Uses and Performances
The chorus of the song ("Hail! to the victors valiant," etc.) is played at all University of Michigan sports competitions, as well as many UM band events, first year student orientation and welcoming events, and graduation commencement ceremonies. When the song is played at any event, most fans stand and clap in rhythm until the chorus. During the chorus, fans clap and sing along and thrust their fists in the air at each repetition of the word "Hail!" This raising of the fist during the chorus has become a well-known sight indicative of UM athletics and school spirit. Recently, fans have started to yell the phrase "Go Blue!" at the conclusion of the chorus. However, during hockey games, it is more common to insert "Let's Go Blue!" in between the two stanzas of the chorus (after the line "...leaders and best.") than it is to end with "Go Blue!" More recently, the hockey fans at Yost Ice Arena have begun adopting the football cheer version and ending in "Go Blue!" in addition to the aforementioned "Let's Go Blue!" in the middle of the song.
Since UM athletics and "The Victors" are both popular, the University of Michigan has also used the words to the fight song as an advertising tool. For example, commercials for the University of Michigan Health System's "The Michigan Difference" campaign have featured the words to the chorus of "The Victors" over pictures of children in hospital beds, amputees and post-surgical patients living active lives, and doctors performing surgery. The musical accompaniment to these commercials is a light chamber orchestra/pop rendition of the fight song.
UM alumnus Gerald R. Ford, the 38th President of the United States, often had the Naval band play the fight song prior to state events instead of "Hail to the Chief". He also selected the song to be played during his December 2006 funeral procession at the U.S. Capitol. The Michigan Marching Band played this tune for him one final time, for his last ride from the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Read more about this topic: The Victors
Famous quotes containing the word performances:
“At one of the later performances you asked why they called it a “miracle,”
Since nothing ever happened. That, of course, was the miracle
But you wanted to know why so much action took on so much life
And still managed to remain itself, aloof, smiling and courteous.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)