The next item on the concert program was a Euphonium solo I had been looking forward to hearing. The National Capital Divisional Bandmaster announced that the Euphonium soloist, who played in the US Air Force, would not be playing the solo because the Air Force band had been called ouot of Washington, D.C.

I was really disappointed. However, the bandmaster continued the change in the program announcement. He had called the Bass player that morning and asked him to play the Euphonium solo. What follwed was incredible to me. The Bass player stood up and walked to the front of the band carrying a four valve Gold lacquired Mirafone Bass. The band started playing and this fabulous Euphonium solo came out of that Bass. I was absolutely blown away. Prior to that, Leslie Condon had been the best Bass player I had ever heard. He is playing the Bass solo "Celestial Morn" that you are hearing on this page. I heard him in person in a concert with the International Staff Band.

We Get A New Bandmaster

Years later, the bandmaster of the Texas Gulf Coast Area Band was dismissed. He was the bandmaster of his corps in England. When they found out what he had done, they sent him a letter revoking his bandmaster commission and threw him out of the corps. So we were out one bandmaster. This didn’t last any time at all. The Houston Area Commander called up the corps officer from Orange, Texas and put him in charge of the band.

Well, this bandmaster / corps officer was named Bob Clemons. Since he was from the D.C. area, I thought he might have heard of the Bass player who played the Euphonium solo on his Mirafone tuba. I told him about that concert and asked him if he had ever heard of that guy. He said, “Yes. That was me.” At the time of the concert, Bob was a member of the US Army band in Washington, D.C. He also was a music arranger for the US Army band.

Bob Clemons Joins The Salvation Army

I was talking to Bob one day and I asked him how he had come to join the Salvation Army. Here’s what he told me:

"I wasn’t getting enough band time in and I heard the Salvation Army had a pretty good band nearby so I got my tuba and went to a band practice one Wednesday night. (i’ll parapharse this because the language used was a little stronger.) I went into the corps and found the bandmaster and I asked him if I could play in the band. He asked me if I had ever played in a Salvation Army band before and I told him I had never had any contact with the Salvation Army in my life. He asked me if I was a Christian and I said, ‘Of course.’

"Then he took a look at my tuba and said I couldn’t play it in his band. When I asked hi why, he told me they only used silver plated Bessons. So I asked to talk to the commanding officer and he got smart with me and asked how come I knew they had a commanding officer if I had never had any contact with the Salvation Army. I told him it was an Army, there had to be an officer somewhere.

"We went in and talked to the corps officer. I told him the bandmaster said I couldn’t play my Mirafone in the band. Then the corps officer said to the bandmaster, ‘What about it?’ The bandmaster said, ‘We only play silver plated Bessons.’ So the corps officer looked at me and said, ‘We only play silver plated Bessons.’ Well, I had to play a silver plated Besson."

To read the Bandmaster's side of this story click on Larry.