Northwestern University Hymn (Alma Mater)

As Homecoming weekend at Northwestern University approaches, memories of my time on campus have been rushing back. There was that time we decided that we should move a couch into our fraternity bathroom, the lecture in my music history class that made me fall in love with opera and the time in the cafeteria when we decided to use a chocolate doughnut to make a breakfast sandwich resulting in the "Bacon McDoughnut."

Then there's the music. The fight song, “Go U, Northwestern” which I analyzed in this earlier post and of course the “Northwestern University Hymn” more commonly reffered to as the "Alma Mater." I love "Go U, Northwestern." I've performed that song more than any other song in my life, but there's something different about the "Northwestern University Hymn," something more profound.

As a member of the Northwestern University Marching Band (NUMB), I had the honor of performing this song for the university community however it was the times after games when NUMB would sing this song a cappella in a circle, arms around that this song represented what it meant to be at Northwestern.


It was a feeling of being at home, having a family, and being connected to something bigger than me. Often when we would sing the “Alma Mater” people in NUMB would be crying. I can’t explain why it meant so much, but it did. Every time I hear this melody it brings me back to this feeling and every time I think of Northwestern, the "Alma Mater" is echoing in the background.

The first version of Northwestern’s hymn was arranged by the first dean of the school of music Peter Christian Lutkin in 1907. J. Scott Clark, an English professor, arranged the lyrics in Latin which were based on the University’s motto from Philippians 4:8.

Whatsoever things are true,
Whatsoever things are honest,
Whatsoever things are just,
Whatsoever things are pure,
Whatsoever things are lovely,
Whatsoever things are of good report,
If there be any virtue and if there be any praise,
Think on these things

This motto is used to this day in university ceremonies and the first line in Latin "Quacumque Sunt Vera,” adorns the university seal. The music that Lutkin chose for these lyrics was “St. Anthony’s Chorale” which is attributed to Frank Joseph Haydn. This tune was relatively obscures until Brahms arranged a set of variation on this melody.



There is debate whether Haydn actually wrote this melody, however it is indisputable that Brahms arrangement cemented this melody as one of the most recognizable melodies in classical music.

The “University Chant,” as Lutkin titled it, was performed by university choirs and the students body. The combination of the Latin, which was part of every student’s academic studies at the time and this beautiful classical tune embodied the academic standards and values of the university.

Peter Christian Lutkin & his original arrangement of the "University Chant."

As Northwestern University changed, so did the student body and by the 1950s the respect and enthusiasm for the “University Chant” diminished and it fell into obscurity. In 1954, in an effort to revive the song, Thomas Tyra, a School of Music Alumni wrote English lyrics. He moved away from the university motto and instead wrote English lyrics expressing devotion to Northwestern.

Hail to Alma Mater
We will sing thy praise forever
All thy sons and daughters
Pledge thee victory and honor
Alma Mater Praise be thine
May thy name forever shine
Hail to purple
Hail to white
Hail to thee Northwestern

While many argued that the English lyrics would take away from the song's original meaning, these new less esoteric lyrics connected with the student body. Four years later, John Paynter, Northwestern's legendary band director, arranged the “University Chant” for band. Along with the English lyrics, the "chant" was retitled “University Hymn.”

Paynter’s arrangement starts off like most hymns with the last four measures of the melody used as an introduction. The band plays through the first two phrase in a straight-forward but artfully arranged four-part harmony. Like many devotion hymns, the arrangement is simple to focus not on performers but the university.

In a stunning musical development, the whole band instead of accompanying the audience sings the last half of the melody. Starting in unison, as one voice, the harmony slowly unfolds into four parts representing the singularity of values at Northwestern that expands into countless possibilities.

Paynter provides a moment of reflection for the audience as the band repeats the last half of the melody, starting with a single trumpet, which is joined by a euphonium. The rest of the band enters softly, rising to a climax, glorious but reverent and majestic while humble.

