Music has always played an important role in The Salvation Army. William Booth felt that the combination of sacred texts over well-known melodies from hymns and pub songs would be attractive to those who he was trying to reach. He was definitely proved right as the following years saw the music scene explode, mirroring the growth of the movement with thousands of musicians all across the world using their musical talents to evangelize. Wherever The Salvation Army began work, music followed, often using the unique styles and cultures from that country or region, but the one constant seemed to be the brass band. All across the world, this uniquely British genre of music would establish itself as a key driving force in Salvation Army music-making and become an incredibly effective ministry as not only an evangelism tool through open-airs and Salvation meetings, but also as a beautiful and meaningful part of our worship. Through hymn accompaniments in the Holiness meeting to virtuosic concerts and festivals, the brass band has been the vehicle for many to hear the Holy Spirit speaking to them.
We have reached a point in our Salvation Army history where Brass Bands seem to be on the decline, which is contrary to the growth we are witnessing from non-Salvation Army Brass Bands across North America. There could be many reasons for this, but I’d like to focus on just one thought that could possibly help refresh the brass band ministry.
Contemporary worship, Praise and Worship, music team – whatever you want to call it, is now the main musical force within The Salvation Army in North America. For a number of years, high quality publications have been developed to help combine the brass band and worship team, most notably ‘The Hallelujah Chorus’ series from USA Central Territory. This is a great publication and needs to continue but I would suggest that an additional and new approach should be considered. Part of the M.O. (modus operandi) of worship teams is that the players have freedom to express themselves musically. You have occasional written musical lines and hits, but for the most part musicians are free to develop their own ideas within the framework and context of the song. The challenge is how to incorporate the brass band without taking away that freedom, and this is where the idea behind Brass Music Charts was born.
‘Pads’ is a term that will be familiar to many. While often associated with electronic music in popular music over the last few decades, the actual origins can be traced back a few hundred years. Composers such as JS Bach used strings to basically ‘pad-out’ textures, alongside a degree of harmonic movement. With the introduction of synthesizers, electronic pads started to appear in the 60’s and 70’s before exploding in popularity in the 80’s and are used extensively today. I would argue that the brass band is the perfect way to ‘pad-out’ textures in our Salvation Army contemporary music. Generally, when we incorporate brass, we use ‘punch brass’ lines, similar to horn lines in music from the popular bands like Chicago or Earth, Wind and Fire. While fun to play and great to listen to, they can be very challenging and don’t translate well to a larger ensemble. Why not simply ‘pad-out’ the texture with sustained chords, the occasional counter-melody, intro/outro lines and emphasize the hits? The music wouldn’t be particularly challenging to play and as we are just adding texture and with the inclusion of transposed parts, all wind and string instruments would be able to join in. How many Churches around the world would love to have a live orchestra every week? We have so many, just ready to go!