn't know much about the Marine Corps.
I certainly had heard of the President's Own but I thought I was completely unqualified.
You know I imagine just the musicians that are in the band being so good and I'm just
a college student.
Came down to Washington, took the audition, was shocked at the end of that audition that
I won the job and they offered me a position with the band and that set me on a path that
would eventually lead to becoming the director which is unfathomable to me.
When you look back on it you say wait a minute a chance seeing of a posting resulted in an
incredible career.
Now you have two bachelor's degrees from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and
you also have a master's degree in orchestral conducting from the University of Maryland
at College Park.
This was all, this was not all planned out right?
This is just taking opportunities that presented themselves.
Yeah and you can imagine for a young musician student you know the prospect of joining the
Marines even though we have a very specialized mission in the Marine Corps, a very important
mission but very unique.
A lot of people don't know about music in the service and exactly what goes into it
and who these service members are.
It was nerve wracking to think I'm going to join the Marine Corps and I'm going to be
expected to uphold those traditions and that discipline as well as be a musician but when
I joined you know thinking maybe I'll do my one enlistment my four years and then I'll
go back to school or I'll start teaching.
Within a within a couple of months I realized just how incredibly special this opportunity
was and I had put on hold at that point my aspirations to conduct and to lead because
I didn't think that that was going to be an opportunity that it would just be playing
clarinet and doing what I had gone to school to do and then three and a half years into
my enlistment I was going to re-enlist, was going to continue to serve in the band.
I was very happy.
They had an opportunity to audition again to become one of the junior assistant directors,
one of the conductors and to be commissioned and I took that audition also with no expectations
and when I won that audition it set me on the path as an officer and as a conductor
that eventually would lead to my appointment as a director in 2014 but the whole thing
was completely unplanned.
If you had talked to me when or anybody when you were a teenager and say hey what would
you like to do and you say you know what I'd like to be the director of the president's
zone.
I'd like to be music advisor of the White House and have the same job that John Philip
Susan once had.
How about that?
You know people would have laughed in your face.
There's no way to plan that kind of opportunity so you just go where the opportunities lead
and you just hope that you're the most qualified person at that time and was so fortunate that
that's how it worked out in that chapter of my career.
Well that's really one of the pearls of wisdom we get out of these interviews is for people
to realize you have to prepare yourself and take the opportunity when it shows up.
These are two opportunities that you had prepared for and you said I'm going to raise my hand
and give it a try but I have to imagine that when you went home and said to the folks in
New Hampshire hey I'm going to join the Marine Corps there may have been some raised eyebrows.
A little bit you know I think if you had known me when I was growing up kind of a class clown
little jokester sarcastic that probably being a United States Marine was probably low on
the list of what people thought I might do and certainly a colonel in the United States
Marine Corps would have been a shock to some of the people who knew me.
They knew music was very important in my life and that I would be dedicated to wherever
that service called me but the Marines is very special.
But I'll tell you Jim as you probably with so many of your guests you know in your own
family service that the service changes you and within a very short amount of time when
I became a Marine I was changed and that change fundamentally defined who I'd become as a
professional who I'd become as a musician and I feel that to this day I'm a retiree
now and I'm teaching but I still feel that influence on my life both in music and beyond
music every day and I'm so grateful that I ended up in a place that I never would have
imagined that I would have gone.
You know sometimes you end up where you're supposed to be and I think the Marine Corps
was where I was supposed to be and it really resonated deeply with me and I'm glad that
I took that chance those years ago because I do shudder to think what would have happened
if I decided that I didn't have the courage to put myself out there and would have ended
up in a very different place than I am now.
Now Colonel there are a lot of listeners right now who have been through basic training themselves
in the different services and they are asking themselves do the military musicians go to
a basic training camp?
And the answer is yes and no.
So the vast majority of military musicians in all the services do attend recruit training.
That's different in every service of course different locations different length of time
almost every Marine does go through basic training and we'll tell you that the members
of the President's Zone have been exempted from basic training since the 1950s.
And the reason for that is that the expectation of Marine musicians at the level of the President's
Zone which are the music the house band for the White House have an incredibly diverse
portfolio of expectations on behalf of our nation on behalf of the Marine Corps.
