All in a week’s work – life in the British Army Bands

In a parallel universe Mr Barringer is a music teacher who has just turned 50, Ms Petritz-Watts is a lawyer, but in the here and now, as one door closed and another opened, these modest individuals followed a very different path. It’s a path which put them on a global stage where they and their fellow Army Musicians are literally making history on an almost daily basis. 

Lieutenant Colonel David Barringer is Commanding Officer of the Massed Bands of the Household Division and Major Lauren Petritz-Watts is Director of Music of the Band of the Welsh Guards.

They and hundreds of other military musicians they are proud to work alongside, were, just days ago, providing the means by which the Coronation Processions were so precise and impressive, a task so complex and unique that they could never have imagined being part it of as young teenagers planning their future career paths.

Career Choice

What drew these people to abandon what was for their teachers and parents the obvious career choice, and instead pursue the life of a military musician? And why was that choice so important to the effectiveness of the modern Army and the nation?

Being a musician and a soldier at the same time is a unique combination, and two things are clear: whilst a love of music underpinned everything they do, there is something extra that draws everyone that joins an Army Band.

One major incentive is that it provides a nurturing, supportive route for keen musicians to pursue a full time stable career in music, where their tuition and qualifications are paid for by the Army.

Debt Free

“The chance of being debt free when I qualified was what convinced my parents that I could give a career in Army Music a go instead of a legal career, which was all they had known,” explained Lauren. It was a huge risk but it paid off as she is now the first female director of music in the prestigious Household Division Bands.

The chance of being debt free when I qualified was what convinced my parents that I could give a career in Army Music a go

MAJOR LAUREN PETRITZ-WATTS, DIRECTOR OF MUSIC, BAND OF THE WELSH GUARDS

Musicians join at various stages of their musical education, some with very advanced formal learning, others may need more development, and upon joining it is possible to spend up to two years at the Army’s professional training school for musicians. 

As Lieutenant Colonel Barringer put it, “you have to have a talent, but if you do, then the Army will nurture it.”

You have to have a talent, but if you do, then the Army will nurture it.

LIEUTENANT COLONEL DAVID BARRINGER, COMMANDING OFFICER, MASSED BANDS OF THE HOUSEHOLD DIVISION

It’s clear too that, as well as seeing something in the Army, the Army saw something in them, and that nurturing did not simply apply to music.

Lieutenant Colonel Barringer talked about how the Army took a 16 year old miner’s son from Rotherham, gave him early responsibility, and by 18 years old he was Band Sergeant at the Junior School of Music.

But what is this something ‘special’ about a career in the Army that attracts musicians beyond the musical training?

Something Special

One glance at the bands’ outputs over the past week or so exemplifies that something special: a unique series of experiences, that you couldn’t get from any other career.

For some 750 military musicians it was participating in the first Coronation in 70 years, for others it was the opportunity to take to the stage in Windsor and play alongside internationally recognised World Class musical talent.

For Lance Corporal Gareth Trott it will be taking part in rehearsals for the King’s Birthday Parade, when a piece of music which he composed, Welsh Diadem, will be played in front of His Majesty the King and be heard live through TV broadcasts in more than 50 countries across the world.

As well as the opportunities of taking part in these monumental events, it is largely the crucial role that each plays in them which makes every Army Musician’s role ‘something special.’ 

Anyone watching the Coronation will be aware of the simple fact: 7,000 people cannot march without music, but getting them all to march in time over a parade one mile long, with 19 different military bands all playing the same march in synchronicity, is nothing short of a miracle.

How DID the British Army do it?

Military bands have been keeping soldiers in step for 1000s of years, initially with just the beat of a drum and ultimately with a full blown brass band and percussion. Charles the Second formed the first Military Bands that we see today and they are still marching troops to duty every day of the week.

But the Coronation Procession was of a size, scale and ambition not seen before. The advancement of modern technology in TV broadcasting and other forms of multi-platform live media has meant that the precision of what the military does on ceremonial has to be so much sharper, more precise than ever before, there is little tolerance now amongst the discerning viewing public for inevitable time lags or minor human errors.

“The Coronation Procession was a very long procession, by far the biggest we have done in 70 years. Keeping all those soldiers marching exactly on the beat and all the bands playing perfectly in time in a procession that stretched a mile long was no mean feat.”

How did the man directing proceedings for all three armed services that day, Lieutenant Colonel David Barringer do that? 

