thedrifter
05-04-09, 06:46 AM
Marine Corps band concert to include Avon Lake native
Adam Wright | The Chronicle-Telegram
AVON LAKE — When the Marines come marching into Avon Lake on Sunday, residents will notice a familiar face.
One of their own, Cpl. Robert Schneider III, is a member of the illustrious United States Marine Band, which will be playing a free concert at the Avon Lake High School Performing Arts Center. To have the band — nicknamed the “President’s Own” for playing at every presidential inauguration since Thomas Jefferson — play a free concert in a high school auditorium is quite a unique honor, city Councilman David Kos said.
“It’s not every day you get the Marine Corps to play for free,” the 4th-ward councilman said. “They play at every state funeral, whenever the head of another country comes they play, all formal receptions and all public concerts regarding the president.”
Such an honor wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for Schneider’s father, who worked with a local recruiter and the Marine Corps to bring the group here. When he learned that the group was coming to Cleveland to play the Greater Cleveland Peace Memorial Celebration concert May 16 at the Allen Theater at Playhouse Square, Bob Schneider Jr. made a couple of calls to see if his son and the other Marines would visit Avon Lake.
“I started working on this in October of last year,” he said. “The band to me is one of the best bands I’ve heard. I’m so proud of these young men and women who have been in the Corps for a while and they’re polished and the professionalism they perform at is so excellent.”
Schneider said he first heard the band play at the Peace Memorial concert last year and was blown away by how well they play and perform. Marines who are accepted into one of the
12 prestigious bands play as their full-time job in the Marine Corps., he said, and they’re trained to be as perfect with their instruments as they are with a weapon.
“I wanted the band director to give me the songs they’ll be playing so I could print up some playlists, but he wouldn’t because he wanted to make sure everything they do is perfect up there,” Schneider said. “And I love that about him.”
Known as the nation’s oldest band, the group plays 225 performances a year and travels 50,000 miles across the country. In addition to traditional patriotic tunes, the band plays big band, jazz, country and top 40 music, said Kos, a former Marine. The auditorium seats 900 people, but there are only 300 tickets left.
“This will be a nice opportunity for people to take their wives, mothers and grandmothers,” Kos said. “Plus, with it being so close to Memorial Day, this will be perfect.”
Schneider said he’s spoken to his son and he’s excited to come back and play for his hometown.
“Anyone who went to Avon Lake High School — my son graduated in 1996 — everyone knew him,” he said. “He was the actor, the piano player. He was always active. It will be nice to see what people who grew up with him think.”
Schneider said his son, who is 30 years old, has been in the Marines for only a couple of years. He was working as a musician at a downtown restaurant — a position he held in addition to playing for several local theater troupes — when some Marine recruiters told him they loved what they heard.
“They made him an offer he couldn’t refuse,” Schneider Jr. said. “It’s giving him purpose, giving him direction. He loves performing and he’s always been a musician.”
Being a few years older than the other recruits, 13 weeks of basic training was a struggle for him, his father said, but he made it through and even outshot others in his class on the firing range. His son earned a private first class rank during basic training.
“He was always called gramps by his fellow Marines and drill instructors,” Schneider said. “It was tough on him, but he made it through it.”
After basic training, he had to go to 12 weeks of music school in Little Creek, Va., where he practiced and attended class from morning to evening.
Even after that he still had to audition to be placed in one of the Marine Corps bands. Now his son plays bass drum, piano, percussion and even sings for the band.
Schneider said he is proud of his son and knows that his son is proud of serving his country.
“He’s still an active duty Marine and could go to war on the whim of the president,” he said. “But through my son I have learned the respect, honor and patriotism that everyone in the service feels. “
Ellie
Adam Wright | The Chronicle-Telegram
AVON LAKE — When the Marines come marching into Avon Lake on Sunday, residents will notice a familiar face.
One of their own, Cpl. Robert Schneider III, is a member of the illustrious United States Marine Band, which will be playing a free concert at the Avon Lake High School Performing Arts Center. To have the band — nicknamed the “President’s Own” for playing at every presidential inauguration since Thomas Jefferson — play a free concert in a high school auditorium is quite a unique honor, city Councilman David Kos said.
“It’s not every day you get the Marine Corps to play for free,” the 4th-ward councilman said. “They play at every state funeral, whenever the head of another country comes they play, all formal receptions and all public concerts regarding the president.”
Such an honor wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for Schneider’s father, who worked with a local recruiter and the Marine Corps to bring the group here. When he learned that the group was coming to Cleveland to play the Greater Cleveland Peace Memorial Celebration concert May 16 at the Allen Theater at Playhouse Square, Bob Schneider Jr. made a couple of calls to see if his son and the other Marines would visit Avon Lake.
“I started working on this in October of last year,” he said. “The band to me is one of the best bands I’ve heard. I’m so proud of these young men and women who have been in the Corps for a while and they’re polished and the professionalism they perform at is so excellent.”
Schneider said he first heard the band play at the Peace Memorial concert last year and was blown away by how well they play and perform. Marines who are accepted into one of the
12 prestigious bands play as their full-time job in the Marine Corps., he said, and they’re trained to be as perfect with their instruments as they are with a weapon.
“I wanted the band director to give me the songs they’ll be playing so I could print up some playlists, but he wouldn’t because he wanted to make sure everything they do is perfect up there,” Schneider said. “And I love that about him.”
Known as the nation’s oldest band, the group plays 225 performances a year and travels 50,000 miles across the country. In addition to traditional patriotic tunes, the band plays big band, jazz, country and top 40 music, said Kos, a former Marine. The auditorium seats 900 people, but there are only 300 tickets left.
“This will be a nice opportunity for people to take their wives, mothers and grandmothers,” Kos said. “Plus, with it being so close to Memorial Day, this will be perfect.”
Schneider said he’s spoken to his son and he’s excited to come back and play for his hometown.
“Anyone who went to Avon Lake High School — my son graduated in 1996 — everyone knew him,” he said. “He was the actor, the piano player. He was always active. It will be nice to see what people who grew up with him think.”
Schneider said his son, who is 30 years old, has been in the Marines for only a couple of years. He was working as a musician at a downtown restaurant — a position he held in addition to playing for several local theater troupes — when some Marine recruiters told him they loved what they heard.
“They made him an offer he couldn’t refuse,” Schneider Jr. said. “It’s giving him purpose, giving him direction. He loves performing and he’s always been a musician.”
Being a few years older than the other recruits, 13 weeks of basic training was a struggle for him, his father said, but he made it through and even outshot others in his class on the firing range. His son earned a private first class rank during basic training.
“He was always called gramps by his fellow Marines and drill instructors,” Schneider said. “It was tough on him, but he made it through it.”
After basic training, he had to go to 12 weeks of music school in Little Creek, Va., where he practiced and attended class from morning to evening.
Even after that he still had to audition to be placed in one of the Marine Corps bands. Now his son plays bass drum, piano, percussion and even sings for the band.
Schneider said he is proud of his son and knows that his son is proud of serving his country.
“He’s still an active duty Marine and could go to war on the whim of the president,” he said. “But through my son I have learned the respect, honor and patriotism that everyone in the service feels. “
Ellie