Music and The Salvation Army have been the central pillars of Deryck Diffey’s life

The ministry of music is the biggest ministry in the Bible,” declares Deryck Diffey. “If you go through the Bible, in almost every chapter there’ll be a hint that the ministry of music is the next thing to biblical teaching. All the priests in the Old Testament could play instruments, and if they didn’t play an instrument, I don’t think they made the priesthood.”

Music and The Salvation Army have been the two constants in Deryck’s life. An accomplished brass player, he could have achieved high renown in the entertainment world, but was never tempted to leave the Army. “I love jazz and big bands-in fact, I was asked to tour South Africa with the BBC Symphony Orchestra-but everything I needed to be a Christian was right here in the Army,” he declares simply.

Learning to Play
Deryck was born in Newport, on England’s Isle of Wright, into a family of Salvationists. His cornet-playing father was part of the corps band and his mother was the singing company leader as well as the songster organist.

Deryck’s first musical experience was discovering his father’s American-made cornet in a music case in the living room when he returned home one day. Ever inquisitive, the three-year-old proceeded to open it and started blowing away. “I got a hold of this thing and started making noises on it,” he recalls. “I figured if Dad could play this thing, I should be able to play it. My mother thought it was rather cute, but when Dad came home from work I was packed off to bed.”

When Deryck’s grandfather heard about this, he made a bargain with his father: “If you teach him how to play, I’ll buy him a cornet of his own.”

The very first solo four-year-old Deryck ever played was Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild. “And that was standing on the corps officer’s chair!” he chuckles. Why that song? “Because that was the tune my mother would sing with me when we knelt and prayed every night before I went to bed.”

Young Deryck’s early life on the Isle of Wright was idyllic, though he remembers some near misses from German bombs during the Second World War. Once while he, his mother and aunts were sunbathing on a nearby beach, they heard a low rumble. “We looked up and the sky was full of German bombers,” he recalls. They were on their way to bomb Southampton and Portsmouth. “Our entire family made a mad dash to the cover of a nearby drainpipe.” From that shelter, they watched the bombers jettison their loads in the water, British fighter planes in hot pursuit.

After the war, the Diffeys moved to the mainland, where young Deryck eventually joined the Tottenham Citadel band. Hard work and practice made their group one of the Army’s finest. After a stint in the British military, where he played in the Welsh Guards’ band, Deryck immigrated to Canada following a band tour in 1965 and became a founding member of the Canadian Staff Band in 1969, playing principal cornet for 27 years. Deryck retired from the CSB in 2001, but he continues to play and teach.

God-Given Talent
Research has shown that a two-hour concert by a brass player is the equivalent of an eight-hour day for a labourer. Most people are unaware of the many hours it takes to perfect a performance. In a typical week, Deryck averages 20 hours of practice.

“Recently,” recalls Deryck, “I put in five hours on Monday, followed by six hours on Tuesday, then a two-hour band practice at my home corps of Agincourt Community Church, Toronto. But I love every minute of it. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Part of the satisfaction Deryck’s had in his career is ministering through his music. One day, he encountered a bandsman who had been at a concert where Deryck had played decades before.

“I want to tell you something,” he said to Deryck. “I was at a point in my life where I was ready to walk out of the church and leave the Lord. But the turn-around point for me was when you stood up and played Tucker (‘Thou Christ of burning, cleansing flame’).”

“In cases like that, you don’t realize the effect you’ve had on a person until many years after,” says Deryck. “I’ve had people come to me with similar stories but that was one of the most outstanding ones.”

“I have a God-given talent and most of the people I mix with have similar talents,” believes Deryck. “When the Lord gives you something and you don’t use it for him, or someone persuades you not to use it, then you are committing a tremendous sin. So I am compelled to use it to the best of my ability.”

Deryck Diffey’s new CD, Playing on the Edge, is a compilation of various solos he has played with different bands over the years. It is available through supplies and purchasing

by Ken Ramstead, Associate Editor, Faith & Friends