Tulsan Leads Famous Army Band
ARTS AND ARMS: Army Sergeant Major Jack R. Tilbury lives a life of arts and arms as the enlisted leader of the Army band, one of the nation's oldest performing arts institutions.
By BOBBY MATHIS
By JOHN B. DENDY IV
Army and Air Force News Service
As the crowd pours through security barriers and makes its way to its objective between the White House and the Washington Monument, the soldier, adrenaline pumping through his veins, prepares to defend his country. But, for the son of a Tulsa man, it’s not a rifle he’s going to bear on the crowd before him?it?s the sweet sound of patriotic music.
Firmly established in the professions of both arts and arms, Army Sergeant Major Jack R. Tilbury, son of Tulsan Melvin A. Tilbury, plays a creative role in Washington as the enlisted leader of the U.S. Army Band-one of the country’s oldest and most purposeful performing arts institutions.
Essentially, Tilbury is part of the house band for the President. The band, known as Pershing’s Own after its creator, Army General John J. Pershing, maintains a tradition of excellence that began in 1922 as the premier musical organization of the Army.
The band is made up of nine ensembles. Tilbury and fellow soldiers simultaneously fan out to support military funerals and ceremonies in Arlington National Cemetery, the White House, the Pentagon, the Supreme Court and, each year, they play Carnegie Hall in New York City to bring the Army to the nation.
“I’m the enlisted leader of the band, and the unit sergeant major. I’m responsible for all aspects of training and other personnel issues for the band,” said the 1967 graduate of Sapulpa High School. ?I also serve as the enlisted advisor to the commander, making me in charge of personal and professional counseling for 270 band members.
“I’m often called upon to conduct the band in ceremonies and concerts and serve as the tuba player in the army Brass Quintet,” added Tilbury, who graduated from Wichita State University with a bachelor’s in music education.
Visitors to the Army Band facility next to Arlington enter a self-sufficient artistic community for 250 people, with federal recording studios and a private library where military sheet music is pulled for study by streams of uniformed composers, vocalists, musicians, conductors, choreographers, and technicians. The creative operations center prepares Tilbury to represent the Army image on many of the band’s recordings and 6,000 annual events.
“This is a very important time to be a member of the United States Army,” he said. “As a member of this proud team, we all have a special role to play. My role is that of a performer, as well as an administrator. It is quite unique that it allows me to actually be part of the same workforce that I supervise. Few people get an opportunity like that.”
Being a part of the nation’s definitive military music performance organization separates Tilbury from all other soldiers and musicians. It also produces a life story different from the norm for people in the professions of arts and arms.
“Over my 31-year career with the Army Band, I have performed for seven presidents,” he said. “My travels have taken me to Japan, Australia, Europe, and all across North America. I have played for kings, queens, and presidents of countless foreign countries. In 1983, I helped found the Army Band Tuba-Euphonium Conference and served as its chairman from 1995 to 2002.” Tuba and euphonium players from around the world attend this annual event.
“If I had to pick one mission that, in my mind, overshadows all the rest, it would be performing with the band at the World Trade Center site for the memorial service for victims of the September 11 attacks,” he adds. “This took place three weeks after the attacks. To be on that hallowed ground while smoke was still rising from the rubble and to look into the faces of the firefighters while we played ‘God Bless America’-it was an experience I’ll never forget.”
And even as a triple bill of threats brings the nations military into the spotlight for its efforts on the field of battle in operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, Tilbury and the rest of Pershing’s Own soldiers continue to aim their music at the hearts of America to bring the nation and its military closer together.
Updated 11-24-2004
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