Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Restoration

One thing that has been on my mind lately is restoration. My sermon at the Homiletical Symposium I attended was entitled Restored. I spoke on Simon Peter's Restoration following Christ's Resurrection. I shared in the opening comments that my desire is to one day get an older car and restore it to its former glory. I have not yet had the chance to do this, but would definitely like to someday. A Camaro, Cutlass, or a Mopar vehicle would be ideal. A Corvette would be awesome, but I digress.

As I have blogged last month, we are in the process of teaching children how to play brass instruments. I knew my mother had an E flat Alto horn that my Grandfather gave her when she was teaching kids to play in their first appointment some 20 years ago. Well, to make a long story short, I gave her a call and asked her if she was using that great little horn. I was pleased when she said, "no, you can use it if you want, just take it with you when you move!" To the gossipers out there who read, no we are not moving as far as we know this year!

Last week, while in Erie, my mom handed me the horn. It looks like it has been sitting for some time. It was seriously dirty and tarnished, but I knew I could get it restored and looking good.

Fast forward to today. While waiting for Jay to finish his lunch before catching the bus, I decided to take the valves and slides out and pull out my silver polish. I started rubbing gently and low and behold the shine was coming back. If I had thought about it, I would have taken before and after shots, but alas, I only have after shots.

As you can see from the pictures it is a Salvation Army Triumphonic E Flat Alto. I can tell you that these are incredibly high quality instruments. When I removed the valves, I was immediately impressed that they were solid brass. The instrument itself feels solid...almost heavy. They sure don't make these like they used to. I have no idea how old this horn is, but I estimate it to be at least 50 years old.
Elaine is thrilled, she has always wanted an Alto to play around with if she needs it. She has most of the musical talent in our family. Thanks Mom, we will take good care of it.
Now, does anyone know where I can pick up a case for it?????

6 Comments:

Blogger Jenn said...

ah yes...the horn. i can hear it now in all it's offbeat eight note glory...

Thursday, April 26, 2007 3:40:00 PM  
Blogger Stephen said...

It's amazing how a brass instrument from by-gone years, stored away, collecting dust and tarnish suddenly can be brought back to life! Unfortunately, many of the instruments at our corps (at least here in Canada) of today are now sitting gathering dust in the bandroom - looked upon by many as relics from a by-gone era with little relevance for today.
Here at Berkshire, we have a very contemporary expression where brass is not a regular part of our worship. However, we have commenced a Junior "Berkshire Brass" a year ago - 10 kids. Some progress is being made. Occassionally the "Berkshire Brass" is pulled together for special occasions. The members of the church appreciate it very much - but I do have to admit much to my chagrin, that the younger generations (30's and under) have a hard time with it.
I think we need to encourage our worship team leaders to incorporate brass more on the contemporary side. It is certainly a strength that can be utilized to a much greater degree.

Thursday, April 26, 2007 8:19:00 PM  
Blogger Christian said...

We too, have a band room with several very old instruments. Some are playable, others not. We even have a banjo, a drumset, and an accordian.

I picked up 3 newer used instruments off Ebay recently and they are all in really decent shape.

Here in the USA East, it seems the brass has been kind of kicked to the curb in recent years. I don't think this is intentional. "Back in the Day," everyone knew how to play instruments and would teach children at a young age how to play. At the present, there are a lot of first generation officers joining the ranks, most of whom are joining the Army at a later stage in life. Generally speaking, they haven' had much music education.

School districts are also cutting music programs. I am pleased to see that Josh has such a great music program at his school. He is very fortunate!

Friday, April 27, 2007 9:53:00 AM  
Blogger Stephen said...

