When I glissed up to the high Bb at the end of “The Star-Spangled Banner” and thus, to end my one-hour trumpet show, the audience went nuts, clapping, shouting, hooting and howling! It was my fourth performance at Quail Park Retirement Community in Lynnwood, and this time, the show was “I Stand for the Flag.” I was in my summer VFW Post 1040 Honor Guard uniform for the celebration of America’s 250th Independence Anniversary on the 4th of July. Hooray for our side!
In the past 8.5 years, I’ve performed at 43 different retirement communities in the Greater Seattle area, and I’ve never had a more enthusiastic, loud, proud, appreciative audience! That includes the staff, too, led by Dwi Parkinson, Life Engagement Director. They were exceptional on this grand holiday!
For this show, I always use all my horns—Getzen trumpet, Getzen bugle, Jupiter pocket trumpet, Super Olds cornet, and ACB (Austin Custom Brass) flugelhorn. The show consists of 24 patriotic marches, songs, and bugle calls.
Quail Park is quite large and includes both cottages and the main building (with two entrances) in a private setting. There is easy access to Alderwood Mall, downtown Lynnwood, I-5, I-405, and Everett. Its services include independent living, assisted living, enhanced assisted living, and memory care. Please see “Quail Park of Lynnwood Assisted Living Facilities, WA | Quail Park.
After sounding bugle calls in the morning at the Memorial Day ceremony, 26 May 2025, at Veterans Park in Lynnwood, I drove to (formerly) Edmonds Landing Retirement Community in Edmonds in the afternoon to perform my one-hour trumpet show, “I Stand for the Flag.” It consists of about two dozen patriotic marches, songs, and bugle calls. The residents sing along with me.
I have six one-hour trumpet shows. During this one, I use all five of my horns: Getzen trumpet and bugle, Jupiter pocket trumpet, ACB (Austin Custom Brass) flugelhorn, and Olds Super cornet (71 years old, given to me by my parents when I became a freshman in high school).
Photos courtesy of Edmonds Landing by Cogir. Please click on any photo to enlarge it.
Veterans Day, 11 November 2024, found me in Bellevue for my third performance at The Gardens at Town Square retirement community. That afternoon, I presented my one-hour trumpet show, “I Stand for the Flag” to a large, generous audience.
Actually, I have two versions of this show. In 2021, after the Covid Pandemic peaked, I performed the “talk version.” In this show, I not only play patriotic marches, songs, and bugle calls, but also, I talk about veterans’ current well-being, concerns, and activities. But this year, I performed the “standard version”–about two dozen pieces of music with a bit of talk to introduce each piece. The audience sings along as I play my five horns: Getzen Eterna Severinsen trumpet, Super Olds cornet, Austin Custom Brass (ACB) flugelhorn, Getzen bugle, and Jupiter pocket trumpet.
We had such a great time that I look forward to returning sometime in 2025, God willing. I have six different trumpet shows, so there’s plenty to choose from. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Audience heads for the concession stand (right background) during Intermission. Liz Dreisbach, band creator and director, stands in foreground.
On Sunday, 3 November (three days before John Philip Sousa’s 170th birthday), the Ballard Sedentary Sousa Band (BSSB) performed again in his honor at Kenyon Hall in West Seattle. As usual at this annual event, informally called the “Sousa Bash,” the hall was full of Sousa fans. Revered as “The March King,” Sousa composed 136 marches between 1873 and 1932, when he died.
The band performed 13 pieces, including a “Happy Birthday” song written especially for Sousa by Gary Pedersen. Nine of the marches were written by Sousa, and two others were by Henry Fillmore and Alex F. Lithgow. Sousa wrote the march, “El Captain,” in 1895 for an operetta of the same name. So, Ms. Dreisbach passed out the lyrics, written by Charles Klein, and the band and audience sang them together. One line is particularly fun to sing up-tempo—“Behold El Capitan–Gaze on his misanthropic stare, Notice his penetrating glare.”
Everyone recognizes Sousa’s “Semper Fidelis,” “Washington Post” and “Stars and Stripes Forever,” which the band performed. But the band also played his “King Cotton,” “Fairest of the Fair,” “The Belle of Chicago,” “The Thunderer,” and “Black Horse Troop.”
