From a young age, Steve Williams knew what he wanted to be in life. “When I was a kid, I would go up to my classmates and ask them ‘what you what do you want to be when you grow up?,’” Williams said. Most of them said “I want to be a police officer, or I want to be Superman. And my thought was, well, I'll just combine them both and be a United States Marine.”

In 2025, Williams, now a Master Sergeant with 23 years of experience as a Marine, gets the chance to live his Marine Corps dream as Drum Major of the United States Marine Band. On May 5, he succeeded Master Gunnery Sgt. Duane King as the 41st Drum Major of “The President’s Own.” “It feels surreal to attain such a prestigious billet with such an historic organization. To be part of the history of ‘The President’s Own’ in this capacity is both exciting and humbling,” Williams said.

Williams began playing the trumpet at age 8 and quickly decided he wanted to be a military musician. As a child, he aspired to a career as a trumpet player and admired the music of the Marine Band:

I grew up in a part of Pennsylvania has a really deep lineage with march music and Sousa specifically. It was something that was always bred into me, like ‘this is what we do.’ My grandfather was a trumpet player and played in a lot of different bands. He was born in 1911, so he was kind of like grew up in the heyday of marches. His trumpet teacher when he was a kid was named Baird Johnson, who was John Phillip Sousa’s first chair trumpet player.

Originally intending to pursue a music degree and then enlist in the Marine Corps, Williams’ plans were disrupted when the United States was attacked on Sept. 11. “Two days before my 17th birthday was 9/11,” Williams said. “So, on my 17th birthday, two days later, I enlisted in the Marine Corps.” After completing recruit training at Parris Island Marine Corps Recruit Depot in Beaufort, South Carolina, Marine Combat Training and the basic course at the Armed Forces School of Music in Little Creek, Virginia, Williams received orders to the 2D Marine Aircraft Wing Band in Cherry Point, North Carolina as a trumpet instrumentalist.

From Jan. to Sept. 2005, Williams was part of a combat deployment to Al Anbar Province, Iraq, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom III during the Global War on Terror. Upon returning to United States, he was assigned to the Albany Marine Band in Georgia, and in 2009 returned to the Armed Forces School of Music to attend the Unit Leader Course. Prior to joining “The President’s Own” he was stationed with the II Marine Division Band at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

During his time as a Marine Corps Fleet musician, Williams initially began drum majoring in hopes of landing a spot as one of the Marine Corps’ few billeted drum majors:

The billet that spoke to me the most was the Drum Major. My Drum Major at the time was a guy named Mike Montoya, who was, in my eyes, the epitome of what a Drum Major was. I asked him if he could start teaching me, and he did. From the day he taught me how to spin a mace, I think three months later I was leading street parades. I kept falling into unique opportunities and eventually heard about the role of Assistant Drum Major with ‘The President’s Own.’ When I auditioned for the Assistant Drum Major job in 2013, I was 90% sure I was not going get it. I was a Staff Sergeant, and I was the most junior person there.

In spite of his doubts, Williams won the Assistant Drum Major role with the Marine Band and served in the position from 2013-17, leading the band in ceremonial commitments and overseeing unit and new member training. When his time as Assistant Drum Major drew to a close, he felt that “The President’s Own” was where he was supposed to be and interviewed for a position in the band’s Operations office. He won a position as an Operations Assistant with the Band in 2017 and was promoted to Operations Chief in 2023.

“As Assistant Drum Major, you have similar performance duties to the Drum Major, you gain familiarity in ceremonial drill and collect knowledge of the nuances of the various ensembles you lead” Williams said. “As the band’s Operations Chief, I’ve learned the broader scope of the organization. Both positions I have occupied have helped me learn the culture of the Marine Band in a well-rounded manner.”

The audition process for the Marine Band’s Drum Major consists of three sections: a mock parade, a conducting session with a seated band and a personal interview with the organization’s leadership. “I wasn’t too nervous for the first two sessions,” Williams said of his audition for the Drum Major role in 2024. “I told myself that I had done those before. The interview is always the hardest part, especially then the people interviewing you work with you every day and know you so well.”

In preparation for his new role, Williams spent the second half of 2024 and beginning of 2025 transitioning from his job as Operations Chief to that of Drum Major. He didn’t move far - his new office is just down the hall from his old one in the band’s headquarters at Marine Barracks Washington – but the shift in responsibility has been great. “There have been moments where this all feels daunting,” Williams said. “Knowing some of the former Drum Majors of the organization has been a great help, though. I hear their stories and the similarities of their experiences are tangible things that I can relate to. It was like talking to other veterans after coming back from a deployment.”

As he begins his new role with the Marine Band, Williams reflected on his relationship with “The President’s Own.” “The Marine Band is one of the few things in my life where I’ve had an image of something in my head and the reality has exceeded what I imagined,” Williams said. I’m humbled to be in this position, and I look forward to upholding the traditions of our nation as Drum Major of this historic organization.”