The expectation is that they'd have the education and the experience to do that job in that
very specialized environment right out of the gate.
And so without risk of injury without being off of the instrument for 14, 16 weeks that
exemption was made in the 50s and it's held true.
So what we do is we bring our Marines our new Marines enlisted to Washington DC and
we try to indoctrinate them in all of the training that happens in basic training save
for the weapons training and some of the physical rigors.
So all of the history customs traditions UCMJ everything that is important about the culture
of the Marine Corps the respect for the history for the for the traditions of the Marine Corps
is taught over about an eight week period and that is when people are preparing to make
that transition before they then start playing full time with the band.
It is a little bit of a point of contention as you might imagine with some of my colleagues
in the Marine Corps a lot of Marines who don't have a chance to meet musicians of the present
zone there's there sometimes suspicious of how could we have Marines that don't go through
that very important gauntlet that very important rite of passage.
But as soon as they meet our Marines and see how dedicated they are to telling the Marine
Corps story to being out there and representing all of our brothers and sisters who are doing
the hardest work of the Corps they change their minds.
I mean time and time again as I spoke to my brothers and sisters and they had a chance
to really understand what the band is all about what music plays for a role in our Marine
Corps in our country they become transformed as well and I've loved having those relationships
with those Marines and having those conversations it's been very important.
Well Colonel I've had the chance to listen to a number of the service bands and choral
groups and singing groups it's always inspiring when they're out in the community talking
and performing with folks.
All if I understand it right do all the services have musicians in them on these kind of engagements?
Yeah every service has musicians so different sizes of the programs the Coast Guard for
instance has one band that is stationed in New London Connecticut at the Academy.
They're a smaller service Department of Homeland Security so that's the only band all the other
services have about anywhere from eight to twenty bands stationed around the country
and in some cases around the world.
In the case of the Marine Corps we have 12 total bands 10 fleet bands that are stationed
on the coasts where the Marine Corps is also one in Japan in Okinawa and one in Hawaii
and then there's the Marine Band in Washington we also have the Marine Drum and Bugle Corps
which is the only drum and bugle corps in the entire armed services so they're very
historic and very special unit and those are the two ensembles if you go to the Friday
evening parades at Marine Barracks Washington in the summers you'll see both the President's
Zone and the Commandant's Zone Marine Drum and Bugle Corps performing together during
that tattoo during that ceremony which is very impressive to see that level of musicianship
illuminating that ceremony.
Well Colonel Federer knew right where I was going with this question because he and I
talked about 8th and I in DC where the Marines are and if you ever get a chance to go to
the Friday night silent tattoo under the lights it's an impressive moving affair every time
and I suspect for the men and women in the band it's equally moving and prideful but
you've been there you've walked the ground tell us about it.
It's a sacred place you know Marine Barracks Washington is you know we call it the oldest
post of the Corps it was the first official post of the Marine Corps in Washington DC
it was founded by Thomas Jefferson of all people and William Ward Burroughs who was
the Commandant at the time they picked out this piece of land within marching distance
of the Capitol in the White House so that the Marines that were stationed there could
defend our nation international capital if it came to that and of course it did come
to that in the War of 1812 it's a very special place and it's special historically it's
a special sacred place to Marines all over the world and it's also special because it
is our primary connection to the American public you know what music does in the military
is it connects our service members our men and women in uniform to the public to our
government officials to our president in a very emotional and visceral way so when we
march on Friday evening parades and we have three or four thousand people come every week
everyday citizens sometimes veterans of course and active duty service members but the majority
of the audience are people that have no affiliation with the service and they see Marines performing
with such precision and such dignity and such excellence and they hear that music that stirs
the soul and in perfect cadence with what's happening with our Marines on the deck it's
a very very special and emotional experience and people leave that parade having a greater
admiration for those who serve a greater respect and desire to support those who wear the uniform
and who represent our country in that special way it's the same spirit that happens all
over the country you asked about you know bands traveling to other communities not only
in Washington DC but all the bands have units including the president's own that go out
on tour and share a piece of what happens in Washington and our government with communities
all over the country you know playing in major venues like Carnegie Hall and the next day
playing in a middle school gymnasium in New Jersey or a field house in Nebraska and you
know thousands of people will come to these concerts and gather together in community
with no political overtones with nothing other than the expectation of being together as
Americans and listening to this great music and these great bands that we're so proud
of and frankly just feeling good about our country and about what we represent and music
is the most powerful tool to do that which is why music has been a part of the services
since its inception the Marine Corps had music almost since its birth and it's been one of
the most important things to preserving and illuminating that culture and I can speak
obviously firsthand about that I was deeply engaged in that for 26 years.
