Your Training

Let's just assume you are between 16 and 33 and that you've visited your nearest Armed Forces Careers Office to inquire about a career in the Royal Marines Band Service.
Following an interview and medical you attend a musical assessment at a regional careers centre conducted by a team from the Royal Marines School of Music. On their recommendation you have been invited to the School of Music for an audition and further interview.

There you have shown you have musical aptitude; that you are bright, flexible, fit, hard working and keen to join the Royal Marines as a musician. You are exactly what the Royal Marines Band Service is looking for. You are offered a place as a Musician / bugler the rank at which everyone, including the Principle Director of Music, starts in the Band Service.

So you arrive at the Royal Marines School of Music your home for the three year's training (two years if you join as a Bugler). There may have been no vacancies in your instrument category, in which case you may be learning one or even two new instruments - many players have to be 'double-handed' because of the range of music - orchestral, dance and military - performed by the Band Service. Ahead of you lies a great deal of hard work but just as much enjoyment.

Instrument Categories

Below is a list of instrumental categories within the Royal Marines Band Service. Certain instruments like oboes and French horns appear in the orchestra as well as the band. An orchestra, however, needs many strings and in the Band Service they are provided by the instrumentalists of the band who are also large in numbers. Thus, for example, clarinet and cornet players also perform on the violin. It is, in fact, the string section which gives a Royal Marines Band its wide scope.