It's a picture-perfect football day. The air is crisp, the sunshine is bright, and the Bombers have just driven 80 yards for a game-opening touchdown. You and the faithful revel in the moment, and above the din, you detect the pep band's joyful rendition of one of college football's most recognizable tunes -- the Notre Dame fight song.
There goes the moment.
Of course, there's nothing wrong with the Notre Dame fight song. It's just that one might more readily identify it with South Bend, Indiana, than South Hill, Ithaca.
It was with this in mind that members of the pep band last year set about finding
Ithaca College's own fight song. Compositions were solicited from the College community -- at stake is a $1,000 first prize -- and by August 15 more than 20 entries had been forwarded for consideration by a joint panel of faculty, staff, and students. Six tunes made the first cut, the winner to be selected after a Friday, September 13, performance of each by the pep band. The public is invited to attend the performance, slated for 4:00 p.m. in Ford Hall Auditorium.
"The number of entries was just remarkable," said School of Music dean Arthur Ostrander, chair of the selection committee. "It's going to be very difficult to select a winner, I can tell you that."
The new fight song will be premiered during halftime of the Bombers' Homecoming weekend football game with Mansfield University.
Ostrander said he welcomed the pep band's enthusiasm for the project, which is being cosponsored by a number of other offices on campus. "We needed our own piece," he said. "Something we can call our own."