On New Year’s Day, Steve and Gay Wright will be glued to the television hoping to catch a glimpse of their son Lee, a freshmen with the Louisiana State University marching band – “The Golden Band from Tigerland.”

Wright, a 19-year-old Sumner High School 2009 graduate, will be playing cymbals in the band’s drumline during the Capital One Bowl in Orlando, Fla., when LSU faces Penn State.

Two days before the game, Lee and the LSU band will march in the 26th annual Orlando Citrus Parade. He left Sunday to join the band for an all-expense paid, week-long trip to Orlando.

Playing in the band has been a big part of Wright’s life. He started playing drums in the band as a fifth-grade student, continued at the middle school and Sumner High. While at Sumner High he was under the direction of Joe Carl.

Wright said he fell in love with drums after watching his older brother Eric play in the band.

“I always sat there and watched the drummers play,” Wright said. “From then on it was embedded in my head that’s what I wanted to do if I got the chance.”

Originally, Wright wanted to go to Washington State University, but LSU’s band was nationally known.

“I watched the LSU band play on YouTube.com and on the Internet,” Wright said. “That was all I needed to decide to go and try out for the LSU band. You get a chance to travel and get noticed and I thought that would be a neat experience. The band is known as one of the best bands in college.”

Making the band is no easy task, Wright said.

He started tryouts shortly after graduating in June with two-hour camps on four Saturdays during the summer in Baton Rouge, La.

Percussionists audition for the Tiger Band Drumline were two days prior to the start of preseason band camp in August.

The tryout date for Wright was 1 p.m. Aug. 14. He finished his tryout about 9 p.m. There was more than 400 people trying out. He started the tryouts on a snare drum and didn’t make the cut. He had kept at it. Each position involving a tryout until he made it on cymbals.

“It was really a nerve-racking day,” he said. “There were 60 kids trying out for 29 spots and it was a long, drawn out process.

“Since I was on cymbal, I had to wait to the very end to see if I made it or not. There were 17 people trying out for seven cymbal spots. I have never experience anything like that before,” he said.

His mother said she remembers getting a text message stating her son had made the band.

“I didn’t now if I was going to make it,” Wright said. “I had no idea and I was extremely relieved when I did get called.”

After making the band, the next 10 days were filled with practices from 8:30 a.m. until 10 p.m.

“They feed us lunch and dinner, but the rest of the time we were on the field practicing,” Wright said.

While home in September, Wright and his parents attend the LSU-Washington game in Seattle. He had no plans to play during the game, but the band director said he had an extra uniform and Wright played in his first college football game before his parents.

The first time Wright hit the field at Tiger Stadium was during LSU’s home-opener against Vanderbilt University.

“It was hot and pouring down rain at one point during the game,” Wright remembered.

He said the band performs more difficult formations during pregame warmups rather than at halftime.

“There are only 224 spots in the band for the pregame drill,” Wright added. “We actually have tryouts for the spots for pregame. If you’re messing up, the band director will pull you and put someone else in.”

The band has 325 marching members with 78 percent non-music majors. Wright is studying history and secondary education.

In addition to network regular-season and postseason television broadcasts, the band makes appearances in Mardi Gras parades, New Orleans Saints games, at Walt Disney World and Universal Studios and high school marching festivals. In the fall, the LSU Tiger Band was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.

Wright said his spot on the band is not finalized. He’ll have to try out again this summer. He is hoping to make it on a snare or bass drum the next time around.