{"id":783413,"date":"2026-05-09T03:49:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T03:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/783413\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T03:49:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T03:49:14","slug":"its-a-lot-of-fun-episcopal-school-teacher-draws-millions-of-views-online-with-percussion-covers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/783413\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s a lot of fun\u2019: Episcopal school teacher draws millions of views online with percussion covers"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 A Jacksonville teacher is turning heads online \u2014 one drumbeat at a time. <\/p>\n

Greg Hersey, director of instrumental music at Episcopal School of Jacksonville, has gone viral for his percussive covers of popular songs, racking up millions of views and more than half a million followers on Instagram.<\/p>\n

Hersey, a Florida native, has been a classroom teacher for nine years and an adjunct professor for three. But music has been part of his life far longer than that.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents play, my dad was a drummer and still is,\u201d Hersey said. \u201cAs early as I can remember, I\u2019ve just been around drums my whole life. I have two younger brothers that both play. That\u2019s how I met my wife, through high school band. Everything music, all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Going viral was never part of the plan, Hersey said \u2014 it just happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find a lot of joy in it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of fun trying to figure out these different arrangements for these popular hip-hop songs, rock songs \u2014 some that people can find relatable and find joy in.\u201d<\/p>\n

His covers span genres, including a percussion rendition of OutKast\u2019s \u201cSo Fresh and So Clean,\u201d which he performed live for News4Jax anchor Jenese Harris during her visit to the school.<\/p>\n

The response from fans around the world has at times caught Hersey off guard.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes the reach is so far and wide it\u2019s overwhelming,\u201d he said. \u201cI think my first taste of success with that was many years ago in the early days of Instagram.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the views and followers, Hersey said his deeper goal is encouraging people to listen \u2014 and feel \u2014 more deeply.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust having a deeper level of appreciation for music and finding the joy in it of just being an active listener,\u201d he said. \u201cMy hope and dream is to always inspire others to do the same, and I\u2019ve seen that. People from all over the world are tagging me for their interpretation of what I\u2019m doing, and I love to see that. It is so cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

And what\u2019s Hersey\u2019s favorite song \u2014 and the one that changed his life \u2014 it\u2019s \u201cTom Sawyer\u201d by Rush.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A Jacksonville teacher is turning heads online \u2014 one drumbeat at a time. Greg Hersey,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":783414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,3188,723,7310,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-783413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-fl","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-jacksonville","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116542581420169736","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}