Music
You can find out more about our music here:
Ask!
In the 1960s, two Salvation Army Officers (ministers / pastors) were asked to try and emulate the success of West End musicals. John Gowans and John Larsson had not collaborated together before, but they set about their orders with vigour, producing a number of popular musicals. The Gowans/Larsson partnership became responsible for a number of significant contributions to Salvation Army hymnology. The song Ask! Ask! Ask! based on Matthew 7:7 in the Bible:
Ask! Ask! Ask! and it shall be given;
Seek! Seek! Seek! and you’re sure to find;
Knock! Knock! Knock! and the door will open,
For God! God! God! is so good and kind, o yes,
So ask! Ask! Ask! and it shall be given;
Seek! Seek! Seek! and you’re sure to find;
Knock! Knock! Knock! and the door will open,
For God! God! God! is so good and kind.
This song comes from their musical, Spirit. This version is in a style which is a varient of the mambo and models itself (with apologies from the composer, Dr Peter Graham!) on the Louis Vega song Mambo No 5!
Breathe
Meditation – Breathe
Dorothy Gates
Breathe is a sensitive meditation on the contemporary praise song of the same name, written by Marie Barnett. It reminds us that our very breath is a gift from God. Our every heartbeat is a gift of God. We are constantly being blessed by the One who loves us. This music gives the listener the opportunity to stop and meditate alone with God. God is waiting for us. As you listen to this music the peace you feel will amaze you.
This is the air I breathe
This is the air I breathe
Your Holy presence living in me
This is my daily bread
This is my daily bread
Your very word spoken to me
And I, I’m desperate for you
And I, I’m lost without you
Dorothy Gates couples this amazing song with the hymn tune of Carlisle, to which we sing:
Breathe on me, Breath of God,
Till I am wholly thine.
Until this earthly part of me
Glows with thy fire divine.
The essence of this music is that God’s holy presence is the very air we breathe and long for.
Tone Poem: A call to action
Ray Steadman-Allen
This piece was written to be played by massed Salvation Army youth bands during its centenary international congress in 1978. The call to action referred to is found in the hymn of Mary Elizabeth Servoss, around which the music is based: Be glad in the Lord and rejoice.
Be glad in the Lord and rejoice,
All ye that are upright in heart;
And ye that have made him your choice,
Bid sadness and sorrow depart.
Mary was a great admirer of another prolific hymn writer, Fanny Crosby, and longed to be able to emulate her and her output. However, she found herself in the middle of a life of domestic care and patient waiting. For eighteen years she was the constant attendant of a disabled grandmother, and long afterwards she nursed her mother through a protracted illness and the last sickness of her father, until both parents passed away.
Despite that, she felt able to write in this great hymn:
Though darkness surround you by day,
Your sky by the night be o’ercast,
Let nothing your spirit dismay,
But trust till the danger is past.
The music depicts the battles and challenges of every day life as we try to live with the faith that Mary Servoss had and strive to be glad in the Lord. In the Bible, in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (The Message), we are encouraged by St Paul to:
Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.
But how can we do this when our lives hit rock bottom? Perhaps a clue is found in the first verse of Be glad in the Lord: All ye that are upright in heart. St Paul also urges us:
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.
(Philippians 4:8 New International Version)
And so the music comes to a simple, yet powerful calling from Jesus himself in the use of Cecil Frances Alexander’s hymn:
Jesus calls us! O’er the tumult
Of our life’s wild. restless sea,
Day by day his sweet voice soundeth,
Saying: Christian, follow me.In our joys and in our sorrows,
Days of toil and hours of ease,
Still he calls, in cares and pleasures,
That we love him more than these.
Once we accept this call and focus on God no matter what happens, then just as the music comes to a majestic climax, we can join the hymn writer and sing:
Be glad in the Lord and rejoice,
His praises proclaiming in song;
Acclaim him with trumpet and voice,
The loud hallelujahs prolong.
