Fantastic performance: A video of the Welsh Guard playing in the evening
THE BAND OF THE WELSH GUARDS attended The Torch Theatre in Milford Haven today (Feb 6) for a special performance for schools across Pembrokeshire.
The Band gave a presentation in the afternoon to the students, and explained to them all of the fantastic places where they’ve had the opportunity to perform, such as The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, The Royal Albert Hall and Will and Kate’s wedding.
After this, children from local schools enjoyed an hour-long performance by the Band of the Welsh Guards. However, it wasn’t just any performance. Skilled and talented young musicians joined them on stage to perform famous pieces from classical music to hit movie scores.
Before the musical afternoon began, the conductor said: “We have had the great pleasure of welcoming some young musicians from the local area. We’ve had a few rehearsals, but some of the music is very difficult.
“The students have done extremely well, and some are even sight reading.”
Kicking off the performance was the score of the Pirates of the Caribbean. This familiar music was performed so eloquently that it made the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. The students fit in perfectly with The Guards and didn’t miss a beat. So much so, that you would never be able to tell that there were any inexperienced musicians among them. Only their uniforms gave them away.
The score from The Pirates of the Caribbean is beautiful as it is, but played by The Welsh Guards, it lended itself excellently to the majestic sounds that comes with the band itself.
After the first performance, a loud applause erupted from the auditorium.
Next up was the famous pop song, Just Haven’t Met You Yet by the world class vocalist, Michael Buble. Buble’s music is often associated with orchestras and brass bands, and the popular singer has performed live with orchestras in the past.
It was played so beautifully, that you had to stop yourself from trying to sing the melody, which was instead being carried by the trumpets. The break however, was carried by the saxophone, which gave it an extremely romantic feel.
The percussionists at the back of the stage – Guards and students alike – moved around and swapped instruments periodically, showing how dynamic and versatile their musical talents truly are.
A solo performance by Welsh Guard, Davey Jones was up next, who played a 1920s piece, Robin Harry on the xylophone and the vibraphone, accompanied by the band. The imagery created by this piece sent your mind reeling off into thoughts and memories of watching Charlie Chaplin’s famous silent movies.
Using four mallets toward the end of the piece, this enabled Jones to play four notes at once, in order to create chords and harmonies.
After this solo performance, it was time for a bit of fun. The conductor addressed the room, and explained that up next would be a solo performance from Sergeant Dan Evans on he post-horn.
He said: “When the post carriage would come into town, the men on the back of the carriage would sound their horn to inform them that their post had arrived.”
He added: “We were supposed to have two, but the other played has forgotten his and left it in London.”
A bow of shame was performed by the musician who had sadly forgotten his post-horn, and he took his place at the front of the stage, making his way there on crutches. The conductor explained that unfortunately, he has injured his leg since being in Pembrokeshire.
After a huge amount of sympathy given by the audience members, he sat in his chair while Sgt Evans played The Huntsman.
However, minutes into the performance, a fellow guard appeared with what seemed to be a metal tea pot. It was then to our surprise, that he joined in with Sergeant Evans, and began playing The Hunstman.
His next brilliant idea, was to take the mouth piece he had produced from his pocket, and places it on the end of his crutch. And – you guessed it – he started playing that too!
With laughter from the children in the audience, this spurred him on to go a step further. He took the chair he had been sitting on, placed the mouth piece on the end of a leg and began to play that, too.
It was after this fun performance that they decided to get back to business, and performed heir rendition of an ABBA medley they like to call ‘ABBA Gold’, which consisted of popular favourites, Dancing Queen, Mamma Mia, Fernando and The Winner Takes It All.
Finally, the audience were treated to a rendition of Tocatta in D minor by Johann Sebastian Bach – but with a “twist!”
This extremely famous piece of music was performed traditionally to begin with, when it suddenly was accompanied with fantastically accomplished upbeat percussion.
Just when everybody thought it was time to go, the Band agreed to perform one more piece on one condition. The children in the audience agreed immediately without asking what the condition was, whereas the adults in the room weren’t quite so eager to agree before hearing what the bargain was!
The condition in actual fact, was no problem at all. The Band agreed to play Uptown Funk by world class Bruno Mars, on the condition that everybody gets out of their seats, sings along and has a dance. And so, they did! Adults and children alike all joined in, clapping, singing and dancing in their seats.
Before the close of their show, the band thanked the schools for attending the concert, and said they had been “bowled over” by the standard of the young musicians who had joined them on stage.
The Band of the Welsh Guard will play again this evening (Feb 6) at the Torch Theatre, Milford Haven.