Well one of the things that we could spend a whole other show on is the history of music
in the military from all around the nations all nations involved but one of the things
that you got to do directing the president's own is sort of do those goodwill ambassador
tours not just out of the White House but internationally if I understand it.
Yeah yeah we don't travel too much internationally and most of that is because we are needed
at the White House and so over 300 commitments a year for the president United States with
the Marine Band over a thousand commitments a year total for the Marine Corps whether
that's playing for full honors funerals at Arlington National Cemetery which is one of
the most important things we do Marine Corps ceremonies tours concerts all of that happens
in DC but every once in a while we get internationally and to bring the Marine Band in my case when
I was director I took the band on two international tours one to Japan of course great allies
of the United States and of the Marine Corps big Marine Corps presence in Japan since World
War II that was an incredible tour to bring this famous ensemble to the Japanese people
to have cultural exchanges with their armed forces bands very very special to building
those bridges and preserving those ally ships that are so important to our country and then
just last summer before I retired I took the band to Europe and we played concerts in Prague
and Austria and the Netherlands to standing room only crowds and it's just such a privilege
knowing how important music is in the American military culture to bring these ensembles
abroad and to show that and show how that represents the excellence in our armed services
all across all the services really very very special feelings and indelible memories that
I just I will never forget.
Well you also had the chance to put some of this music down on wax as they used to say
but I'm sure it's digitally recorded now tell us about recording sessions with the with
the president's own.
Yeah I'll tell you a funny little story is John Philip Sousa was director from 1880 to
1892 he left a little bit before the recording industry really kind of caught hold and Sousa
himself was a bit skeptical of recordings because he felt like live performance was
one of those new fan things that will never take off right.
Yeah I think that's exactly how he felt and he wasn't wrong in the sense that live performance
is still the best getting out to the people having live musicians interact with live audiences
is the bread and butter of music performance but as we all know you know recordings are
so important to sharing this art across the entire globe and so recordings has been a
huge part of the Marine Band's legacy putting historic repertoire down onto disc that we
can share wax cylinder originally then records then you know eight tracks and cassettes and
now CDs and now digital and we do a lot of recording in the Marine Band not only for
sharing for educational purposes for bands all over the world to use this great professional
ensemble as a model for how to play core music that's important to all of us but also to
help preserve the legacy of historic music so for instance in the Marine Band we did
an entire complete collection of the marches of John Philip Sousa new recordings hundred
and twenty five marches that we recorded over seven years during my directorship to share
with music lovers and share with the schools all over the world so they could gather an
appreciation for a lot of this music that is so central to our American artistic identity
and a lot of music that that people don't know by the great John Philip Sousa one of our great
composers in America and we also made all of the music available in sheet music form
so that schools could download for free the marches of John Philip Sousa hear the Marine
Band perform them and then perform them themselves off of the same parts so this was a great
example of the band being a resource to to citizens you know we are paid for by the taxpayer
dollar we consider a huge part of our mission to provide inspiration provide educational
resources provide a model for people who are aspiring to be musicians or simply people
who love band music and look to the president's own as the pinnacle of that well Colonel you
had an incredible military career that we could talk on for quite a while but I wanted
to spend a few minutes at least because you are now wearing the mantle of professor of
music and director of bands at the University of Michigan how did a nice Colonel like you
get talked into that job a nice Colonel like me Jim I've talked to some of my Marines I
don't know if they agree with you well here here's the situation I told you earlier in
our talk that I wanted to be a band director and my career as a teacher got I like to joke
I got a little sidetracked by me winning a position with the president's own and it turned
out to be a beautiful opportunity for me but I always knew when I was finished with the
Marines and I was young enough when I got in that I knew I didn't want to overstay my
welcome you know people who are in command you have the privilege of command you're you're
really in control of so many aspects of your colleagues life those under your command and
I felt it was important for me to pass that baton at a time when I felt like someone else
could could continue to take the unit in a place where it deserved to go so I knew I'd
always return to teaching I just didn't know where it was going to be when the opportunity
came up to apply to the University of Michigan it was almost like a dream come true because
Michigan I've always for decades had such respect for this school of music for the students
who come out of it for the culture of the university the tradition of the university
which of course is so important to me coming from the Marine Corps so I applied and without
any expectation that I would be the best candidate I went through the process and it turns out
I was and you had asked me a decade ago if I could go anywhere after my career in the
Marine Corps where would I want to go to teach music I would have told you the University
of Michigan for all the reasons I just said so for me to land here as my only my second
job in my entire professional career it's unfathomable to me but I am so grateful to
have been a part of this and to get get involved in what happens here at Michigan it is an
exceptional institution and I'm having such a great time taking my experiences from my
professional career and sharing them with my students.
