Legacy means everything. For The Pride of the Southland Band, their legacy is hard work, dedication and amplifying the energy fans bring into Neyland Stadium.
Originating in 1869 as an offset of the military department, The Pride didn’t take full force in Neyland Stadium until the 1920s. Since then, the band has taken its true form, becoming a staple in campus culture and a cornerstone of UT history.
The drum major sets the tone — both literally and figuratively — by acting as a liaison between the director and the band, keeping tempo of the music, and being an overall leader and figurehead for the team.
This year, The Pride is celebrating 155 years of music. Current drum major and music education major Christian Carroll took on his role with humility as he continues to carry on the program’s rich legacy.
“This is Pride 155,” Carroll said. “This band is rich and rooted in culture. It knows exactly what it wants from its members. … It’s going to have very high expectations for leadership. Knowing a program like that wanted me to stand in front of it and lead the band is the most humbling and flattering thing that has ever happened to me.”
The Pride of the Southland Band has grown in popularity amongst the UT community and prospective bandmates. The Pride had an anticipated 550-person roster if it were to allow all returning members and new auditionees. To combat the influx in membership, they held reauditions for returning members.
During spring 2024, Carroll sent in his application and was then selected as a finalist to audition. With the new audition routine in mind, he felt “a bit more pressure” but used those feelings as motivation. After auditions, the directors and remainder of the band elected Carroll to take reign as drum major for the 2024-25 athletic season.
As The Pride becomes more competitive, the talent grows in expectation. Reauditions allowed the group to find members who would continue to elevate the program’s prestige and heighten the student experience.
“With these reauditions and with so many talented players coming in, it really ups the level that we are expecting of our members,” Carroll said. “We are getting some of the best people in the nation to try and be a part of this band. Because that is happening, it makes it so our expectations need to raise with the quality of our members.”
Although The Pride sets the soundtrack to the UT experience, the members set a soundtrack of their own.
Pride of the Southland band during a game against Kent State at Neyland Stadium. Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024.
Assistant drum major and music education major Sydney Flenniken uses her role in a unique light. She leverages her duty as a black suit — a teaching role within the band — to immerse herself in her academic studies.
“It’s providing me and all the other black suits — who are also music education majors — a big opportunity to be able to put ourselves in these shoes before we actually have to go out into the field and start doing it,” Flenniken said. “It’s an incredible opportunity I know not a lot of universities provide.”
Flenniken jokingly refers to the black suits as the “CIA agents that sit next to the band” — which isn’t far from the truth. Black suits act as teachers during rehearsal and security on a game day, picking up lost instruments while they lead The Pride to Neyland Stadium.
“We basically are like security walking down to the stadium,” said Flenniken. “If anything gets dropped, we pick it up. We communicate what’s going to happen in the parade block. … When we cross the bridge across the Student Union, we’ll go into continuous “Rocky Top” and give the signal for that.”
These signals play a huge role in protecting the communication between drum major and assistant drum major.
Flenniken and Carroll both started in The Pride in 2022 and have “grown up together” during their time in The Pride. They attribute a great deal of their successful teamwork to their streamlined communication.
“The fact that I get to have someone that I wholeheartedly trust and respect, just because of how amazing she is at literally everything she does, makes it so that I never really have to worry about our team dynamic,” Carroll said. “She has everything she needs to under control, and that gives me the liberty to focus on myself and the band. She makes my job very easy in comparison to what it would be without her.”
This partnership is as outward-facing in communication as it is internally. During a football game, Flenniken acts as the eyes of the operation, sending messages to Carroll at the top of the ladder both in between downs and when the Vols are on defense — she even created a secret code to better signal to Carroll during the rush of a performance.
“I’ll put my hand on his ladder or the back of his leg to show him, ‘Hey, we’re gonna stop soon,’” Flenniken said. “Then (when) I start hitting his leg — that’s when we cut off and we stop playing. If we ever just need to stop immediately, I just start smacking his ladder super hard, and he stops immediately.”
As the frontman of the band, Carroll depends on those around him to help form the group dynamic, often listening to the reactions of his bandmates or connecting with them on a personal level during practices and performances.
Carroll credits his mom for teaching him how to be an effective leader.
“She tells me all the time, ‘You don’t just communicate to people, you need to communicate for people,’” Carroll said. “The only way to learn how to communicate for and to people is to understand and get to know those people.”
In an attempt to form relationships with his team — old and new — he takes a wholistic approach by interacting with teammates during water breaks and rest periods. Interacting on a human level helps him make well-informed decisions on the ladder.
Growing up surrounded by music can be uplifting or exhausting depending on one’s outlook. For Carroll, he pushes past the apathy and uses his passion for music to fuel inspiration.
“The reason long-term why I am doing this is because I feel called to impact lives through music,” Carroll said. “That is really pushing me through all of this music I am experiencing. I know at the end of all of this, I am improving lives.”
As the Vols approach a list of SEC matchups, The Pride of the Southland Band plans to bring the energy to Neyland Stadium and on the road.
“The university is rising, the academics are rising, and the sports of course are rising … and the band is rising with it,” Carroll said. “The full, 100% effort that we are putting in with our rehearsals (is) really what’s helping us match this ever-growing, amazing university.”
