Banding After the Pandemic: Matt Barby, BM Impact Brass

Brass banding is one of The Salvation Army’s most iconic and beloved ministries. But like so many things, it faced significant challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. For two years, many of us missed out on banding as groups were forced to stop meeting in person. What kind of future does banding have, now that we can rehearse and perform again? 

We asked Matt Barby for his thoughts on these questions and more. Matt is a senior soldier at London Citadel, a high school music teacher, and bandmaster of Impact Brass, a regional youth band in southwestern Ontario. 

Transcript

Kristin Ostensen 

This is the Salvationist podcast. I'm Kristin Ostensen. Brass banding is one of The Salvation Army’s most iconic and beloved ministries. But like so many things, it faced significant challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. For two years, many of us missed on out banding as groups were forced to stop meeting in person. What impact has that had on the youth of our territory? And what kind of future does banding have, now that we can rehearse and perform again? For this episode of the Salvationist podcast, we asked Matt Barby for his thoughts on these questions and more. Matt a senior soldier at London Citadel, a high school music teacher, and he recently became bandmaster of Impact Brass, a regional youth band in southwestern Ontario. Be sure to stay tuned to the end of the episode as we feature a selection from Impact Brass’ spring concert.

Hi, Matt, thanks for joining us today. Welcome to the Salvationist podcast.

Matt Barby

Thanks very much for having me. I'm really looking forward to being here.

Kristin Ostensen

How did you originally become part of The Salvation Army?

Matt Barby

I've been born and raised in The Salvation Army. I think I'm third or fourth generation. I grew up in the Kitchener corps, and spent all of my teen years, even through university and through my first degree at Kitchener. So it's just something I've, I've been at The Salvation Army ever since I was born and grew up to kind of love and understand the Army and really want to continue my involvement as I grew up.

Kristin Ostensen 

Yeah. And as part of that, how did you first get involved in Army music ministry?

Matt Barby

I started where many people did with the junior band. I was about six years old. I started on percussion, I switched to cornet. And so that really kind of, it pulled me in and got me involved. And from there, I moved on into senior band. I spent time in Impact Brass. And then I've been involved in all the corps that I've been at over my life. I've been involved in music somehow. But everything really started with that junior band—got me involved and it gave me something that I can work, like connect with through the music, but then using the music, I've learned so much more about my Christian faith. And that's kind of built me to where I am now and how I can turn around and give back using music and share my faith that way.

Kristin  

Absolutely. And thinking about that initial experience in Impact Brass, because, of course, now you are the bandmaster yourself, which is so cool. You mentioned that there were some performances or tours that stood out to you. Is there any particular, thinking now, that were particularly meaningful for you?

Matt Barby

When we did our tour to Texas, we performed at the outdoor stage in San Antonio where it was right on the river. And that gave us an opportunity to play and perform and spread our music and spread the gospel through music to anybody who was walking by, and it was right down on the riverwalk. And so that opportunity—it was a hot day, I still remember that—but the opportunity to go, to be part of that, was something that kind of sticks with me. One of the other things that really sticks with me, too, was, in all the different venues, coming to learn myself, that it doesn't matter who you're performing to, how many people you're performing to, how big it is. That what we can do is do with the music that we're creating and performing and passing on, it's important, whether the band is larger than the audience, whether you're playing in a huge venue, that the ministry goes beyond just the music. And so that was something that really kind of stuck with me. And the opportunity to go see and to perform in different schools and be able to take the music that we bring and take it into schools. As a teacher now, I look back at that, as a member of the youth band, and realize how special that was, that we could go and perform and reach so many students and kids who were there, and just be part of that.

Kristin Ostensen  

And when did you first begin to take on more leadership roles in our music ministry?

Matt Barby

I got the chance to start kind of growing into a leader actually back home in Kitchener. And so I started out by doing some helping and learning—actually, I first started to learn how to conduct with the junior band. As I had been, and I was kind of growing older and showing some interest, and so one of my mentors and the leader of the junior band at the time, Bob Dockery, started to kind of bring me in, and he was great about that with not just myself but others around, of making sure we understood and we had the opportunity to do that. And then eventually, I would kind of gradually work my way into where I took the leadership of that group for a little while. I don't remember how many years it was, but that's where things kind of started. And then it went on from there.

