A Brief History of Commencement Music

Every year around May and June, schools everywhere start rolling out folding chairs, testing microphones, and figuring out where to park thousands of proud parents who all somehow arrive at the exact same time.

And somewhere in the background, you hear it: Da, da da da DAAAH da, da da da da daaaah…

Whether you graduated from high school, college, law school, or kindergarten last week, chances are you walked in to Pomp and Circumstance by Sir Edward Elgar.
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But here’s the funny thing. It was never actually written to be graduation music.

Commencement speech at San Diego City College

Elgar wrote Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in 1901 in Liverpool as part of a larger set of ceremonial marches. The famous melody everyone recognizes today is actually the middle section of the piece.

A few years later, Yale University invited Elgar to receive an honorary doctorate, and they played the march during the ceremony. Apparently everyone heard it and collectively decided, “Yep. That sounds exactly like graduation.” And...they were right.

The music feels important without sounding overly dramatic. It moves at the perfect walking pace for long academic processions. Most importantly, it instantly tells people that something significant is happening.

​More than a century later, schools and universities across the United States still use it for commencement ceremonies.

Doctoral graduates of San Diego State University

Formal academic ceremonies go back hundreds of years, long before modern graduation traditions looked the way they do now. Early universities in England, France, and Italy were heavily tied to religious institutions, so ceremonies often included sacred choral music.
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Over time, commencements became more public celebrations instead of strictly religious ceremonies. Schools started bringing in orchestras, brass groups, military bands, and chamber ensembles to create a more ceremonial atmosphere. That tradition stuck, and now live commencement music is a huge part of the graduation experience.

Presenting the colors at Scripps Ranch HS Graduation

As iconic as Pomp and Circumstance is, there are plenty of other pieces that work beautifully for commencement ceremonies, graduation receptions, and academic events.

“Trumpet Voluntary” by Jeremiah Clarke
Bright, energetic, and ceremonial. This one sounds like somebody important just walked into the room.

“Canon in D” by Johann Pachelbel
A classic choice for smaller or more intimate ceremonies. Also one of the pieces people swear they’ve never heard before until about ten seconds in.

“Ode to Joy” by Ludwig van Beethoven
Big, uplifting, and optimistic. Perfect for the end of a ceremony when everyone is finally allowed to clap and cheer.

“Rondeau” by Jean-Joseph Mouret
You know this piece even if you think you don’t. It has that unmistakable “public television special” energy.

Music from Movies, Broadway, and Pop Arrangements:
A lot of schools now want commencement music that feels more personal to their students and communities. We’ve seen everything from film scores to jazz standards to surprisingly good classical arrangements of pop songs.

Honestly, that flexibility is one of the reasons chamber groups and wind quintets work so well for graduation events. The instrumentation feels formal enough for a university ceremony, but adaptable enough to keep things fun and modern.

Graduates await their diplomas at Grossmont College.

There’s a huge difference between live commencement music and hitting play on a speaker system.

Live musicians can adjust in real time when the ceremony inevitably runs long, somebody walks too slowly, or a dean suddenly decides to shake hands with 400 students individually.

More importantly, live music changes the atmosphere completely. It makes the ceremony feel intentional. Warm. Human.

That’s true for graduation parties too.

A lot of families and schools are looking for live graduation party music that feels elegant without taking over the entire event. A smaller ensemble can create energy without making it impossible for people to talk to each other.

That’s why people often search for musicians like us who can fit right in to their event and class it up!

The Best Part of Commencement Music
The funny thing about graduation music is that nobody really notices it until it’s missing.
Music quietly does a lot of emotional heavy lifting during commencement ceremonies. It fills awkward pauses. It gives shape to transitions. It helps a giant crowd of people feel connected for a couple of hours.
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And for graduates, that soundtrack becomes tied to a memory they’ll keep forever.
Years later, people may forget who gave the keynote speech. They may forget where they parked. But the second they hear Pomp and Circumstance again, they immediately remember what it felt like to walk across that stage.

LCQ Performing for a Graduation Party at Lomas Santa Fe County Club