One of my greatest honors was to be the conductor of the “Alma Mater” as the music director of Phi Mu Alpha. Our fraternity hosted parties and at midnight we would gather in the living room of our house to sing fraternity songs. We would end every performance with the “Alma Mater.” Everyone in the audience would join in a circle and we would sing about how much we loved our university.



Standing in the center surrounded by friends, molding the music with my hands is one of the most magical feelings in my life. Singing this song in NUMB was different, we were in uniform, part of the ritual of the football game. However, in my fraternity house we were in the middle of a party. People would stop whatever games they were playing, put down whatever they were drinking and join us to share a moment together.

For my friends, pride in Northwestern wasn’t just about winning football games, it was something different and real. It wasn’t dorky, or forced, it was simply how we felt.

Hail to thee Northwestern
May thy name forever shine

Welcome home.

Bogoróditse Dévo by Sergei Rachmaninoff

Freedom to worship, freedoms of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to assemble.

As American these are the freedoms promised by the Constitution of the United States. When we think of our right as individuals, these freedoms come to mind. There are many other freedoms we enjoy including the freedom to experience art. We can choose what television shows we want to watch and what music we want to experience. There are many societies in which, what we call “basic” freedoms are but a dream. And in Communist U.S.S.R. many freedoms were taken away including not only the freedom to create art but also the freedom to experience it.

Rachmaninoff composed “Bogoroditse Devo” as part of his setting of the Russian Orthodox All-Night Vigil ceremony for a capella choir. He composed this work in 1915 partly to benefit the Russian war effort. The Moscow Synodal Choir premiered this piece and it was performed five more times within a month because of its popularity with critics and audiences. With the rise of the Soviet Union, a ban was put on all religious music from the Marxist idea of religion being “the opiate of the masses.” The Synodal Choir was replaced by the nonreligious “People’s Choir Academy” marking the end of an era of Russian music.

With the fall of communism in Russia, people were finally allowed to worship in the open and embrace the culture that had been taken away. When “Bogoroditse Devo” was finally performed again, it was received as a long lost relative forcefully taken away. People in the audience wept as they were finally free to not only experience this music but to connect to their inner spirituality reminding them of all that was lost.

“Bogorodiste Devo” has almost medieval quality to it that captures the mysticism of the Russian Orthodox religion. It combines modern harmonic progressions with a variety of different textures. In the beginning, all the parts are singing the same rhythm (known in musical terms as “homophony”). This musical technique makes the voices feel as one unit with the deliberate and careful motion of a monastic chant.

The middle section of the piece that builds into the climax features the different choral parts singing different melodies (polyphony). Rachmaninoff creates a sense of motion as the alto lines meander while the other voices sing slowly rising sustained notes. The polyphony builds to a euphoric climax gently relaxes down until all the voices come back together in the last couple measures moving with homophony into quiet reflection.

One of the many pieces of advice Diana and I got when planning our wedding was to make sure we take a moment in the ceremony to take it all in. There is so much going on during the day it’s easy to forget to just stop and enjoy the day. So we decided to plan this moment during the ceremony and the unity candle lighting seemed like the perfect time for us to reflect on the service.

Well, things didn’t go exactly as planned. We didn’t bring a candle to the ceremony so we “borrowed” one from the church (or another ceremony that was going on, I’m not sure). The ceremony starts, we get to the candle lighting, the choir starts singing “Bogoroditse Devo,” and then we can’t get the candle lit. I think what you’re suppose to do for a wedding ceremony is have a smaller candle lit on the side and light the bigger candle.

We didn’t think of that so all we had a lighter, one of those 8 inches long deals that is suppose to light when you squeeze the trigger. Yeah it didn’t light after the first 5 tries. I was about to enlist the help of the groomsmen when the lighter decided to work. It was one of those things that you just got to laugh at and regardless it was beautiful moment.