Kristin Ostensen 

And what is it been like coming back to banding and music ministry post-COVID?

Matt Barby

It's been tough. Music has really had to change and adapt and redevelop itself through the time of COVID. Because, at the time, there was so many times that it was just, you can't come together to be part of a music group. You can't come together to be part of that fellowship. And so, there was a big kind of redevelopment that we've kind of had to go through with how everything has been to come out. What restrictions are we working with? Can we work with a small group? Now, we've got our small groups, how do we put those together? And then now as we come out of it, and we can come back to larger groups, we're trying to build back what—a big part of it, too, is building back the fellowship. One of the biggest parts of, for me with music ministry, is the fellowship within the members. And how it's more than just being part of making music. Banding is way beyond just that. And it's the idea that we can come together almost in a small group format, and be part of that connection with those around us. And use that to develop our understanding of the gospel and to show support for each other and to build around that. And that's one of the things that I think was hit hardest with the fact that we were basically kind of shut down for almost two years and trying to find different ways. So, that's one of the big things that I'm appreciating now that we're reopening, and I look to kind of push for is finding ways to redevelop that fellowship and the connection, and then through that, build the music, and build what we're doing with the music, and going from there.

Kristin Ostensen

When did Impact Brass start rehearsing again?

Matt Barby

They started rehearsing just earlier in the spring, and they only had four rehearsals before the concert that was put on by the Youth Creative. So, it was very sporadic. And I know they had a number of rehearsals cancelled by just numbers of people who are not able to attend for various reasons. And so that's kind of one of the one of the difficulties, too, that we kind of bring up, and hopefully now where we're at, we're going to kind of move out of that. But when you have a large group of people coming together, the caution over, Can you come? Can we be together? Who's available? Who's not available? But for me, when I had the opportunity to actually be at the last concert that Impact was in and the whole Youth Creative team came together—to see the buzz of youth being able to come together to make music And for me, I kind of stood there, looking at all that and went: this is what we need, is the opportunities for the youth. But opportunities, even with corps groups—and I know corps groups are varying sizes and all of that. But the opportunity to come together and to just share the Word of God and celebrate it through music—it's so important for, even for mental health, and it's something that kind of brings us up. For me, and my understanding, is when you're going through hard times, often we look to music. Music’s what brings us together. Music’s what lifts us up. And so having opportunities to do that and be part of that—both playing, but also creating those opportunities for people who can go and appreciate music, it's so important.

Kristin Ostensen 

Yeah, that is such a good point because I think it has been such a struggle, the last couple of years, being apart, not having our church families to lead on as much. And in terms of young people as well, I've read a lot about the struggles of mental health. And I'm sure you probably see that in your teacher work as well.

Matt Barby

Yeah, it's something that I see, when we come together, that some people are very, they're super excited to be back together and to be having that in-person connection. And then there's others who are kind of trying to almost relearn how to be in a group and relearn those group dynamics, and how do you fit in them? How do you work with them? And so, it's important to have those opportunities for our youth to be able to do that.

Kristin Ostensen 

Yeah, I can absolutely see that. I think we all kind of felt like we were emerging from hibernation or something in the past few months. When you think about your experiences, and the ministry leadership you've been doing, what do you think are some of the strengths of the Army's music ministry today?

Matt Barby

I think one of the things that—I think it was a strength already—but I think one of the things that we in the music ministry, through COVID, have even developed further is the ability to adapt and to be flexible at a time—and especially over the last few years—at a time when things were kind of being pushed away and pushed away and shut down because of everything going on, leaders and musicians were, rather than just saying, “OK, I'm done, I'm out,” turned to, “Well, how can I be part of this? How can I be part of continuing the ministry? How can I adapt what I'm doing to be able to still bring that ministry to my corps? And stay part of that.” Whether that was just changing the number of people and how do you get people involved? How do you keep people involved? And so, that ability to adapt the idea of going to, when we couldn't come together in person, going to digital videos of individual songs. Once we had small groups, I know we started doing some digital concerts, where you could still connect with those in the corps ministry. And I think one of the things that that brought about to now is we have developed the understanding of what you can do as a musician, and how you can make it accessible. And so now that we're coming back together, we have those opportunities where people from all around the world can experience the music that we're bringing, because of this opportunity. So, I think the adaptability and just the fact of the push to not just say, “OK, I give up, I'm done. We can't do anything.” But the motivation of, “How can we look to keep our ministry moving and to keep spreading the gospel through music?” is a big part of everything.

