Page 37 - Bugle Issue 18 Auntumn 2021

6 RIFLES
Musicians across the world have had a terrible year due to the pandemic and at the time of writing the Salamanca Band & Bugles are only now returning to normal, having had almost a whole year of live performances being prohibited. Apart from the occasional passing out parade or socially distanced outdoor event, the band has been restricted to remote learning which has been an interesting and often technically difficult experience.
The 2020 forecast of events was jam packed, but when the Prime Minister instructed the UK to remain at home in late March, almost all of our engagements were gradually crossed off the calendar. We soon realised that if we didn’t engage with our personnel during the year when the pandemic was over a huge skill fade would have set in. We quickly discovered that playing music on Zoom simultaneously simply does not work as timing is key and everyone’s connection lag is slightly different! I’m sure the reader can imagine the resulting cacophony? Well, it was worse than that!
The Director of Music and Band PSI quickly hatched a plan to record “High on a Hill” with everyone listening to a recording using head- phones, whilst playing and recording their parts at home. All of the elements were sent to CSjt German (our impromptu audio engineer) for editing and he spent many hours trying to align all the recordings and balance the sound levels. The result was fairly shoddy and we had to have several goes making it gradually better each time. We realised that by using a
backing ‘click track,’ and as CSjt German’s skills developed, we could manage a half-decent product.
We were saddened to hear of the passing of Dame Vera Lynne, the “Forces Sweetheart” and we worked frantically for the next week
to get our Big Band to remotely record The White Cliffs of Dover using our new skills. We produced a better-quality recording featuring Musn Jones doing her best Dame Vera impres- sion and asked Army media if they would like to use it – which they did! The Army Facebook and Twitter accounts released our recording to coincide with the funeral and it was viewed over 100,000 times.
The Defence Attaché asked us to send a recording of the National Anthems of Georgia, Armenia and the UK to the British Embassies in Tbilisi and Yerevan which was an honour and great fun! This year has been a giant learning experience and we have gained new skills and adapted to make the most of what we could do. Ultimately though, musicians need to perform in the same room sat closely together and create music as a close-knit team. Happily, the remainder of the year from July onwards
is incredibly busy and we would struggle to fit any more engagements into 2021.
WO2 Richard Cregan
Our recording to coincide with the funeral and it was viewed over 100,000 times
A fitting tribute to a truly
inspirational lady. The Salamanca
Band record a piece of music in honour of Dame Vera Lynn
RIFLES The Bugle 37
MUSIC DURING NATIONAL LOCKDOWN
REMOTELY CONTROL