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Music

Spring 2024

Sweet beats with the Cougar Marching Band

The WSU Fight Song, the roaring crowd, the electric atmosphere.

Washington State University’s Cougar Marching Band is often the heart and soul that connects WSU alumni and fans at these games.

In this episode, new Cougar Marching Band director Jon Sweet takes magazine associate editor Adriana Janovich behind the scenes. He talks about the music, the marching, the fans, and the incredible Coug spirit in the band.

This episode’s music is from the Cougar Marching Band at a November 2023 football game.

The Cougar Marching Band is raising money for new uniforms. Learn more or donate for the uniforms.

Transcript

 

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Black and white photo of Sam Morris of the Nez Perce Tribe
Spring 2022

Nez Perce music today and yesterday

Listen to Nimíipuu (Nez Perce) music from the past and today, starting with early recordings in 1897 and up to contemporary songs from the Washington State University recording studio.

 

The Sam Morris Collection (Courtesy Tabitha Erdey, Cultural Resources Program Manager, Nez Perce National Historic Park and Research Center)

Book cover of A Legacy from Sam Morris and two music CDs

This two-CD set was produced by Loran Olsen, WSU professor emeritus of music and Native American studies.

Olsen worked with the Nez Perce community for several decades and set up the Nez Perce … » More …

Butch Cougar in front of music sheet
Spring 2021

Pandemic playlists

Music stimulates the parts of the brain that register pleasure, provoking memories, reducing stress, and profoundly influencing our moods. It’s both a salve and a distraction. And, during the current novel coronavirus pandemic, it offers perhaps one of the easiest and most accessible forms of self-care.

Music comforts us. It alleviates anxiety, helps us cope with emotions, and offers an outlet. It’s art, and art saves lives.

Here are some suggestions from the Cougar Nation for your listening pleasure during the pandemic.

 

Dean Karr (’88 Fine Arts)
Music video director, photographer, visual artist

Eruption by Van Halen on Van Halen (Warner Bros., 1978). … » More …

Spring 2020

Dean Karr’s Los Angeles—and a few more fun facts from the longtime videographer

Dean Karr (’88 Fine Arts) has lived in L.A. making music videos and shooting photos for many years. We asked him for some Los Angeles favorites.

Music venues: “I like the little venues where I can go see punk rock. The Fonda (Theatre) always has good music. The Regent downtown, they book a lot of punk rock there. The Greek Theatre is always great, especially how they light up the trees. It’s really beautiful. It’s like a smaller Hollywood Bowl.”

Museums: Petersen Automotive Museum and the Museum of … » More …

Space Shuttle Challenger in space
Spring 2019

WSU Fight Song in space and time

Since the Washington State University Fight Song was composed and adopted in 1919, it has taken flight on a space shuttle, adapted in several musical styles, sung by John Candy in a movie, and taken on great meaning for the Cougar Nation.

Listen to the first known recording of the Fight Song (from 1934), the Fight Song broadcast to the Space Shuttle Challenger to honor astronaut and WSU alum John Fabian ’62, and watch “Tom Tuttle from Tacoma” belt out “Fight, fight, fight for Washington State” in the 1985 movie Volunteers.

Read the history of the fight song in “Fight, fight, fight…” still flying … » More …

Alumni News
Fall 2017

Bounty of the Palouse

Each fall, the WSU Alumni Association’s wildly popular Feast of the Arts dinner series brings together some of the very best aspects of WSU for a can’t-miss evening. These special dinners feature wines from a different Coug winery expertly paired with exquisite food courses by Executive Chef Jamie Callison of the Carson College of Business School of Hospitality Business Management and his talented students.

“I work with my students to craft a menu inspired by WSU-focused fare—like fresh vegetables from the WSU Organic Farm and Wagyu beef from the Premium Beef Program,” Chef Jamie explains. The Feast also incorporates the WSU » More …

Spring 2011

Nature Boy reads on

We received a wonderful letter recently from Clarence Schuchman ’38 about tuition costs and music.

Referring to published comments by President Floyd about rising tuition costs, Mr. Schuchman recalls visiting Bursar Kruegel’s office and “plunking down thirty-two dollars and some odd cents” for his second semester tuition, then finding a job—washing windows of the bursar’s office—for which he would receive fourteen and a half cents an hour.

Mr. Schuchman’s letter is just one of the many journeys into the past that frequent my days here.

The past indeed seems “a foreign country,” as novelist L.P. Hartley observed. “They do things differently … » More …