Kristin Ostensen 

Yeah, absolutely. Did you manage to have some fun somewhere in there, doing these digital things?

Matt Barby

Yeah, you know what, actually, for me, it kind of started with more of the teacher side of things. But it was something that I, when we were first going off for COVID and trying to teach online and trying to develop this and develop that, and I kind of looked at going, once we kind of realized it's not going away for a while, I took some time and started to teach myself how to do some video editing. And so, that was one of my kind of COVID projects, I guess you could say, was developing my understanding and ability to edit video. And I kind of used it in two ways so that I could use it as a teacher or use it to help out in whichever way. But it was also for me, at the time, my way of keeping myself playing. Because as I'm trying to get an understanding, I'm like, OK, well, I've got to sit down, and I've got to play. So, I would sit down and try and do some of those split screens with myself. And so, I would play each part. But for me, that was big, because at a time when there was no place to play, it gave me something to do. And so, it was fun to kind of try out different things. And so I've kind of, through that, I had a lot of fun getting to know that. I know I've used it at my school, I've used it for the church as well. And it's a chance to kind of sit down and take a different exploration of music and open up kind of a new area for me, which is, actually I'm turning around and putting it into my teaching of the idea of focusing on some of the more modern sides of things like recording, and how do we record and passing that on to students. 

Kristin Ostensen 

Yeah, that's really neat. Some people learned to bake bread—you learned to do video editing.

Matt Barby

I actually did both. [laughing]

Kristin  

But it's interesting talking about, you know, moving into this digital space and finding new innovations for our ministry, because some people might see banding as a little bit more traditional Army. So, I'm wondering if you can speak a little bit about how you keep kids engaged, and how you keep this kind of ministry fresh for the 21st century.

Matt Barby

I am a big believer in the well-rounded musician, both in my teaching at school, when I approach leading, whether it's leading a junior band at the church, whether it's as I move into this leadership with Impact—my drive towards how I approach music is to be able to blend the traditions and what's going on now. And so, at a time when there's a lot of change, what type of music are we playing? How are we playing? How are we performing? I'm really pushing towards kind of understanding and adapting that, but not in a way that I'm taking the tradition away. The traditions that we have—whether it's traditions in music or it's just traditions in The Salvation Army—the traditions that we have are what we've built The Salvation Army's foundation on. And so, when I'm approaching selecting music, I'm approaching it to look at music that's new and has just been published or has just been written, or finding opportunities for new and young composers who are trying things out, and maybe it's in different styles, it's in a more modern style. But along with that, using some of our traditional music that has so much meaning and depth to it, and combining the two, where youth that I'm working with will have the opportunity to learn about the depth of music and what we can do and how that has then inspired the music that we're making now. And so, to be able to really kind of create that environment, not only for the youth who are going to be performing it, but for those who are coming to the concerts and those who are listening to it. If we're only playing the new and upcoming and modern music that's out there, we're likely to lose some of the congregation and kind of audience that we're going to be performing to. So, having that balance where my goal is every time I set a concert or anything like that, or choose repertoire, whether it's for a service or whether it's for a concert, is to find something that's going to meet everybody. Whether you're traditional, whether you're not really interested in the old traditions, but finding something that's going to reach you where you're at, both musically, but also, my goal, too, is also to reach you where you are spiritually and pose different thoughts and develop that chance to reach everybody somehow, and to have that one thing to kind of move through.

Kristin Ostensen 

Yeah, and on that topic, how do you keep this spiritual part of it still integral, even as, you know, you're focusing on making sure people play the right notes and are all together on time and what not.

