Sean C. Morgan
Ken Collins of Sweet Home, retired District 55 music teacher, is one of 25 elite Salvation Army composers from across the continent who have been selected to attend the North American Composers Forum in January.
Collins, 78, will attend the event Jan. 8-12 at Asbury University in Wilmore, Ky.
“This whole process took me entirely by surprise,” Collins said. He was informed of his selection by Dr. Ron Holz, an Asbury University music professor, via an e-mail. “I later found out that I had been recommended by our western territorial music secretary in Long Beach., Calif. I never knew he was aware of my music.”
Eleven faculty will be flown in from around the world for the forum, Collins said. “Each faculty member is a master composer-arranger whom few would know by name. My son, Ken II, informed me about one of the faculty whom he knows through his connections in Washington, D.C.”
Ken Collins Jr. heads the U.S. Navy music program and is now a full commander in the Navy.
“When I mentioned Salvation Army composer Steven Bulla was part of the faculty, he told me Steven Bulla was head composer-arranger for the Marine Band in D.C. for 30 years. He has collaborated with John Williams of Hollywood film fame (including the “Star Wars” soundtracks) on composing and scoring music. He scored the PBS series “In Performance at the White House” and now has been commissioned by the Library of Congress to complete and orchestrate the last known march of John Phillip Sousa.”
The coursework at the forum will be in lectures and masters classes for participants, Collins said. A masters class in composition is where an invited musician will present his or her work to be played or sung and then evaluated by a member of the master music faculty often in a one-on-one session.
“I could never have come up with the cost of tuition, transportation, lodging, etc., on my own,” Collins said. “I’m sure the Salvation Army will get it back through my composing, arranging, lecturing, performing and teaching.”
Collins is the Albany Salvation Army bandmaster, he said. The Salvation Army is a church, although that isn’t well known on the West Coast. In the eastern United States and elsewhere in the world it’s known as a church with a social function. In the West, it’s known more as a social function with a church.
The Salvation Army, founded by General William Booth in London, England, in 1865, is structured similar to the Army, Collins said. Officers are ordained ministers, who attend college.
“The structure of the church is not unlike any other church except we have different designations,” Collins said. “Salvation Army music is so much more than the stereotype ‘street corner bass drum’ scenarios that are so often depicted on screen. The Salvation Army is primarily a Bible-based church located in 126 countries with headquarters in London, England. Its secondary function is social work, whereby the slogan, ‘Heart to God and Hand to Man.’ Its music and performers are world-class. Few know that.”
Booth decided to take his church to the streets, setting Christian lyrics to popular songs, Collins said. He felt that everybody needed to go to church, no matter how they dressed, and he took the church service to everybody – on the street corner.
Bands take the place of organs in other churches so the church can take the music to the streets, Collins said. Salvation Army bandleaders write and arrange music constantly.
That’s Collins’ role in the Albany Salvation Army.
“It blows me away that someone even looked at my music, passed it up and I got invited,” Collins said. “I never dreamed I would ever get to this level in music. This is serious music they (the faculty) are writing, and it takes a good degree of education to get to that level.
“I’m just honored that this ever happened to me. I never would’ve guessed it.”
Collins went to work teaching music at Sweet Home High School in 1990. He taught band, vocal music, jazz choir and music theory. He also taught at the junior high and elementary level. At one point, he taught all of the district’s music.
He has always composed and arranged music, but while teaching, there never was enough time to write. The process is time-consuming, and the favorite instrument of a writer is the eraser.
Collins’ father and grandfather were both Salvation Army bandleaders, in Oakland, Calif., and Atlanta, Ga., respectively.
“I didn’t have a choice,” Collins said. “Five years old, they hand you a clarinet.”
All of the children had instruments when he was growing up, and their party on Friday night meant getting out the band books and indulging in some ice cream afterward.
“We didn’t need other things,” Collins said. “As long as you have your horn in the trunk of your car, you’re happy.”
Following high school, Collins became an air traffic controller in the Navy. He attended college after his discharge and graduated from Cal State at Hayward in 1965. He spent another year earning his teaching credential and went to work in Bieber, Calif. He also taught in Incline Village, Nev., and Colville, Wash., before working at Southern Oregon University. He took the position at SHHS when his job at SOU was eliminated. He declined a job offer in Sacramento, Calif., to take the job in Sweet Home.
“I met my wife (Cathy) here,” Collins said. “Then I put her through college, and she’s been teaching umpteen years now (at Holley).”
Now Sweet Home is his hometown, he said. “I just enjoy it. It’s calm.”
In addition to his work for the Salvation Army, Collins plays “Taps” at military funerals with the AmVets and writes music.
“When I retired, that’s when I put my energies into composing,” Collins said. Usually it went to the bottom drawer of his dresser.
He noted that the popular song “God Bless America” came from composer Irving Berlin’s “bottom drawer.”
When he learned about his selection to the program, Collins said, he raided his bottom drawer to send music to the forum, where it will be performed.
“I guess the big thing I’ve always gone with is it’s better to be prepared and not have an opportunity than not to be prepared and have an opportunity,” Collins said. “That’s why we have a bottom drawer.”
Collins’ arrangements include reworking of music written for large bands for use by three-member bands, he said. With small brass bands, music written for large bands rarely sounds good. His goal has been to arrange songs to sound good when played by small ensembles.
“It’s exciting to play this big music with just three or four people,” Collins said. “It’s very entertaining to the brass players to do that, and inspiring. It makes them want to continue on.”