The Music of The Salvation Army - written by Staff-Captain Richard Slater
 

 

Everyone at all acquainted with the operations of The Army is aware of the great extent to which music forms part of the means it employs in the attainment of the objects it has in view. In its outdoor meetings, as well as those held in buildings, vocal and instrumental music are seldom absent for any length of time, and results have amply justified the prominence given to music in the spiritual warfare in which Salvationists are engaged. Approval has not been obtained, however, from all sides, not even from those who are really interested in spreading the Kingdom of God. Some have found fault with the amount of vigour put into the music. Others have complained of the unpleasant effect on their nerves of the volume of tone and the special timbre of a brass band when used at an inside meeting. 
 

 There are others, again, who entertain objections to the free, spirited and unconventional nature of the music in itself, as they have thought it out of keeping with religious services. Such objections may be allowed to have weight if agreement with established customs is to be the measure by which judgement is to be passed on the music of The Army. But in this direction, as well as in connection with its other efforts, The Army refuses to be judged by any such standard. The question at issue is not, Does the music of The Army suit the tastes and habits of this or that individual, or this or that particular body of people? But we have to ask: "Do the musical efforts of The Salvation Army reach the end for which it aims?" There can be but one fair reply to that question. Taking into account the field in which The Army carries on its operations, the kinds of people with whom it has to deal, and the character of the circumstances under which appeals to them have to be made, the music of The Army cannot but be considered as the right means for the end sought.

 

At the corner of a noisy thoroughfare. where an open-air meeting is being held, it would soon become evident - if anyone were foolish enough to try the experiment - that a soft, sweet, delicate, refined piece of music would not be the best for the occasion, and that the satisfaction of aesthetic tendencies would scarcely be a proper standard to set up under such conditions. Something broad, direct, striking and vigorous is more likely to arrest attention and gather a crowd.

 

Then again, while marching the streets with a band, effective work is to be done on such conditions only by music of force, of clearly marked rhythm, of few melodic and harmonic modulations, and those only of the common order, and the music must also be of a really vocal character so far as the melody is concerned. The band music of The Army is founded entirely on vocal pieces, no music being scored for the use of bands that has not been previously put into song form in connection with an appropriate set of words of a religious character. Owing to this rule, we have no band music but that with which singing can be conjoined, and with which it is intended their should be singing, except on one or two occasions, as, for instance, in connection with a long march through a busy thoroughfare, when continuous band playing may be deemed better than the usual form of proceeding.

 

In no case is the music of The Army prepared, or allowed any place, as a means of display. More then that, it is never considered as a means of providing mere entertainment. A direct, spiritual result is sought in all cases, and the experience of The Army has now been sufficiently long and varied for it to be well understood what kinds of music are best for the particular circumstances under which Army work is carried on.

 

And what have we to say on the style of Army music? We have only to look around on the changes that are occurring in the music among the churches to see a growing feeling manifested that the old class of hymn tunes does not give scope for the full expression of modern religious life. A greater freedom is wanted, as well as increased variety and elasticity of style - a style more up to date in form and spirit. Perhaps Salvationists have been quicker than most other people in perceiving these requirements; anyhow, they have been more practical and energetic in making those charges which render the music of their services more alive, and in closer touch with present-day experiences.

 

The minds of some people are, however, so wedded to the past, and have become so fixed by conformity with the usages of bygone days as to feel little sympathy with the needs of the people of today in connection with the music of religious services. They seem to feel that the various changes of style we see for meeting those needs are signs rather of decay than of healthy, all-awake Christian endeavour. They are too apt to think that only such tunes are fit for religious services as have become "established," and have become venerable by age - in many cases being but little aware of the secular origin of many tunes they are disposed to put forward as being of a standard religious type.

 

It would be well for us at all times to be willing to receive our blessings in whatever form God chooses to send them, and not to make hard and fast rules for ourselves, that only by this or that special means can or shall a gift from Heaven be appropriately received. The experience of The Army shows the wisdom of this attitude with respect to music, as in respect of so many other things. Oh, what thousands have been converted by the instrumentality of Salvation Army songs! The freedom, the life, the directness, the actual living expression in the spiritual appeals which the songs have made possible, could not have been obtained under the circumstances by the older forms of what some would alone allow to bear the designation of "sacred" tunes.

 

Are there not hundreds of saints, too, who have visited Army gatherings, obtained by their participation in them new inspiration, new strength, and a now hope, through Army songs, although in form and general character the music has been in very striking contrast to that to which they are accustomed in their own places of worship! These facts - everywhere patent to the most casual observer - show that God is not bound down to any particular form in His operations, and that our wisdom is to make ourselves as ready to be blessed as we are able according to the actual nature of our needs and surroundings.

 

There is a somewhat wide misapprehension in connection with Army music, which may be dealt with in relation to the preceding remarks. Some very excellent people imagine that the Army music is altogether, if not entirely, made up of secular tunes which have been appropriated for Army use, and, same would add, with questionable taste. There is an error here. Today, at any rate, such would not be anything like a proper or truthful description of the music of The Army as a whole.

 

The Army does, indeed, lay claim to the liberty to use any serviceable tune, no matter of what origin, and in earlier days a somewhat more extensive use was made of secular song tunes than obtains now. But The Army has been for many years making its own poets and composers. Borrowed tunes are now comparitively few and far between - at any rate so far as the bands are concerned. The extent of The Army's original music - the music that has been created by its own people - may be seen in the fact that out of the ten or eleven volumes of songs published already by The Army, including the eight completed volumes of the "Musical Salvationist," containing some 2,000 songs, not five percent are borrowed or secular tunes. The volumes are not only made up of original material, but are positively real treasuries of songs, unsurpassed, in our opinion, for use in the soul-saving and God-honouring work in which The Army is engaged. We are convinced that many a musical friend, even a prejudiced outsider, would be greatly and pleasantly astonished at the variety, effectiveness and spiritual force, as well as musical and poetical merit, in a vast number of these songs, were they to give the "Musical Salvationist" their attention.

 

The merits of our songs, however, are gaining recognition surely, if somewhat slowly, and of this we have evident proof in the fact that scarcely a week passes by without the arrival of a letter requesting permission to reprint copyright Army songs. These requests, too, come from very varied sources, this affording an indication of the wide sphere of influence which The Army is already occupying by its music. The Army band music is already in use in a number of bands engaged in evangelical work.

 

We have some 14,000 bandsmen in The Army, to whose ranks additions are continually being made. From the members of our bands are rising our best modern songwriters, and it requires no great stretch of imagination to get a glimpse of the wonderful future before Army music when such a mighty force can be reckoned on. What a power, making for righteousness, is being developed in our midst! Vast as are the results already achieved for the Kingdom of God on earth by the music of The Salvation Army, we are confident that they are but as a drop in the bucket compared with what all the world will see in the future history of God's people, in every land upon which the sun shines.