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 SequenceAt 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.
MusicThe 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".