Hymn Tune Arrangement: Colne
Thomas Rive
This beautiful melody, enhanced by the simple and thoughtful arrangement by Thomas Rive. The words most often associated with this tune are by John Oxenham:
‘Mid all the traffic of the ways,
Turmoils without, within,
Make in my heart a quiet place,
And come and dwell therein:A little shrine of quietness,
All sacred to thyself,
Where thou shalt all my soul possess,
And I my find myself:A little place of mystic grace,
Of self and sin swept bare,
Where I may look into thy face,
And talk with thee in prayer.Come occupy my silent place,
And make thy dwelling there!
More grace is wrought in quietness
Than any is aware.
Dance like David
Andrew Mackereth
This piece by Andrew Mackereth has become an instant hit with many Salvation Army bands. It was written for the School of Performing Arts of the Netherlands Territory of the Salvation Army. Andrew comments that because the music camp was as much about singing, dancing and praising as it was about brass playing, the lyrics to Dance like David provided a perfect stimulus. Also, because it was for a School of Performing Arts, Andrew included obvious references to the theme from the film Fame, which was set in the New York School of Performing Arts!
When the Spirit of the Lord is within my heart,
I will dance as David danced.
March: Exeter Temple
Leslie Condon
Salvation Army composers often write music for special occasions and for particular Salvation Army centres. This march was written for the 100th church anniversary of The Salvation Army centre at Exeter, known as Exeter Temple. Leslie Condon was a Salvation Army Officer (Minister) and a prolific composer of Salvation Army brass and choral music. For seventeen years he was a member of The Salvation Army’s International Staff Band, serving as Deputy Bandmaster for seven of those years. Sadly, he was Promoted to Glory (died) whilst carol playing with Croydon Citadel Salvation Army Band on Christmas Eve 1983. This march includes the hymn, Who is on the Lord’s Side? and Leslie’s own chorus, Good News.
Chorus Arrangement: Faithful God
Chris Bowater arranged by Dean Jones
Chris Bowater’s melody is associated with powerful words and they lend themselves to this meditative and flowing arrangement by Salvationist composer, Dean Jones.
Faithful God, faithful God,
all-sufficient one,
I worship you.
Shalom, my peace,
my strong deliverer,
I lift you up,
Faithful God.
Farandole
Georges Bizet arranged by Richard Phillips
Georges Bizet wrote incidental music to a play, L’Arlesienne, by Daudet in 1872. He used the music to make an orchestral suite and another which was published after his death. Farandole is a movement from the second of the suites. Farandole is a dance from Provence in France which is usually danced at great feasts such as Corpus Christi. The melody is a Provencale Noel, sometimes known as the Three Kings March, which comes in at the beginning before continuing in canon. The music then moves into the dance at a rapid rate culminating in a full-blooded fortissimo and climactic frenzy!
March: He keeps me singing
Robert Snelsdon
This march is based on the words of Luther B Bridgers who wrote:
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know,
Fills my every longing,
Keeps me singing as I go.
These joyous words were penned by the author after a great personal tragedy. He was a Methodist minister and evangelist, and received word that his wife and children were killed in a fire, whilst he was away conducting revival meetings. Despite this terrible loss he wrote the uplifting song of which the above words formed the chorus, and the song has been an inspiration to many in the following years.
The energetic style of the march reflects the energy in the words of the song.
Hymn Tune Arrangement: How Sweet the Name (“French”)
Ronald Tremain arranged by Donald Osgood
This arrangement is of the melody, French, written by Salvationist composer Ronald Tremain, firstly for songsters and then arranged by Donald Osgood for bands. The words we use to are:
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
In a believer’s ear;
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear.
Dear name, the rock on which I build,
My shield and hiding place,
My never-failing treasury, filled
With boundless stores of grace.
Weak is the effort of my heart,
And cold my warmest thought,
But when I see thee as thou art,
I’ll praise thee as I ought.
Till then I will thy love proclaim
With every fleeting breath;
And may the music of thy name
Refresh my soul in death.
