DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS PERFORMANCE PORTFOLIO ...

Coldstream Guards Ban J-
Pc ýAgracluate Project - Part One
By Major Graham Jones MBE MMus FTCL ARCM psm
The world famous Band of the Coldstream
Guards, as part of its 'residency' -v%rith the
University of Salford, has enrolled 16
members on to a MA/PgDip in Music
Performance Pathway This
groundbreaking bespoke course has been
developed by Professor David King to suit
the needs of the Band and to fit around its
busy programme of State Ceremonial
parades, concerts and recording projects.
The Band is understandably highly
delighted to have the opportunity to
provide its musicians with such an
excellent course as part of musicians'
personal development programme. The
course is co-ordinated by Professor King,
Dr Alan Williams and Clare Hogan-Taylor
from the University of Salford. The Band
is also delighted that Kneller Hall, the
home of military music since 1857, will be
supporting the performance element of
the course by allowing students from the
Band to attend practical lessons with
instrumental professors based at Kneller
Hall, as well as performance workshops.
The professors at Kneller Hall are some of
the finest exponents of their instruments
in the country and can be found
performing in many of London's premier
orchestras.
With such a project funding is always a
key issue. However, since the introduction
of Enhanced Leaming Credits in the
armed forces this has become less of a
concern. All service personnel are entitled
to receive E1,000 towards higher
education costs, for up to a maximum of
three financial years, providing that they
have served for four or more years. If they
have served more than eight years then
E2,0()o may be claimed for up to a
maximum of three financial years with the
caveat that the education provider is
registered onto the scheme with the
Ministry of Defence. This allowance is
Paid directly to the education provider. It
is also worth noting that once a
serviceman or woman leaves the armed
forces he or she can continue to claim this
allowance for up to ten years. This
allowance, plus generous financial support
from the Coldstream Guards, has helped
to cover much of the funding requirement
for this project.
The course is based over three semesters
and each one is treated as a separate
phase The first phase builds towards a
Postgraduate
Certificate, the second builds
towards a Postgraduate Diploma and the
third and Final phase completes the MA.
The first two phases have two workshops
and a performance recital in the form of a
one-to-one tutorial session and the final
Phase comprises a dissertation or lecture
recital and an individual
performance recital.
Importantly, the workshops aiid
the first two performance
recital tutorials will take plact,
at the Band's London base,
Wellington Barracks. This is
particularly important as it
allows the postgraduate course
to become an integral part of
the Band's rehearsal and performance
programme. For example, the Band
programme on any given day could read:
0900-1000, prepare for Changing the
Guard; 1030-1230, Changing the Guard
Ceremony; 1330-1630, Workshop One
(composition, performance and musical
text). of course this means that the tutors
have to travel from Salford to London for
the day We have not received any
complaints from the tutors, yet! The
lecture recitals and the individual
performance final recitals will both take
place at Salford.
Semester One started in October last year
with Professor King visiting the Band to
listen to individual performances. This
took place in the Band's rehearsal room
and took the form of a mini recital concert
with all students commenting on each
other's performance guided, of course, by
the erudite Professor King. All the
performers had the honour of being
accompanied by one of the most respected
repetiteurs in the country, John Wilson
from the Royal Northern College of Music.
He gave his much valued and considered
opinion of each performance from a
repetiteur's perspective, which was greatly
appreciated by the students.
DrAJan Williams also visited the Band for
the first workshop - Composition,
Performance and the Musical Text.
Discussion commenced with a wide-
ranging examination of examples of
musical text, incorporating historical and
comparative perspectives. The function of
text and the various interests which it
serves among the participants in the
transactional process of performance was
subjected to critical scrutiny. The
performer is seen as having both rights
and responsibilities, as it were, in relation
to musical text and the point was made in
a variety of manifestations that text can
never completely circumscribe the
elements which are constitutive in
performance. Having greatly enjoyed Dr
William's workshop, our industrious
students then set about researching and
writing their first assignment of some
3,500 to 4,000 words, which should show
a clear awareness of the implications
raised by the issues discussed in the
(269)
possible, it should
demonstrate an
ability oil the
student's part to
ickite the theoretical
discussion to the
practical
phenomenon of
performance.
At the end of January
this year, Clare
I iogan-Taylor
visited
the band for the
second workshop
entitled 'Psychological and Motivational
Considerations in Performance'. This
workshop focused on an intellectual
examination of what it takes to perform,
the internalisation of prior experience and
its relationship to the act of performance.
This involved an examination of such
performance -related aspects as
imagination, emotional memory,
concentration of discipline, tempo-rhythm
and relaxation. Having enjoyed the
workshop, the Band's students are now
preparing for their assessment, which will
take the form of a student presentation.
The presentation should highlight an
aspect of the psychology of performance
and attempt to probe its nature, both
theoretically and through practical
demonstration. The presentations will be
videoed and presented in the Lecture
Theatre at Wellington Barracks in late
May.
Clare Hogan-Taylor also hosted a specialist
workshop entitled 'Holistic Performance
Principles and Practice'. This workshop
included an instigation and practical
examination of holistic therapy including
relaxation methods, Chi-Kung, Tai Chi,
Alexandra Technique, Pilates, yoga and
meditation methods. These practices are
specifically designed to establish and
integrate the balance and equilibrium
both within and between the internal/
psychological and the externaUphysical
domains, thereby pursuing the holistic
approach, which formed the premise of
this module. The workshop also included
the integration of varying theories in a
practical attempt to apply specific holistic
concepts to individual 'needs' within
performance while investigating the very
nature of these 'healing' processes.
Assessment for this workshop is in the
form of a written essay relating to Holistic
Performance Practice.
In the next issue of the Brass Herald we
shall be looking at interactive processes in
group performance and the individual
performance recital. We will also have the
views of the students as they prepare for
the final practical modules of the course.
* The author referred extensively to the MA/
PgDip in Music Performance Pathway
programme handbook in writing this article.
The Brass Herald May 2005 53