United States Air Force band performs at Trevecca

By Emily Gibson

Section Editor

Joined by 10 Trevecca students, the United States Air Force Band accompanied by the Singing Sergeants performed for an audience of nearly 700 at Trevecca’s Boone Convocation Center. 

These two performing groups represent over 600,000 active duty, guard, civilian and Airmen stationed around the world. 

On the night of October 20, these experienced musicians and singers filled the center to perform one of nearly 1,600 missions along their tour across the country and globe.

“Personally, I’m grateful on behalf of the school of music that they would choose Trevecca. I think it gave us a demonstration of what true musicianship can be and how it can be used in a community like this to draw the community together,” said Dr. Vernon Whaley, associate provost and dean of the school of music and worship arts. “I think it also gives everybody an opportunity to see vocational opportunities because it’s hard to get in those bands.”

According to Whaley, this particular group is also hard to book.

The band was originally supposed to play at Belmont, but when Belmont’s facility could no longer be used, the group reached out to Trevecca and a formal invitation was sent and accepted. 

In preparation for the big night, the band requested that student musicians be chosen to perform alongside them, after which Whaley and Dr. Thomas Lerew, associate professor of music and director of choral activities, hand picked six singers, two instrumentalists, a clarinetist and a percussionist.

Cadence Perry, sophomore music and worship arts major who was chosen to sing with the band, said the experience was especially touching for her since she grew up as a JROTC kid, a program that prepares students for leadership roles while making them aware of their rights, responsibilities and privileges as American citizens. 

“I was first in command over the entire company my senior year of high school, so I was very, very involved, and I had and I still do have a really, really big appreciation for the military,” said Perry. 

With her JROTC training in the art of discipline, Perry was quick to notice the band’s own discipline and the professionalism that each airman showed even while they were having fun.

“They were having so much fun, but I understood how much work, how much personal discipline, and how much teamwork went into making the sound as clean as it was,” said Perry. “I’m a collegiate level singer, but while in the presence of those guys, I was like, ‘oh, I am not the talented one here,’ so I was overjoyed to be humbled by that level of talent.”

According to Col. Don Schofield, commander and conductor of the USAF Band, Perry and her musical peers did an incredible job.

“We ran the piece of music that they performed with us once before the concert, and the students approached the performance with wonderful confidence,” said Schofield. “It was so rewarding to both watch the students perform with such grace and to hear the audience react to their performance with such enthusiasm.”

Schofield expressed his gratitude on behalf of the entire band for Trevecca.

“The USAF Band had a great time performing for the audience at Trevecca Nazarene University,” added Schofield. “The crowd was engaged and enthusiastic and as performers, we can feel that energy when we are performing and it makes us perform even better.”

Whaley said he is proud of how Trevecca represented itself on Friday night, and per a letter he received from the USAF Band which stated the group would love to come back and perform sometime in the future, he hopes this will not be the last time.