Percussionist Master Sergeant Gerald Novak of Alamogordo, N.M., joined “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band in December 2006 and was appointed section leader in September 2018.

Master Sgt. Novak began his musical instruction on piano at age 4 and percussion at age 9. After graduating in 1991 from Alamogordo High School, he earned his bachelor’s degree in music education from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, in 1996. He earned his master’s degree in orchestral percussion performance in 1998 from Temple University in Philadelphia. His instructors included Alan Abel of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Larry Vanlandingham of Baylor University, and Erik Forrester of the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan.

Prior to joining “The President’s Own,” he was principal percussion and a founding member of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra in Kuala Lumpur, and also served as acting principal percussion with the London Symphony Orchestra in England. He has performed with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in the Republic of Singapore; the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in Poole, Dorset in England; the Haddonfield Symphony in New Jersey; Delaware Symphony Orchestra in Wilmington; and the Waco Symphony Orchestra in Texas. He also toured with the American Wind Symphony, based in Pittsburgh, attended the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, and was a member of the National Orchestral Institute in College Park, Md., and the Spoleto USA Festival Orchestra in Charleston, S.C.

Master Sgt. Novak performs with the Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra at the White House, in the Washington, D.C., area, and across the country during the band’s annual concert tour.