UCLA
In 1936, UCLA students were looking for a new rally tune. George and Ira Gershwin had moved from New York to Beverly Hills to work in Los Angeles on the Fred Astaire movie Shall We Dance. Maxson Judell, a music industry contact, approached them about contributing a song to UCLA. The Gershwins made a gift of the song to the University of California, Los Angeles. Ira Gershwin revised the lyrics and called the new version "Strike Up the Band for UCLA." From that time, it became one of the primary school songs, and even served as the leitmotif and rally song for the school teams until Sons of Westwood and later Mighty Bruins became school songs. The UCLA Band currently plays an arrangement of "Strike Up the Band for UCLA" as part of each UCLA Bruins football pregame show and at home basketball games.
The George and Ira Gershwin Award is presented annually at UCLA during "Spring Sing" at Pauley Pavilion or at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on campus. Brian Wilson is the 2011 recipient.
Read more about this topic: Strike Up The Band (song)