Heard It in an Ad · Story 11
American graduations · since 1905
The British march that became America's graduation music
The tune for walking in under a mortarboard started its American career at Yale in 1905.
Whenever an American film shows a graduation, the same march nearly always plays. That slow, stately melody comes from England.
Where you heard it
It is Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1. When Yale University gave Elgar an honorary doctorate of music in 1905, the march was played at the ceremony. From there it spread to other universities and high schools until it became the standard American graduation music.
The real story
The march was first performed in Liverpool in 1901. Its title comes from a line in Shakespeare's Othello. The part heard at graduations is the broad, slow tune in the middle. In Britain, with words added, it became the song "Land of Hope and Glory", loved almost like a national anthem.
Tell a friend
America's graduation march is British, and the tradition began when Yale played it while giving Elgar a degree in 1905.
Edward Elgar1857–1934Read the story of Elgar →