Guaranteed Notes: Memoirs of the Three Erdman Brothers & The United States Marine Band, "The President's Own"

by Fredric Erdman, Timothy Erdman, James Erdman

Guaranteed Notes is a behind-the-scenes journey into the world of the famous and venerable Marine Band, “The President’s Own.” Fredric Erdman, as the band’s premier cornet soloist, provides the drumbeat throughout this journey, with Timothy Erdman as narrator. This book is filled with dramatic, delightful and humorous true stories as told by the three Erdman brothers (and others) serving simultaneously in the President’s band, two of whom served as star soloists under a very demanding, sometimes unreasonable and subsequently legendary leader, Colonel Albert F. Schoepper, pronounced SHOW-purr (1955-1972). The many fearful and sometimes electrifying moments of those days, as well as the fulfilling and often exhilarating moments of pride and joy, reveal the pressure of accomplishing a mission—followed by the elation of a mission accomplished—in what has been acclaimed as the world’s greatest symphonic concert band.

324 pages, Paperback

First published November 6, 2013

Reviews

[Erik Ronningen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Under the John Phillip Susa baton of Colonel Albert F. Schoepper, this is the recounting of thirty of the best years of the United States Marine Band, “The Presidents Own.” Told from the perspective (eyes, cornets, and trombone) of the three Erdman brothers, Fred, Jim, and Tim, it is an inside look of the daily activities, concerts and tours, and the nearly impossible demand for perfection by its conductor on his bandsmen for “Guaranteed Notes;” no missed, chipped, or wrong notes in any performance.

At no other time in the history of the Marine Band has it ever had three family members performing concurrently. Their stories, wonderfully arranged and narrated by brother Tim, cornet, into the harmony, and occasional disharmony that are the individual personalities of performers in crowded stress-filled circumstances, takes the reader from hometown Lebanon, Pennsylvania, thirty treasured years in the Marine Band, full circle again to retirement.

Join the Erdman brothers and the band during rehearsals, performances in the White House, funerals at Arlington Cemetery, Parades and Tattoos at Eighth and I, concerts at the Capital plaza and on the barge at Watergate. Feel the biting cold wind performing at presidential inaugurations, and the joy of playing foxtrots at the evening balls. Tax your will, embrasure, and endurance to the limit living aboard buses and questionable hotel accommodations during the annual, grinding sixty-three-day, sixty-three-city national tour of America performing two concerts a day without letup. And you will begin to understand why this, the United States Marine Band, “The Presidents Own” is acknowledged by its peers as the best military symphonic concert band in the world.