I am Musician O'Malley and have been in training since September 2001. Before
I joined the RM Band Service I lived at home with my parents, Grandmother and
siblings near Southport.
Monday
We dragged ourselves out of bed early in the morning, dreading a hard day's
physical training session with Sgt Griffin.We were quite pleasantly surprised
when we arrived and were asked to help set up the gym for the forthcoming Inter
Service Boxing Championships. So after an hour of lifting and shifting hundreds
of chairs up and downstairs and moving the gym equipment it was time to get
back to some real work, so to our practice rooms we went. After stand easy (our
morning break) I had a clarinet lesson with my professor Mr Kennard, who introduced
me to my Klosé manual or clarinet bible, I'm still considering using
it for weight lifting!
After lunch there were recitals where we listened to two term 4 students and
one term 7 student perform. After an excellent performance from Musn McKinnon
on the violin, I have now gained a little inspiration for the playing of my
own violin.
Tuesday
At 0845 the majority of the Troop, myself included, were in the elements room
for an extra aural lesson as some of us need to develop our ears somewhat. However,
I walked out at the end of the lesson still doubting my capabilities in this
area. My hopes didn't rise anymore when I later had a violin lesson with my
professor, Mr Simpson. At least with clarinets if you put your fingers on the
right holes you get the note you desire, however, this isn't quite true with
the violin. I wasn't doing too bad, I had managed to get my fingers in the right
places and was even managing to bow reasonably well until my professor put a
piece of music in front of me… then it all went wrong!
In the afternoon my Troop had an elements lesson, we've been split into two
groups based on a small test we took at our audition. CSgt Holman said our group
might be able to do our Term 3 exam at the end of next month, so we can get
it out of the way.
Wednesday
It was Parade Band first thing this morning, however, it was raining so we went
through our marches in the concert hall which gave us newcomers a bit of an
insight as to where all our individual parts fit into the bigger scheme of things.
We did do a little marching when the rain died down. In the afternoon for our
RT(Recreational Training) session we went ice skating in Gosport. It was great
fun.
Thursday
First thing in the morning we were on the track at HMS Temeraire to do our BFT,
a mile and a half run against the clock - great fun! When I got into work I
had a short lesson with my clarinet instructor CSgt Holman which was encouraging
before my lesson in the afternoon with my professor Mr Kennard where he gave
me some more exercises from Klosé to practice.
Well that night I had to practice in my practice room because wind band was
only for the people involved with the Bishops Waltham gig.
Friday
Parade Band again this morning, however the rain managed to hold off so we were
marching up and down playing our instruments. It wouldn't have been so bad if
my eyes hadn't kept watering making it nearly impossible to read my music, not
to mention my runny nose. Then it didn't help that I kept missing the bass drum
and nearly marching into the person in front of me who had halted correctly.
I think I'll just blame it on the cold.
Friday evening saw me and my room-mates, Musns Allen and Carter, and Musn Singleton
stay in and watch videos, giving us a break from the rush of the week.
Sat & Sun
Saturday it was up for work again, so I went to my room to practice all morning.
The afternoon was spent shopping and going to the cinema to watch Rat Run with
Musn Singleton and a night in front of the box, whereas some of the troop had
gone to Norfolk on a gig for the weekend. Sunday brought the first, and only,
lie in of the week, and a day much the same as Saturday… just a different
film at the cinema.
Musn O'Malley