He was faced with keeping not only his own Foot Guards Bands on time but also those of the rest of the Royal Corps of Army Music, the Pipes and Drums made up of infantry soldiers, and the Bands of the Royal Marines and Royal Air Force too. 

“It's a bit of a secret, but we were all controlled by a piece of innovative technology that had never been used with live bands on a live event before.” Explained his colleague, Captain Ben Mason, Director of Music for the Band of the Grenadier Guards.

“It’s called a click track. Essentially, this is a recorded series of clicks that are transmitted in the ears of the percussionists in the bands, and the ears of the directors of music who are scattered throughout the length of the procession.  

“The click track keeps us all perfectly in time, to the otherwise unnatural pace of 108 beats per minute, which was set by the speed of the enormously heavy Gold State Coach.  

“That marching pace is slightly slower than a quick march but not as slow as a standard march, so accuracy was essential to keep everyone to time and looking sharp.”

108 Beats Per Minute Whatever The Weather

108 beats per minute is the pace which all the soldiers, sailors, airmen and women had to march to hit those precise timings of the day. Left, right, left right. And, all the musicians have to play this pace.

Not only that, the music has to synchronise so that every musician in every band is all playing the same note in the same bar of the same Military March at exactly the same time regardless of where they are in the mile long procession.

Ben explained how it worked: “Exactly 45 seconds before the parade stepped off we were fed the click track through our ears to give us a warning ready for the word of commands for the step off. And it went something like this:

““Click, click, click, dink… (so 45 seconds)….Bass drummers: set metronomes” - and that's when the bass drummers set the metronomes that are on their instruments, just in case there was a failure of the tech. Not that we’d ever had a failure, but in the Army we always play safe and have a back up!” explained Ben.

“Then at 30 seconds, we got another warning: “Click, click, click, dink… 30 seconds”. And then the word of command came across the airwaves: “Coronation Procession!”. That was then relayed verbally in person by the commanders on the ground. And then we got a final countdown and it went like this: “Four, three, two, one…Quick march!”. And then the whole band stepped off, all 600 musicians perfectly in time even though we can’t see or hear each other, playing our first march seamlessly over one mile as if one united mass band.”  

One of the many honours given to a musician, and one of the great gifts of being musicians in the British Army, is being able to write one’s own music which will then be performed in front of audiences of millions.

Captain Ben Mason, Director of Music for the Band of the Grenadier Guards was commissioned to write a piece of music for the newly named King’s Company Grenadier Guards, and that piece of music was one of the marches played on the Coronation Procession in front of millions watching in person and around the world on TV on May 6th.  

“I've been Director of Music for the Band at the Grenadier Guards for the last three years, and to compose this piece of music was my last task as the director, so it's even more poignant for me not least because the King’s Company of the Grenadier Guards are the Sovereign’s personal Company. When they changed their title from the Queen's Company to the King's Company last October, the regiment asked me to write a new march for them.

I was a musician in the band before I was a director of music. So the music of the Grenadier Guards is quite ingrained in me.

The former Company March was a piece of music called the Queen's Company, by one of my predecessors, Lieutenant Colonel Rodney Bashford, and I used elements of his march with my own to tie in with the constancy of the role of the Monarch in the Company that has lasted for almost 400 years.  

Routinely Incredible

“It'll be available very soon for free download on our household division.org website, which is great, and it’s very humbling to be recognised and to have my music performed on such an historic and grand occasion as the Coronation.

"It’s such a great life in the British Army Bands and we all feel very privileged and fortunate to do what we do, which routinely is incredible, we get so many amazing professional opportunities.”

It’s such a great life in the British Army Bands and we all feel very privileged and fortunate to do what we do, which routinely is incredible, we get so many amazing professional opportunities.

CAPTAIN BEN MASON, DIRECTOR OF MUSIC, BAND OF THE GRENADIER GUARDS

‘Routinely incredible’, sums up the life of musicians in the Army Band, in a single week members have been an integral part of a once in a lifetime event, then without skipping a beat, gone on to amaze international stars such as Lionel Ritchie or Nicole Sherzinger with their talent, professionalism and versatility.

Then, when anyone might expect them to take a break they are back on the parade square rehearsing for Trooping the Colour and ‘morale is high’.

Their training as soldiers equips them with the resilience and resources to accomplish this, their passion and musicianship give them the skill and talent to do it, and the opportunity to perform the routinely incredible on a daily basis, derives from that ‘something special,’ which drew them to this career, the role of an Army musician.