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 U.S.
Marine Staff Sgt. Gina Guhl was front and center for the presidential
inauguration on Jan. 20. "I was right below the stand," said the 2001 graduate
of East Leyden High School in Franklin Park. Guhl plays clarinet in the
President's Own Marine Band.
"There were millions of people," said Guhl, based in the Marine Barracks,
Washington, D.C. As part of the President's Own Marine Band, Guhl travels to
different regions four months out of the year. "We give concerts in the D.C.
area," she said. "We play at funerals in Arlington National Cemetery. We play
300 concerts a year at the White House. And we play the parades at the Marine
barracks."
Although a long day -- 23 hours -- Inauguration Day was a very exciting for Guhl,
who grew up in River Grove. "First we played on the (U.S.) Capitol steps, then
we marched in the parade and then we played at the vice president's ball," she
said. For the inauguration, the band was together the whole day.
"I auditioned in 2005 with about 65 other people. It was a blind audition, where
we played behind a screen. I was one of five who advanced to Round Two, then I
was one of two chosen," she said.
Guhl learned about the band while attending Eastern School of Music in Little
Neck, N.Y. She currently is in a four-year enlistment with the Marines, and will
be able to re-enlist. "Sixty-eight percent make it their career," she said of
her fellow band members. "It's is a wonderful job. If I can, I'll make it my
career."
Guhl also performs in the Marine Chamber Orchestra and the Marine Chamber
Ensembles. She began musical training on the clarinet at age 10 and continued at
East Leyden and Eastern. In 2008 she was a featured soloist, performing Luigi
Bassi's "Concert Fantasia on Motifs" from Giuseppe Verdi's "Rigoletto."
Gina is the daughter of June and Raymond Guhl of River Grove. She currently
lives in Alexandria, Va.
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