Professional baseball players, super fans and student musicians piled into an Australian National University recording studio on Monday to record an enthusiastic new team song for the Canberra Cavalry.
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Renowned composer and ANU School of Music head Ken Lampl led the composition of the song, which draws together traditional baseball songs, team chants and rap in a tune team general manager Dan Amodio promised would get stuck in every fan's head for the rest of summer.
Professor Lampl said the unique collaboration between the baseball team and the university represented part of his vision to make the School of Music more accessible to the broader community.
"It's very much in the model of the original School of Music that [Ernest] Llewellyn started in terms of that model of excellence, but it's about excellence going out into the community and making a difference for the community," he said.
"Music is so interactive and is such an integral part of what brings people together, what brings the community together, so that's what the School of Music is about: bringing everyone together."
Amodio said the song would add a new layer to the Canberra Calvary's games, which he described as "one part baseball and one part entertainment".
"I think a lot of people come to our games for the hot dogs, for the beers and the music just as much as they do for the baseball sometimes - maybe even more," he said.
"From our standpoint we've got a really, really cool boost to the fan experience at the game, we get a really great track that we can share with our members and we get a really good opportunity to work with the highest class organisations in Canberra."
The School of Music and Canberra Cavalry earlier this year launched the Cavalry Starlite Music Series, where local musicians compete for a recording session in the ANU studio and a chance to perform at a baseball game.
"It's a real opportunity for sports fans to have a new experience going to the games, that cross between music and sport, and also for the School of Music students and the emerging artists of Canberra to have a completely new audience, different kind of people who come to clubs than come to their shows," Professor Lampl said.