As I did last year, I played with the baritone section, using my Austin Custom Brass (ACB) flugelhorn (please see my post of 9 November 2023, using the Archives column on the left). For fun, each band member wears his/her own unique uniform.
For more information about the “Sousa Bash” and Kenyon Hall, see my post of 11 November 2023. Please click on any photo to enlarge it. I invite you to “Like” and “Comment” on this post by clicking on the links below.
Returning to seats after Intermission.Find the man eating popcorn and the man waving.Returning to seats after Intermission.Two beautiful baritones
It was Independence Day, and I was returning to Mercer Island, where I lived for 30 years (1973-2003), to perform my one-hour trumpet show, “I Stand for the Flag,” at Island House MBK Senior Living, a retirement community. Moreover, I was returning to Island House itself, where I had sounded “Taps” six years ago in a ceremony on Memorial Day, 28 May 2018. It was good to be back!
It was a bright, warm day, so the staff, led by Jacqueline Lilly, Director of Wellness Programming, set things up in the courtyard, where I and many of the audience sat under large, dark green umbrellas. I wore my VFW Honor Guard uniform, and as usual, played five horns–Getzen trumpet and field trumpet (bugle), Olds Super Cornet, ACB flugelhorn, and Jupiter pocket trumpet. The show consists of two dozen patriotic marches, songs, and bugle calls.
For more information about Island House, please see https://www.mbkseniorliving.com/senior-living/wa/mercer-island/island-house/. It is located downtown and offers assisted living and short-term stays in studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments. Photos courtesy of Island House, Mercer Island.
If it’s your birthday, where do you go? You go perform a one-hour trumpet show, “In Retrospect,” at Edmonds Landing in Edmonds, WA, because they invited you to do so! And that’s exactly what I did at 2 p.m. on 24 June. It was my third performance for the residents there, courtesy of Lifestyle Director, Sonia Pace.
For this show, I use four horns: Getzen trumpet, Olds Super cornet, ACB flugelhorn, and Jupiter pocket trumpet. I play about two dozen popular songs from the residents’ era. They were composed during the 84-year period from 1892 to 1976. As I play each song, I comment on it and relate it to something that we all experience at some time in our lives, including courtship, marriage, family, death, and national pride and loyalty. It’s a favorite of mine among my six different trumpet shows.
Edmonds Landing offers Independent Living and Assisted Living in 83 apartments on two floors in the “Edmonds Bowl.” It is part of the family of retirement communities operated by Frontier Senior Living (please see https:/www.frontiermgmt.com).
Photos courtesy of Edmonds Landing (except for poster).
Not only was this my first performance of my one-hour trumpet show [I have six different shows] at the Sunrise of Mercer Island retirement community, but also it was the first time I’ve ever been asked for my autograph! Ha, who am I?—Mickey Mantle? Joe Montana? Beethoven? Louis Armstrong? Nope. Just an ancient trumpet player, as old as dirt.
After I performed “I Stand for the Flag,” a lady in the front row handed me a pen and one of my handouts, so I happily signed it. Maybe I should have my survivors engrave that on my tombstone: “He signed one autograph.” Success!
Another elderly lady in a wheelchair rolled up to me and said, “I’m 100 years old, and that was the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard!”
Well, anyway, what a kick in the pants it was for me on the 248th birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps (10 November) and the day before Veterans Day 2023!
The resident capacity of this retirement community is only 48, and about 15 (~one third) attended my show. Two are Veterans, one Army and one Army Air Corps, WWII. And my goodness, did they all earnestly sing and hum along with me, as I played 24 patriotic marches, songs, and bugle calls. I used four horns, my Getzen trumpet and bugle, Super Olds cornet, and Austin Custom Brass (ACB) flugelhorn. They asked, so I explained the similarities and differences among them. At the end, we stood, said The Pledge of Allegiance, and rendered the “Star-Spangled Banner.”
Afterwards, they told the staff member who assisted me that they wanted me to come back for another show. What more could any old performer want—requests for both an autograph and a return performance? I’ll take that any day. “Play it again, Sam.”
Glenn's Trumpet Notes 