Band of Pacific reaches out to interior

  • Published
  • By TSgt John Rider
  • Band of the Pacific
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Alaska Brass, from the United States Air Force Band of the Pacific, recently returned from a tour to four Alaska Native villages.

The band travelled to Huslia, Nulato, and Fort Yukon in the Interior, and went up to Barrow as well.

Native outreach is an important mission for the Band of the Pacific, as they are often the only connection to the military some of the villages will ever see.

Dr. Jerome Montague, Alaskan Command, Native Affairs advisor, provided information and insights for the band, prior to the tour regarding customs and general expectations.
Traveling by charter plane from Fairbanks, the band first visited the village of Huslia, which has a population of about 300 and is located in the middle-Western part of the interior.

The band presented a concert in their community hall in the heart of the village.
The crowd started filing in about 20 minutes before the downbeat, giving the band ample time to mingle with the younger kids, letting them try out the instruments and answering questions about the military.

The concert started with the Star Spangled Banner, with most of the audience singing right along with the band.

The next stop was the northern-most city in the United States, Barrow, where Alaska Brass performed at the Inupiat Heritage Center.

After the performance, musicians exchanged stories with the audience, two of whom were retired military.

We were able to exchange stories about deployments today and they shared some stories about their previous assignments and deployments.

The band flew back to Fairbanks that night to continue their outreach tour.

Following Barrow, Alaska Brass travelled to Nulato and performed at the Andrew K. Demosky School in the Yukon Koyukuk School District.

The audience was mostly school-age children, but some council members were able to come and hear the group as well.

The concert took place in the school's full-size gym, which is slightly unusual in the interior as many village schools have only a half-court gymnasium.

Fort Yukon, the last stop of the tour, sits on the Yukon River about 145 miles north of Fairbanks.

A large, enthusiastic crowd came out to hear the band.

There was a great mix of young and old in the crowd.

The audience had lots of stories to tell and lots of questions about serving in today's military.

One elder asked us to talk specifically about the great benefits offered by the military.
She wanted us to highlight the opportunities that serving can bring, such as health care, a steady paycheck, and honorable service to our country.

The reason we visit the Native villages is to create opportunities such as this, where we can have a dialogue and establish a good rapport with the Native population.

The music for the tour was a mixture of patriotic, traditional brass band, jazz and rock.
One portion of the concert was dedicated to Hollywood movie music, and one section focused on the Mario Brothers video game series. The movie and video game music was widely recognized by the kids and parents.

The concert always concluded with America the Beautiful and a tribute to all of the military services. The service songs were always well received, and, as the group found out, many Alaska Natives are currently serving in every branch of the military, all over the world, and their families back home in the villages are immensely proud of that service.
Members of Alaska Brass are Tech. Sgt. John Rider, tuba and noncommissioned officer in charge, and staff sergeants Richard McMaster and Mark Nixon on trumpets, Brandon Richard on drums, Craig Matta on horn, and George Father on trombone.

Father also arranged most of the music Alaska Brass used for the Native outreach tour.