By Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel

Madison — If Wisconsin's essence were distilled to one four-note riff, it would be this: D, C-sharp, E, D.

Whether played on trumpets or pianos, sung by sopranos or tenors, thumped from synthesizers or shouted by rappers, those four musical notes are encoded into Wisconsin's DNA.

The notes, as well as the rest of the ditty that would become not just the Badger fight song but Wisconsin's state song, were first performed 100 years ago Tuesday when a glee club warbled "On, Wisconsin!" for the first time in practice followed by the first known public performance at a pep rally the next day.

A few days later, on Nov. 13, 1909, the University of Wisconsin band played the tune during a football game at Camp Randall - a 34-6 drubbing by the University of Minnesota.

"One of the things that makes it so extremely popular - the first four notes are so recognizable it almost makes a statement from the first time you hear it. It says everything in the first four notes," said Mike Leckrone.

Leckrone should know. As director of the UW Marching Band since 1969, Leckrone has conducted the song many times in many different arrangements, including swing, funk, Latin and a James Brown-like version. When asked to hazard a guess of just how often, he said "it boggles my mind."

"On a given Saturday for football, we'll probably play it, conservatively, 40 to 50 times including practice. You multiply that by 41 years by seven, eight football games in a season. Then you multiply it for basketball and hockey games, we average eight to 10 times for basketball. . . . I don't know if I even want to start to think about it," Leckrone said.

In honor of the centennial of "On, Wisconsin!" UW-Madison has organized a number of observances: a birthday party featuring a cake and a performance by the UW Marching Band on Tuesday afternoon on the front steps of the Memorial Union; a contest for Badgers fans to create their own versions of the song to upload on YouTube; a Web site by UW-Madison Libraries featuring photos, lyrics and recordings; and a new arrangement to be performed by the UW-Madison Concert Choir on Friday night.

Written for Minnesota

According to the UW Archives, "On, Wisconsin!" was written by William T. Purdy for a University of Minnesota fight song contest that offered a $100 prize. Purdy's roommate Carl Beck, who attended UW from 1908 to 1909, heard the melody, wrote lyrics for his former college and persuaded Purdy to dump the Minnesota song contest.

The lyrics were printed in the Daily Cardinal on Nov. 13, 1909, so students and other spectators at the football game would know to sing "On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin! Plunge right through that line! Run the ball 'round Minnesota, A touchdown sure this time. On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin! Fight on for her fame. Fight! Fellows! Fight! And we will win this game."

A more contemporary version changes the third line to "Run the ball clear down the field, a touchdown sure this time" and the final line to "Fight, fellows, fight, fight, fight!We'll win this game."

David Null, director of the University Archives, thinks the 32-bar song has endured for a century because it's short and catchy.

"It's easy to sing along. It's all the things people like. It's hard to know why things stick in people's imagination," said Null, as he looked through three original 1909 copies of the "On, Wisconsin!" sheet music in the university's archives.

Purdy sold his share of the copyright for less than $100 in 1917, the year before he died of tuberculosis, to Flanner-Hafsoos Piano House of Milwaukee. Beck retained his copyright but in 1937, he tried to renew it in only his name with the intention of the university or the Wisconsin Alumni Foundation getting sole ownership. Purdy's widow objected.

The rights were eventually split between separate publishing companies. Now, despite the myth that "On, Wisconsin!" is part of a music catalog whose rights were owned by Michael Jackson at some point, the song is in the public domain in the United States, Null said.

Jerry Hui wrote a new arrangement of "On, Wisconsin!" to be performed Friday by the concert choir. Since it's a song so universally known, Hui said the greatest challenge was arranging the notes in a fresh way but keeping the song intact so listeners will easily recognize it. Hui admits he doesn't go to many sporting events but enjoys hearing the song noted for having the hook in an unconventional place.

"Most fight songs have the hook in the chorus, but with 'On, Wisconsin!' the hook is right at the beginning. So that means the first four notes you can figure out it's 'On, Wisconsin!' " said Hui, who is working on his doctoral degree in music composition and choral conducting.

'Pumps you up'

At a recent practice on a field next to Lake Mendota, UW marching band members played "On, Wisconsin!" a couple times during warm-ups before concentrating on the halftime and pregame shows for Saturday's Michigan game at Camp Randall.

"I think it was Sousa who said it's the best fight song ever written," said Sarah Bewitz, 21, a senior trumpet player from Racine. "It pumps you up. I still get the chills when I hear it for the first time after coming back from summer vacation."

Alex Waskawic, 21, of Omro played euphonium for three years before becoming drum major this year. The mechanical engineering major remembered sight reading "On, Wisconsin!" at his first band practice as a freshman and easily memorizing it by the first football game.

"If you listen to a lot of the other fight songs in the Big Ten, they all sound the same. 'On, Wisconsin!' is catchy," said Waskawic, who as drum major gets a unique perspective of the song from the 50-yard line. "The crowd loves it. Everybody stands up. In a real close game if we play it, everyone gets excited."

More information about the history of "On, Wisconsin!" can be found at the UW-Madison Archives Web site, http://archives.library.wisc.edu/uw-archives/exhibits/onwisconsin/index.html