UNI Panther Marching Band to present new victory march

This year, the University of Northern Iowa Panther Marching Band is breathing to life a dormant tradition.

Starting at the Sept. 11 home football game, the Panther Marching Band, affectionately known by its members as PMB, will perform UNI's new victory march during the pre-game performance.

In case you were wondering, a victory march is played by a marching band after its team scores or whenever the band feels the crowd needs to wake up. As the year progresses, the victory march, along with the UNI fight song, will be played with a conglomeration of songs PMB will perform throughout the football games.

Though many universities have a few victory marches, a victory march has been absent from PMB's repertoire for years. This summer, Danny Galyen, the director of PMB, set out to create one after questioning why UNI didn't have a victory march.

Galyen spent his summer sifting through Iowa songs, looking for possible victory marches, and settled on the "Iowa Corn Song."

"I listened to that song and converted it to a really fast march in two," Galyen said of the creative process.

When he finished, he presented it to the band, who excitedly voted to accept it.

PMB member Brian Martin, a sophomore and the trombone section leader, is glad to be a part of the new march.

"I think it's really cool to be introducing a new tradition," he said.

As for the song's effects, Martin calls the victory march, "upbeat and peppy," hoping it will, "keep the crowd on its feet, keep the crowd fired up."

Not only does Galyen hope to motivate the student population, but he also hopes to enliven the adults and alumni. He decided to choose the "Iowa Corn Song" because "most older people should be able to recognize it." With the help of UNI's new victory march, Galyen strives to get the crowd "into the college spirit."

Another aspect students can look forward to during the first home football game is a performance by the North Dakota State University Gold Star Marching Band.

During the halftime presentation, PMB will be joined by the NDSU Gold Star Marching Band to perform the final song of the show. By hosting a guest marching band, PMB members can identify similarities and differences between PMB and NDSU's marching. PMB students will try their hands at NDSU's fight song, "Go Bison," just as the Gold Star Marching Band members will with UNI's fight song, "UNI Fight."

UNI's new victory march can be heard on the PMB's webpage at www.uni.edu/music/marchingband/audio/index.html.