As we continue to celebrate women in the military during Women’s History Month, this writer is pleased to share a conversation with Retired Lt. Col. Virginia Allen. During her 20-year career in the Army, where she served from 1977 to 1997, Allen was a pioneer for women in military bands. As Commander of the U.S. Army Forces Command Band in Atlanta, Allen was the first woman to command and conduct an active-duty military band that integrated women and men. She later became the first woman conductor of the West Point Band when she held the role of Deputy Commander and Associate Conductor from 1988 to 1992.
Following an esteemed military career, Allen continues to make her mark in the music world as a conductor, music educator, arranger, and consultant in Philadelphia. She has taught conducting at such hallowed institutions as the Curtis Institute of Music, the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City. Currently, Allen teaches at The Juilliard School as an adjunct faculty member, having previously served there as the Associate Dean for Administration and the Assistant Dean for Orchestral Studies. To learn more about Allen’s career and current projects, you can visit her website HERE.
Below are excerpts from our conversation, which took place on March 11, 2021.
You spent 20 years as a commissioned officer in the Army. How did you find your way into the military? Do you come from a military family?
Yes, my father, Col. Eugene W. Allen, had a military career that spanned 45 years. He served in every type of position in the Army Bands Program, to include duties as a performer, arranger, drum major, leader, commander, educator, and staff officer. When he retired in 1990, he held the highest position in the field, as Commander of The United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own” in Washington, D.C. He was also the Executive Officer and Associate Bandmaster of the West Point Band from 1963 to 1966, 25 years before I went into that same position.
There are also several West Pointers in my family, including an uncle, two brothers-in-law, a sister, and a nephew, and both of my brothers served in the Army.
Wow, so you followed in your father’s footsteps as an officer in the Army Bands Program. How were you first introduced to music?
With my father being an Army band officer, I was surrounded by music from an early age. I have six siblings and my dad made sure that we all played an instrument. His father was also a band director (not in the military), and my father, his mother, and his siblings all played instruments. Some of my father’s brothers also served in military bands during World War II.
My formal music education really began when I was a child at West Point, while my father was Executive Officer of the West Point Band. I attended the fifth through seventh grades at the West Point Elementary School, which was where I first started taking music lessons. I started on trumpet but then switched after two years to French horn. I also learned to play piano at that time. One day, my dad brought home a small field organ, which was my first keyboard instrument. Army chaplains would use them during chapel services for troops in the field, and the organ had foot pedals that you had to pump to play it.
The elementary school had a strong music program, with weekly group lessons and rehearsals for band students, and weekly choral classes for each grade. I also sang in the youth choir at the Protestant Chapel. Every Friday afternoon, all the kids who were in that choir walked from school over to the chapel to rehearse for the Sunday service. Dorothy Ann Davis was the choir director then, and she was wonderful! So, West Point has always meant a lot to me, and it provided a great foundation for my music education.
And while you were living at West Point, you must have attended a few West Point Band performances.
Oh yes, we saw the band all the time. Not just concerts at Trophy Point, of course, but also at chamber music concerts and football games. I also loved going to the cadet reviews to see and hear the band on the Plain.
At that time, Col. William H. Schempf [Teacher of Music 1957 – 1974] was in charge of the Glee Club, and my dad led the Cadet Band. Not only would I hear them perform, but because my dad wrote arrangements for the Cadet Band, I often helped him copy parts by hand.
Did you always know you wanted to be a professional musician?
No, when I went to college I started off as a chemistry major, hoping to do something in medicine. But music has a way of pulling you in, and in my second year of college, I decided to major in music. While I was working on my bachelor’s degree in music education at Catholic University in D.C., I really enjoyed student teaching high school band. But at that time, you were lucky as a woman if you could get a job at that level. I stayed on to get my master's in performance, studying under Ted Thayer, who was principal French horn with the National Symphony Orchestra. While in graduate school, I began to consider a career in the Army Bands Program. By then, women were integrated into Army bands and more opportunities were beginning to open up for women in the military.
So, you became a commissioned officer in the Army. What was it like to hold leadership roles as one of the few female officers in the Army Bands Program?
I generally found that people believed women were capable of filling these leadership roles, but it was important to prove myself as a musician and leader on the podium. That made a big difference. Throughout my career, I was fortunate to be supported by many people, in and out of the band program, who generously shared their knowledge and helped me grow as a conductor and leader.
During your Army career, did you work alongside other female officers?
