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DOCTOR IN THE BAND
by Colin Dean
formerly Band Secretary
The Band of the Irish Guards
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We offer our congratulations to LSgt Rachel Smith, Principal Flute with the Band of the Coldstream Guards, on her gaining the award of Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) from Salford University in September 2013. The award neatly coincided with the release of her solo cd recording, The World of the Flute, on the Polyphonic label the previous week.
LSgt Rachel Smith |
Rachel joins a mere handful of Army musicians to achieve a doctorate; as far as we are aware, she is only the seventh since the first in 1906. She also has the distinction of being the only Army musician to date to be awarded the Commander Land Forces’ Certificate for Meritorious Service, in recognition of her work in devising and organising the very popular and successful Guards Chapel Recital Series.
In the Household Division, she follows her former Director of Music, Lt Col Graham Jones MBE who achieved his DMA in 2005, as well as Sgt Matt McKay from the Band of the Irish Guards in 2012, although this was after he had moved to become an instructor at The Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall.
Captain Albert Williams MVO |
Before that, in the Household Division, we need to go back as far as 1906 when Mr. Albert Williams, then Bandmaster of the Grenadier Guards, became a Doctor of Music (Oxon). It is said that the entire band travelled to Oxford at their own expense to see him receive the University’s doctorate, after which the Vice Chancellor shook his hand and said ‘I understand that you are a pioneer in the Army in regard to the degree of Doctor of Music. I hope it will bear the fruit it deserves’.
Mr. Williams had served as Bandmaster of the 10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales’s Own) from 1888, passing his Bachelor of Music examinations the following year. He transferred to the Royal Marine Artillery at Portsmouth in 1892 and to the Grenadiers in 1896. On 2nd January 1907 he became one of the first bandmasters to be commissioned, at a time when this was very much a personal award; it was not until 1919 that the posts were established for commissioned rank.
Captain Albert Williams MVO became Senior Director of Music, Brigade of Guards, in March 1920 and retired in July 1921. A life sized painting showing him wearing his doctor’s robes hangs in the officers’ dining room at Kneller Hall, doubtless providing much food for thought and inspiration for subsequent generations of Directors of Music. |
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