Three years ago, when Rebecca Phillips took the helm of the Mighty Sound of the Southeast, the band’s sound wasn’t all that mighty.
“It wasn’t as disciplined a band, and that showed in our performance,” said Chase Harding, now one of the band’s drum majors and a fourth-year music student. “We got shown up by Furman at a home game.”
The band had 248 members and rotated a few different halftime performances throughout the season. It left many students and fans unimpressed and “paled in comparison with the best bands in the SEC,” according to Scott Weiss, director of bands.
After the 2010 football season, Weiss decided the marching band needed a change in leadership and hired Phillips, who had already been at USC for four years as associate director of bands. In her new role, Phillips saw an opportunity.
“We’ve always had great students here. … They were just looking for some guidance and some leadership so we could have a band the university could take pride in,” Phillips said.
Three years later, the university found that pride. Gamecock fans cheer along with the band during pre-game performances and stay in their seats to watch elaborate halftime shows set to recognizable song medleys. The band itself has grown by nearly 100 members, due largely to improved retention, Phillips said. The band’s culture has shifted from “unprofessional” to one of high expectations and self-motivation, according to Harding.
Now, after three years of progress, Phillips will leave the Mighty Sound of the Southeast and USC to become director of bands at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo. Jayme Taylor, assistant director of bands, will serve in her place while USC conducts a nationwide search for her replacement, who should be named before the 2015 football season.
Phillips will step away from marching band in her new role. She will oversee all of Colorado State’s bands, leading the university’s most elite ensembles and teaching undergraduate and graduate students.
She said she has faith in Taylor and the Mighty Sound of the Southeast to keep up the standard of excellence she has held them to for the past three years.
“This band is not Rebecca Phillips. It’s the students of the University of South Carolina,” Phillips said. “They are still here, and they will still drive this band to be one of the best bands, if not the best band, in the SEC.”
The transition from Phillips to Taylor will be smooth for the marching band, as the two have always “been on the exact same page,” according to Taylor, who was named assistant director of bands at the same time Phillips was appointed director of athletic bands.
But for Taylor, working without Phillips will be a big change.
“She’s been a great friend, a wonderful colleague and a great mentor. She’s just so wonderful,” Taylor said. “It’s going to be an adjustment for me not to have her there.”
For Taylor and the 345 members of the Mighty Sound of the Southeast, Phillips leaves behind an important legacy. The students in the band and in the stands are proud of what they see on gamedays; Harding credits Phillips’ discipline for that.
“She’s created something that we can all really take pride in,” Harding said. “She has that very demanding nature, but it’s the kind of demanding where you want to do everything you can to be perfect, and when you attain it, it instills a sense of pride in you.”
As Phillips packs up and heads for the Rocky Mountains, those involved with the band and USC’s School of Music are certain the group will continue to grow in size and skill.
“Dr. Phillips leaves the band much better than she found it,” Weiss said. “The ship is pointed in the right direction, and there is no doubt that we will be able to continue to build upon the band’s success in the future.”