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Airmen act as behind-the-scenes technicians for the Air Force Band

  • Published
  • By Benjamin Newell
AIR FORCE DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON --  Monitoring a live video feed, directing stage hand support, researching music sheet stand replacements and cuing lights is all in a minutes work for Senior Master Sgt. Jebodiah Eaton. As the producer for the United States Air Force Band, the unassuming Airman handles nearly every detail for the shows put on by the 53 member musical ensemble.

At this year's Air Force Band Holiday Concert, titled "Hooray for the Holidays", Sergeant Eaton organized lighting, audio, video, display and on-stage decorations for the two-hour concert held three times at two locations. As in many units across the military, Sergeant Eaton's staff has been hampered by deployments. "The range of this job always amazes me," said Sergeant Eaton. "For instance, the 18-foot tree on stage had to be located less than a week before production, which means I had to rent one all the way from Denver, (Colo.)."

The tree was a backdrop and focal point for the three-day performance at the Daughters of American Revolution Hall, located one block west of the White House in Washington, D.C.

The 3,702-seat DAR Hall provided challenges to the band's support technicians as well. Master Sgt. Loren Zimmer, the Air Force Band audio engineer, was confronted with a hall whose original acoustic design is laid out for a string quartet.

"The surfaces and angles in this building allow for a quartet to play with no supporting speaker system," said Sergeant Zimmer during the Dec. 3 dress rehearsal. "As you can hear, our band overwhelms that design." The solution is to strategically place speaker systems throughout the hall, allowing for every note to reach every member of the audience without washing out.

The expertise required to design these types of public address systems is an often overlooked part of major productions. Much of the rehearsal within the hall is for the benefit of the sound crew. "Our band and choir are superb," said Lt. Col. Alan Sierichs, commander and music director of the Air Force Band. "We don't need rehearsal so they can get better, we need rehearsal so the sound technicians can get the great sound they make to arrive in the audience's ears correctly."

To achieve harmony among the performers, Sergeant Zimmer must coordinate sound levels for speakers on stage that project the sound made by choir members, Singing Sergeants and every section of the band back at the performers themselves. With the speakers set up so that the performers can hear themselves over each other's instruments, voices and cheering that floods the hall they can fine tune the sound. "It's a critical aspect of the show," said Senior Master Sgt. Jennifer Pagnard, the band's marketing specialist who sometimes subs in for absent choir members. "Without knowledge of what we sound like, everything can fall apart."

As producer, Sergeant Eaton is perched high above the audience on the second balcony during performances. From his seat, he observes spotlights, listens for acoustic anomalies, calls out direction to the contractors backstage who are running the video equipment and pays attention to audience reaction. This particularly comes in handy during Friday's children's concert.

"Keeping 800 kids entertained can be difficult at times," said Sergeant Eaton. One of the tricks he has learned over the years is to keep them visually stimulated as much as possible. The elementary age kids watching the show submit signed Christmas paintings and drawings to the band, which Sergeant Eaton displays on overhead projectors before the concert. "It really gets them jazzed for the concert. Seeing their own names up in front of everyone is a special experience," he said.

For the Dec. 6 show, attended by what the band refers to as their "Top Five" - the Air Force military leaders in the National Capitol Region in their chain of command. This included Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz, Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Howie Chandler, Assistant Vice Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. William Shelton, AFDW Commander Maj. Gen. Darrell D. Jones, and 11th Wing Commander Col. Cedric George. For the band, precision is the key to success. "We know who is in the audience," said Sergeant Pagnard. "We want to give them a wonderful show, the Air Force way."
For the Chief of Staff, one aspect of the show particularly stood out. The concert's closing act was a combination of Holiday favorites superimposed on John Phillip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever".
"I'm so impressed that you fit Sousa's work into a Holiday special," said General Schwartz, complimenting Colonel Sierichs on finding a way to highlight the patriotic standard in the show.

Senior Master Sgt. Robert Thurston is the musical arranger for the show. He selected the cascade of musical selections for each night. Sitting in a side hall, stage left adjacent to the video crew, Sergeant Thurston followed the sheet music and helped the video crew focus on performers who were soloing, and on Colonel Sierichs as he became more animated throughout the show. "This theme is always fun to work with," said Sergeant Thurston. "Setting the mood for a fun show - in this case a very festive and fun mood - is a great job to have."

After the closing bars of "Stars and Stripes Forever" a reception was held for representatives from the DAR, and the Top Five's guests and wives. They met with representatives from the Singing Sergeants.

Of course, the closing bars of Stars and Stripes Forever meant the night was just starting for the support crew. "I've sent the band, choir and Singing Sergeants home for the night," said Sergeant Eaton after the show's 5:12 p.m. conclusion. By 5:27, the reception adjacent to the stage had ended, but the stage crew was just warming up.

Behind the hall, Sergeant Eaton was backing in one tractor trailer and one large truck to load and haul away the props, instruments, equipment and accoutrement used by the performers that night. DAR employees and rental company laborers wrestled with bassoons, video screen panels and huge boxes weighted down with cable and backup equipment.

Meanwhile, stage crew began to disassemble the 18-foot rental Christmas tree as lighting technicians lowered massive booms holding the speakers and spotlights that brought everything into focus for the audience. By 10 p.m., it was as if nothing had happened at the DAR Hall that night.