Eleven members of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Band Corps completed the historic first Grade Three Music Course to be conducted by the army.
In a press release the GDF said the Best Graduating Student was Corporal Patrick Bristol with Lance Corporal Brian Mitchell placing second. A graduation ceremony was hosted for the soldiers at Base on Monday.
The army said the course, an initiative of Chief of Staff Commodore Gary Best allowed students to study for the first time, Introductory Music Theory and Practical at the Grade Three kevel of the Royal Schools of Music curriculum, in a structured manner.
Principal instructor for the course, former Ministry of Education Music Teacher Oliver Basdeo said the course was designed to make the Band Corps better musicians. He said that in the past the Unit’s soldiers learned their craft through lots of informal training and rigorous practice.
Basdeo said another Grade III course will be conducted in February and a Grade II course will be conducted in July. The graduates will be participating in the Grade II course. Basdeo was assisted by former GDF Corporal Philip Cummings and GDF Director of Music Captain Robert Burns.
Burns, who is also the Officer Commanding, Band Corps, explained that by instituting a structured format for music education in the GDF, there is more likely to be continuity in terms of what the soldiers learn and an enhanced link between what they learn and what they do. “Band Corps members are also going to be in a better position to teach others who are willing to learn,” he said. One of the GDF’s long-term goals is to raise soldier’s musical awareness, enhance their theoretical and practical proficiency through the pursuit of external examinations from the Royal Schools of Music thereby guaranteeing a cadre of military musicians that will continue to make the GDF and Guyana proud.
