Dressed as Sousa, Bandleader Strikes a Chord with Kids

Keith Brion prepared for Tuesday’s noontime concert at Cal State Fullerton by spraying his hair white, darkening his eyebrows with a black pencil, putting on a braided uniform and slipping on white gloves.

Then, with baton in hand, he stepped on the platform as John Philip Sousa, the composer and bandmaster who gained fame earlier this century for such marches as “Semper Fidelis,” “El Capitan” and “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”

As Sousa did between the 1890s and 1932, Brion conducted a lively concert punctuated by the whistles and applause of a receptive audience. He led the university’s Wind Ensemble in the fast-paced performance, a 20-minute sampling of a two-hour public performance he put on later Tuesday.

The early concert was geared to teach elementary students about Sousa, who died in 1932 at age 77.

“It’s just a fun thing but it’s also educational,” said Brion, 64, former director of bands at Yale University. “It takes people back in time while preserving Sousa’s unique style, which is worth keeping.”

Brion presented a slide show before the concert, telling the youngsters about the composer’s life, including his appointment in 1880 as leader of the U.S. Marine Band.

“It became so successful that he formed his own band in 1892 and he became the most famous bandmaster in America,” Brion said.

“Sousa was one of the most famous people of his time,” he continued. “He would wear a new pair of white gloves for every concert and he gave them away after each concert.”

Although Brion’s slide show and costume change kept the students engaged, it was the concert that had them cheering, especially as the ensemble concluded with “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” and the unfurling of a giant American flag.

Said 12-year-old Adam O’Neal, of Fullerton: “That was good. I liked it.”