March: In the firing line
Bramwell Coles
The Salvation Army’s Colonel Bramwell Coles was a prolific writer of music, not least the many and varied spirited marches which earned him the nickname “The Salvation Army’s Sousa” after the march king, John Philip Sousa (composer of popular marches such as Liberty Bell (used as the theme tune to the Monty Python show)).
Erik Leidzen (one of the finest of Salvation Army composers) once said that when Bramwell Coles arrived at the gate of Heaven, John Philip Sousa would be waiting to greet him and say, “Bram, on earth I was called the March King, but now, in Heaven, I must be honest and hand the crown to you”!
This march, along with his Under Two Flags, another which we have in our repertoire, springs from the fact that Salvationist servicemen and women serve under both the flag of their country and the Salvation Army flag.
The Lord is gracious
Darren Bartlett arranged by Olaf Ritman
A benediction written by Darren Bartlett (and transcribed for brass band by Olaf Ritman) which takes its words from Psalm 145:
The Lord is gracious, abounding in perfect love.
And slow to anger, he rules the earth in Heaven above.
He offers his compassion still to those who trust his name.
The Lord is gracious, his mighty works proclaim.
Amen.
March: Marching Onward
Ivor Bosanko
This foot-tapping, modern march features the well-known hymn Onward, Christian Soldiers coupled with Ivor Bosanko’s own song, I’ll Go in the Strength of the Lord, which has become popular in recent years in churches outside of The Salvation Army.
‘Mid all the traffic
Shenandoah, arranged by Leonard Ballantine
Leonard Ballantine’s beautiful arrangement of the American folk song, Shenandoah, which has been married to John Oxenham’s words, ‘Mid all the traffic.
Shenandoah was first printed as part of William L. Alden’s article “Sailor Songs”, in the July 1882 issue of Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. The song had become popular as a sea-shanty with British sailors by the 1880s.
John Oxenham’s words reminds us that God can be a rock in the midst of the storms of life and of the importance of meditating on his presence:
‘Mid all the traffic of the ways,
Turmoils without, within,
Make in my heart a quiet place,
And come and dwell therein:A little shrine of quietness,
All sacred to thyself,
Where thou shalt all my soul possess,
And I may find myself:Come, occupy my silent place,
And make thy dwelling there!
More grace is wrought in quietness
Than any is aware.
Meditation: My Comfort and Strength
Brian Bowen
This is a longer and more developed work of a meditative nature. The theme is that of the well-known 23rd Psalm as paraphrased by George Herbert (1539-1632) to the tune which Salvationists at least call “University”:
The God of love my Shepherd is,
And He that doth me feed;
While He is mine and I am His,
What can I want or need?
He leads me to the tender grass,
Where I both feed and rest;
Then to the streams that gently pass:
In both I have the best.
Or if I stray, He doth convert,
And bring my mind in frame,
And all this not for my desert,
But for His holy Name.
Yea, in death’s shady black abode
Well may I walk, not fear;
For Thou art with me, and Thy rod
To guard, Thy staff to bear.
Surely Thy sweet and wondrous love
Shall measure all my days;
And as it never shall remove
So neither shall my praise.
The settings – linked by music derived mainly from fragments of the hymn melody – reflect the moods of the psalm imagery. The opening is a pastorale with references to the tune, before the theme is presented in full. After a delicate link, the euphonium takes over the melody before the music acquires more movement and we hear fragments of the melody drawn together in changing tonalities. This leads into a more free-flowing quicker setting of the hymn tune, with a smooth ascending scale from the bottom of the band to the top, an important thread in the contrapuntal texture of the music. A tranquil introduction leads into building tension as we reach the climactic slow and broad setting of the final verse.
Composer Brian Bowen was Bandmaster of The Salvation Army’s New York Staff Band from 1986 – 1992.
