The Vessel: A Dramatic-Based Musical Composition for the Military Band

Abstract

Over the years, composers within the military band frat in Ghana, most especially those under the Ministry of Interior have composed and bandstrated pieces that are usually performed at concerts and notable events as inherited from the colonial master. Nevertheless, these pieces are only enjoyed with fewer indications of educational impact on the performers and the audience. To properly engage in a comprehensive presentation that strives to educate and entertain, I adopted dramatic compositional and bandstrational concepts for this study as a novelty. The content of the dramatic composition is to conscientize the general-public about the serious health, economic, environmental, and ecological effects of machine-driven and biochemical illegal fishing in the ocean while developing the musical proficiency of the musicians through the inclusion of basic twentieth-century styles of composition such as polymetric and the concept of free-atonality. The study also employed atenteben, drama, and vocals as new components in the military band facet of performance in Ghana as a unique invention of tradition. Data was gathered from secondary sources using an artistic-based research technique that integrated a creative thinking model, cross-cultural, and analytical theories. During the data analysis process, it was discovered that dramatic-based compositions and new musical trends may challenge players, modify the public presentations of these bands, and assist young and upcoming choral and military band music composers to develop new research insights into dramatic compositions. It is recommended that military band performances in Ghana be fixed in a situation, within a content and context that strives to be conscientious and entertaining.