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Winning entry in Rose Parade march competition announced at Welcome of Cadets.
by Karl Larrson –
The Salvation Army has participated in “America’s New Year Celebration,” the Tournament of Roses Parade, for 92 years consecutively. For the last 10 years, the band has been playing Chris Mallet’s “Tournament of Roses 2000” as they marched past the cameras, delivering their message to a TV audience estimated at over 250 million people.
This year, Divisional Music Secretary Kevin Larsson decided to launch a contest to find a new piece of music. The rules were simple: Use melodies from an approved list to write a march that was immediately attractive to the listener, easy to play and memorize, and clearly conveys the message of Jesus Christ.
Advertisements were placed in Army magazines worldwide, and soon, composers from Australia, Canada, Chile, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Sweden, The Philippines, England, Scotland and USA were submitting material. In total, over 50 marches were submitted. These entries were narrowed down to five finalists, which were recorded and uploaded to a special voting page on saytunes.com.
Larsson was surprised with the response: “I was a little nervous starting this competition as I was not sure if there would be much interest. I realized we had something special when so many composers started registering almost immediately from so many countries. The response was overwhelming. ”
After 10 days of voting, with over 3,000 votes cast, Commissioner James Knaggs announced the winner during the Welcome of Cadets on Sept. 11, 2010: “Stand Up, Stand Up!” by Scottish composer Paul Drury. Drury will be flown over to see his march played in person as part of the 2011 Tournament of Roses Parade, “the biggest open air in the world.”
To listen to the march online, visit saytunes.com/roses.
