The Istana Changing Of guard Ceremony takes place in evening of the
1st Sunday of every month. A highly public event, many Singaporeans
and tourists turn up to watch the precise drills of both the Guards
and the SAF Provost's Silent Precision Drill Squad. The ceremonial
guards for the Istana is provided by the SAF Provost Unit.
Ceremony Sequence
At 1750, the old guards (Pengawan Lama) marches out from the Istana
main gates. The new guards (Pengawan Baru) will march in from the
direction of Orchard Road, turning and halting just outside the
main gates. What follows is a series of precise drills performed by
both the old and new guards. The new sentries will be posted, and
the outgoing sentries are retired in a drill that will intrigue
most observers. The sentry IC (A sergeant) will retrieve the duty
clipboard from the guardhouse, and brief the sentry reliefs. Based
on what can be heard, the sentry IC will say: "Each tour of duty is
two hours. During the tour of duty, you are not allowed to eat,
sleep, or drink. Do you understand." To which the sentries will
reply "Yes sir".
After the new sentries are posted, a drill titled "Officers of the
Day" will be done. The commanders of the two guard contingents will
march across the fronts of their contingents, about turn, and
continue marching in front of the contingent, repeating the process
until the music stops. The reason and background of this drill is
unclear .
After the traditional Changing has been done, the Silent Precision
Drill Squad will march out to wow the observers present with their
excellent turn-out and perfect silent drills. After which, the old
guards will march out in the direction of Plaza Singapura, and the
new guards will march into the Istana. This concludes the entire
ceremony. The ceremony takes about 30 minutes. Both the SAF Parade
Bands will be in attendance, each marching in, and out, with the
guards. One of the prominent audio features to regular watchers
will be the SAF salute, the only time it is heard in public. The
other features being the popular songs and tunes played by the SAF
Band for the Silent Precision drills performance.
Music
The Changing of the Guards ceremony is one whereby a lot of music
is played. The Bands will march down Orchard Road to four pieces of
music. They are:
Bandstand - Tonni Wei
For The People, For The Nation - Johnson Lee
March Festival - Unknown
SIR March - Unknown
SIR (Singapore Infantry Regiment) March is played by the Parade
Band A because this band formerly was the SIR Band. This piece of
music keeps the traditions of the band.
As mentioned earlier, the SAF Salute (Salute no.7) is also
performed. During the Officers Of The Day drill, the tune "Officer
Of The Day" is performed. After the SPDS has finished their
performance, they will march off to the tune "Spot On".
