Stadacona Band member pens new Coast Guard march

Canadian Coast Guard Commissioner Jeffrey Hutchinson, left, and PO2 Matt Reiner of the Stadacona Band, show the framed sheet music for The Ol’ White Stripe, the new official Coast Guard March. Photo by Melanie Rebane Photography

Ryan Melanson, Trident ~

A new march that will be played nationwide at Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) graduation ceremonies, mess dinners, and other formal occasions was written and composed by a member of the Stadacona Band, and recorded in Halifax at the band’s Windsor Park studio.

PO2 Matt Reiner, a saxophonist with five years’ experience with the band, created the original piece of music, titled The Ol’ White Stripe, referring to the forward-tilted white stripe visible on the hull of each Coast Guard ship.

CCG Director General Greg Lick reached out to the Stadacona Band earlier this year with the goal of creating an official march for the organization, and felt the Canadian Armed Force’s Navy band on the East Coast was the most appropriate group to help bring his idea to life.

“Of course, that’s not something that’s in our regular job description; we’re hired to play music, not to compose it. So we were asked for volunteers to write a march and a few of us took a shot at it,” says PO2 Reiner.

The band made rough recordings of a few options and sent them to Ottawa, where PO2 Reiner’s march was eventually chosen.

He attended the Canada 150 Maritime Ball in Gatineau this past June, a joint RCN/CCG event, where he was able to present the framed sheet music to CCG Commissioner Jeffrey Hutchinson, meet others involved in the project, and hear the march played over the loudspeakers to a full room of navy and Coast Guard representatives for the first time.

“It was a wonderful, unique opportunity for me to get to do something like this. We were all happy to help make it happen,” says PO2 Reiner.

While the band can be credited with the official recording of the new march, performing at Coast Guard events isn’t a common task for navy musicians. For now, it will likely be up to others to perform the march when it’s required, but that doesn’t mean the Stadacona Band won’t have the chance to play for the CCG and perform PO2 Reiner’s piece.

“There’s a developing association between the navy and the Coast Guard that keeps getting stronger, so it’s very possible it could come up in the future,” he says.