SIOUX CENTER, Iowa (Tribune News Service) — Onsby Rose planned on a career as a music teacher and conductor.

Then, as he puts it, he accidentally stumbled into composing.

That “accident” recently led to the biggest honor the Dordt University associate music professor said he will ever have.

When the conductor of The President’s Own U.S. Marine Band, an elite collection of musicians that plays specially for the president and the Marine Corps commandant, asked him to compose a piece of music for the Corps’ 250th anniversary celebration this year, Rose, who served in the Marines from 1997-2007, was floored.

“There truly is no greater honor that I can think of,” said Rose, who has a Grammy Award nomination to his name. “For The President’s Own to reach out to me and ask me to write for them, I can’t think of anything bigger happening to me. It’s probably the greatest honor I could possibly ever fathom.”

Dordt composer Onsby Rose

Onsby Rose, associate music professor at Dordt University, is shown with a small portion of his composition, “The Sacred Cloth,” which was commissioned by The President’s Own U.S. Marine Corps band for the Marines’ 250th anniversary celebration. A Marine veteran, Rose said he can’t think of any higher professional honor than to compose music for the band’s elite musicians.

On March 23, Rose will be at The Music Center at Strathmore outside Washington, D.C., to hear the premiere of “The Sacred Cloth,” a 40-minute symphony in four movements. He’s heard it in his head since he began writing it in March and can’t wait to hear it played by real, live musicians.

“The scariest part of being a composer is sending the music to the ensemble. The most exciting part is hearing real people play it,” Rose said. “To hear the notes placed in the air for the first time is a thrill almost like no other.”

It’s a thrill he at one time never expected to experience.

After graduating from high school in southwest Virginia in 1993, Rose majored in music at the University of South Carolina, intending to be a music teacher. Short of graduating, he said he needed something new and joined the Marines. He played in Marine bands in Albany, Georgia, and New Orleans and in the U.S. Marine Drum and Bugle Corps. He also taught at the Armed Forces School of Music.

After leaving the service and while working on his doctorate at Ohio State University, a mentor opened his mind to composing.

In 2017, Rose said, he “accidentally” wrote a fanfare and won a competition with it. He sent it to friends with The President’s Own. They liked it, and the band played it three weeks later on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. The piece caught other band directors’ attention, and that fanfare, “Heroes of the Sea,” soon was being played by bands across the country.

Some composers spend a lifetime trying to get their work performed. Rose achieved it with his first piece.

Dordt composer Onsby Rose

Onsby Rose, associate music professor at Dordt University, is shown with a small portion of his composition, “The Sacred Cloth,” in his office at the Sioux Center college’s campus. Rose recently finished the work, commissioned by The President’s Own U.S. Marine Corps band for the Marines’ 250th anniversary celebration.

“That’s a very un-normal entry into the world of composition,” Rose said. “At that point, I took a step back and thought maybe I can do this composing thing.”

In 2019, Rose accepted the teaching position at Dordt, where he is director of instrumental activities, overseeing all music groups. It allows him to indulge his love of teaching and directing full time while also continuing to accept commissions to compose new music.

He’s written 25 published works thus far, but none came as unexpectedly as his latest piece.

After leaving the service, he kept in touch with his many contacts in the military music world and continued to meet new ones. In summer 2023, he emailed The President’s Own conductor about an unrelated matter. The conductor responded, telling Rose he’d like to commission a piece for the Marine Corps’ yearlong anniversary celebration.

“He said you can write anything you want, which is fun and scary at the same time,” Rose said. “For an ensemble like The President’s Own to put that kind of faith in me, that’s a huge weight.”

After the initial shock wore off, Rose gladly accepted and set to work composing a symphony representing the Marines’ honor, courage, commitment and service. The title, “The Sacred Cloth,” calls to mind the Marines’ iconic dress blue uniform. He started putting notes down last March and officially completed it Jan. 6 after some 800 hours of work writing and rewriting.

Dordt composer Onsby Rose

Onsby Rose, associate professor of music at Dordt University, said he “accidentally” became a composer, writing a successful fanfare in 2017 that ultimately was performed on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. He recently completed a commissioned symphony for The President’s Own U.S. Marine Corps band for the Marines’ 250th anniversary celebration.

Rose will travel to Washington, D.C., in early March while The President’s Own rehearses it before the premiere. Obviously proud of the work, he’d love to see the symphony catch on and be performed by other bands once the music is published.

“The hope is it’ll go far beyond this,” he said.

Beyond “The Sacred Cloth,” Rose is currently working on another commission and has a few others lined up.

Plus, he’s still got his day job of teaching and directing his student performers at Dordt, fulfilling his original passion.

“I’m a band director,” he said. “I never intended to be a composer.”

But hearing the fruits of his “accidental” side profession is, quite literally, music to his ears.

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