Staff Photo by Mark Kennedy/Tizzy Smith, pictured Tuesday, is the trumpet section leader of the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga’s Marching Mocs. He is elated the band has grown to more than 140 members this year.When he was a baby, Tizzy Smith’s older sister would soothe his crying by leaning over his crib, fluttering her fingers in front of his face and cooing: “tizzy, tizzy, tizzy.”
The name stuck.
Today, Tizzy Smith is the 20-year-old brass-section leader of the re-emergent University of Tennessee-Chattanooga Marching Mocs.
He plays trumpet – although the more appropriate verb might be, he “lives” trumpet. He has a trumpet mouthpiece to his lips at least three hours a day either practicing alone or rehearsing with an ensemble.
Amazingly, the UTC marching band had withered to fewer than 40 members last summer, but more than 140 instrumentalists and color guard members are expected to be in the unit Sept. 3 when the Mocs host the Wofford College Terriers. Band members begin reporting to campus later this week.