THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 22, 1994 TAG: 9407210180
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
BRYANT MOORE'S DAYS as a student at a private kindergarten ended less than two weeks after they began. That was immediately following the morning he slipped from the teacher's sight, bolted to the parking lot, started a school bus and drove it across a nearby golf course.
``They asked me not to bring him back again,'' his mother Isabel said ruefully.
Things didn't get much better when he entered a public school first grade the following year.
``From second grade on, all I remember was being ostracized,'' said Bryant Moore, a recent graduate of East Carolina University. ``I was banned from the cafeteria and ate lunch in the vice principal's office for half a year.''
His mother continued, ``I was called to the school just about every day.''
Diagnosed as being seriously hyperactive, Bryant Moore's case was a particularly puzzling one. At home with his family, he was rarely a problem. Nor was he a problem when he was involved in his favorite activity, playing the piano.
Isabel Moore, who comes from a very musical family, realized early on that the child had a love and talent for music.
``Grandma (Lydia Bryant) played the organ for 58 years at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Kempsville,'' she said, ``and my mother (Dorothy Bryant) could play anything by ear so well that it made chills go up and down your spine.''
By the time Bryant Moore was 7, his mother had signed him on with Hampton Roads' most famous piano teacher, the late Bristow Hardin.
The young man who caused so much trouble in the classroom rarely balked at several hours of lessons each week and several hours of practice each day.
``I loved what I was doing,'' Bryant Moore said.
At one point, when his bad behavior earned him yet another trip to the principal's office, he segued into the school cafeteria, sat down at the piano and began playing Bach inventions.
His teacher, who went to search for him, was flabbergasted to find that the school's most notorious youngster was responsible for sprightly music floating from the open cafeteria doors.
``I realized when I heard him that somehow I had to get through to that child,'' she later told Isabel Moore.
As word of his talent spread, he was asked to play Christmas music during the lunch period. ``So it would calm the other kids down,'' Bryant Moore said, pausing to let the irony sink in.
The classroom problems continued, however. In exasperation, one administrator told his mother, ``Mrs. Moore, this child is just a loser. He's not going to make it through junior high. Have him tested and get him out of public school.''
Fortunately for Bryant, there were some teachers and administrators who realized his potential and were willing to take the extra time that was needed to channel the active youngster.
By junior high, things began to look up for Moore. Despite the administrator's prediction, he did make it through junior high - and senior high, too.
After high school, he moved into his own place at the beach, held down a series of jobs, continued his musical practice and took courses at Tidewater Community College, studied under Dr. Ernest Brown at Norfolk State University and eventually transferred to East Carolina.
In May, he graduated from ECU with a talent good enough and a grade point average high enough to net him an invitation to audition for the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., and acceptance into Florida State's respected graduate program in music.
Thanks to the belief of his family, a handful of teachers and a pair of musical mentors, the young man who was banished from kindergarten and was a doubtful entry at the junior high level, will begin his master's program in the fall. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JO-ANN CLEGG
Labeled a troublemaker throughout his early schooling, Bryant Moore
has gone on to graduate from East Carolina University and is headed
for Florida State's respected graduate program in music.
by CNB