For most military musicians, careers begin at Little Creek

Jose Acosta was 8 years old the first time he picked up a saxophone. By college he knew he wanted to make it his career.

“But the career I’ve had so far,” says Acosta, now 34, “it’s definitely not what I was imagining back then."

Consider the list of gigs he’s played since going pro: an elementary school in China, a 15,000-seat auditorium in Australia, an orphanage in Malaysia, the flight deck of a massive warship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Especially these days, few employers offer steady work and guaranteed pay and benefits to play an instrument. The United States military is one of them, and the vast majority of its thousands of musicians get their start at the same place in Virginia Beach that Acosta did: the Navy School of Music at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story.

Founded 75 years ago this summer, it’s the Defense Department’s only music school, and it’s where the Army, the Navy and the Marine Corps train the musicians who go on to play in military bands all over the world. (The Air Force doesn’t send its musicians to school; they must come in ready to perform.)

“If you’re a musician in the military, chances are you’ve studied here,” says Navy Cmdr. Ralph Ingraham, the School of Music’s commanding officer. “We might not look like much in our little old building tucked away here on the base, but we’re a huge launching pad.”

It’s been exactly that for Acosta, who first came to the School of Music in 2001. He’d already finished a bachelor’s degree in the subject at Brevard College in North Carolina. After that he tried teaching elementary school students, but he says he ended each day feeling unfulfilled.

“I wanted to be playing,” he explains. “I wanted to be onstage.”

When occasional gigs at parties and receptions weren’t enough to pay the bills, he made one of the biggest decisions of his life: to join the Navy. After eight weeks of boot camp in Illinois – an experience that he politely describes as “not like anything else” – he reported for duty at the School of Music.

He stayed six months, the typical stretch for new military musicians. He learned to march and passed long days in solo practice sessions, ensemble rehearsals, ear training and the study of music theory. After graduation he was assigned to his first post, the Navy’s Pacific Fleet Band in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. There he played everything from parties and street festivals to change-of-command ceremonies and war memorial dedications.

Five years later he moved to the 7th Fleet Band aboard the Blue Ridge, a 600-foot amphibious command ship homeported in Yokosuka, Japan. He and the band’s 20 other musicians deployed with the ship all over Southeast Asia, performing for the crew while at sea and for locals while in port.

“Sometimes we played for 10,000 people – dignitaries and people like that – and sometimes we played for a dozen kids at an orphanage,” he recalls. “I loved the variety and never knowing what to expect. I’ll tell you, though, the hardest audiences are the small ones.”

Now a petty officer first class, Acosta recently returned to the School of Music for eight months of advanced training in band directing and conducting. He’s re-enlisted twice and plans to stay in the Navy at least 10 more years. He says the School of Music is a big part of the reason why: “You can develop your skills here as well as anywhere.”

Ingraham, the school’s commanding officer, is right when he says that from the outside, the place doesn’t look like much. Its low, tan building was erected as barracks in 1955. The School of Music moved in from Washington in 1964. It’s been there ever since, and the extensive renovation that’s scheduled to begin soon appears long overdue.

But step inside, and none of that seems to matter.

“It’s really fun coming to work in the morning to a place where there’s always great music in the halls,” says Ingraham, who studied trombone and euphonium at the school in 1978. “I feel lucky every day.”

Besides small solo practice rooms and big ensemble rehearsal spaces, the institution keeps an extensive library of reference books, records, CDs and sheet music; it’s working to digitize all of its audio holdings. There also is a full-service instrument repair shop that trains repair technicians and a sound-board room for training operators. The school maintains a $6 million inventory of instruments. Its three dozen instructors teach everything from wind and brass to guitar, drums and vocals.

About 200 sailors, soldiers and Marines are enrolled at any given time. Roughly 600 pass through each year.

Many come to the school the same way David Estrada did – a little reluctant about enlisting in the military but without other options.

A drummer, Estrada studied music in college in Indiana but couldn’t find a way to turn it into a sustainable career. He thought about teaching but the idea never excited him. He tried to make rent playing in a Christian rock band. Finally at 28, he says he “decided to grow up.” A friend who plays in an Air Force band suggested he consider the military.

“I was definitely hesitant,” he says. “I thought, why would I want to get yelled at all the time and be totally regimented, even down to what you have to wear?”

He auditioned for a place at the School of Music anyway. He passed, and with the understanding that the Navy never forces musicians to switch to other jobs after they’ve enlisted, he signed on the dotted line.

He admits that boot camp wasn’t easy and that he doesn’t especially enjoy mandatory weekly cleaning and watch duty. Beyond that, Estrada says he’s happy. He gets to play the drums every day, and when he finishes his six months at the School of Music in September, he’ll be assigned to one of the Navy’s 13 bands.

“I don’t have any regrets,” he says.

Estrada’s friend and classmate, Rebecca McClelland, came to the School of Music straight after college. “If you don’t want to teach, there’s really only two options for a tuba player: a professional symphony or the military,” she says. “I think this was the right choice. I definitely feel like the musicians I’m playing with – they’re on a level that’s really high.”

Later this summer, McClelland will leave Virginia Beach for her first assignment, the Naval Forces Europe Band in Naples, Italy.

Ingraham says few students learn about the School of Music from military recruiters. “They usually seek us out because they’ve heard about it from a friend or they’ve seen one of the bands performing somewhere,” he explains. “The truth is, a lot of recruiters don’t know much about us because our numbers are so small.”

Despite those small numbers, Ingraham says the school makes a big impact. Indeed, some of its graduates have gone on to land major record deals and perform in world-class orchestras.

“I think our presence here is one reason why arts are so well-supported in Hampton Roads. The school has been part of the fabric of the community and Little Creek and the Navy for a long time.”

Trumpet player Stan Mark, who attended the School of Music in the early 1960s and later played with Ray Charles and Maynard Ferguson, agrees. “There’s a lot of tradition there – and that stuff matters,” he says. “I wouldn’t trade my time there for anything. Every day that I performed, I thought about the School of Music.”