If someone asked you to sing the alma mater, would you know all the words?
Probably not, if you’re like the students I interviewed.
The idea for the project came to me when I attended Sunset Serenade during Fall Fest: At the end of the concert, a stranger suddenly threw her arms around me and began to sway in time to an unfamiliar tune.
Students were a bit weepy; the chorus was resounding. It was only my first week at Carolina and I thought, “Oh boy, I better learn the alma mater.”
Hark the Sound is UNC-Chapel Hill’s oldest song, according to Tar Heel Blue, the university’s official athletics website. In 1897 a member of the University’s Glee Club adapted the song from Amici, a popular song at the time.
In the 1930s I’m a Tar Heel born was combined with the alma mater to create the fight-song sensation students, alumni and fans know today.
Well, “know” is a relative term.
Most students with whom I spoke were familiar with the song’s melody. Some students knew the shouted verses, like “N-C-U” and “priceless gem.” Others refused to sing, period.
Not one student volunteered to sing alone. Students were only willing to sing — and to be recorded singing — if their friends could join in.
This response demonstrates an aspect of the alma mater I had previously overlooked: The words are not as important as the people with whom you sing the song.
Sure, there is less risk in messing up the lyrics to a song “everyone” knows if your friends are messing up, too. But I like to think that the alma mater is inherently a social song.
Hark the Sound is meant to be sung with other Tar Heels. Win or lose, correct or incorrect, we go together.
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