Friday, Jul. 04, 2008

Stars and stripes ... forever

Bryan Shelburne has led trombones through the rocket's red glare. He has directed woodwinds by the dawn's early light and urged bass drums and tenor voices to rise above the fruited plain.

Few things can stir patriotism on the Fourth of July like music. And few can boast this man's credentials when it's time to strike up the band.

Bryan retired in May 2000 as a colonel in the Army, where he served as leader and commander of The United States Army Band, sometimes known as "Pershing's Own" after Gen. John J. Pershing, who founded the band in 1922.

He was in charge of the seven performing groups under the umbrella of the U.S. Army Band - a concert band, a ceremonial band, a brass band, an orchestra, herald trumpets, a male chorus and a mixed male/female chorale.

In Washington, D.C., his groups performed for Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton. His musical direction filled the ears of kings, queens and countless foreign heads of state.

He has shared stages with the likes of Walter Cronkite, Liza Minnelli, Lou Rawls, Charlton Heston and the Radio City Rockettes. He has lifted his baton to musical scores in every state and halfway around the world in venues from Carnegie Hall to presidential inaugurations to Army-Navy football games.

He also served as leader of the U.S. Military Academy Band at West Point, N.Y. Even his "abbreviated rŽsumŽ" is a full page.

And we can now claim him as one of our own.

Bryan and his wife, Sareta, moved to Macon from Indianapolis last year to be closer to their daughter, Kerri Thompson, and her husband, Doug, and grandchildren Ethan and Evan. (Doug teaches at Mercer.)

On the Fourth of July, Bryan turns back the memories to a special time in his storied musical career when he was an associate conductor with the Armed Forces Bicentennial Band and Chorus.

The bicentennial band and chorus, which existed from October 1975 to April 1977, was one of the most unique and heralded collection of military musicians in history. They were brought together from all five service branches - Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard - to help America celebrate its 200th birthday in 1976.

"It was financed by the Department of Defense as a gift to the nation and as a musical affirmation of this country's history to its people to encourage, to lift spirits and to inspire," Bryan said.

It also had a healing power.

"We were all still licking our wounds from Vietnam," he said. "It gave us permission to feel good about ourselves as a country again."

The first concert was Feb. 25, 1975, in Washington, D.C. The final concert was Dec. 7, 1976, in Atlantic City, N.J. The 376 performances were viewed by almost 1.6 million people in all 50 states (256 cities), Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Of course, the most high-profile concert came on July 4, 1976, at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The band and chorus were part of festivities that drew more than 500,000 people. The narrator for the historic event was Moses, better known as Charlton Heston.

"It never got old for me," said Bryan. "The tour was a way to energize and give people an opportunity to express their feelings about their country. There was a synergy. I had grown up in a small town in Texas, with deep roots in patriotism, so it was pretty powerful for me."

Bryan grew up the oldest of eight children. His father was a carpenter, so Bryan was practically born with a hammer in his hand. Eventually, he traded it for the slide of a trombone. His mother was a great music lover and together they would listen to the Texaco Metropolitan Opera Hour on the radio every Saturday.

When he was in the fifth grade, his family bartered with someone in the neighborhood who owned a trombone. Bryan had a talent for the brass instrument and did odd jobs in high school to buy a better one.

In college at Hardin-Simmons, he began to pursue a music career. It was there he met Sareta, who played the clarinet in the college band. It was love at first stanza.

Because he was in Army ROTC, he had a military commitment to fulfill during the Vietnam War in 1967.

"What are you doing in field artillery when you have two degrees in music?" a professor at Arizona State asked him.

"I didn't know I had an option," said Bryan.

It was the beginning of a long and beautiful military career that opened eyes, ears, hearts and plenty of doors.

The bicentennial tour concerts usually began and ended with an array of patriotic songs, from the "Star Spangled Banner" to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" to the rousing "Stars and Stripes Forever."

But other selections on the program ranged from musical tributes to John Philip Sousa marches to Broadway show tunes and old spirituals.

"I believe in the power of music and the impact of the text. So, whenever it came together with music, words and narration, there was hardly anything more powerful than that," he said.

He still serves as an occasional guest conductor and speaker. He also is co-founder and co-owner of Global Educational Tours, based in Indiana, a travel agency that takes groups on trips anywhere in the world.

"I tell people when I was with the Army Band it was all about music, people and travel," he said, laughing. "Now it's about travel, people and music."

Reach Gris at 744-4275 or gris@macon.com.