Post by Kevin on Dec 20, 2010 17:15:13 GMT
Eric Walter John Ball was born in Kingswood near Bristol, United Kingdom, on 31st October 1903, the eldest of three sons of Jack and Lily Ball. His mother had been born into a Baptist family and had joined The Salvation Army at an early age, holding the rank of Captain when she married Eric’s Father in 1902. He was the eldest of 16 children whose parents had also been active Salvationists, so that the young Eric was very much at home with Christian ideals and the practice of expressing them through music from a very early age.
The family moved several times in Eric’s early years and it was in London, where his Father was managing a small chain of Grocers shops, that he began his musical education. This was through the discipline of a Salvation Army Youth Band in Ealing as well as private piano study. When the Family later moved to Kent he continued his private studies with a local Anglican organist, who versed him in harmony and counterpoint as well as teaching him the organ. He progressed rapidly and had a short period as Organist of Holy Trinity Church in Dartford.
His heart however was in The Salvation Army and by 1919 at the age of sixteen had obtained a job in The Salvation Army Musical Instrument Department at Judd Street in central London. He soon progressed to The Musical Editorial Department where he spent twenty eight years and worked alongside such well known Salvation Army composers as Philip Catelinet, Bramwell Coles, Albert Jakeway and George Marshall, as well as Henry Hall, later to become famous as a Band Leader.
His first published work, a march called Hoist The Flag, appeared in 1922 and he soon began producing such pace setting works as The Old Wells, Songs of The Morning and the tone poem Exodus. This, alongside various accompanying duties and the completion of his ARCM as well as becoming a full time Salvation Army Officer in 1927. He was also conducting various Salvation Army Bands and reached the pinnacle of achievement in that field when was appointed to the Bandmastership of The International Staff Band in 1942.
Within two years the world of Brass Band music, inside and outside The Salvation Army, was shocked to hear in April 1944 that due to a controversy over his involvement in spiritualist activities Major Eric Ball had resigned as an Officer in The Salvation Army. He now had to find other means of support for himself and his wife Olive and turned to what he knew well, Brass Bands.
By the Autumn of 1945 he was Adjudicating at Brass Band Contests and had been engaged by Brighouse & Rastrick in May that year as their Professional Conductor, giving a Concert with the Band in Cornwall within a few weeks. This no doubt may have had something to do with their Bandmaster and Solo Cornet at the time, Fred Roberts from Camborne. Eric Ball went on to win the National Championships with them in 1946 and the British Open with CWS Manchester in 1948.
What he really wanted to do however was compose music and by the mid fifties had withdrawn from conducting Bands on a competitive basis, preferring to limit his involvement to conducting concerts and taking courses, particularly those where young players were taking part. It was his well known skills in teaching young people that led to an invitation to him in 1962, to take the Easter Course of The Cornwall Youth Brass Band that year.
The Band had been originally founded in 1955, but had been reformed with the support of Dr Denis Wright, the Founder of The National Youth Brass Band, by The Cornwall Brass Band Association in 1959. The first Chairman of the Band was the late A R Trudgian and it was he, who after two courses taken by Dr Wright and one by T J Powell had the idea of inviting Eric Ball to Cornwall. It was an inspired choice, and so successful and popular that Eric Ball returned in 1963 as well 1964 and 1965, coming back to the Band, of which by that time he was President, in 1969 and 1978.
Eric Ball left a unique and irreplaceable body of music for his first love, the Brass Band, and an indelible impression on those he met whether as a Teacher, Conductor or Adjudicator.
Here are a few examples of his work.
Enjoy!
I played Resurgam at a contest in 1972!
The family moved several times in Eric’s early years and it was in London, where his Father was managing a small chain of Grocers shops, that he began his musical education. This was through the discipline of a Salvation Army Youth Band in Ealing as well as private piano study. When the Family later moved to Kent he continued his private studies with a local Anglican organist, who versed him in harmony and counterpoint as well as teaching him the organ. He progressed rapidly and had a short period as Organist of Holy Trinity Church in Dartford.
His heart however was in The Salvation Army and by 1919 at the age of sixteen had obtained a job in The Salvation Army Musical Instrument Department at Judd Street in central London. He soon progressed to The Musical Editorial Department where he spent twenty eight years and worked alongside such well known Salvation Army composers as Philip Catelinet, Bramwell Coles, Albert Jakeway and George Marshall, as well as Henry Hall, later to become famous as a Band Leader.
His first published work, a march called Hoist The Flag, appeared in 1922 and he soon began producing such pace setting works as The Old Wells, Songs of The Morning and the tone poem Exodus. This, alongside various accompanying duties and the completion of his ARCM as well as becoming a full time Salvation Army Officer in 1927. He was also conducting various Salvation Army Bands and reached the pinnacle of achievement in that field when was appointed to the Bandmastership of The International Staff Band in 1942.
Within two years the world of Brass Band music, inside and outside The Salvation Army, was shocked to hear in April 1944 that due to a controversy over his involvement in spiritualist activities Major Eric Ball had resigned as an Officer in The Salvation Army. He now had to find other means of support for himself and his wife Olive and turned to what he knew well, Brass Bands.
By the Autumn of 1945 he was Adjudicating at Brass Band Contests and had been engaged by Brighouse & Rastrick in May that year as their Professional Conductor, giving a Concert with the Band in Cornwall within a few weeks. This no doubt may have had something to do with their Bandmaster and Solo Cornet at the time, Fred Roberts from Camborne. Eric Ball went on to win the National Championships with them in 1946 and the British Open with CWS Manchester in 1948.
What he really wanted to do however was compose music and by the mid fifties had withdrawn from conducting Bands on a competitive basis, preferring to limit his involvement to conducting concerts and taking courses, particularly those where young players were taking part. It was his well known skills in teaching young people that led to an invitation to him in 1962, to take the Easter Course of The Cornwall Youth Brass Band that year.
The Band had been originally founded in 1955, but had been reformed with the support of Dr Denis Wright, the Founder of The National Youth Brass Band, by The Cornwall Brass Band Association in 1959. The first Chairman of the Band was the late A R Trudgian and it was he, who after two courses taken by Dr Wright and one by T J Powell had the idea of inviting Eric Ball to Cornwall. It was an inspired choice, and so successful and popular that Eric Ball returned in 1963 as well 1964 and 1965, coming back to the Band, of which by that time he was President, in 1969 and 1978.
Eric Ball left a unique and irreplaceable body of music for his first love, the Brass Band, and an indelible impression on those he met whether as a Teacher, Conductor or Adjudicator.
Here are a few examples of his work.
Enjoy!
I played Resurgam at a contest in 1972!