For eloquence is born of truth of heart, molded in purity of mind, and flows from lips that know no fear.
-From "The True Orator" by Percy Jewett Burrell

It is difficult to capture the entirety of a man in words, however many the words are and however deep they penetrate into the core of his being. It is not impossible, however, to identify major themes that helped to define a person, especially when enough material is present that represents the man. Percy Jewett Burrell, Alpha (New England Conservatory) 1899, is one of the most well-known figures in Fraternity history, and also one of the most prolific in terms of writing and influence. But his life outside Phi Mu Alpha was equally as prolific, and he was a noted figure in his day for more than just his ties to our organization. But, and here is the key, much of what he did outside Sinfonia was a reflection of that which Sinfonia stands for. The two, his fraternal life and "outer" life, were intertwined in vision and purpose, making Burrell a figure of equal inspiration to both fraternity brothers and those outside Sinfonia.

Burrell was a well-regarded orator, director, and public speaker, and these found their greatest purchase in his most ambitious works: pageants. Known as a "Master Pageant Master," well over a million people were witness to pageants that Burrell directed – and sometimes wrote – during his lifetime. It's difficult to describe the scope of such pageants, for there are few modern analogies to be made. Often taking place on football fields or battlefields, pageants would routinely involve thousands of people. They had elements of modern plays, with dramatic scenes acted out; there was music played in transition or as accompaniment to the action; symbolic dances were choreographed and performed, sometimes coordinated between multiple areas or stages; and entire swaths of history or education were addressed in pageants, either to instruct or to glorify some aspect of history. And all of these things were blended into a coherent whole, aimed at the uplift of those in attendance as well as those who performed.

The numbers most frequently quoted for participants are between one and three thousand, though as many as 6,500 were said to be involved in certain productions. It is interesting that, in many pageants, Burrell distinguishes specifically between "Historical" and "Symbolic" actors. Hundreds of people, for example, might represent the concept of Greed. This representation could manifest in song, poetry, dance, or other form, but the pageants blended the historical with the allegorical. For Burrell, these pageants displayed active, abstract concepts and ideals directly affecting those throughout history. For a man to whom ideals were so vital, as we already know, is it any wonder that he would see the influence of ideals throughout the entirety of humanity? Phi Mu Alpha is founded upon ideals, and our actions are manifestations of these ideals, so our approach is no different. With the proper ideals instilled within a man, reflective actions will follow. This is not a revolutionary concept. But the teaching of ideals on such a large scale, which is accomplished by both Burrell's pageants and the Fraternity, can be a powerful force in society.

We need not guess at such metaphoric intentions in his pageants. Burrell's own thoughts and words on pageants create the link for us. "Indeed the American pageant is one of the most spiritual and civilizing influences alive in our land today," he says in the foreword to one of his pageants. "Not only is one of the best gifts that the pageant bestows upon the people a keener spirit of neighborliness and a deeper social consciousness, but through the media of the fine arts of drama, the dance and music, the pageant touches the soul in such a way that it gives forth expression in patriotic, reverential and idealistic aspects of life. Of what else can one say more?" The nationalistic and idealistic nature of his approach to pageants could easily be seen as a different approach to the Fraternity's Object. "Hence the value of a great pageant to both participant and spectator, in the building-up process of American communities and institutions, is incalculable," Burrell writes elsewhere. "The impulses of art, education, patriotism and religion, reach out and select this form of expression as a means of revelation of life itself." A revelation of life itself. His work meant nothing less to him.

Burrell's life's work is also a reminder that while we are a brotherhood consisting largely of students, teachers, and performers of music, the goals of our Fraternity include the uplift of all mankind through our brotherhood and our music. He reminds us of the scope of our mission directly with his words: "Brotherhood! The brotherhood of men! What spiritual significance! Do we catch its true meaning? Does it give us a real and vital experience? Do we get a spiritual insight? Do we look out with a broader vision? Do we think in terms and live in acts of brotherhood? If we do, we move in harmony..." In one of the pageants Burrell directed, the Pageant of Liberty, the central focus is that of our nation's founding. The Epilogue to the pageant is titled "The Heritage of Liberty" and is an unequivocal statement of the responsibility that comes with our inheritance of a nation founded upon high ideals. Of it, Burrell writes, "[the Epilogue] is an attempt through the symbolism of processional, pantomime, tableau and dance, so to stir patriotism and promote religion that the individual and the community itself will be more conscious than ever that the future of a city, as well as a state and a nation, depends upon the high ideals and spiritual vision, not of a few, but of all its citizens." Change a few cursory details, and the message is the same for both Phi Mu Alpha and pageants. We are the inheritors responsible for a fraternal organization that has existed since 1898. To paraphrase Burrell, this organization is dependent on the "ideals and vision, not of a few, but of all its members." It's a beautiful charge, one Burrell worked his entire life to instill in others.

Mills Music Missions, originally called Flower Missions when Ossian Mills first put them on, are perhaps the most well-known example of one of our earliest members doing something outside fraternal bounds that reflects fraternal ideals. Percy Burrell, through the direction and vision of his life as lived through both pageants and Phi Mu Alpha, is no less an example. This should make us proud as Sinfonians that the foundations of our organization were laid by such passionate, inspired men, and serve as example as we move forward as individuals and, collectively, as Sinfonians.

"Go forth! Go forth! Open your eyes, your eyes, to the light; Go forth! Go forth! With heart and mind responding; Go forth! Go forth! With courage never failing; Go forth! Go forth!"
-lyrics from music to "The Pageant of Time"