DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS PERFORMANCE PORTFOLIO ...

to join up with me but he wasn't
impressed. " By this time, Graham had
overcome his initial reluctance and wos
taking piano lessons from the wife of
Marcus Cutts, the former Fairey
euphonium player.
After his audition Graham was to
they would be happy to take him b.
his talents would be put to better u-,
a staff band and so he was redirected
to the Royal Artillery Band in Woolwich
'They didn't have much use for tenx
horns in a military band and so once I
was accepted by the Royal Artillery I
changed to trombone and thereafter
played bass trombone in the band
Being in the junior music school was
like being in a public school without
actually being in one. It was woncle-
You got up at 6.30am, breakfast at 7
and began lessons at 8. The day vvc
made up of individual practice, lessc
rehearsals for band and orchestra and
music appreciation classes. Heavenl
I was required to take up a string
instrument and so, being of Welsh stock, I
chose the harp.
"I really struck gold here because I was
given lessons by Maria Kachinska, the
cloyen of all harp teachers and a genuine
prima donna of harpists. So, at the age of
16 the Army were paying for me to travel
from South London to North London to
have a two-hour lesson with this
marvellous harpist.
"After two-and-a-half years at the RA's
junior music school I graduated and went
50 yards down the road to join in the
musical activities of the senior band and
orchestra. I played harp and sometimes
the bass trombone in the orchestra and
bass trombone in the band. My first
orchestral concert included de Falla's Fhe
rbree-Comered Hat and the Bruch Violin
Concerto when the soloist was Yehudi
Menuhin.
'There were 120 musicians attached to
the Royal Artillery Band and 70 of them
played with the orchestra. It was a
wonderful experience and I loved it but, in
1980,1 decided it was time I did something
else. I enjoyed playing bass trombone and
the harp but I came to the conclusion that I
really wanted to be a conductor. I had
always spent time analysing the
conductors I had worked with and I
fealised I was more than capable of
following in their footsteps!
"I had a word with Bob Boness-Smith,
the band's bandmaster, who was a great
inspiration to me, and he recommended I
take a course of instruction with him prior
to applying for entry to Kneller Hall as a
student bandmaster. I worked with Bob foi
about 12 months on harmony and
counterpoint before going to Kneller Hall at
the age of 25.
"I spent three years training to be a
bandmaster at the end of which I gained a
prize in com po ition and one in
orchestration before being posted as
Bandmaster of 16th/Sth The Queen's Royal
Lancers. I spent 18 months with them in
(266)
- Major Graham lones MBE, Director of Music ColdstrearTl Guaids Band
On the march: 6ratwin i. ý pictured working
with the composer Nigel Hess (left) who has
written a new composition entitled Monck's
March for the Coldstream Guards Band
Tidworth and then we were posted to
Germany. They were halcyon days
travelling up and down Germany giving
concerts. "
This idyllic existence ended abruptly
with the Gulf War. "One minute it was
constant music and the next I found
myself sitting in the sand in Kuwait. My job
was to help co-ordinate medical support to
the Regiment.
"Anyway, I ended up outside
Kuwait City and came across an
old hut that was almost upside
down. We straightened it up and I
realised it could be used as a
band room. By this time the
musicians were spread out all
over the place and the
instruments were 600 miles away
Fortunately, the band sergeant
major fancied a shower, so he
travelled the 600 miles back to
the rear echelon to have a
shower and pick up the
instruments.
"We then located our players
and started operating together as
a band again before being posted
back to Germany.
"We were not in Germany long
before being transferred to
'One minute it
was constant
music and the
next I found
myself sitting in
the sand in
Kuwait. My job
was to help co-
ordinate
medical support
to the
Saffron Walden where my Regiment was
amalgamated with the 17th/21st The
Queen's Royal Lancers, the Death and
Glory regiment. '
Graham was not appointed bandmaster
of the amalgamated band because a
decision had been made to commission
him as a musical director within a period
of six months. I was sent to be the
temporary bandmaster of
The Royal
Highland Fusiliers.
"Whilst I was there I worked on a couple
of projects, one of which was a
composition, Song Suzanne. which I wrote
for a four-year-old girl who was very ill in
Glasgow but who liked the sound of
Regiment. '
bagpipes. We recorded this song and it
made the back end of the chans with alf
the proceeds going to the charity linked
with this young girl's illness The upshot
was the band were feted, invited to appear
on Breakfast TV and similar prugiammes,
which was just reward for good musicians
who took a lot of pride in the project.
"Shortly thereafter they also were
disbanded and I suggested that the Army
send me to Edinburgh to form the Lowland
Band of the Scottish Division This took
place and I ended up with d
band of very keen musicians
who needed to be moulded
into a cohesive unit and work
on establishing the band as a
quality musical organisation,
'This was a great challenge
which I thrived upon. I made a
series of recordings and
accompanied them on a
couple of outstanding tours to
the United States
"After three years I was
posted to the Light Division,
who were stationed in
Winchester. That was a rude
awakening when I first went
on the parade ground The
correct tempo is supposed to
be 140 per minute but the
band took off at a least 160
per minute. on purpose I think
to give me a wake up call. I leamt the art
of marching very quickly with this band I
also got used to bugles In Scotland
bagpipes, at Winchesier it was the bugle.
variety is the spice of lifel
"Afiet that I was given my first really
grown up job. I was posted to Kneller Hall
as the Off icet Commanding Training
Development Team In effect I was the
Army's chief music examiner Most
imporiantly, my job was to analyse the
way we employed our music ians and to
find the most suitable way of training them
most successfully
"Fat example, what would be the most
effective way of training someone to be a