Christian History Home > Issue 26 > The Story Behind Salvation Army Music
The Story Behind Salvation Army Music
William Booth felt suspicious of organized music groups. Yet he launched a movement that became renowned worldwide for its bands and choirs.
Dr. Ronald W. Holz is chair of the division of fine arts at Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky, and author of several studies of Salvation Army music. | posted 4/01/1990 12:00AM
William Booth saw music as a means to an end. Christian music should attract people and speak the message of salvation to their hearts.
To Booth, music in and of itself had no moral force. The spiritual power of the associated texts, regardless of the tunes chosen (the contrast ranged from revivalist hymns to tavern-room ballads), made all the difference. Booth’s approach to music was direct, simple, and practical. He advocated music that is attractive, carries a solid message, and, in the process, avoids the dangers of “sophisticated” church music making.
At its Fourth International Congress (1914), held two years after the founder’s death, The Salvation Army could boast 1,674 brass bands (26,000 players) and 13,000 “songsters” (choir members) in 56 countries. The brass and vocal music of The Salvation Army was becoming a vast repertoire of published literature unmatched in the twentieth century by any other Protestant denomination. Today, many Army musicians and composers hold professional ... To view this item, you must be a member of ChristianHistory.net.
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