0 The Michigan Daily I michigandaily.com I Thursday, December 2, 2010 S U N G THE MICHIGAN SONGBOOKS GIVE A VOICE TO THE UNIVERSITY'S HALLO WEtD H I S T O R Y B y Joe Cada gin, D aily Arts Wri t,, r Photos and de sign by Marissa McCl i{n n a crisp, quiet eveninginearly fall, a group of students gath- ers beneath an enormous oak tree near the center of campus. The year is 1904, and these fresh-faced young people have returned to the sleepy little town of Ann Arbor for another year of classes, parties and foot- ball games. The Wolverines would finish 10-0 that year, capping the season off with a decisive victory over the University of Chicago. As the students light a bonfire, they begin to sing the University's alma mater, "The Yellow and Blue." Splitting into four-part har- mony, their voices rise with the smoke of the fire into the highest branches of the mighty oak tree above them. As the last chord fades away, a feeling of optimism and good cheer spreads through the group as its members eagerly look forward to the coming school year. Today, this lonely oak tree is no longer the site of such gatherings. Dubbed the Tappan Oak after the Uni- versity's first president, the tree still towers over cam- pus on a small strip of grass on the west side of Hatcher Graduate Library. Though thousands of students pass beneath it every year, none stop to sing the University's alma mater as in days of old. The Tappan Oak is tes- tament to a time without iPods, when singing was an integral part of campus life. In the early 19th cen- tury, faculty and students started composing school songs to honor the Univer- sity. What began as a hand- ful of pieces grew into an enormous repertoire of Uni- versity fight songs, hymns, nostalgic songs and comic ditties collected in a series of songbooks that continued to expand into the post-World War II era. The Original Songbooks Like the Tappan Oak, this treasure trove of songs lies all but forgotten to the larger student body. Yet the music has managed to live on, thanks to a few groups devoted to performing * Michigan songs and pre- servingthem for posterity. "We think of ourselves in the Men's and Women's Glee Clubs as sort of the custo- dians of these pieces," said Paul Rardin, the director of the Men's Glee Club and an associate professor of choral conducting in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance. Series of Michigan song- books serve as relics of a bygone era. The earliest of these books, "Songs of the Yellow and Blue," was first published in 1889. The small, teal-colored volume con- tains the earliest Michigan songs, including the Univer- sity's alma mater. Two other important songs contained in this first songbook are a pair of Glee Club favorites. The valiant "Laudes Atque Carmina" ("Songs and Praises"), which opens every Men's Glee Club concert, is a Latin hymn of praise to the University. The reverent "Goddess of the Inland Seas" places the Uni- versity on par with ancient Greece. "'Goddess of the Inland Seas' was composed in the late 1880s by a faculty mem- ber, and of course the faculty members back then were all well versed in the classics," said Carl Smith, a retired CPA who serves as faculty adviser for the Men's Glee Club. "You have to remem- ber that this university was founded on the classics, and it just added and expanded from that." In 1904, the University released a new, expanded songbook titled simply "The Michigan University Song Book." Among the songs included was a four-part arrangement of Louis Elbel's famous march, "The Vic- tors." Composed for the 1898 football team, Elbel's iconic piece was given lyrics in 1904 when the Men's Glee Club added it to its reper- toire. "Michigan's Favorite Col- lege Songs," the most com- prehensive volume to date and the last of the three main volumes, was published in 1913. The new songbook was the first to feature the fight song "Varsity," which the Michigan Marching Band still performs at football games. The book also fea- tured new numbers from the Michigan Union Operas. Beginning in 1908, an all- male group known as the Mimes began writing and performing comic operas in order to raise money to build the Michigan Union. The group continued perform- ing new works through the mid-'50s, when the Mimes opened up to women and became the campus Broad- way musical troupe known as "Michigan Union Shows, Ko-Eds, Too," or MUSKET. "Those were big events on campus," Smith said of the Michigan Union Operas. "Some of them were large enough that they toured to New York, Chicago and Detroit. ... They were, in many cases, farces or plays on current (events regard- ing) faculty, students, activi- See SONGBOOKS, Page 4B weekend essentials Dec. 2 to Dec. 5 ON DISPLAY You want to see a con- cert; your friends want a dance show. Compro- mise and go to "By the Way: Music In Plural- ism" at the Duderstadt Video Studio Friday or Saturday. Made by five 'U' students, it's a one- of-a-kind multimedia exhibit, incorporating everything from diverse music and live video processing to choreo- graphed modern dance. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free. AT THE MIC Today through Satur- day, Basement Arts will be performing "Dorothy," directed by School of Music, The- atre & Dance student Porscha Kazmierczak, at the Walgreen Drama Center. Written by Gra- ham Reid, "Dorothy" contrasts the "inner" and "external" worlds and deals with choices and consequences. The show will be per- formed at 7 p.m. tonight through Saturday and at 11 p.m. tomorrow. Free. FI LM No holiday season is complete without watching little Ralphie's adventures with Scut Farkus, Chinese turkey and a leg lamp during his quest for an official Red Ryder carbine- action 200-shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and the thing that tells time. The 1983 classic "A Christmas Story" is playing this Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Michigan Theater. Just make sure you don't shoot your eye out before then. Admission is free. CONCERT Got those pre-finals blues? Head to the Blind Pig tonight to hear Frontier Ruckus bring the noise and let loose. Since the release of the band's 2007 EP lAm the Water You Are Pump- ing, University alum David Winston Jones and co. have been going strong, releas- ing bluegrass folk- rock tunes that would make any Americana aficionado swoon. Doors open at 9 p.m. Tickets from $12.