Part of the issue is what you have identified - music programmes have been severely cut back in many board across the country. There was a day when literally ALL the top brass players in the high school bands were Salvationists. With constantly shifting educational philosophies and priorities, the music dept often gets the short end of the stick.
Mixed in with that is almost a "rebellious" attitude towards banding in much of the Canadian Territory. It's almost a badge of honour not to have a band. It's a reaction from the vice grip hold that banding has traditionally held in the Canadian Territory. In Toronto, for instance, a city of 1.5 million (1970's) you had well over 30 corps within the city limits - most having bands - most of them again having substantial bands. Big band programmes were the order of the day - it dominated everything we did - all congresses, public mtgs - any gathering of any kind. Now, fast foward to the mid ninties - a big influx new new officers - new to the Army. The rise of the worship bands - that came into face to face conflict with "traditionalists". Literally there were "worship wars"! Traditionalists continued to dominate in some places and the contemporary's in others.
The fact is, and I hate to say this as I am more on the traditionalist side, those corps that are dominated by the traditionalists are in sharp decline (speaking in generalities of course). Corps that strive to find a good balance between the traditions of Army Worship with the Contemporary music of today seem to hold their own - but are certainly not thriving as they should.
New corps planted on the model of traditional programmes and formats fail. Meanwhile, those corps that have become contemporary, generally thrive. New church plants planted without the traditional trappings of "Armyisms" do well. I can go on and on with this. Of course this issue goes much deeper and the dynamics more complex.
It's an interesting time.

Friday, April 27, 2007 12:01:00 PM  
Blogger Christian said...

I totally understand where you are coming from with your comments. It seems here in the USA East, there is as much an emphasis in large divisional/territorial events on having a worship team then a band. I recall attending a territorial event in Canada 4 years ago where there was a worship band not a traditional brass band. There even was a cello!

There is a lot of friction often times at venues such as Old Orchard Beach Camp Meetings where the traditionalists (that sounds bad) have an interest. The two elements are often combined, but I have been to meetings where there has been a worship time for an extended period and the traditional worshipers complain about having to stand for too long. I believe the bottom line is they don't like not singing out of the songbook, but that is a discussion for another day! I have heard a retired officer ask, "do you sing from the book or from the wall?"

In our division, (Southern New England), there has been a push in the last several months for brass bands. Our division has hired a Divisional Music Director, and our DYS is a brass band fan. Incidently he is also a Canadian. He has been organizing ensembles of officers/soldiers to play at events throughout the division and even at Officers Retreat. This little involvement got me interested once again in playing on a regular basis.

Friday, April 27, 2007 3:41:00 PM  
Blogger Evie said...

As a teenager, I had my feet on both sides of this line. I loved SA bands and was thrilled that my father had annual corps celebrations that featured guest bands (usually from Toronto - he liked Canadian bands better than American ones). I played in the Pendel Brass for two years, and at Asbury College I played in the SASF band for three years too. I was a Salvation Army band junkie.

On the other hand, I spent three summers touring the Pendel division with a divisional Gospel team. The first two summers we had enough brass players to put together respectable brass ensembles, but the primary emphasis was on contemporary worship music (such as it was then; Ralph Carmichael, Otis Skillings and Andre Crouch were big names). These teams enabled me to experience firsthand the power and joy of contemporary worship expressions.

My ideal, which is difficult to attain or sustain, is a corps that can develop both traditional and contemporary musical groups and incorporate them effectively into worship. My current corps in Arlington, Virginia has a strong traditional Army music program: small band with several outstanding players and a very solid Songster brigade. Our worship committee is very interested in developing more contemporary worship, but there are two principal obstacles right now. First, people (young and old) are really pressed for time. We just don't know when they would get together for yet another rehearsal. Second, the middle-aged musicians among us want to get out of the way and let the young people do this. We've got some outstanding musicians who can play in any genre. We could do it very well with little or no rehearsal, but we really want this to be for the young people. I hope we make some progress in this area in the coming year.

As much as I love brass bands, however, it may well be that they will soon be an artifact of our worship heritage rather than a feature of our current worship. On the one hand, I don't want to see this happen. I love the sound of a good brass band on Sunday morning. On the other hand, reproducing new generations of believers is far more important than reifying traditions. If brass bands are not the most effective means for winning new souls, then we must not waste time and energy bemoaning their diminishment or disappearance.

Stephen noted that the corps that emphasize contemporary worship are the ones that thrive. I don't believe this is accidental or coincidental. Those congregations and officers are tapping into the heart of Salvation Army tradition; they are embracing familiar cultural features and transforming them into effective means of ministry. Brass bands, unfortunately, may be a relic of a past era. We should respect our heritage and preserve it, as far as possible, but we should not let love for our heritage lead us into traditionalism, so that we end up cherishing the old forms so much that we lose the substance for which they stand. The heart of Salvationism is not banding, it is winning souls and growing God's Kingdom

Monday, April 30, 2007 6:55:00 PM  

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