Music has a way of taking us to different places, making the world dissolve away. Even though “Bogoroditse Devo” is less then three minutes it takes us on an incredible journey, from the smallest feeling of wonder to the incredible glory of spirituality.

Go U, Northwestern! by the Northwestern University "Wildcat" Marching Band

"Go U, Northwestern!" audio clip

9 wins and 3 loses.

Not since the year 2000 when the Wildcats went 8-3 in the regular season has Northwestern University had such a phenomenal football season. To end this season, the Wildcats will travel to the Alamo Bowl in San Antonia just as they did eight years go and just like eight years ago the finest band in the land, the Northwestern University “Wildcat” Marching Band (NUMB) will accompany the team on this historical trip.

In 2000, I was a freshmen alto saxophone player in NUMB. That season I rejoiced as the ‘cats beat Michigan (which after this year may become a trend), I survived the bitter cold marching during an away game in Iowa and I went to the Alamo Bowl. It was a phenomenal season but it wasn’t until the following years when the team did not do so well, that I developed my love and respect for Northwestern.

The song that was the soundtrack and the soul of that experience is a song that I’ve play more then any other piece of music in my life, “Go U, Northwestern!” I’m not going to make the argument that Northwestern has the best fight song ever. There are imperfections in the song, for example in the lyrics. Well-placed lyrics in songs have the melody accent the same syllables one would emphasize when speaking and no one would normally say “Break right through THAT line.” However, I do believe that “Go U, Northwestern!” is a quintessential and amazing American college fight song that uniquely expresses the spirit of Northwestern.

The song follows the standard form of most college fights. There are two main sections, the first part (first strain) and the instrumental interlude (break strain). The first strain is broken up into four 8-measure phrases:

1st phrase-Go U Northwestern! Break right through that line.
2nd phrase-With our colors flying, We will cheer you all the time, U Rah! Rah!
3rd phrase-Go! U Northwestern! Fight for victory,
4th phrase-Spread far the fame of our fair name, Go! Northwestern win that game.

The 1st and 2nd phrase present different material while the 3rd phrase is a repeat of the 1st phrase with an altered ending. The 4th phrase features material derived from earlier parts of the song and completes the first strain.

“Go U, Northwestern!” inspires people with a feeling of momentum and spirit. If you are trying to solve the problem of how to give music a feeling of direction, the easy solution is to have a piece start slow and speed up but that would not work with a marching band. So it is creating that same rush of energy when the tempo is staying constant that require a high level of musical invention.

One way composers create momentum is with rhythm. Simply following a longer note by shorter notes creates the illusion that the song speeding up. The 1st phrase starts with a long note that is followed by two shorter notes that drive into “-wes-“ of “Northwestern.” This occurs again with two shorter notes on “break right” which follow the longer note values of “-wes-“ and “-tern.” This pattern continues with the shortest note of the phrase on “through” which is followed by an off-beat accent on “that” which holds the listener in suspense before landing on the next downbeat.

The short-long rhythm on “through that” is called a Lombard rhythm or a Scotch snap. This is when a composers arrange a dotted rhythm so that the shorter note is firsts and on the beat. This rhythm manipulates the momentum of a phrase jolting it forward unexpectedly with the short note and creating anticipation with the longer note. In “Go U, Northwestern!” the Scotch snap moves around within the phrases creating unique twists in the first strain that play with our sense of direction. In the 1st phrase the Scotch snap is in the end of the phrase and in the 2nd phrase the Scotch snap is featured in the middle of the phrase.

The 3rd phrase mimics the 1st phrase placing the Scotch snap back in end of the phrase and then the 4th phrase starts immediately with the Scotch snap and features it twice before ending the first strain. This is unusual compared to other fight songs like Michigan’s “Hail To The Victors” which have a much more square and repetitive rhythms. This creates more militaristic feeling and opposed to the rhythmic invention in “Go U, Northwestern!” which express a mood of dance and celebration.

