After completing my FA2s Course I was lucky enough to be granted early leave
and was on the plane back to South Africa for a sunny Christmas holiday. It
was fantastic to see all my family and friends again and everyone was eager
to hear about my 'horrific' basic training.
Unfortunately my stay at home was not long and I had to get a flight back to
the UK on New years Day. As we were only due back to work a week later I had
the opportunity to stay in Birmingham with my friend Andy Boardman, a bugler
in my troop. Compared to my sunny two weeks at home in S.A. Birmingham was cold
and has the hardest accent in the world to understand… although I'm not
one to talk!
On the 7 January, we made our way back to HMS Nelson, Portsmouth, to start our
3 years of 'intense musical training'. As we arrived in Pompey a wave of fear
came over me, maybe it was the thought of learning 3 new instruments from scratch
or just that I was finally going to do what I've always wanted, either way I
was very nervous.
Our first day back started with an early phys session led by Sgt Griffin and
Colour Sgt Fulthorpe, obviously too much Christmas pudding for everyone, especially
me as I had done no exercise since basics. Colours Fulthorpe reassured us he
would get us all back into shape in no time at all, I wasn't sure if this was
good news or bad news…
My first few weeks were spent getting to know my new instruments and meeting
our professors. My tuba - Humphrey' as I've named it, started slowly but seems
to be getting better. The change from Euphonium to Tuba was harder than I thought,
however my professor, Mr Andy Cresci, reassured me it would get easier with
time. Myself and the other two new bass players in my troop, Will Hairsine and
Steve Richardson (or Clive as he is affectionately know - don't ask...), all
had to learn the double bass and bass guitar from scratch. All three of us had
our first double bass lesson together and our professor, Mr Kevin Rundell, had
his hands full when it took him fifteen minutes to teach us how to hold the
bow correctly. For me the double has been the hardest and takes up a lot more
practice time than the others. Bass guitar on the other hand has been the easiest
and the most fun. We learn by beginner Jazz and Rock books with CDs that add
the respective backings to the bass lines, our professor is Mr Alan Ham. I think
I enjoy it so much because I've always wanted to play the bass guitar and I
hope to buy my own soon.
On Tuesday and Thursday evenings Training Company usually have orchestra or
wind band practice, however, us term ones will only join these in our second
term and therefore spend these evenings doing extra practice in our cells (practice
rooms). At first I was very annoyed at the fact we had to practice till eight
in the evening, until I realised it took me a good half an hour of that practice
time to clean my tuba for parade band the next morning. Our first couple of
times out on parade consisted only of the new entries as we were drilled in
the signs and signals we would get from Drum Major and the bass drum. This was
not as easy as I thought it would be as I missed the signal to halt more than
once and almost ended up walking into the back of Clive who was marching in
front of me. Our dressing and covering off left a lot to be desired and I found
out the real meaning of lower back pain - the tuba is not the lightest instrument
in the world! Our second time was a bit more successful and more memorable as,
while I stood out on parade, I saw snow for the first time - exciting stuff
I know! After that we joined the rest of Training Company and took our 50/50
chance of getting the signals right. One morning Drum Major arranged for us
to march around camp so we could get used to marching around corners and on
different ground. I really enjoyed this and even managed to get a few notes
out as well.
My first three weeks in music training weren't too bad however I did get a bit
down sometimes thinking that I might have bitten off more than I could chew
trying to learn three new instruments from scratch. However, three week now
gone and I feel with hard work and determination, I'll be able to do it - we'll
see!
Musn Naylor