The Music Page

Eric's Music Page

One of my earliest childhood memories is sitting on my mother's lap, with my head on her chest listening to the band as they played during church one Sunday morning. I was brought up in The Salvation Army. The Corps (church) we attended had a small band that used to play for congregational songs and special music during the services. At the age of nine, I joined the Young People's Band, and at 14 joined the Solo Cornet bench of the senior band. Later, the band bought a soprano cornet, and I became the soprano player.

Even though I no longer serve in The Salvation Army, the music I learned as a child still holds a lot of meaning for me. I love the praise and worship music that we use at church, especially the music written by our worship leader, Kevin Jacobson, but the music of my childhood still runs through my mind as a reminder of the place where I first found God.

My favourite band selection is a meditation entitled "Just as I am." This meditation is based on the old hymn "Just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me." It wasw ritten in the 1940's by one of Britain's premier Brass Band composers, Wilfred Heaton. This recording was made by the International Staff Band of The Salvation Army in the 1980's.

For many years, my family was involved in The Salvation Army Detroit (Brightmoor) Corps. I joined the senior band in 1979. In the mid 1980's, I began to record the band during services. One of our favourite marches was called 'Gloryland.' This marchw as written in the 1930's and is a very vibrant march. In this recording, I'm the guy playing the real high cornet notes. One of the aspects of this recording is the 'competition' betweent he Eb Bass player (fromer Chicago Staff Bandsman Brian Allen) and the Trombone player (Bandmaster Kelly Uptegrove of Kansas City (Blue Valley) Corps.) during the 'bass solo' section of the march. The tune used int he opening strain of the march is 'the blood of Jesus cleanses white as snow, Yes, I KNOW!'

It used to be that I would find tunes in Salvation Army publications and transcribe them for the Corps band. One such tune is 'From a Hill I Know.' This tune was written for words by General Albert Orsborn's song 'When shall I come unto the healing waters.' The tune is by Colonel Douglas Norris, and was arranged by Staff Bandmaster William Himes. The recording of this piece was the premier performance of the transcription. The transcription itself was the first one I had ever had played.

In 1988, the Detroit Brightmoor Corps ceased to exist as we knew it. A number of us left the corps (situated in the city of Detroit) to corps that were in the suburbs. My family and I began to attend the Farmington Hills Corps in June of 1988. During my short time (almost 5 years) at Farmington, we had a short music festival of music that I had written and transcribed for the small band we had. For the only time in my life, I was able to conduct pieces that I had transcribed or written. In this service, we played the two marches I wrote.

The Chariot March is based on an old Salvation Army chorus; "And we'll roll the old chariot along, and we'll roll the old chariot along, and we'll roll the old chariot along; and we won't drag on behind."

The Farmington Hills March was written for the tenth anniversary of the Farmington Hills Corps. The march is based on the tune "Stand up and shout it if you love my Jesus." The march also contains the Salvation Army chorus, "I want to tell you what the Lord has done."

Ironicaly, just prior to leaving the Army, the last service I was in was a meeting held in Farmington's "Heritage Park" where a band played my chorus arrangement "Down in my heart," complete with cowbells, capguns and noisemakers. Of course, my capgun was the only 'noisemaker' that didn't work during the performance, and unfortunately, there was no recording made of the piece.