This week has been quite hectic for myself as my M3 clarinet recital was on Thursday afternoon.
Monday we had no physical training so it was straight to the cells, preparing
my pieces for Thursday.
After stand easy however we all had to be in the concert hall for the beginning
of a piano master class that was being taken by Peter Donnahoe. This was quite
informative for rather than just talking about piano technique he spoke more
on how music could and should be played.
After dinner the first of the M3 recitals took place with Musns Boardman, Hall
and Gray performing on the trumpet, saxophone and bass guitar respectively.
All went very well and presented an excellent opening for further recitals.
Later on I had a run through of my accompanied piece, which is the last movement
from Graham Lyons' Sonata for Bb Clarinet and Piano. This movement is written
in a samba style using Latin rhythms and is supposed to have a relaxed air about
it. So this is what Mr Douglas and my clarinet professor Mr Kennard spent most
of their time trying to convince me into. Then when I did finally manage to
relax it was amazing how much easier the piece became for my fingers and me.
Tuesday followed a similar course to Monday however instead of having the usual
1830 to 2000 rehearsal we began at 1620 and finished just after 1730. Everyone
was quite pleased with this idea and is hoping it may become a more frequent
change.
Parade Band opened work on Wednesday as per usual although it was just the gig
band for 2SL's garden parties. We were given the new music and whilst sight-reading
the tiny notes we had to do a split and move from 3 across to 5 across. As we
were sight-reading I thought it wasn't that bad but apparently our dressing
was terrible, you just can't please some people.
There was no RT on today either and so we had to slog on through the afternoon
as well although with my recital the next day I wasn't that bothered. This was
due to a Euphonium master class that was going on, with Robert Charles.
Last thing we had a rehearsal booked in with Mr Charles behind the baton, we
played a piece by Philip Sparke called Pittsburgh Overture. The rehearsal went
well and I think overall we played pretty well and got quite a lot out of it.
Thursday was my big day however I suppose I didn't really get nervous until
10 minutes before walking in the concert hall.
We'd had PT in the morning in the gym with our new PTI CSgt Lawton and it was
really good despite not being overly tired after the session I still felt the
effects of it the next day. Especially on my knees as we had been leopard crawling
along some green mats giving us all what can only be described as carpet burn,
on our knees and elbows.
The morning seemed to drag a little with my recital only hours away; I had my
run through with Mr Douglas in the concert hall after stand easy. Then when
Musns King and Walton had finished their run throughs I returned to go through
my unaccompanied pieces these both being by James Rae. The first, Images, is
a contemporary classical piece that requires a free interpretation by the performer,
the second, Hard Rock Blues, has a rock and blues feel requiring the performer
to keep a strict beat. This piece also demands techniques such as growling that
I have to say I quite enjoy doing.
Overall I was reasonably pleased with my recital despite making a few slips
and errors, more than anything though I think I was relieved to get it out of
the way, as we are very busy at the moment. It also lets me concentrate on my
violin recital, which is in a few weeks time.
Despite having just done my recital at two o'clock everyone was in the concert
hall for rehearsal as the sax section were taking a trip to London that evening.
We are currently looking at music for Open Day and the many other gigs that
are planned for the next two months, no rest for the wicked!
Last period I had a violin lesson with Mr Simpson where we concentrated mainly
on my scales telling me that I would probably find it easier to do some of them
in a different position than the one I had been practising, and I think he is
probably right.
We also had a quick look at my recital piece (the first and second movement
of Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in G minor) which is going well just some areas
could do with a bit of special attention.
As we had already had a rehearsal we got the evening off, which was good as
it meant some people could go home for the weekend as we had Friday off. This
was because we had to work on Tuesday, which was the Queen's birthday and a
day off for the majority of Service personnel. I however find it's a bit too
far to go home for the weekend living in Southport near Liverpool and so had
a relaxing weekend finishing my degree harmony assignment.