Matt Barby

That's one of the things I love the most about Salvation Army banding. I love teaching music in schools, but it's one of the things that kind of gives us another level that we can add to, through Salvation Army banding, is the opportunity to talk about what are these melodies saying, and the fact that we can actually address and talk about the lyrics that go along with it. And even in some of these large, massive show pieces that are put out there, written for Salvation Army bands, they all have that fundamental gospel message in there. And it's something that mentors of mine in Salvation Army music showed me that it was very important, and I will continue to do that as well, is taking time to, in the midst of finding all of this new modern music, show music, music that has all of that technical ability, but in all of that, there's a message. And that message is more important than the music. We still need to get the notes right, we still need to pull it all together. But that the tune, the lyrics, all of that is the most important part of what we do as Salvation Army musicians and anybody who's in the music ministry—being able to take everything that we do and show that it's still that gospel message that's at the centre of it.

Kristin Ostensen  

I agree completely. What do you see as some of the challenges we're facing right now in our music ministry? And where do you see the most opportunities for growth?

Matt Barby

I think the biggest challenge—and I think it's in the music ministry, but I think it's also just in ministry, corps ministry—is the rebuilding process. How do we reach those? We've lost the fellowship, we lost the ability to come together in person for fellowship, and we've lost some commitment, and how do we reach those people who may have said, you know, what? I don't know. I don't know where I'm at yet. And how can we come together and reconnect with them, and develop an opportunity to reach each and every person that either has come out, or in some cases, some of the cool things that I've seen is, there's been a change in personnel and people who have started coming up to the church that weren't coming up before. One of the biggest things, too, is just the restrictions. What are the restrictions? Now, I know, a lot of those restrictions have been lifted, and we're kind of we've been given that opportunity to hit the restart button. And so, now it's taking that and having the opportunity to be involved. Opportunity is huge. And so, creating opportunities, having opportunities, opportunities to be together, opportunities to perform, opportunities to be part of services—no matter what it is, that we can get back in and just show those around and come together, for us as well to just be part of that spiritual music atmosphere. And then kind of creating that accessibility. Not everybody is ready to make that jump back into a building yet. I know lots are, but there's still many who aren't or many who don't have that opportunity. And so, I think with some of the digital abilities that we've created, and the opportunities that we have, allow us to reach a group of our congregation that we might not have been able to reach before we developed this ability to be digital. If people are at home and they're not able to leave for medical reasons or whatever reason, they can still experience that ministry, right where they're at.

Kristin Ostensen 

For sure. And on a personal level, what makes banding a rewarding ministry for you?

Matt Barby

The opportunity to share my passion for music, my passion for the gospel with those around me—whether it's when I'm playing and I'm part of a group, whether I'm leading the group, or talking to people who have been either in the congregation or the audience, or wherever I am. Finding that every time someone comes up to me and says, You know what, I really appreciate that song that you chose, or the words that went along with that, or how it was how it came across—for me, that's rewarding. I connected with somebody through music. And for the one person who comes up to talk to me about that, how many others are quietly sitting there thinking the same thing? And that's something that has kind of grown with me. The more I get in this, the more I appreciate what we have the opportunity to do. And the more, having kind of almost lost it for two years, the more I appreciate the opportunity to be back and to be part of that.

Kristin Ostensen 

For sure. And speaking of being back, we're heading into a new season, the fall season for Impact Brass. Can you tell us what's ahead for Impact Brass this coming year? And what are you looking forward to most?

Matt Barby

I'm looking forward to connecting with everybody, and to be able to bring that youthful energy together and develop that fellowship and that ministry that we can go forward with.

Kristin Ostensen 

Well, thanks so much for joining us today. This has been such a good conversation. I'm really excited to see what God has for our music ministry heading into new year, heading out of the pandemic. And I wish you the best as you take on this new role with Impact Brass.

Matt Barby

Thank you so much for having me. It was a pleasure to meet you and a pleasure to kind of just have a chance to talk about where we're headed and get myself even a little bit more excited about what's going to happen. Thank you.

Kristin Ostensen 

Thanks for joining us for another episode of the Salvationist podcast. For more episodes, visit salvationist.ca/podcast. And now, here's “To Ask the Lord's Blessing,” performed live by Impact Brass at Guelph Citadel last spring.

[band music]