The Salvation Army bands are in three different grades. The top-ranking ones are the various Headquarters Staff Bands, all well-trained, expert musicians. The Corps bands come second—there are many of them—more bands of this class than in any other musical organization in the world except school bands. One night each week band rehearsal is held in each Corps hall and all the youngsters in the neighborhood gather there, welcome to listen and learn. Many Corps bands hold a summer camp, two weeks or more, for young musicians who are anxious to play in a band.
The third band group is selected from the young people of the Salvation Army with fully 18,000 members. These youth organizations are feeders for the Corps bands. Many young musicians have been helped by this organization. When a boy, Harry James—the famous trumpeter—played in a Salvation Army band in Texas. George Paxton also took his early instruction on the cornet in a Salvation Army boy’s band in Newark, New Jersey.
No members of a Salvation Army receives any salary for his services. James Petrillo once asked a bandsman in a street corner Salvation Army band “What union do you belong to?” “The Union of God,” the player answered. Petrillo made no reply but threw a coin on the drum as he passed on.
The Salvation Army in the United States is divided into four territories and each has a music secretary who directs all the musical activities in his section. At present, these officers and their territories are as follows:
| Brigadier William Broughton | —West | —San Francisco |
| Major Frank Longino | —South | —Atlanta |
| Captain Richard E. Holz | —East | —New York |
| Lieutenant Bernard Smith | —Central | —Chicago |
There are approximately 700 large, all-brass Salvation Army bands in this country. These are among the most outstanding:
| Flint Citadel (Michigan) |
| Oakland Citadel (California) |
| Boston Palace (Massachusetts) |
| Detroit Citadel (Michigan) |
| Lehigh Citadel (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) |
| Brooklyn Citadel (New York) |
| Los Angeles Congress Hall (California) |
| Syracuse Citadel (New York) |
| Atlanta Temple (Georgia) |
| New York Temple (New York) |
| San Francisco Citadel (California) |
The International Staff Band at the Headquarters in London is perhaps the most widely-known of these Salvation Army bands. Many prominent official positions and men of noted various professions may be found playing beside a music-loving laborer or some one in a lowly walk of life.
The New York City Staff Band of thirty men was organized in 1887 and has played continuously ever since. This is the most famous Salvation Army band in the United States. Brigadier William E. Bearchell, the bandmaster, is an outstanding musician, versatile and talented. He is a composer, a chorus conductor, organist and former bandmaster of the Brooklyn Citadel Corps Band, which was then known as one of the finest Salvation Army bands in America.
The New York City Staff Band is remarkable for its distinctive tone color. This is due to the use of several unusual instruments: the flugel-horn, the E-flat cornet and the G-trombone. The handle of this trombone slides the slide down farther than other trombones and makes the tone much deeper.