Air Force Band prepares for inauguration day
by Master Sgt. Cecilio Ricardo
Defense Media Activity-San Antonio
1/8/2009 - ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Md. (AFNS) -- Members of the Air Force Band prepared for the presidential inauguration parade in a hangar and through the winter rain Jan. 7 at Andrews Air Force Base.
The 99-member Air Force Band will join the other military service bands to march from the U.S. Capitol to the White House during President-elect Barack Obama's inaugural parade Jan. 20, said Capt. Christopher Moore of the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee.
Through wind, rain and near-freezing temperatures, band members performed in preparation for the inauguration parade through Washington, D.C.
As the youngest of the premier military bands, the Air Force Band will march in the fourth division. Each service band will have 99 musicians, a number reserved only for inaugural parades and state funeral processions. They'll march at 100 steps a minute, a bit slower than their typical 120-step march tempo.
The band is estimated to go through about eight or nine iterations of the three songs it will play: John Philip Sousa's "The Washington Post" march; "In Place, Sound Off: Into Trombones Triumphant;" and "The Air Force Song."
As they approach review stand, the band will burst into a rendition of "Hail to the Chief."
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