State of TSA Banding - Part 1

Last October a fellow Salvationist asked why banding in the Toronto area has dramatically declined. I cannot speak of the state of any particular band but in most divisions across the continent Salvationist brass musicians under the age of thirty has declined. The decline has been evident for twenty years across much of the Canadian Territory and American territories. Corps bands with solid traditions are a shell of their former glory, and it appears the decline will continue for another ten to fifteen years.

Since that luncheon conversation my thoughts have distilled by drawing upon four decades of observations and personal experience with banding. To that I add what I see in the lives of my two sons, each of whom has been moving in different directions regarding Salvation Army banding. The one son became more tied to the Army through banding while his younger brother a declining interest in Army banding.

1. Cultural changes: Many people are too quick to point to fault cultural changes. If culture is at fault, whey do high school and college band programs with good music programs still have robust programs.

Cultural impacts upon musical expression within the Church cannot be doubted. Its impact is more upon styles and expression than upon the number of young people learning to play brass instruments. Every generation of Salvationists has faced changes in musical styles. When they changes have been embraced and our musical styles found exciting young people have wanted to be apart of banding. I would not agree that culture is one of the top factor behind the decline of Army banding.


2. Canadian Staff Band (any Staff Band): Apparently some fault the CSB for the decline in the Toronto. To those who hold such a view I would ask, if the CSB is to blame, why then the significant decline in banding across the country and in the USA which are well beyond the CSB's immediate sphere of influence? The CSB is an easy escape goat, but a fallacious one. Granted, the decline has taken place subsequent to the reestablishment of the CSB. The CSB has not created a decline in Corps banding any more than the National Capital Band is the cause for the poor state of banding in the Washington area. The Cap Band, nor any staff band’s mandate is to train and equip young brass instrumentalists. Such bands are at the top of the food chain and they will be as healthy as the system that feeds them, as system which is clearly in decline.


3. Decline in brass players below the age of thirty is a demographic shift: The Salvation Army’s music program rests upon a large cadre of men and women who view banding as an avocation and as an expression of their spirituality. This pool has decreased as the average ages in our congregations have increased. Banding is declining because our congregations have declined. Historically, far more young people were still playing into their middle teens than adults who were retiring. And within the pool of players rising in the ranks to fill bands were a sufficient nucleus of good to excellent players. This is pattern is no longer taking place.


4. New congregations lack an emphesis upon banding: This is a cause but not a sole cause. Our newest congregations tend to have contemporary worship styles where bands are not stressed. Such contemporary groups could utilize brass players and such congregations could still foster music development via solos and other small ensembles but elect not to do so.


To be continued next blog