As a freshman at the University of Michigan I sang the Michigan fight song along with my fellow students—at football games, in the student lounge, at pep rallies on campus. Singing "Hail to the Victors! / Hail to the conquering heroes!" I felt proud of my university and a sense of loyalty to it. I felt a proud camaraderie with my classmates, our institution, and its sports teams …. Singing was not the sole reason that I came to feel a part of my university, but singing was a moment when my growing sense of inclusion in the university was focused and concentrated.
At the same time, "Hail to the Victors" served as a kind of embodiment of the University of Michigan community for me. When I first heard that song sung in a stadium full of Michigan supporters, I felt I was "meeting" that extended community and joining in its character and identity. When I hear it now, it carries with it still some flavor of that place, those people, and my experience among them.
This is a trivial and in many ways [unique] example; it is a single song that is sung on occasions of a special sort and is explicitly designated to represent an institution. Nevertheless, it illustrates on a superficial level the sort of thing that happens much more profoundly among a group of people—such as a church—who gather together regularly and sing. Songs are one way that a community has its identity and one way that individuals find their identity within a community.
