Graduation Songs
Graduation songs are something we can remember for many years to come. The power of music when it is attached to a special occasion is quite amazing. You can hear the music many years later and be instantly taken back to that point in time where the special event took place. You might feel that powerful feeling of success all over again, remember what you were doing, recall people and the surroundings you were in. It can be quite extraordinary what the right graduation songs can do for you. This may not be the case if you feel the graduation songs are very boring at the time, however it will be the case if you can really identify with the music and take it to your heart. Strangely there is a real need to have the right music and each educational establishment will have music that is correct for it. What can be even more amazing is that graduates who are at say a prestigious university will absolutely love the traditional, if not classical, music that is played. Perhaps the main reason is it fits in totally with their expectation and also they love the university and wish its traditions to be maintained. Outside of the graduation ceremony they may well have completely different tastes in music and may never listen to a classical piece again. So perhaps the key to working out which graduation songs will be the most powerful and have the most meaning is to look first at the traditions of the educational establishment. Another factor may be the music is the way the graduates identify with the school. This music may be an anchor which they will remember for the rest of their lives. The music will be something they love, but only in connection with their school.
If you are helping to choose graduation songs or are being presented with some options for the ceremony you might want to stand back and think about what you are trying to do. If there has been a very tight tradition of a particular music being played you would need to have a very good reason for making a change and also for the particular graduation songs being proposed. The songs do need to fit. Of course there may be a tradition that the class have music played at various points that really relates to them. That can be their own anthem that they have used over the years or even just something that really does mean a lot to them. Of course if the graduation songs are being played as part of their slideshow then you may want to use emotive music that will make them understand how great it has been and how sad it is to say goodbye. However if you are proposing music for a kindergarten graduation ceremony you will be using Disney type music that means a lot to the kids and hopefully contains a message the kids love. That could be Brother Bear or Circle of Life, for example.
Of course there are standby graduation songs that you can use like Pomp and Circumstance by Elgar, The Vitamin C Graduation Song (Friends Forever) and even classics like My Way by Elvis.
