ASB in ALMELO Last weekend the Amsterdam Staff Band visited Almelo Corps in the east of Holland, near the German border. For most of the guys in the band it was a very long ride (according to Dutch standards) but in the end it was worth every effort. The people of the corps had taken care for us in a way which was absolutely fabulous, with amongst others, real Dutch food, yes, you already guessed it; Chinese! Once again the saying ‘To keep a bandsman happy, feed them well’ was obviously told to the folk of Almelo! The weekend was roughly divided in four parts; Saturday open air concert, Saturday night concert, Sunday morning service and Sunday afternoon concert. The Saturday afternoon concert saw the band playing in the shopping center of Almelo where, also due to the great weather, despite being in the autumn season already, many people were listening and enjoying the band. Here, our star-flugel player (and local Almelo boy) Menno van der Woude awed the listeners with his always flawless rendition of Children of Sanchez. Very impressive! The night concert was shared with Gospel Choir Benediction, one of the best in the country and who also proved that. They were absolutely fantastic, and the joined pieces with the ASB were really enjoyed by band and choir and appreciated by the large audience. The old church where we played had an enormous acoustics with a ’10 second echo’, which was quite difficult to play in but I think (….) in the end people enjoyed what we played. Here I have to mention the Dutch Premiere (and second rendition in the world, we played the World Premiere in Consett some months back) of the major work, written by our Bandmaster Olaf Ritman, VAIN RESISTANCE. Definitely a piece that will conquer the Salvation Army banding world! Repertoire we played during our concert: 1. Trading my sorrows (arr Olaf Ritman) [joined with Gospel Choir Benediction] 2. South Shields Celebration (Martin Cordner) 3. Lux Auremque (arr. Andrew Poirier) 4. Fantasia for Cornet (Martin Cordner) 5. Guide me, O thou great Jehovah (Kenneth Downie) 6. Telling it! (Sam Creamer) 7. Fighting for the Lord (Emil Soderstrom) [Conducted by retired BM Menno van der Woude Sr] 8. Wonderful Healer (Dean Goffin) 9. Vain Resistance (Olaf Ritman) [Dutch Premier Performance] 10. John 3: 16 (arr Olaf Ritman) [joined with Gospel Choir Benediction] 11. Trading my sorrows (arr Olaf Ritman) [joined with Gospel Choir Benediction] (yes we played it twice ) The Sunday morning meeting saw the band playing a golden oldie (among others) and one which is my humble opinion the greatest piece ever written for brass band, Eric Ball’s ‘Songs in Exile’! Ofcourse my personal opinion is of no importance here but this certainly is a very significant piece of music which refers to ‘I’m the child of a King’! Bandsman Leslie Stastra shared his testimony with us and told about what music meant to him. The final activity for this weekend saw us playing a concert with Fanfare Band ‘Wilhelmina’. This band, with trumpets and flugels, French horns and saxophones etc, is well known in Almelo and several of the Almelo Corps Band folks also plays in this orchestra. First part of this concert was performed by ‘Wilhelmina’, and the second part by the ASB. Once again Menno van der Woude starred in Children of Sanchez. The flugel solo, or ‘bugel’ solo as the instrument is known in Fanfare’s, was received very well. In contrast to a brass band, fanfare bands do have a complete flugel/bugel section so it was nice to play such a thing. After the short break the bands joined forces and performed four piece from the SA repertoire. All in all a very successful weekend with many opportunities to do where we stand for; proclaim the gospel!
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 07:48:48 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015