PCM: I found it interesting that you studied the harp. Do you come from a musical family?

Major Graham Jones: My mother is a very accomplished pianist, as a small child I use to sit on the edge of the bench and watch my mom play the piano.

PCM: When did you join the army?

MGJ: I was actually very young, I had a music teacher at high school who served his national service as a musician and he recommended that the best musical training I can get was to go into the military for three to four years and then go off to university afterwards. I forgot to leave the military and received all my musical education inside the army.

PCM: You have received the honor of MBE for your work with music in the British Army.

MGJ: Yes, I was presented with the honor.

PCM: Is there an inquiry period that you are aware of or do you just get a letter in the mail notifying you of the honor?

MGJ: That’s pretty much the case. I got a message that the commanding officer wanted to see me at ten o’clock. You usually don’t get messages like that and I was thinking, Oh dear, what did I do wrong. I walked in the door and he handed me a memorandum that said Graham Jones Member of the British Empire. There was a ceremony on the Queens birthday where she bestows the honor herself at Buckingham Palace.

PCM: In your list of credits with the military you were also responsible for getting musicians in the British military accredited with London’s Trinity College.

MGJ: Yes. The army had exams to quality you in music but it didn’t mean anything in the civilian world of music. I initiated an accrediting program which we linked with the top colleges in London and we eventuality came up with and now every musician who takes their exams in music at the same time gains a diploma from Trinity College in London which is recognized throughout the world.

PCM: In you’re work with Royal Scots Dragoon you being the musical director for this tour, did you select the entire program?

MGJ: Ultimately. What happened was eighteen months ago was the first meeting we had in Edinburgh when I met Derek Potter the pipe major.  We sat down and talked about what we could possibly do and what we wanted to do. Once we had that initial meeting I stared to write the music for the show. We then met again in the summer and then met again in November for rehearsal in London for the week, we put together the show and recorded the show in London.

PCM: You wrote all of the music for the show?

MGJ: Not all of it. A lot of the music the Cold Stream Guard is playing I wrote and a lot of the music the pipe band and the band together will play I wrote. I had other people write for me as well, it’s a lot of music. One of the particular pieces we’re playing is called A Tribute to America. It takes the audience through the history of America via music starting in the early 18^th century. To do that I used a very good friend of mime who’s an authority, probably the leading authority on American military music . His name is David Cates, he lives in New York and teaches at Lehigh University in Bethlehem.

PCM: When you’re writing the Strathspey’s and Reels does the Cold Stream Guards  play them as well?

MGJ: We are playing them. There is a point in the show when we have pipers playing, dancers dancing and the band playing. So the band is playing along with the pipes and drums.

PCM: That’s not common repertoire for brass band.

MGJ: We had to write the music specifically for it. The pipe major gave me the tunes and I did the orchestral arrangements.

PCM: Was it difficult for to adapt?

MGJ: No, it’s just a matter of the working stylistic elements of performance. It was very different. It was a nice change and was a lot of fun.

PCM: How much practice time did you have?

MGJ: Well, we had that week in November and that included going in for the recording. Tomorrow (1/8/08) we have our first rehearsal day here in a theater in Annapolis, so we have a whole day tomorrow which will be four hours, Wednesday afternoon we'll do a full dress rehearsal with no audience so we can figure out sequences and Wednesday night we do our first Performance.

PCM: Is the recording related to the Dragoon's new CD?

MGJ: That’s from Universal, it’s a separate project from them. They’ve done really well with it, it’s a big hit in UK . Our cd is not released in the UK until after Easter. This recording was specifically for the tour and will be released by Columbia Artists. We’ll see it on for the first time Wednesday.

PCM: The Cold Stream Guard and The Royal Scots Dragoon are all active duty. Right now you’re on leave but when there’s a war going on how do you plan a tour. Is it a big insurance risk to book a tour.

MGJ: It is and if we’re required for any military operational reason we have it in place to get us back to London with 72 hours.

PCM: How much time is spent practicing the marching?

MGJ: Well we probably spend two days with that within the different sequences. We’ve put together a stage show with a lot of movement in it. Both bands are doing bits separate and bits with them together. We sent the bands off to do their rehearsals and then we come in to do the bits together. When you strip it down to its component parts in various sequences it becomes a lot clearer and easier to manage as far as rehearsals are concerned.

PCM: Are there a lot of adjustments made for the different stage sizes?

MGJ: For all the theaters we have the stage measurements. In London we took the minimum stage requirements we were given and made a mock stage area to rehearse the show. Some stages are larger and some small. We have to adjust steps since we’re playing in a lot of arenas and it will take us longer to march on the stage. It not to difficult, the show remains the same, it's just getting into the place where we are going to do the maneuvers. We get to the theater a few hours before the theater opens to do a run through. We call it top & tail, to make sure we’re happy with everything. We always say that we can do a marching display on a postage stamp.

PCM: Do you still play the harp?

MGJ: Only for pleasure, sadly. I’m to busy running the Cold Stream Guard Band and other projects. I do have a harp at home and play for pleasure.

PCM: Will this be your first time performing in Philadelphia?

MGJ: This will be the first time with the Cold Stream Guards, I have played in Philadelphia with other bands. I do want to say from both bands point of view. We're delighted as always to visit our friends in the United States. I’m sure we’ll get a warm reception and that reflects in the unity that our two nations have. I look forward to meeting many people and they should not be afraid to come over and say hello.