Drumline

The rumble of drums heard miles away is one of the most recognizable sounds of an Iowa football game day. Iowa bands were maneuvering to the beat of drums as far back as 1880, when a rote teaching method called rudimental drumming was used. Each fall returning drummers would teach new drummers cadences and traditional band pieces. Some of those cadences became permanently associated with Iowa.

When Professor Thomas L. Davis arrived at the UI in 1958, he worked to preserve the traditions of the past while creating his own percussion legacy. Mr. Davis distilled a collection of drum cadences, dubbed The Series, still used today by the Hawkeye Drumline.

Each new generation of drummers dresses the cadences in the drumming fashions of the day, but the names and fabric of the cadences remain the same. Every year a little more is added, but the essence remains. Rarely is anything dropped, which is why The Series takes nearly ten minutes to play from top to bottom. A drummer from the class of 1949 showed up to play in the Alumni Band a few years ago, and his version of the cadences fit perfectly. Now that’s tradition!

Cadences such as “Bass Drum,” “Tom-Tom,” “I-O-W-A,” and “Jazzy” have been part of The Series since the 1950s; “Entry Cadence” and “Street Cadence #1” have been around even longer. Dr. Dan Moore made his mark on The Series with an updated version of “Jazzy” and a rewrite of the cadence “Zulu” that traditionally ends The Series.

The next time you hear Iowa drums rumbling in the distance, be proud that you are in step with over 100 years of Iowa drumming tradition.