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).
They had me back again for the fourth time! But this time, on 26 October at The Bellittini retirement community in Bellevue, it was to perform a different one-hour trumpet show.
“In Retrospect” is designed to draw the audience into recalling many common experiences that we all share through our lifetimes–when we were teenagers, when we were dating, when we were grown and single and later married, when we were raising children, when we were very happy, when we had troubles, when we lost someone whom we dearly loved, and as we are now, aging. I selected 24 popular songs from the residents’ era that are about many such common experiences.
How does a solo trumpet evoke such memories? Well, first, I use four horns and second, I play songs written to express those specific life circumstances. We simply match the song’s message and sentiment with the most compatible horn.
Each horn has a different timbre (“tam’-ber”), meaning tone quality or tone color. The sound of the trumpet and pocket trumpet is brilliant white, sharp, piercing. The cornet produces a more rounded, mellow, tan tone. The flugelhorn’s sound is big, fat, round, deep, rich brown, similar to a euphonium or mellophone. So, for the sad, slow, blues song, “St. James Infirmary,” I use the flugelhorn. For the bouncy, happy, fun song, “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” I use the trumpet. For the dreamy, lilting love song, “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” I use the cornet with a Bach 8C mouthpiece. For the idealistic, wistful, slow song, “When I Fall in Love,” I use the cornet with a Denis Wick 4 mouthpiece.
It all works quite well. The audience likes it. “In Retrospect” is becoming a favorite show of mine. You should hear it!
Please click on the images below to see the full instruments.
This was my fifth performance at Fairwinds, Brighton Court (FBC) in Lynnwood–the most, so far, at any of the 29 retirements communities in the Greater Seattle area where I have presented at least one of my six trumpet shows!
Glenn Ledbetter plays “You’re a Grand Old Flag” on his Jupiter pocket trumpet.
The occasion, this time, was Flag Day, the 14th of June 2023. Flag Day commemorates the adoption on 14 June 1777, by resolution of the Second Continental Congress, of the USA flag. The idea of celebrating this event was born in 1885. For more information about Flag Day, please use the Archives column to the left to see my blog post of 16 July 2019.
At FBC, I performed my show, “I Stand for the Flag,” which consists of about two dozen patriotic marches, songs, and bugle calls. I used four instruments: my Getzen trumpet and bugle, Super Olds Cornet, and Jupiter pocket trumpet. With the trumpet, bugle and pocket trumpet, I used my Yamaha Allen Vizzutti mouthpiece, and with my cornet, I used to two mouthpieces, a Denis Wick 4 and Bach 8C.
My last post here was in last July, about 9-1/2 months ago. Why so long ago? For a whole variety of reasons, but let me name the Big Four:
Too busy/lazy in most of July 2022
Traveling from August to mid-October
Fracture in lower back, plus sciatica, on 1 December
Recovery/rehab from December to present
Last December, I was forced to cancel four trumpet shows at retirement communities in Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond, and La Conner, and neither could I sound “Echo Taps” at the annual Wreaths Across America ceremony at Veterans Cemetery at Evergreen-Washelli in Seattle, as I have done since 2011. For three months, I had to cancel all by trumpet lessons with my students.
And now, finally, after a total of almost five months, thank God, “I’m Back in the Saddle Again,” as Gene Autrey crooned in my youth. Proof? A bone-density test showed that I don’t have osteoporosis. Recent X-rays revealed that the fracture has healed. I don’t have to wear a back brace anymore. I still use the walker or cane often, for safety, but not always, as I had to for the first three months. I’m getting out-and-about more and more!
And the best proof of all is that on 21 April, I performed my one-hour trumpet show, “In Retrospect,” at Aljoya, Mercer Island, driving myself on the freeways, both to and fro. It consists of about two dozen hit songs from the residents’ era, and they get to sing (and hum) along! I used four of my five horns—trumpet, cornet, pocket trumpet, and flugelhorn, but not my bugle. It was my third appearance at Aljoya, M.I. They have now seen/heard two of my six shows. This was the first time I’ve been able to play my new flugelhorn in public. It was a Christmas gift from my wife. I used it for “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning,” “Alfie,” and “St. James Infirmary Blues.”
