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Pasadena Tabernacle Band visits Old Orchard Beach, Maine.
By Kenneth Wilson, Major
“Truly, a wicked good weekend,” said a non-Army, first-time Camp Meeting attendee when asked her impressions of the event.
The Pasadena (Calif.) Tabernacle Band, directed by William Flinn, recently completed a tour of New England with stops in Boston, Mass., and Old Orchard Beach, Maine, where it participated as the guest band at the 126th annual Old Orchard Beach Camp Meetings. Commissioners Steven and Judith Hedgren, Eastern territorial leaders, oversaw the annual event in Maine.
In Boston, band members enjoyed and performed in the Army’s newest Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center and visited historic sites.
In Maine, playing before audiences in excess of 1,000 at the Army’s Sunset Pavilion on the Camp Meeting campus, the group became the first corps band to serve in this guest band role. Commissioners James and Carolyn Knaggs, Western leaders, served in a number of capacities during the week.
At the principal concert, the band opened with Andrew Macareth’s “Ein Feste Burg,” based on Martin Luther’s classic hymn “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” The firing of confetti cannons enhanced the performance. The band also made special note of former New York Staff Band personnel playing in the group and of the multi-generational ties within the band.
Other numbers included “South Shields Celebration” and “Let Everything Praise,” both by Martin Cordner; “Concertino for Band” by Stephen Bulla, featuring the cornet section; and “Psalm of Thanks” by Paul Sharman, based on the hymn “Now Thank We All Our God.”
Soprano cornet player John Docter picked up his flugel horn to play Bill Himes’ “So Glad,” and Martin Hunt introduced a new cornet solo by Kevin Larsson, based on his father’s music, titled “Spirit of Salvation.” Deputy Bandmaster Lambert Bittinger and Derek Flinn played a euphonium duet to Norman Bearcroft’s “Timepiece.” Bearcroft later conducted the band as well.
Following a devotion by Larry Lycan, the band brought selections including Dorothy Gates’ “I’m in His Hands” and Goff Richard’s arrangement of “I’ll Walk with God.”
Children from the audience were invited to the platform during William Gordon’s “Magic Kingdom,” based on Disney tunes and Stephen Bulla’s “Sounds of California.” The evening concluded when Flinn invited Staff Bandmaster Ron Waiksnoris to conduct Sousa’s march “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”
The Tab band also participated in a parade of witness and an open-air meeting in Old Orchard Beach.
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