Psalm 91
Stuart Watson
A musical meditation on the words of Psalm 91. In this ancient text, the psalmist testifies that, even though circumstances may feel threatening, creation is essentially a safe place to be because God rescues and protects those who love and trust him:
Psalm 91
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”3 Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.5 You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.8 You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.9 If you make the Most High your dwelling—
even the Lord, who is my refuge—10 then no harm will befall you,
no disaster will come near your tent.11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;12 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.14 “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.16 With long life will I satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
The Red Shield
March: The Red Shield
Henry Goffin
The March: The Red Shield by Henry Goffin is one of the classic marches of The Salvation Army. In common with most Salvation Army marches which feature a hymn tune or chorus, this march includes the chorus Thou Art a Mighty Saviour:
Thou art a mighty Saviour,
Thy love doth never waver,
Thou shalt be mine forever,
And thine alone I’ll be.
The title refers to the Salvation Army symbol of the red shield which is at the forefront of our support for UK service personnel.
Righteousness, Peace and Joy
Paul Sharman
The title for this up-tempo, Latin American-style piece of music comes direct from the Bible: Romans 14:17 which says, “For the kingdom of God is … a matter of … righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”. From this Helena Barrington wrote the following chorus:
Righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost
Righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost
That’s the Kingdom of God
Don’t you want to be a part of the Kingdom?
Don’t you want to be a part of the Kingdom?
Don’t you want to be a part of the Kingdom?
Come on everybody
There’s love in the Kingdom
So much love in the Kingdom
There’s love in the Kingdom
Come on everybody
There’s peace in the Kingdom
So much peace in the Kingdom
There’s peace in the Kingdom
Come on everybody
There’s joy in the Kingdom
So much joy in the kingdom
There’s joy in the Kingdom
Come on everybody
I’m an heir of the Kingdom
So glad I’m an heir of the Kingdom
I’m an heir of the Kingdom
Come on everybody
Flugel Horn Solo: They Shall be Mine
David Catherwood
David Catherwood is a Salvation Army composer from Belfast in Northern Ireland, where he currently serves in the band and songsters at Belfast Temple. The band were first introduced to this solo when it accompanied guest cornet soloist Jonathan Corry (now Bandmaster of the famous Enfield Citadel Salvation Army Band) at the West Midlands Musicians’ Councils in the Adrian Boult Hall at the Birmingham Conservatoire in February 2007. It features the hymn, When He Cometh, which reminds us that Jesus will return for us:
When he cometh, when he cometh
To make up his jewels,
All his jewels, precious jewels,
His loved and his own;
Like the stars of the morning,
His bright crown adorning,
They shall shine in their beauty
Bright gems for his crown.
The solo is played on flugel horn by our Deputy Bandmaster and principal cornet, John Shepherd.
Trumpet Voluntary (The Prince of Denmark’s March)
Jeremiah Clarke, arranged by Keith Griffin
The Prince of Denmark’s March was written around 1699 by Jeremiah Clarke, the first organist of the newly rebuilt St Paul’s Cathedral in London. For many years, the piece was attributed incorrectly to his elder, and more widely known, contemporary, Henry Purcell, the organist of Westminster Abbey.
According to some sources, the march was written in honour of George, Prince of Denmark, the consort of the then Princess, later Queen Anne.
The march is very popular as wedding music; though it was broadcast often by the BBC during World War II, especially when programming was directed to occupied Denmark.
We saw love
Ian Feltwell
This piece is a setting by Songster Leader Ian Feltwell of the Nuneaton Salvation Army church of the song, We saw love, although it also incorporates the prayer chorus, O how I love Him. It talks of the great love that God showed when he gave his Son to die for us and because of that act of love we, as Christians, love him too:
We saw love, when he rode the gentle colt through cheering crowds;
When He came as ‘Prince of Peace’ to humbly serve,
We saw love, We saw love.We saw love in the face of God’s own Son,
In the mighty ‘Humble One’ we saw love.
Suff’ring shame, the ‘King of Glory’ came,
And when He took the blame, we saw love.We saw love, when He wore the ‘crown of thorns’ upon the cross;
When He said, “In paradise this day you’ll live”,
We saw love, We saw love.
More details of our music will be added here shortly.