I am Musician Dawkins and I joined the Royal Marines Band Service 6 months ago
with Troop 2001. Since passing out of basic training I have been in music training
for only 2 weeks. Prior to joining the Band Service I lived with my mum and
sister in Peterborough and attended Stanground College high school.
Monday
Woke up at early o'clock this morning for an hour of PT with Colour Sergeant
Curry. Our BFT is coming up so he took us for a run down to the seafront and
back, needless to say… it woke a few of us up.
We started work in the School of Music at 0845. I worked on my scales as I have
a clarinet assessment at the end of the month. After lunch I had a Prof's lesson,
during which I worked on staccato notes. After a day's work of music, I went
swimming for an hour to stretch out the muscles from the morning's PT session.
Tuesday
We all had to be fell in at 0815, in immaculate dress of the day, ready to be
inspected. Most of today I was practising in my practise room, I worked on some
Aural, Theory and Elements as they are not my best subjects. We all returned
to the School of Music after tea for orchestra/music practising.
Wednesday
Today started with parade band. The students in Term 1, including myself, just
held our instruments as we marched so we could get used to all the Drum Major's
Staff signals without concentrating on our playing. The rest of the morning
was spent on individual practice. In the afternoon we had recreational training.
Colour Sergeant Curry had organised an aerobics instructor to come and take
the session. Myself and Musn King were not there as we were playing Hockey for
HMS Nelson.
Thursday
The day started off with a session of PT. We did circuits for an hour by the
end I think everybody was shattered… Christmas puddings still taking their
toll. After stand easy I had a lesson on my violin with the professor. We were
working on my positions of holding the violin, as I had picked up bad habits
before I joined.
Friday
Today we had parade band and it was spent going over what we had been taught
the previous week. After coming off parade we had Aural with Colour Sergeant
Hodge where we sang scales and then had to write them down. In the afternoon
we did sectional practise to get all our pieces spot on. My evening was spent
preparing my kit for the following week as my family were down over the weekend.
Saturday
This morning we had a lie in as we didn't have to be in work until 0830. The
Term 1s went over the pieces that we would be required to play on parade band.
After the morning's work I spent the rest of the day sight seeing with family
and friends.
Sunday
I spent much of the day in bed catching up on sleep! After I made sure all my
kit was ready for Monday I decided to go and do the BFT as we've got it coming
this Thursday.
Musn Dawkins