No place like home

Davis: There's no place like home

By Kristi Vavrina
Alumni News Staff

Scarlet and cream on autumn Saturdays. Studying at the foot of Broyhill Fountain. Kissing next to the old columns . . .

The University of Nebraska enjoys a wealth of traditions, some dating back to its charter in 1869.

Saturday, Oct. 12, that list grew by one.

Before an audience of 75,000 Nebraska football fans, composer Chip Davis, UNL Chancellor James Moeser, the University of Nebraska Marching Band and a combined university choir unveiled Nebraska Alma Mater — a song that Davis devoted his time and heart to and one he hopes will become a classic.

Last spring, Pinnacle Sports Productions asked Davis, composer of Mannheim Steamroller’s music, to write a song to be played during its broadcasts of Nebraska athletic events.

Writing Husker Musik led Davis to the university, where he started talking to people at UNL to get ideas for the song in early September.

That was when he came in contact with Moeser. During the planning of his investiture earlier in the year, Moeser had discovered that the school didn’t have an alma mater, which troubled him.

He thought a hymn was an integral part of any university’s tradition — a stately, dignified song that bonds students to their school — a song Nebraska lacked.

“It has to be easy to sing, and it needs to talk about loyalty, about tradition,” Moeser said. “It’s somewhat romantic. It’s sentimental.”

Thrilled by the chance to contribute a composition to the university, Davis offered to compose one as a gift.

“To write an alma mater is a once-in-a- lifetime experience for any composer,” he said.

“It’s rare to write something that lasts forever. A song like this has to stand to the test of time, and that’s a scary thought. When you’re writing something like that you wonder if it will be accepted.

“Throughout my career, I’ve written around 3,000 different pieces, but this was different. It worried me.”

That pressure inspired Davis, and the project consumed his attention.

“First off, I thought, ‘What is an alma mater?’

“I looked it up and found that the words actually mean ‘fostering mother.’ In terms of a song, they refer to a school as helping raise you. So I began to think of it as the university’s anthem — something stately and solemn. It should call up memories, so in a sense it probably takes on more meaning after school.”

For a week, Davis didn’t do anything but think about the melody. He didn’t sit down at a keyboard or write chords, instead toying with different strains in his head. Then at 3 one morning, he woke up — and the song was there.

“It was only the second time that that has happened to me — that I’ve wakened up and the song was in my head. I had been thinking about it so much that my subconscious just wrote it for me. I jumped out of bed, went downstairs, put the melody into my computer and then went back to bed. When I woke up that morning, it was just there.”

Davis sent Moeser a copy of the tune, the chancellor approved it and Davis went to work on the lyrics. He thought tradition needed to be an integral part of the song, and he also wanted to include verses about the basic university philosophy and campus life — words that would address the fabric and personality of the school.

Moeser read parts of Prairie University, a book written by Robert Knoll, professor emeritus, to Davis over the phone to help him understand the school’s history. Then Davis went to Knoll himself to learn about campus traditions.

Together, the three collaborated on ideas. Their interchange inspired the lyrics involving kissing by the columns and Ivy Day, a UNL tradition in the spring when new members of the Innocents Society and Mortar Board are announced.

Using those facts, Davis wove the thoughts into rhyming lines. The composing sometimes seemed like a struggle, but gradually, he said, the lyrics began to take shape.

As the premiere drew closer, Davis grew apprehensive, knowing this would be the first time the general public would hear the song. He felt pressure from a controversy surrounding the alma mater — whether one had existed previously. Public expectation also weighed on him.

“We were going to be performing in front of 75,000 people. I hadn’t performed in front of that many people since I had played cymbals with the marching band at Michigan.

“As Mannheim Steamroller, we certainly had never played for a crowd that large. Debuting a song with the stature of an alma mater in front of that many people — it was probably the highlight of my career.

“Saturday was pretty darn cool.”

At half-time of the football game, the marching band formed a semicircle in the north end zone of Memorial Stadium. The choir gathered on the side. Behind them, at the foot of the goal post, Mannheim Steamroller stood on a portable stage.

Rod Chesnutt, Cornhusker Marching Band director, raised his arms and the strophic melody cut through the air for its first public performance. While the lyrics flashed across the HuskerVision screens, Davis’ 5-year-old daughter, Kelli, sang as she stood next to her dad.

“She knew every word,” Davis said. “Every time I wrote a new line, I would read it to her, and she would sing it with me.”

As the last strains of the song faded away, cheers rose from the stands. Moeser and Davis raised their hands in triumph. It was a proud moment for Davis, the man who worked so diligently to write a song that would adequately pay tribute to the University of Nebraska.

Moeser cast his hopes on the future.

“Saturday was very successful, but the real test will be next Saturday and the Saturday after that. We have to wait and see how it will play out in the future.

“I think that the alma mater’s role is to establish a sense of place. It should foster loyalty and make your heart beat a little faster.”