Every summer, Dr. Gary Gilroy, professor of music and director of bands at Fresno State, camps with a group of friends, colleagues and former students in Lake Tahoe. The tradition, which started with a handful of people years ago, has slowly grown over the years.
This year was a bit different. It was the final summer before Gilroy’s retirement. He was also still recovering from an injured foot. While he was able to walk short distances, he primarily used a wheelchair to get around. So just before sunset, when he was summoned to walk across the street to the beach, he wasn’t crazy about the idea.
Gilroy made his way down as the sunset reflected ripples yellow and orange on the vast dark blue waters below the Sierra Nevada peaks. Drawing closer, he noticed a large crowd had gathered. A few more had joined the already large camping group.
“I had a feeling something was up,” Gilroy said.
Surrounded by family and friends, Gilroy was presented with an original musical score, “Pulsing Onward – A California Pastorale,” by James M. David. Over 90 individuals and over 20 institutions donated to the commission in honor of Gilroy and his life in music.
“It was overwhelming. I couldn’t believe how well they kept it a secret from me for two years because they worked on that project for two years putting it all together, and here it was done,” said Gilroy. “It’s probably been one of the most important parts of my last year. We played a lot of great literature this year and performed a lot of great works, but none could be more special than something by my favorite composer that was composed just for me, to celebrate my career. That was really special to me.”
It was a fitting gift to kick off the last of a 45-year career in music.
A Life in Music
“Music, it saved me. I came from a family of eight kids, and I would have never made it through high school, let alone a bachelor’s degree, then a master’s and a doctorate if it wasn’t for music,” said Gilroy. “I hated school. I hated everything about it, but I loved band. I loved going to music school, and I loved that part of my day.”
While in high school on the East Coast, Gilroy was very involved in band, even serving as the band president. After graduating, he spent his first year in Massachusetts before moving to California with his family and enrolling in San Jose State University. While in college, he got a job as a walk-on coach for the percussion section at Moreau Catholic High School, later becoming the school’s band director. In 1980, he wrote a piece for the band, which premiered in a church in Hayward, kicking off his career as a composer.
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in music education in 1981, Gilroy took a job at Fred C. Beyer High School in Modesto. During his decade-long tenure, his band received national honors, including the Bands of America National Championships and the International Sudler Shield Award from the John Philip Sousa Foundation. Meanwhile, he also completed his master’s degree in music education from the University of Illinois. He later completed his doctorate from the University of Oregon in 1995.
In the early 1990s, the Bulldog Marching Band was in shambles. Gilroy saw an open position for the Marching Band Director at Fresno State and applied for the position. After going through the interview process and seeing the state of the band, he decided he didn’t want the position. In fact, no one wanted the position, and the marching band disbanded for the 1992-93 school year.
That year, the Fresno State Bulldog football team beat USC 24-7 in the 1992 Freedom Bowl. It was such a startling upset that the headline in the Los Angeles Times read, “Fresno Teaches USC Humility 101.”
“I watched that game and I rooted for Fresno State. I’d never even thought much about Fresno State before that. I knew that if they beat USC, that would probably be helpful when it comes to trying to restart a marching band,” said Gilroy.
In 1993, Gilroy was encouraged to apply for the position again by the Fresno State director of bands Dr. Lawrence Sutherland. After securing a commitment of financial support for the Bulldog Marching Band from then-President of Fresno State John D. Welty, Gilroy accepted the associate director of bands and director of the Bulldog Marching Band at Fresno State.
He then went to work rebuilding, laying the groundwork for it to become “the best band in the west.”
“Upon arriving in Fall 1993, Dr. Gilroy asked and received scholarship funding from then-President John Welty to start the Bulldog Beat as an auxiliary group attached to the BMB. This, along with an aggressive recruiting regimen, was the largest factor in nearly doubling the enrollment of music majors going forward into the 2000s,” said Dr. Matthew Darling, acting Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities.
In 2006, Gilroy stepped into his role as Director of Bands following the retirement of Sutherland. In his new position, he took over the direction of the Wind Orchestra and named the annual Wind Festival at Fresno State after his predecessor. In 2014, Steve McKeithen took over the Bulldog Marching Band.
“Dr. Gilroy’s tireless work ethic and boundless energy are key to his success both as an educator and a composer. He eagerly shared his lengthy high school and university teaching experiences with his students, and held himself to the same high standard he expected from his students,” said Darling.
