HTHS alumna leads UT band as drum major
On the third Saturday of October, Alabama and Tennessee will meet for the 100th installment of their long-standing college football rivalry at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Trussville native Rebecca Percy will be there to lead the University of Tennessee’s Pride of the Southland Band onto the field as drum major.
“I’m really looking forward to it because I have a lot of friends who are in the band there,” said Percy, a 2015 graduate of Hewitt-Trussville High School. “It will be really exciting for people at that game to see that I get to do this. I enjoy going to Alabama and competing there.”
Growing up, Percy was not a fan of a particular football program or school. All she knew about college was she wanted to go out of state, so she looked at UT since her dad, Dwight, went to college there.
“I didn’t know too much about the Pride of the Southland; I just knew I was going to do band when I went to college wherever I went,” Percy said.
Percy, a junior double-majoring in flute music performance and mathematics, received a scholarship and played piccolo her first two years in the band, including being section leader in 2016. She was named UT’s drum major this past spring.
She began practicing and training for the position in December. The application process began in the spring with an interview by the band directors, performing the traditional strut for the band, conducting songs in front of the band and a Q&A from band members. The four finalists directed the band in the stands for the Orange & White Spring Game and then were voted on by the band.
“I was extremely proud that all of my hard work paid off, and my competition [for the position] was fabulous — there are a lot of great people in the band,” Percy said. “I’m grateful and honored to have this opportunity and that the band wanted me.”
The Pride of the Southland Band will perform at 10 of Tennessee’s football games this year — seven home games and road trips to Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, the University of Florida last month and Alabamathis month.
Percy said the strut, a 20-yard running high step to lead the band’s Power T formation onto the field, requires a lot of athleticism, but the most challenging part of her job is game management. While in the stands, the drum major must keep up with game action and make sure the right songs are played at the right time, a task as important as making sure the band is heard not only in the stadium, but by those watching the game at home.
“It’s really important that even though the game is moving really fast that we’re able to start songs and stop together and not have people playing over the cutoff,” she said.
She said of her first challenges and best moments early in the season was when Tennessee stopped a Georgia Tech two-point conversion at the goal line to win the season opener, 42-41, in double overtime. Percy didn’t miss a beat, striking up the band to play “Rocky Top” to celebrate the first win of the season, heard clearly on the ESPN broadcast.
“I couldn’t tell what happened, all I did was react to all of the fans in the stand,” Percy said of the final play. “It was really cool. I felt the energy from everybody at that moment. We were definitely there to do our job, but we are also Tennessee fans, so it was great to have a good first game.”
She said she looks forward to playing UT’s traditional song throughout this season. The band plans to incorporate some special parts to their performances to celebrate the song’s 50th anniversary.
Percy, daughter of Dwight and Teresa Percy, credits her success at UT to her time at Hewitt, beginning with joining Brandon Peters’ middle school band in sixth grade to her four years with the Husky Marching Band, under the direction of Scott Waid, assistant band director Stephanie Ezell and assistants Gary Finley and Christopher Sherman.
“I know I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t gone to Hewitt-Trussville,” Percy said. “I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather have been than at Hewitt-Trussville and that band program. It definitely shaped who I am.”
She said being named the Huskies’ drum major for 2013 and 2014 played a big part in getting her to where she is.
“It was definitely the hardest thing I’d done up to that point. I wasn’t the most outgoing person. I was a little bit shy, so I’m really glad they gave me the chance to be drum major. That really helped me come outside my box a bit and be a better leader,” she said.
Percy also built her drum major resume in the summers before and after her freshman year of college as a drum major in an open class drum corps as part of Drum Corps International — a demanding schedule that she said prepared her for the demands of college band. In addition to her role as drum major and her class load as a double major, Percy also performs in the UT Orchestra and Wind Ensemble, which leads to three to four hours a day of practicing her flute.
Fans will have an opportunity to watch the Pride of the Southland Band perform on the WatchESPN app or can keep up with Percy and the band on Facebook @utbands.