Meanwhile, just for the record, here are the 17 articles that I could have written and posted during the past 9-1/2 months, if this or that had or had not happened:
2 July – “I Stand for the Flag” performed at The Bellettini in Bellevue
17 June 2022 – “Where Were You, Back Then?” at Merrill Gardens at Renton Centre
4 July – “I Stand for the Flag” at Aljoya, Thornton Place in North Seattle
5 August – Attended 71st Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Edinburgh, Scotland (our fifth attendance)
30 September – Performed “Taps” for my high school classmate, Eddie Ray Hendrikson, USAF Veteran, at Coastal Bend State Veterans Cemetery in Texas
1 October – Performed abbreviated show for my classmates at our high school reunion in Texas
2 November – Performed “Echo Taps” with Laurence Stusser, trumpeter, as the “echo” at the dedication ceremony for the Gold Star Families Memorial Monument in Lynnwood
9 November – “I Stand for the Flag” at The Bellettini
10 November – “I Stand for the Flag” at University House, Wallingford in Seattle
11 November – Entire ceremony at Veterans Park cancelled by the City of Lynnwood; no “Echo Taps”
12 November – One of my trumpet students played “I Ain’t Worried” at Lessons In Your Home’s Fall Recital in Phinney Ridge in Seattle
14 November – “I Stand for the Flag” at Fairwinds, Brighton Court in Lynnwood
2, 5, 16, 17, & 22 December – the five cancellations mentioned above
So far this year, I’ve been very cautious about committing to my usual busy schedule of performances. Right now, I’m booked for only 8 more performances. But now that “I’m Back in the Saddle Again,” I’m ready for more!
By Angel Johnson of Aljoya, Mercer Island:
Singing “When I’m 64”
By Greg Asimakopoulos:
Flugelhorn, “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning”
It’s always nice to be invited back to perform one of my six trumpet shows for the residents of a retirement home. And so it was, on the 4th of March, that I drove to Merrill Gardens retirement community in Burien to present my show, “In Retrospect,” comprised of 25 hit songs from the residents’ era. Last July, I had performed “I Stand for the Flag” (25 patriotic marches, songs and bugle calls) there in my VFW uniform.
Here’s a sample of the popular songs in the “In Retrospect” repertoire:
I Whistle a Happy Tune
When I Fall in Love
You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby
Dream a Little Dream of Me
I’ve Got the World on a String
Money, Money, Money
You Are My Sunshine
When I’m 64
What a Wonderful World
God Bless America
I use three horns: my trumpet, cornet, and pocket trumpet and by inserting my Denis Wick 4 mouthpiece into the cornet, it sounds much like a flugelhorn. People sing along and I tell a few jokes.
Glenn Ledbetter performs at University House, Issaquah. Photo by Tina Kaiser.
Era Living has 8 retirement communities in the Greater Seattle area, and on five consecutive days around Veterans Day (11 November) I performed my trumpet show, “I Stand for the Flag,” at five of them (please see http://www.eraliving.com). I hope to perform at the other three in 2022.
If there were such a thing as a contest among these five for Best Veterans Day Decorations, then First Prize would have to be awarded to The Gardens at Town Square in Bellevue, where is Stephanie Butler is Life Enrichment Director. See photos below.
Interesting people come to talk with me after a show. For example, a lady at Ida Culver House, Ravenna in Seattle said her husband (deceased) was a direct descendant of Gen. Daniel A. Butterfield. With the help of his brigade bugler, Oliver Wilcox Norton in July 1862 during the Civil War, Butterfield composed the bugle call, “Taps,” at Harrison’s Landing, Virginia after the Seven Days Battle. Please see my blog article about this, dated 19 November 2012.
After my show at University House, Wallingford (UHW) in Seattle, a man and his wife told me that her ancestry tree includes a relationship with Frances Scott Key. Key, of course, is the author of the poem which became the lyrics of our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
I wear my VFW Honor Guard uniform when I perform this show, which consists of patriotic marches, songs, and bugle calls. And I use four horns: my Getzen Eterna Severinsen trumpet, Super Olds cornet, Getzen field trumpet (bugle), and Jupiter pocket trumpet. Next spring, I’ll be able to add my new Austin Custom Brass Doubler flugelhorn, which is now on order as a Christmas gift from my wife.
My six one-hour trumpet shows include sing-alongs and jokes. They are:
“I Stand for the Flag” – Patriotic marches, songs and bugle calls
“Things Remembered” – A mix of Christmas songs and popular songs loved by residents
“Showtune Favorites” – Hit songs from musicals and movies
“In Retrospect” – More of residents’ favorite songs
“St. Patrick’s Day Celebration” – Irish ballads, jigs and reels
“Where Were You, Back Then?” – Popular songs from selected years during residents’ era
Normally, “I Stand for the Flag” consists of 25 pieces of music. However, this time, the Executive Director of UHW, Deborah Montelaro, asked me to combine the music with a talk about Veterans affairs. That reduced the pieces to 16, and I performed that version of the show at four of the five venues.
I have now performed at least one of these shows at 24 different retirement communities in the Greater Seattle area, and I look forward to many more appearances in 2022, Covid and God willing.
