DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS PERFORMANCE PORTFOLIO ...

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Part Two
Sv Major Graham Jones MBE
FTCL ARCM psm
he months of May, June and July are, without
doubt, the busiest time of year for a Guards Band
with near constant preparations and rehearsals
Beating Retreat on Horse Guards Parade, The
Queen's Birthday Parade, Founder's Day Parade at the
Royal Hospital Chelsea with the Chelsea Pensioners
and the Garter Ceremony at Windsor, all of which
happen in early June.
Other equally important commitments include providing music
for Investirures at Buckingham Palace, not to mention the daily
routine of Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace. Taking all
this into consideration, there is not a great deal of time to study
for a Master's Degree; however, Where there's a will there's a
way! ' In between rehearsals and parades, the students of the
Coldstream Guards Band have continued to write essays relating
to holistic performance practice, have prepared a presentation on
psychological and motivational considerations in performance and
have looked at interactive processes in group performance and
still found time to practice.
In the last issue of The Brass Herald I mentioned that Clare
Hogan-Taylor chaired a workshop entitled Psychological and
Motivational Considerations in Performance, which was designed
to provide an intellectual examination and understanding of the
psychological impulses and ramifications which lie behind the act
of performance. As such, they draw a distinction between the
extent to which a performer lives or presents a performance. In
particular, they highlight and elucidate some of the basic
characteristics of musical intentions and the cognitive
mechanisms which serve them. It is considered that an
understating of these underlying factors will allow performers to
formulate solutions to such problems as describing and
anatomising a performance, examining performance as a mode of
communication and understanding performance as a metaphor
which itself draws on the metaphorical reservoir of experience.
ne assessment for this workshop was conducted in the form of
individual student presentations which were presented in the
Lecture Theatre at Wellington Barracks, London.
All the presentations were excellent, delivered with both
confidence and erudite knowledge of the subject matter. Two
thirds of the group were graded with a distinction whilst the
remaining third were graded with a merit. Clare Hogan-Taylor
congratulated all on the quality of their presentations and the way
in which the day was managed.
The interactive process in group perfon-nance module rationale is
based on the assumption that almost all high-level performance
involving more that one participant must be founded upon a
developed and sensitive awareness of the interactive dimension in
performance. Regular collaborators in group performance develop
an essential instinctive rapport over time, but this may be
hastened and ultimately enriched by conscious and deliberate
exploitation of some of the processes involved.
These specialist performance workshops offer the student a
practical opportunity to explore and examine group interaction
through the literal and practical role-play of the solo performer in
a variety of contexts and musical styles as applied to their chosen
genre. Under the guidance and supervision of a designated
(269)
ensemble/band leader, cach student is requned Io coimfinalc, %'ia
their soloistic 'function, ' a unified and functional link between
their individual role and the interactive inierplay of the
accompanying ensemble.
Certain unifying concepts are proposed, such as that of'function'
within the ensemble as a defining factor of interaction. A
participant's contribution needs to be modulated according to a
well-defined sense of where their contribution lies in the
spectrum, from foreground to background, at any one time within
a given performance.
The assessment for this module is two fold. Firstly, the assessment
is carried out by means of a solo role performance where the
evaluative rationale focuses on determining the level of the soloist
with the accompanying ensemble. The performance should
represent a level of accomplishment indicative of the student's
accumulated perfortnance ability and assimilated communicative
and interactive skills.
Secondly, the students present an accompanying 2,500-word
commentary paper outlining in diary form the exploratory stages
and rehearsal strategies initiated in the preparatory stages of
performance. This paper should also address key issues
confronted in the exploration of interaction, going beyond the
merely empirical and addressing the communicative phenomenon
in a manner which is both methodical and supported by
theoretical underpinning. The students, as musicians in the
Coldstream Guards Band, have the opportunity to perform solo
role performances during public concerts and can use this
practical 'real-tirne' experience to form the basis for this module.
In the next issue of The Brass Herald we shall be looking at
preparations for the lecture recitals.
* The author referred extensively to the MA/PgDip in Music Performance
Pathway programme handbook in compiling this article.
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The Brass Herald August 2005