sentences:  After learning to play brass instruments, on 1 November 1879 he became a bugler and alto trombonist in the band of the army's 16th Battalion in Odense.Nielsen did not give up the violin during his time with the battalion, continuing to play it when he went home to perform at dances with his father.The army paid him three kroner and 45 øre and a loaf of bread every five days for two and a half years, after which his salary was raised slightly, enabling him to buy the civilian clothes he needed to perform at barn dances.