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FORT HUACHUCA — While the days of a military band leading troops into battle are long gone the importance of martial music will remain part of the American Army, said the bandmaster of the 36th U.S. Army Band.
There still are vestiges of those days of yore whenever an Army band is involved in ceremonial events. Military bands instilled courage into soldiers before battle and led them forward to face an enemy, Warrant Officer Donna Clickner said Thursday.
At any large parade a band will play “Sound Off,” three notes informing soldiers to be ready, and in many cases the band will then troop the line, playing as they march by the soldiers as a morale-building device, said Clickner, who is one of three women bandmasters in the active duty Army.
The Army is an organization of traditions, and music is one of the time-honored ones, Clickner said. When the Second Continental Congress adopted a resolution establishing the Army on June 14, 1775, it directed that each of the 10 companies include either a drummer or bugler, who would be paid more than a private.
 Warrant Officer Donna Clickner, bandmaster of the 36th Army Band, works with the brass quintet, seen in the background, at the unit’s barracks on Fort Huachuca on Thursday. (Beatrice Richardson-Herald/Review) |
For the 33-year-old Clickner — who also has the title of commander and conductor of the fort band — the march to become a bandmaster began 10 years ago when, as a young woman looking for structure in her life, she enlisted in the Army.
“I was in college. I wasn’t doing very well, and I wanted to do something to help me grow up,” the warrant officer said.
And, like many, Clickner commented her initial idea was she would only spend four years in the Army.
Now she is halfway to the 20-year retirement mark, although she could remain in service longer than two decades.
A clarinetist, she auditioned for a position in an Army band and made it. While attending the State University of New York at Fredonia, she was working toward a degree in musical education, a goal that is still incomplete.
After six months of instruction at the Military School of Music at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, Va., she was assigned to her first band at Fort Benning, Ga. The school at the Navy installation is for soldiers, sailors and Marines. Airmen and Coast Guardsmen are trained by their own services.
From the Fort Benning assignment, Clickner went on to another band assignment at a different Georgia installation, Fort McPherson.
Returning to Virginia as an instructor, she received a suggestion to apply to become a warrant officer. That led to another audition, which included conducting, for which she had to prepare since she had never conducted before. She was also interviewed, was accepted for the job and spent nearly another six months in training.
She arrived on Fort Huachuca earlier this year, assuming command of the 36th in March.
The post band is authorized 40 musicians but currently has 31 assigned, Clickner noted.
But, the 36th is more than just the concert and marching bands. There are smaller groups within the organization, she said.
There is a brass quintet, brass band, Dixie group, rock group and woodwind trio.
What she misses is being able to play her clarinet, because of her conducting and other administrative duties.
Although Clickner hasn’t composed any pieces, she said, “I’ve tried my hand at doing some arrangements.”
Because of the current lack of some special musicians, such as an oboist, “and there’s a lot of solo parts for oboe,” parts have to be restructured and arrangements made, she said.
When it came to establishing the rock band, there was no guitarist or bass player, soon to be filled, so two trombonists learned to play those instruments, the bandmaster said.
And, when it is time to be a marching band, the piano player, guitarist and bassist become part of the percussion section, playing bass drum and cymbals, the warrant officer noted.
“Our mission is to provide the type of music requested,” she noted.
Sometimes even at large ceremonies on parade fields, special requests are made by a person being honored, such as a favorite march, college song or event popular piece that are honored, Clickner said.
And, the 36th’s musicians also are part of the Army’s recruiting program, playing at high schools and at other public events.
The music played at different venues is designed with the audience in mind, the bandmaster said.
Occasionally the band will join other musical groups in concert, such as performing with the students at the Col. Smith Middle School on the fort, the Buena High School Band and the Sierra Vista Symphony. On Dec. 14 the 36th musicians will be joined by the Army band from Fort Bliss, Texas, for a 3 p.m. free holiday concert at the Buena Performing Arts Center and then will travel to Texas to do a joint concert in that state, Clickner said.
But, what many people don’t know is that not only are the band members musicians, they are first and foremost soldiers, she said.
That means “we qualify on weapons, do soldier skills (such as combat first aid),” the bandmaster said.
In conflicts such as the American Civil War, bands would troop lines into battle, then the musicians would become stretcher bearers to remove wounded soldiers from the battlefield.
Bands also deploy with their divisions to places like Iraq, where they are morale builders performing for soldiers. “Division commanders love their bands,” she said.
And, commanders at the Intelligence Center and other units on the fort want their musicians available too, she said. The only thing that has to be never forgotten is to play the right number of ruffles and flourishes authorized to a general based on rank.
A major general gets two. “Don’t ever play just one,” she said, laughing.
Clickner is married to Joseph, a former soldier who was a parachute rigger. Now he works from home with information technology. They have a 4-year-old daughter, Morgan.
When it comes to creating a program of music, be it for a parade or as a small group for entertaining, Clickner praised the soldiers of the 36th, noting some of them have master’s degrees in music and others are working on their master’s. “I’ve got smart people,” she said, noting their ideas help her in developing a musical feel when it comes to compositions to be performed.
As she conducts with a baton, which is partly made of the same wood used to make a clarinet — “that keeps me having a connection to my instrument” — Clickner said the final sound at a performance has to be what the conductor, the bandmaster, envisions.
Herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
George Morgan wrote on Nov 8, 2008 5:54 PM:
I am Donna's father, retired Captain British Royal Army Medical Corp. It is with pride and love that I too, happily, salute the Commander, 36th Army Band, Musician & True American Soldier. "