Beyond his position at Fresno State, Gilroy has built a life and living around music. He has served as a guest conductor for bands like the All-State and honor bands in Colorado, Iowa, and Oregon, the All-Northwest Wind Symphony, and California Band Directors Association All-State bands in all 50 states, Canada, China and England. He has been an adjudicator for such organizations as the Drum Corps International and Bands of America.
Gilroy is also a prolific composer, with over 200 publications for various ensembles. His music has been performed around the world, including at the International Trombone Festival in New Orleans and at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.
“When my ‘Fanfare and Bone Dances for Bob’ was featured at the International Trombone Festival in New Orleans, I was just thrilled. There were 23 of the finest trombonists in the world who got together to perform my multi-movement work at that concert, and it was thrilling to hear the virtuoso players performing music that I had written,” Gilroy said.
Throughout his career, Gilroy said his wife, Dena, and two children have been very supportive. A musical family, his daughter Alexandra teaches orchestra at Clovis East High School, and his son Nicholas is a percussion specialist for the Fresno Unified School District.
“I would never have been able to do all the stuff that I did in my career without a very supportive wife. I’ve been married for almost 43 years,” said Gilroy.
The Final Year
After the sun set over Lake Tahoe and the group photos had finished, and equipped with his freshly commissioned “Pulsing Onward” orchestra piece, it was time to complete his final year at Fresno State. Gilroy said there were two performances of “Pulsing Onward,” which, for him, capped his career. The first performance was in March at the 2025 Dr. Lawrence R. Sutherland Wind Festival at the Paul Shaghoian Memorial Concert Hall.
“Dr. Gary P. Gilroy is a force of nature. Irrepressible with boundless optimism and energy, his character reminds me of the vibrant and varied California Central Coast and Valley regions where he spent much of his life. A legendary high school and college band conductor, Professor Gilroy has guided generations of students, and this composition is a tribute to his spirit and legacy as well as the remarkable place he calls home,” James M. David, composer of “Pulsing Onwards,” said in the Wind Festival program.
After the concert, Gilroy reflected on how far his band had come.
“When I was a younger director, I hoped for it and wished I could be in charge of a great band,” Gilroy said. “They were so good! That was probably the greatest moment.”
Three weeks later, 86 Fresno State students boarded a plane for New York City for a second performance.
“There were quite a few kids who went on this trip that have never flown before,” said Gilroy. “And I’d say the majority of the kids that were on the trip have never been to New York City.”
On the evening of April 8, the Fresno State Wind Orchestra took to the stage at Carnegie Hall to headline the New York International Music Festival. “Pulsing Onwards” was the final piece of the evening. The Collegian headline for the evening read, “Audience roars as Fresno State Wind Orchestra offers triumphant Carnegie Hall performance.”
As the intensity of his final semester wound down, there was still one more Wind Orchestra concert on May 1 at the Fresno State Concert Hall. It was the last concert Gilroy would conduct as a professor at Fresno State, and the audience was filled with Fresno State faculty and other friends and colleagues. Just before the last piece, several of his students lined up and each presented him with gifts in tribute to his long and storied career at Fresno State.
“That was so kind. Just the way they were lined up in a little parade to each present some different little thing,” Gilroy said. “ It was really very touching. I really was trying to keep it together as much as possible.”
After the performance in the Concert Hall foyer, a second impromptu student concert erupted with the French horns first, in honor of Gilroy. As flutes playing “Ashokan Farewell” reverberated off the rotunda, he broke.
“Each of those kids are just precious human beings. I am so honored and I feel so fortunate that I got to be a little part of their lives,” Gilroy said.
There is a tradition at Fresno State that at the beginning of every year, the band gathers in the music building foyer, lining the curved staircase and upper railing, to sing the Alma Mater. It’s an uplifting moment that brings all together in music and school spirit. As the evening drew to a close, they gathered again for one last hymn.
Let us in song, our voices raise
In cloistered courts, to sound thy praise.
Each Voice and heart that sings is true
To thee, oh, Cardinal and Blue.
For thee, our hopes and memories;
For thee, our hearts and loyalties.
Thy sons and daughters hail thee great,
Our Alma Mater, Fresno State!
The College of Arts and Humanities at Fresno State 