Well let's do one more thing before we run out of time and I want to build on the concept
of passing the baton because those of us in the military we've all been at change of command
ceremonies and you just recently retired and there was a change of command for the president's
own talk to us about your change of command ceremony because you passed the baton literally.
We did yeah and you know the change of command as you well know and all of our listeners
who are who have served is such a sacred tradition it is our version of of the inauguration right
it's our chance to have the peaceful transfer of power for any military unit in the Marine
Band we take the change of command incredibly seriously because there is only one director
of the Marine Band and we wear a very special uniform we know that the uniform of the president's
own is unique it's the red with blue trim you know the opposite of a Marine uniform
because musicians wore the opposite colors of battle Marines because we needed to be
found on the battlefield quickly to signal to the troops.
So the Marine Band uniform is red with with braiding and gold buttons 21 buttons and a
beautiful oglet and epaulette signifying our presidential service the director of the Marine
Band wears a solid blue black coat just like Marines but with the same decoration there's
only one of them in the entire Marine Corps because there's only one limited duty officer
colonel in the entire Marine Corps and that is the director of the Marine Band so there's
only one time Jim when two individuals are wearing that black coat and that is when we
do our change of command so we decided that this year since I was leaving in December
rather than in the summer which is traditional that we would take the change of command to
this huge gathering of music lovers and educators the largest gathering in the country happens
in Chicago every year in December it's called the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic.
We wanted to show these music lovers these teachers this sacred ceremony and so in front
of about 5,000 people we stopped the concert in the middle and we both came out on stage
with the command on the Marine Corps assistant coming on the Marine Corps at the time thanks
and we did the change of command ceremony in front of these folks and we literally passed
the baton as you said there is a baton that was given to John Philip Sousa in 1892 when
he left the Marine Band by the men of the band in their esteem for him it's this ceremonial
baton with a beautiful eagle globe and anchor on the top and it's inscribed to Sousa it
lives in a hermetically sealed case all the time because it's a priceless artifact and
we pull it out once every decade or so for our changes of command and I passed that baton
to my successor Lieutenant Colonel Ryan Allen and then I left the stage in Chicago in front
of all those educators and I took off my blouse and that was the last time that I'll ever
wear that that historic uniform.
Well it's an amazing career that you've had experiences that again most people can't even
fathom you got on this road kind of accidentally and enjoyed it immensely and we are so happy
you could share this so that kids out there men and women who are in the musical field
and didn't even know you could have a musical career in the military can maybe get a little
glimpse at this and certainly we would encourage anybody listening to any time any of the military
bands of one form or shape or another come into town go listen you will be amazed.
General Fettig we really appreciate the time that you've given to us and the insights that
you shared.
It's been wonderful to talk to you Jim and to all the Marines out there Semper Fidelis
and to all of my new University of Michigan colleagues go blue.
And I want to thank everybody for listening to Veterans Radio today I am Jim Fausone it's
been a pleasure to be your host I'm a Veterans disability lawyer at Legal Help for Veterans
and you can reach us at 800-693-4800 or LegalHelpforVeterans.com on the web.
You can follow Veterans Radio on Facebook and listen to its podcasts and internet radio
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