Saturday in Jacksonville, IL

We've just boarded the bus following our concert at Illinois College in Jacksonville, IL.

Upon arriving at THQ this morning we were challenged by an unplowed parking lot following a 4.4 inch snowfall in Des Plaines. We found a way to park our cars, waited for a former bandsman to snowblow a spot big enough for the bus and then waited as the plow finally cleared the ramp leading to the THQ garage. The bus was quickly loaded, we all boarded and found the bus was stuck on the ramp. After the entire band got off of the bus, the driver (a new one for us) was able to get enough traction to get out of the parking lot.

The ride down was uneventful with a quick lunch stop in Bloomington, IL. After lunch we discovered that the new bus we are on has both satellite TV and WiFi. Nice perk!

The concert tonight at Illinois College was part of their fine arts series. Bandmaster Himes had been commissioned to write a piece commemorating the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln. The piece included band accompaniment for choir which required rehearsal with the Illinois College Concert Choir supplemented by select members of the MacMurray College Choir and the Jacksonville High School Concert Choir. Following rehearsal we had a pasta dinner and prepared for the evening concert.

The concert went well, but I suspect readers may be more interested in text from the world premier of "A Lincoln Reflection " by William Himes.

We Sing of you, O Abraham

We sing of you, O Abraham,
In your own words - and ours,
The keeper of a nation's dreams,
You shine among the stars.

When nation, warring 'gainst itself,
Was put to awful test,
It fell to you to lead us through
This hell to find our best.

You faced the conflict of the age -
Momentous destiny!
And fought the battle to the end
For all men to be free.

In addition to this original text by Bandmaster Himes excerpts from Lincoln himself from "My Childhood's Home" and the "Second Inaugural Address" are included in the piece before the following final original text from Himes.

We sing of you, O Abraham,
The son of Heartland plain.
For it is true, the likes of you
Won't come this way again.

And though you left us all too soon,
Cut down by evil fate,
You are the man, the monument,
A life we celebrate.

O Abraham! We mourned you then -
We mourn you to this day.
Your words still burn within our hearts
And never fade away.

A flickering torch,
A single flame,
You lit our destiny
And we will never, never be the same.

The piece, commissioned by the Jacksonville Area Lincoln Bicentennial Commission resulted in a standing ovation.

For those interested, the concert included:

"The Good Old Way" (Broughton)
"Slavische Fantasie" (Hohne/Graham, Beth Cooper, soloist)
"This I Know" (Camsey, Brett Tolcer, soloist)
"Symphonette" (Bulla)
"A Lincoln Reflection" (Himes)
"Rigaudon" (Campra, Dr. Rudolph Zuiderveld, organ soloist)
Intermission
"Dance Like David" (Mackereth)
"Celestial Morn" (Condon, Joshua Turner, soloist)
"Soon and Very Soon" (Crouch, Karl Strand soloist)
"He Leadeth Me" (Gilmore/Kellner)
"American Civil War Fantasy (Bilik)
"The Stars and Stripes Forever" (Sousa)
"Choral Benediction" (Himes)

Heading the 45 minutes back to Springfield, IL where we will spend the night with billets before participating in a Sunday morning worship service at the First Presbyterian Church (Lincoln's Church).

We Are on Twitter!

A second post in a single day? Wellll... don't get used to it. But I did want you to know that I've also set up a Twitter account. Come on over and follow csbtwit.

I've put a gadget up that will post my tweets in the side bar of this blog too.

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And they're off...

First an apology to those of you who follow this blog. I have been sorely negligent in updating it but will make every effort to fix that going forward. There really has been a lot of CSB stuff going on. I just haven't taken the time to get here to tell you about it.

Rather than go back and catch up on everything that has happened since I was last here let me just tell you that we had a great Thanksgiving Festival with the Lakeside Singers and (although I was not there) a great weekend in Lansing, MI in January.

Since I last wrote our 2nd baritone opening was filled by Nathan Hellstrom from the Rockford Temple Corps. That fills out the roster completely.

We leave tomorrow for a visit to Illinois College in Jacksonsville, IL on Saturday night and Sunday worship at the First Presbyterian Church in Springfield, IL. First Presbyterian Church is also known as "Lincoln's Church" so it's especially appropriate we are there in the February that marks the 200th anniversary of our 16th president. Here's a link to our schedule.

Weather looks a little "iffy" for the weekend so keep us in your prayers and definitely come and say hello.

On the way home...

We had two nice worship services at the Covenant Church in Manistee and after lunch with members of the church we are on the bus heading home in what is sometimes significant snow. I for one am glad that our bus driver Ed is taking care of the driving. It's not horrible, but after a weekend like we've had I'm thankful to not be behind the wheel.

Congratulations to Major Langham and her crew on a great weekend. We pray that our time together will be useful to the Salvation Army in Manistee.

I promised in my posting last night to provide the band geeks out there with our play list from the concert. If you're not interested in that, stop reading because that's all that's left.