Within the anatomy of a fight song there are five roles that instrument groups play:
- The melody and the harmony of the melody (which in general have the same rhythm as
the melody) include the trumpets, mellophones, alto saxophones and trombones.
- The obbligato line, which is the higher and fast countermelody, features the flutes and
clarinets.
- The tenor saxophones, euphoniums, and baritones play the tenor countermelody.
- The sousaphones cover the bass line.
- The drum-line provide the percussion.

These roles change in certain places for example when the trombones double the bass line at the end of the 1st phrase and when the flutes and clarinets double the melody in the 3rd phrase of the first strain.

The obbligato line fills in motion whenever there is a long note in the melody so that the momentum never stops. For example, there’s a fast ascending scale “-wes-“ in the 1st phrase when the melody has a long note. Another example one is right before “U Rah, Rah” when the flutes and clarinets trill, (an un-metered flurry of the fasts note) which provide an explosive drive into the next measure.

The tenor countermelody, which I believe is the most overlooked parts of the song is the long smooth notes in the first strain which contrast the melody’s separated notes. This line outlines the contour of the melody, which is important in reinforcing the direction of the melody not only for the listener but also for melodic instruments in the band. It is easy when playing short notes to lose sight of the overall direction of the phrase and tenor line is essential in reinforcing the contour that gives this song a sense of direction.

The bass line in “Go U, Northwestern!” provides not only the foundation of the harmony but also acts as an expressive voice that supports the melody. The bass line plays the Scotch snap whenever it appears in the melody and provides interesting and dynamic transition material at the ends of phrases like in-between the 3rd and 4th phrases in the first strain.

I used to think of a drum-line like bunch of toy monkeys hitting every single beat. The drum line does keep a constant beat and drives the pulse of the band but like the bass line it does so much more. The clearest example of this is the cymbals. Listen carefully to when they play. They don’t play on every beat but instead highlight parts of the phrase. The bass drums, which are not as clearly audible, do the same thing and within snare drum and tenor line, this musical approach to playing provides and important layer of texture to an already rich musical landscape.

The break strains contrasts the first strain with three 4-measures phrases as opposed to the four 8-measures phrases. This sections creates momentum not with the rhythm but with the way the band is arranged into two different groups. They work together trading off measures like two groups of people within a crowd participating in a call and response cheer. The first two measures are the higher instruments on an ascending line, which the lower instruments respond to with a descending two-measure motif. The band repeats this pattern in the next four measures and then compressed the call and response into two beats groups instead of two measures groups. The lower instruments begin with a two beat pattern on beat 4 and beat 1 that is followed by the higher instruments on beat 2 and beat 3. The band is pulled apart first by 2 measures, then band comes closer together separated by only 2 beats and finally they play the same rhythm together as one in a glorious feeling of arrival and unity.

“Go U, Northwestern!” perfectly the spirit of Northwestern and what NUMB taught me in those years after the Alamo bowl is that it’s not about winning football games. It’s not about making fun other schools and it’s not about blindly following traditions.

It’s about the fact everyone can contribute. It’s about pride not only in ourselves but in each other it’s about finding the meaning in traditions and reinventing them for future generations.

Mr. Rogers, one of my personal heroes once said:

As you play together in a symphony orchestra, you can appreciate that each musician has something fine to offer. Each one is different, though, and you each have a different ‘song to sing.’ When you sing together, you make one voice. That’s true of all endeavors, not just musical ones. Finding ways to harmonize our uniqueness with the uniqueness of others can be the most fun—and the most rewarding—of all.

I found this true of my journey in NUMB, which was one of the greatest experiences in my life.

Go ‘Cats, Beat the Tigers! And if you don’t, no worries, we’ll still be here.

Oh, and Matt, my dear brother-in-law, congratulations man on being accepted to Northwestern. You already have the Northwestern spirit in your blood so I have no doubt that you will not only have a fantastic experience but that you will contribute great things to the people, the community and the tradition that is Northwestern.