9 Nov – Aljoya, Mercer Island (Photos courtesy of Aljoya and me)
10 Nov – University House, Issaquah (photos by Tina Kaiser of UHI and me)
11 Nov – Ida Culver House, Ravenna (photos courtesy of ICHR and me)
12 Nov – The Gardens at Town Square, Bellevue (Photos courtesy of TGTS by me)
13 Nov – University House, Wallingford, Seattle (Photos courtesy of UHW and me)
Partial view of audience, “I Stand for the Flag” trumpet show at Fairwinds Brighton Court, Lynnwood, Independence Day, 2019
It was a special joy, coming back to Fairwinds Brighton Court in Lynnwood to perform my second one-hour trumpet show there. The audience was large—about 60. It’s where my dear mother-in-law, Ruth MacDonald, occupied Room 344 for three years, and she used to love to come to the room pictured above to hear musicians play and sing.
Juna Davies, piano, accompanies Glenn Ledbetter, Getzen trumpet
This time, my show was “I Stand for the Flag,” comprised of 25 patriotic marches and songs. It was on Independence Day, the Fourth of July, in the afternoon, right after I had marched among other veterans in the Edmonds Parade, carrying the Navy flag and my Getzen bugle. My former performance at Brighton Court was of another of my shows, “Showtune Favorites” (please see my blog post of 29 September 2018).
At both performances, I was accompanied on the piano for certain songs by Juna Davies, a fellow resident and friend of Ruth’s. Together, we played six songs this time:
“The Navy Hymn” (Eternal Father, Strong to Save)
“This is My Country”
“America the Beautiful”
“God Bless America”
“You’re a Grand Old Flag”
“The Star-Spangled Banner”
Photos are courtesy of Fairwinds Brighton Court. Please click on any photo to enlarge it.
“You’re a Grand Old Flag”—Glenn Ledbetter, Jupiter pocket trumpet, and Juna Davies, piano
“I Stand for the Flag” trumpet show at Covenant Shores on Flag Day, 14 June 2019
On Flag Day, 14 June, I returned to Covenant Shores Retirement Community on Mercer Island to perform a different show from the one I had performed about 13 months earlier. That was a show named “Showtune Favorites,” and this one is called “I Stand for the Flag.” It consists of 25 patriotic marches and songs and a bugle call, “Tattoo.” About 60 residents attended—an excellent turnout. To ensure that everyone could sing the last six songs to close the show, Nile Clarke and Chaplain Greg Asimakoupoulos distributed my handout of the lyrics to:
The Navy Hymn (Eternal Father, Strong to Save)
This is My Country
America the Beautiful
God Bless America
You’re a Grand Old Flag
The Star-Spangled Banner
It was grand.
On Flag Day, this retirement community was called “Covenant Shores,” but on 25 June, 11 days later, its name changed to “Covenant Living at the Shores.” This reflects its parent company’s own name change to Covenant Living Communities and Services (please see https://www.covliving.org/). For more information on this widely-known and revered Mercer Island retirement community, please see my blog post of 24 May 2018 and https://www.covlivingshores.org.
Fairfield, WA Flag Day Parade—110 consecutive years, 1910-2019
Flag Day
Flag Day commemorates the adoption on June 14, 1777, by resolution of the Second Continental Congress, of the USA flag. In 1885, the idea of celebrating this event was born in Waubeka, Wisconsin when a 19-year old schoolteacher placed a 10″ flag with 38 stars in an inkwell and had his students write essays on what the flag means to them. He became a lifetime advocate of an annual observance, honoring of the birth of the flag. Flag ceremonies on 14 June had become quite prevalent by 1916, prompting President Woodrow Wilson to issue a proclamation establishing Flag Day as an annual national event. In 1949, President Harry S. Truman signed the legislation that designated 14 June 14th as national Flag Day and calling upon the President to issue a Flag Day proclamation annually. It is not an official, federal holiday.
Citizens display the flag at their homes and communities hold parades on Flag Day. And in 2010, the small farming town of Fairfield, Washington (southeast of Spokane, near the Idaho border) celebrated its “Centennial Parade”—the longest continuing Flag Day Parade in the nation, having begun there in 1910. That year, the census count established Fairfield’s population as 612. Please see https://fairfieldflagday.com/. In contrast, Appleton, Wisconsin (population almost 73,000 in 2010) holds an annual Flag Day Parade that draws crowds of 75,000 from the city and its surrounding region. Please see https://www.facebook.com/Appleton-Flag-Day-Parade-90849509066/.
Photos at Covenant Shores by Rev. Greg Asimakoupoulos, Chaplain. Please click on any photo to enlarge it.
Lyrics handout
Rev. Greg Asimakoupoulos, Chaplain, with two patriotic residents of Covenant Shores
“We have lived in the best nation in the best period of human history.”
L to R: Nile Clarke, Glenn Ledbetter, Rev. Greg Asimakoupoulos, Chaplain, Covenant Shores
Jupiter pocket trumpet used when playing “You’re a Grand Old Flag”
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Glenn's Trumpet Notes 