Touchdown! Dartmouth has scored again, the band strikes up the fight songs and although the crowd links arms to sing "Glory to Dartmouth" at the end, few know the words to the three songs played before it.
Yes, those three songs have words -- but unlike past generations of students, most of today's fans do not know them.
Athletic Director Dick Jaeger '59 recalled how students used to join in the singing and make themselves heard in a "surge of support" for the team. "I don't hear that as much as I used to," he said.
Marching Band Director Max Culpepper agreed that older alumni seem to know the words to all the Dartmouth songs, while current students generally know only the tunes.
Culpepper cited the change in lifestyles between today and years ago as one reason for students' lack of participation in singing the Dartmouth songs.
"Things are more impersonal today than they used to be," he said.
Culpepper also said he believes the philosophy of the school has changed over the years.
"The focus of the College used to be very group-oriented," he said. "Now it's more individual ... There are a lot of good things about the breakdown ... [but] when you gain individualism, you lose collectivism."
Culpepper said he thinks these changes have made it more difficult to learn Dartmouth's songs in recent years because there is no organized instruction.
But members of the Glee Club continue to learn many of the songs, including "Dartmouth Undying," "Son of a Gun for Beer," "Pea-Green Freshmen" and "Twilight Song," most of whose lyrics are printed in the Green Book for the Class of 1998 and the Freshman Book for previous classes.
"It seems to me that by the time they've graduated, most students would recognize [the words] to the songs," Glee Club Director Louis Burkot said.
But while student desire to sing the songs has decreased, alumni still want to hear them. The Glee Club generally performs the songs in concerts attended by alumni.
"That's what alumni are interested in hearing -- what they heard when they were undergraduates," Glee Club President Alison Moll '95 said.
Moll said she feels Dartmouth fight songs will not hold much meaning for current students after graduation but other songs, like the "Alma Mater," will. "They're more sentimental, lyrical and beautiful," she said. "School spirit is still here."
Burkot agreed and said he felt the Dartmouth songs have "held pretty firmly in the traditions." He said many alumni become more familiar with the songs after graduation by listening to recordings of Glee Club performances.
Culpepper said he has not noticed any change in school spirit during his 11 years at Dartmouth and that the role of tradition in the Dartmouth experience continues to attract students.
"The school songs are always going to be part of tradition," he said.
While Jaeger said he misses the "overwhelming" support that comes from everyone joining in and singing the fight songs at football games, he said, "You would hope that the spirit that seems to be unique to this place would always be here."
Michael Weinberg '95 lamented the loss of enthusiasm for fight songs, but added that it was not a tragic one. "[It's] just a natural waning of student interest," he said.
