The Royal Marines Band is performing at the Royal Albert Hall this weekend for the Mountbatten Festival of Music.
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00:00 I'm Lieutenant Colonel Q Williams, I'm the Principal Director of Music Royal Marines.
00:04 Brilliant, so tell me about the practicing and how it's all been going ahead of the performance
00:08 this weekend. Yeah so we're here in HMS Temeraire in the heart of Portsmouth and we've been rehearsing
00:15 for the 2024 Manbatten Festival of Music since Sunday, so we've had two really long days and
00:21 we're just at the start of our third Portsmouth day. The show is a variety performance, there's
00:28 kind of rock, pop and theatre, some classical stuff, some ceremonial stuff and some special
00:33 guests. It's a really complicated show because there's lots of technical elements involved,
00:38 we're showing some video, we've got dancers, singers, all kinds of things like that, so
00:43 part of the rehearsal process is about the musicians getting their parts right, but you
00:48 know at the end of it it's just the kind of logistical challenges around putting a complicated
00:52 show together. It's been going really well, we haven't had any really big hitches so far,
00:58 but some of the music's really challenging so there's been quite a lot of you know just kind
01:02 of repetitive practice, getting everybody really used to it and also it's massed bands in the Royal
01:07 Marines, so we've got about 100 musicians on stage which is more than a regular size Royal Marines
01:14 band and it takes the players a little bit of time to adjust to that setting with so many people in
01:20 such a big space. It's going well. So do you think it's going to be a huge success? I certainly hope
01:26 it's going to be a success, I think so. Mountbuster Music's been going for 52 years, it sells out
01:32 every year, we've got a very loyal following, they really appreciate the variety and diversity
01:37 of the performances that we give and I think this year is going to be a big hit, real success.
01:42 My name's Major Andy Gregory, I am the SO2 Training Plans Future in the Training Management
01:48 Group but in a former life a few years ago I was actually a Royal Marines Band Officer,
01:54 being the Director of Music of the Scotland Band, the Portsmouth Band and the CTCRN Band in
01:58 Limston in my time. Brilliant, so I understand this is your last performance? Yeah that's right,
02:02 so I retire later this year in October and I'll have done 34 years by then which is
02:10 quite a long time. So tell me a little bit about your time. So yeah, I joined up in 1990 from
02:18 I used to play in a brass band in Yorkshire, the Hebden Bridge Junior Band as a corner player,
02:23 and joined up on clarinet and violin learning at Deel and then I've been in various bands,
02:28 the Mariner Chief Fleet Band in London, down in Portsmouth, the Pretending Royal Naval College,
02:37 Scotland, you know a lot of the bands and then as a Director of Music as I say, being lucky enough
02:42 to take charge of three bands, the Scotland Band, the Portsmouth Band, the Royal Band and the
02:46 Limston Band and through that time just it's been sort of many, many trips, some really memorable
02:53 commitments so yeah, it's been really good fun. What is your favourite instrument? Violin, so I
02:59 joined as a clarinet and violin player and learned the violin from the age of 16 but a bit late in
03:05 life but yeah, I love the violin. I should have started playing when I was four but missed the
03:09 opportunity. What will you miss about doing these performances? I think it's working with such fine
03:17 musicians, you know, their response as a conductor is unbelievable, they're so keen to make really
03:25 good music and as you know, anybody that's fortunate enough to go to the concert, they
03:29 realise it is a world-class standard and that is just amazing and getting to perform in some of the
03:34 fantastic venues. But one of the key things about the service life is just the camaraderie of the
03:39 people you're with, you know, spent my whole career pretty much with them and it's just been a real
03:45 joy to meet a lot of fantastic personalities and really world-class musicians. Hi, so I'm
03:51 musician Beth McGregor and I'm at the Bournemouth Band of Plymouth. So I understand this is your
03:57 first performance? Yes, it's my first one so I passed out of training in summer and this is my
04:01 first MFM actually so I'm very excited. Yeah, I was going to say how do you feel? Are you prepared?
04:07 I'm feeling very apprehensive but I'm more excited than anything, I'm really excited because the
04:11 Royal Albert Hall is just an amazing venue and it will be one of the best experiences I've had.
04:16 So tell me how long you've had a passion for music? Ever since I was really young, so I've
04:21 been singing since I was little. I play guitar and piano but singing has always been the main
04:26 thing. That's your main love, brilliant. And do you think it's going to go well? I hope so,
04:32 yeah I'm sure it'll be amazing. The rehearsals have gone so well and the band sound amazing
04:36 and the choir so hopefully it'll be a really good show. Nico, tell me how the collaboration
04:43 came about with the Mass Band of the Royal Marines? Well, in 2020, the year that we don't talk about,
04:53 it was the 50th anniversary of the Mountbatten Festival and I was in attendance as a guest of
04:59 BDC and it just came about that I think Phil was running the orchestra, Phil Cudgeon I think his
05:10 name was, anyway the people that I met there at the event they said oh it'd be nice to,
05:18 because it was the Prodigy, excuse me, did the halftime after the interval and I was absolutely
05:25 amazed at it. I thought there's these guys playing Prodigy, it's brilliant. So that was where the
05:30 idea came about and they said well what would you like to do next year? I was very honoured and
05:36 humbled and I immediately agreed. How have rehearsals been going? Rehearsals have been
05:42 great. Sunday was a bit of a, how do I say it, very nervous. I really, you know, because of
05:51 you know my circumstances, my right hand doesn't work very well so I was very super nervous about
05:59 that. We got through the rehearsals really well and then it was of course time to come in yesterday
06:05 with the full orchestra and my goodness, the north wind does blow right behind me. It was just,
06:11 it blew me away. You know the power and the sound of these great musicians and a 100 piece orchestra
06:19 jamming mate and it was just a joy to behold. I wanted to actually stop and listen to them you
06:24 know but can't do that. It's been wonderful.
06:27 them.
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