Early in my military career, it was rare for anyone to see a female officer because so few existed. Even women cadets at West Point didn’t graduate until three years after I was commissioned. Most of the women I worked alongside in the Army were NCOs [non-commissioned officers] in the bands. Some of them had more time in service than I did, and some had even been assigned to the Women's Army Corps Band. I feel like they paved the way for me, and I’m grateful that I could stand on their shoulders.
Photo caption: Lt. Col. Allen with the West Point Brass and Percussion Ensemble, February 1991.
When you returned to West Point in 1988, this time as the band’s Deputy Commander, what were your main duties?
I had a wide variety of musical and administrative duties, including supervision of operational and staff functions. I conducted the Concert Band, supervised the Hellcats, and directed other music elements of the band in parades, funerals, ceremonies, and athletic events. As a brass player, I was thrilled to organize and conduct the Brass and Percussion Ensemble, which did several concerts each year, including a performance at the New York Brass Conference. One of the things I’m most proud of was collaborating with NCOs in the band and members of the community to produce a new holiday production which used actors, dancers, and musicians in scenes representing “The Holidays at West Point.” I also served as music director of the Cadet Band and assistant director of the Glee Club and loved my connection to the cadets through those ensembles.
Do you have a favorite performance from your time with the West Point Band?
Oh yes, my most memorable moment was on December 7, 1991. That day was the 50th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It also happened to be the day of the Army-Navy Game. That year, Army was the home team, so the West Point Band produced the halftime show. We called it “The Nation Pulls Together in Time of Conflict.” It was a huge production. We had the West Point and the Naval Academy Bands on the field, as well as the Glee Club. Edward Herlihy, who was a famous radio and television announcer and the voice of World War II, was Master of Ceremonies. Jeffrey Osborne sang during the show, and Retired Brig. Gen. (then Maj.) Rhonda Cornum, who was a POW during Desert Storm, narrated "America the Beautiful.”
We even had a replica of the USS Arizona down on the field. The most remarkable moment was when we opened the show with a Pearl Harbor survivor laying a wreath by the ship, followed by the playing of taps. The crowd was totally silent. You know how halftime shows are, how noisy the crowd can be. But when taps started, everybody went silent and paid attention through the rest of the halftime show. I've never seen that. It was an incredible production that we were all really proud of.
Wow, that sounds like such a profound and meaningful event. While you were at West Point, did you encounter any challenges that you hadn’t faced in previous Army roles?
Yes, I had to use a sabre for the cadet reviews. I'm left-handed so using the sabre right-handed was a challenge, and I had to practice using it and marching with it.
As an officer in the Army Bands Program, you rotate not only from band to band, but also from musical to nonmusical duties. What other jobs were you assigned during your military career?
I had several roles that were administrative. The first was as a Public Affairs Officer at the Pentagon, which I did for two years. It was a purely administrative duty, unrelated to the Army Bands Program, but it was actually a great job. I learned how the Army runs, which later guided me in helping the bands program because I knew where to go to get things done. I knew the halls of the Pentagon. Following that, I served as the Forces Command Staff Bands Officer at Fort McPherson, Georgia, where I was responsible for 19 bands within the Forces Command, stretching from Puerto Rico up to Alaska, and from coast to coast. It was really amazing work that involved a lot of travel, because I had to go and inspect each band. I was also the Department of the Army Staff Bands Officer at the Total Army Personnel Command in Alexandria, Virginia. There, I was responsible for plans and policies for all Army Bands throughout the world: Active, Army Reserve, and National Guard.
Photo caption: Lt. Col. Allen with female musicians from the West Point Band following a band alumni concert, June 2019.
After leaving a band position, how did you shift gears to a nonmusical job?
You know, it certainly could be a challenge because we all wanted to do music jobs all the time. But I already did a lot of administrative work in my band jobs, so that prepared me for the transition to staff jobs. I knew that what I did as a staff officer was important for many bands – or in the case of my job at the Department of the Army, it was important for all bands. I also enjoyed many aspects of the staff work, especially when I did things like improve funding for bands or save bands from being deactivated. And I stayed connected to music by guest conducting, attending professional orchestra rehearsals and concerts, participating in conducting workshops, taking conducting lessons, and conducting and performing in church and community ensembles.
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your stories with me today. Considering we are speaking in March, Women’s History Month, is there anything that you would like to say to the young girls and women who may be reading this article?
Seek out information on women who paved the way for you, because there’s a lot to learn from that history. Don’t let the word "no" be a boundary to opportunities. Women can do and be anything that they want to be. I never looked to be the first woman to do anything. I just followed my passions and pursued opportunities that challenged and rewarded me, like serving with the magnificent musicians in the West Point Band.
