Books › SA Dictionary Of Music, 1904 › scan 14
Scan 14
SA Dictionary Of Music, 1904
15 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1in guiding the singing of a large congregation, and in quieting a noisy crowd, was so attractive as to rouse the hope that every Corps would in time have its own Band. The first Order on Bands appeared in the War Cry, dated March 27th, 1880. It ran as follows:—
3MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.
5BY THE GENERAL.
7Psalm xcviii. 6: "With trumpets and sound of cornet, make," etc. Psalm cl. 4: "Praise Him with the timbrel," etc. Isaiah xxxviii. 20: "The Lord was ready to save me; therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments," etc.
9WHEREAS, during the great Welsh and Cornish Councils, and before that time at Plymouth, Nottingham, and elsewhere, we have proved the great utility of musical instruments in attracting crowds to our open-air and indoor meetings. We do here express our desire that as many of our officers and soldiers generally, male and female, as have the ability for so doing, shall learn to play on some instrument. And as in many instances the obtaining of an instrument is a difficulty, we shall be glad if any friends who may have such instruments lying idle will consecrate them to this service, and send them to Headquarters. This includes violins, bass viol, concertinas, cornets, or any brass instruments, drums, or anything else that will make a pleasant sound for the Lord.
11Headquarters:
12272, Whitechapel Road, London, E.
14This order had the effect of stirring up the whole country with respect to Bands. Here and there, efforts were made without delay; every instrument that was available was pressed into service, forming, in some cases, peculiar mixtures that certainly would not commend themselves to a trained Bandsman of the present day. Violins, flutes, banjos, guitars, concertinas, as well as various forms of brass and reed instruments were brought together. A joyful noise was attained, if the charms of harmony were absent on such occasions. Such instruments were not confined to indoor meetings, but they were all likewise used to head the processions. Of course there was no music to play from, and every man did very much as his fancy led him, with what results the imagination of the musical will scarcely dare to seek to realise. This state of things could not but be preliminary. It soon became evident to most, anyway, that a selection of instruments was desirable, and some method adopted in the use of them. The general superiority of brass instruments for Salvation Army use became apparent, and so efforts to form Brass Bands soon absorbed most of the musical talent in the individual Corps. Northwich was the first Corps to possess a Band of its own, for by the summer of 1880 it could boast of fourteen instrumentalists, and there was drawn up a set of Band Rules also, so that it can be seen that this Band was formed on right lines, and must have been a great achievement in The Army at that time. Other Bands, which have since become famous, soon took their place as part of the Corps' machinery to which they were attached, and in their turn started more on the same track. Carlisle rose to a remarkable state of efficiency. By the beginning of 1881 it had one of the largest and best Bands in The Army, and long held the place, in fact, as The Army's best Band. At other places
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