A discussion of Norman Bearcroft's 'Song of Exultation' as an example of The Salvation Army 'Selection'.

This paper will study Norman Bearcroft's work for solo comet and band, Song of Exultation. Song of Exultation is a piece that is the result of the traditions and conventions of Salvation Army musical composition. It is the intention of this paper to show that, within these conventions, this work is an example of The Salvation Army musical genre, the selection. Song of Exultation is more advanced and is on a larger scale than anything that S.P&S. usually publish bearing the title selection. However, it is the objective of this paper to show that Song of Exultation is true to the ethos of the selection, its compositional constructs and its function.