Percy Jewett Burrell - Early Life, Education, and Early Role in Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia

Early Life, Education, and Early Role in Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia

Born to Joseph and Alice Burrell of the Beacon Hill area of Boston on February 10, 1877, Percy Burrell attended the Phillips Grammar School in Boston, from which he graduated in 1891, and the English High School of Boston, from which he graduated in 1894.

He studied oratory at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, graduating with a Diploma in Elocution in 1896. He later received the post-graduate degree of Bachelor of Oratory (B.O.) from Boston University, where he later took coursework in Methodist theology, and was initiated into Boston University's chapter of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. According to former Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia national historian John Mongiovi, "lthough Burrell achieved high marks in his course work in theology at Boston University, he left in 1902 without graduating. It is possible that this departure can be attributed to his increasing spiritual and philosophical involvement in the Sinfonia and the influence of Masonic principles which strongly characterized the organization during this time".

Burrell was initiated into Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia's Alpha Chapter at New England Conservatory in 1899, and soon thereafter was elected as the chapter's second president in January 1900. His leadership was significant as the now nationwide fraternity had only recently been founded at the Conservatory during the previous school year in October 1898; it would not be until two years later that a national or "supreme" president would be elected. Thus, he was in a position to influence the direction of the fraternity as it grew from the campus of the conservatory to other campuses, initially to Pennsylvania and New York in the fall of 1900. During the years of his supreme presidency from 1907 to 1914, the fraternity expanded to include chapters in Missouri, Illinois, Maryland, Indiana, Oklahoma, Ohio, and Kansas. For more specific information on the specific chapters and campuses involved, see {Chapters of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia}.

Burrell also wrote the lyrics to two fraternity songs included in early editions of the fraternity's songbook, to one of which music was composed by American composer George Whitefield Chadwick, director of the New England Conservatory from 1897 to 1930 and the second honorary member of the fraternity. Burrell was called upon to serve as commencement speaker at the Conservatory in 1908, and was published several times in the New England Conservatory Quarterly. His writings at that time reflected an advocacy for the promotion of oratory in the public schools. As of 1910, Burrell was serving as a trustee of the conservatory. In 1897, he had published a sixteen-page work entitled Oratory in the Public Schools.