Melbourne Staff Songsters
From Sawiki
History Of The MSS
The historical roots of the Melbourne Staff Songsters go back much further than the Inaugural Festival in 1987.
The desire to make music unto the Lord was so inbuilt in The Salvation Army that very early in it's Australian history, groups known by such names as The Speaking, Singing and Praying Brigade and the Western Musical Company were formed. The function and effect of these groups is seen by such reports as: "they are a band of blood and fire soldiers wo are going around various Melbourne corps doing what they can in their humble way to bring rebels of sin to the foot of the cross"; and "never were such crowds seen here before, and certianly the Salvation Army work here has not recieved a greater impetus than now"
These early groups became popular, and paved the way for the dispatch of the Federal Choralists for a tour of West and South Australia. Made up of seven ladies and five men, the brigade included five members who were from New Zealand.
The brigade continued in this form untill 1933. The years that followed saw a succession of "staff type" groups under various titles. In 1944 the final mention of a brigade was the Headquarters Songsters
Then in 1978 during the rehearsals for the musical "Glory" several cast members discussed the possibility of forming a special group of singers within the ranks of The Salvation Army. This led to the formation of The Masters Singers. This group continued until the early part of 1987.
In April 1987, 25 Songsters from around Melbourne, under the leadership of Owen Harris and Executive Officer Lieut.Colonel Keith Earl, were inaugurated as The Melbourne Staff Songsters by Commissioner Donald Campbell.
The group has changed over the years, in leaders as well as singers. Rod Reeve took over the leadership of the MSS in 1989 after holding the deputy leadership role since April 1987. Rod retained this position for 14 years until his retirement in 2003. Past Executive Officers include, Lieut.Col Denis Lorimer, Lieut.Col Ian Begley, Majors Ian Smith, Iain Trainor, Brian Mundy and Lieut. Col Pam Trigg. The current Executive Officer being Major Leanne Ruthven.
The Melbourne Staff Songsters performs at major Salvation Army events as well as visiting many country, interstate and international centres - the group has toured to all States of Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Canada.
Personnel are drawn from Salvation Army centres around Melbourne, as well as Ballarat and Geelong. Whilst their major role is performing as a choir, the group have included a number of individual quality soloists within the group including Graham Sapwell- the piano and keyboard accompanist.
As well as performing Salvation Army music, their repertoire includes sacred and classical music from a variety of sources. The MSS's presentation is traditional, contemporary and innovative, reflecting the wide variety of music styles now enjoyed by audiences of all ages.
