What is the modern tradition in North American Moravian worship?
Modern practice varies widely from congregation to congregation. There are certainly groups that play more or less exclusively prelude chorales, funeral services, and the Easter service–the authentic core repertoire. In most groups that meet on a more than occasional basis, however, the repertoire has expanded to encompass brass ensemble music beyond hymns. The group that has had the broadest influence in creating a modern repertoire and performance tradition is the Moravian Trombone Choir of Downey (California). This group was founded in 1965 and was led for many years by Jeffrey Reynolds, longtime bass trombonist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. From the 1970s onwards, this group attracted many of the best players in the LA area, and under Reynolds’s leadership, the choir collected a large repertoire of music composed and arranged specifically for the group, for example the Solemn Intrada for SSAATTBB Posaunenchor by composer Malcolm Forsyth. Reynolds himself is a skilled arranger,