"Fanfare of Praise"
"The Good Old Way"
"Joshua Swings The Battle" (Ben Kinzie, soloist)
"The Wonder of it All" (vocal selection)
"Soon and Very Soon" (vocal selection, Karl Strand, soloist)
"Concert Piece For Trombone" (Brett Tolcher, soloist)
"Journey Into Freedom"
"Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring"
INTERMISSION
"Bringing In The Sheaves"
"The Great Adventure" (Shaun Thomas, soloist)
"He's Always Been Faithful" (Heidi Strand, soloist)
Scripture (Lt. Colonel Mickey McLaren)
"Renaissance"
"Manhattan"
"Choral Benediction"

On the road again...

The CSB travelled today to Manistee, MI. Manistee is about 6 hours drive from our headquarters in Des Plaines, IL. It's on the western coast of the Michigan lower peninsula... that means it's on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. The 2000 census lists the population of Manistee at 6,586. So, it's definitely, "small town America". Just to prove that, Midwest Living Magazine voted it "One Of The Top 100 Best Small-Town Getaways" for 2007. And having been here it's easy to see why. The country is beautiful and the people are what you would expect from the middle of America.

Now, our visit coincides with the opening of deer season here in Michigan. Perhaps that explains the number of "unaccompanied" ladies in the concert this evening.

Major Jo Langham is the Salvation Army officer in charge of our work in Manistee. She has done a really fantastic job of promotion and accommodation for this visit. And, it paid off... there was a really nice crowd at Guardian Angels Church this evening. After that concert we moved our stuff over to the Faith Covenant Church and set up for two worship services (8:30 am & 11:00 am) tomorrow.

Major Langham has been assisted in the efforts for the weekend by Salvation Army officers from Alma, MI, Luddington, MI and Cadillac, MI. Many of us know these officers from their time at the College for Officer Training in Chicago and it was good to get to visit with them again.

Well, it's late and in order to be ready for that 8:30 am service tomorrow we have to leave at 7:45. So, I'd best sign off. I'll write more later and won't forget to post the concert items from this evening when I do.

Good night!

Worship Arts Retreat

I've just gotten home from the Central Territory Worship Arts Retreat held at Wonderland Camp and Conference Center. The CSB was on duty Friday night through Sunday at noon. The theme of the weekend was Worship Warriors and it featured times of praise, worship, instruction from the word and a host of workshops aimed at increasing our effectiveness of worship. The CSB functioned as the duty band for plenary sessions as well as providing assistance to the many guest clinicians that were present for the weekend.

Speaking of clinicians there were many gathered from all over including Major Kevin Metcalf, Graeme Press, Neil Smith, Rich Swingle, Bernie Dake, Peter Baird, Greg Payton, David Andrews, Marie-Ange Hayden, William Himes, Peggy Thomas and Martyn Thomas. From the list, you can guess that there was no lack of quality in the instruction given.

Sprinkled in the middle of the plenary sessions each delegate participated in a small group Bible study of the Psalms of Ascent (Psalm 121-134) led by members of the CSB and Bill Booth Theater Company.

In addition to the CSB the weekend was supported by members of the Bill Booth Theater Company, The Singing Company and even Resource Connection.

On Sunday morning our new territorial leaders Commissioners Barry and Sue Swanson spoke to us during a pair of worship services.

The weekend was a great time of refreshment, reminder and instruction for those involved in and partially responsible for worship in our corps. Unfortunately, my observation is that the event wasn't nearly as well attended as it probably should have been. I suppose a "glass half empty" guy might observe that perhaps worship isn't the priority it should be in the territory. On the other hand, a "glass half full" person might assume that worship is in such good shape in the territory that it wasn't necessary for more people to attend.

Whatever the case, the Lord blessed those who were there with His presence and I believe corps that were represented stand to benefit in the days ahead.

For the band geeks that read my writings I suppose I should tell you some of the items we played either as prelude music or during the plenary sessions. (Non band geeks need not read further.) These are in addition to a number of song accompaniments we did either alone or together with the Singing Company.

• Manhattan
• Joshua Swings the Battle (soloist: Ben Kinzie)
• Exeter Temple
• When I Remember (soloist: Beth Cooper)
• Renaissance
• In Christ Alone
• Garments of Peace (soloist: Peggy Thomas)

Summer Break Ends

The break the CSB has from the end of our Commissioning Weekend until just after Labor Day in the USA is now over. We returned to the band room on September 2 and have had two rehearsals to get ready for the Public Welcome of the Cadets (this Friday at the Mayfair Community Church - 7:30 pm) and the retirement service of our territorial leaders, Commissioners Ken & Joy Baillie (this Saturday at the Norridge Citadel Corps - 10:00 am). Two rehearsals are probably not enough but they will have to do.

Personnel changes in the band for this season have been pretty minimal. Leaving the band after many years of service are Mary Kim (solo horn), Bob Ferrantelli (trombone) and Ev Jordan (eb bass). Mary Kim is now Cadet Mary Kim and we will participate in her public welcome as a Cadet on Friday night.

To fill these gaps Meredith Flinn joins the horn section having relocated to the area from Pasadena, CA to attend school at Trinity International University. Sang Kim, a former member of the trombone section has found it possible to return. After all is said and done and the Bandmaster shifted things around, we have only a single 2nd baritone opening which will remain open for the time being.

That pretty much brings you up to speed on where we are. More to come about our weekend events after they're over.