Creating Audio Description For College Fight Song

As a double alum of George Mason University and former member of the Green Machine pep band, one of my favorite parts of going to basketball games was getting to play the GMU fight song (Onward to Victory) and singing along with thousands of other fans in the arena. I learned the music and lyrics by reading them in large print, though it took me a few games to learn the choreography for the fight song— low vision made it challenging to see the other band members dancing around me.

When I admitted this to one of my friends at lunch one day, they filmed a video of themselves singing the fight song and described their movements, so that way I could watch them on a screen closer to my face. It was so exciting to be able to not only learn the choreography for myself, but to use this information to teach other students the fight song before their first game day.

Years later, Green Machine released a video of band director Doc Nix teaching students the GMU fight song, and I started thinking about my friend’s video and how helpful the additional description was in helping me learn the song. To make school spirit more accessible and inclusive for students with visual impairments, I created an “unofficial” audio described version of the original video with Doc Nix that provides more detailed descriptions of choreography so that blind students and students with low vision can show off their patriot pride. Here are my tips for how to create audio description for college fight song videos, from a student with low vision.

Interested in watching the video first? Check it out on YouDescribe— Learn the Fight Song with Doc Nix (student-created audio description)

BACKGROUND: WHAT IS AUDIO DESCRIPTION?

Audio description, sometimes referred to as descriptive audio or described video, is an additional narration track designed with nonvisual access in mind, providing details for all key visual elements of a video so that audiences with visual impairments (inclusive of blind/low vision) can fully participate and engage with content. Audio description is delivered during natural pauses in dialogue or music and can help viewers better understand what is going on. Most audio description content posted online is “open”, meaning that it does not require any special equipment or headphones to listen to the additional description track.

TYPES OF AUDIO DESCRIPTION: INLINE AND EXTENDED

There are two types of audio description, including inline description and extended description. Videos can utilize one or both of these styles at different points.

Inline description plays concurrently with the video, providing description during natural pauses in dialogue or music so that the video is not interrupted. This style is ideal for describing movement (e.g. raising hands) or for providing descriptions for videos that have little to no spoken content otherwise.

Extended audio description pauses the video to read the description, and resumes video playback once the description for a scene is finished. This works well for videos that require detailed description for dancing or choreography, during quick scene changes, or to avoid talking over singing/speaking during the video.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION VS VIDEO DESCRIPTION

In this context, video descriptions provide a text-based description of visual elements in a video, acting as a transcript or summary that the viewer can read either with large print, a screen reader, or a braille display. The viewer may use the text-based description to provide additional context for what they are watching or to help fill in blanks after watching a video, ultimately answering the question “what did I just watch?” Video descriptions can also be a helpful tool for making videos easier to discover on social media or with search engine optimization.

The primary difference between audio description and video descriptions in this context is that audio descriptions describe everything going on except for what is communicated by sound or verbal description; the focus is on what isn’t being said or heard. For video descriptions, the audio may be mentioned when it comes to describing song choice or writing a transcript of spoken content, but the primary focus is still on describing visual elements of the video.

WHICH IS BETTER: AUDIO DESCRIPTION OR VIDEO DESCRIPTIONS?

When it comes to watching videos and understanding what is happening in real time, audio description provides viewers with the most “immersive” experience, as they do not have to look away from the video or otherwise change how they are watching it to hear the description. Text-based video descriptions on the other hand are located in a caption or separate file, so they require the viewer to look away from the video they are watching to focus on reading. That said, video descriptions can be helpful for providing a summary of what is happening in a video, or provide a copy of the lyrics or movement notes for specific lines in the song.

Selecting the right video for audio description

Many colleges and universities post a video of someone singing the school fight song while also showing any movement or choreography that corresponds with different lyrics— this may be shared via the athletic department, music department, admissions, or with a student group. At George Mason University, the Green Machine pep band posted a video called “Learn the Fight Song with Doc Nix,” which teaches viewers the fight song lyrics and choreography, as well as showing footage of the song and other chants being performed at a basketball game.

This video is a fantastic candidate for adding audio description because it incorporates a version of the fight song at a slower tempo and has options for both inline and extended description. If the video had just been someone clapping as they sang the fight song, it wouldn’t need audio description because there wouldn’t be any movement to describe that someone would miss out on if they were just listening to the video.

Producing audio description for school spirit videos

When it comes to recording audio description for a college fight song or school cheers, there are several free tools that can be used with existing videos. Some options include:

For creators recording their own videos, narration can be incorporated into the recording process by providing detailed verbal descriptions of movements as they appear on the screen. For example, an instructor can share a set of steps or the name of specific movements as they perform them in real time, while avoiding phrases such as “like this” or other vague location information.
One option for adding audio description to YouTube videos is the free YouDescribe web application, which offers options for recording inline descriptions that play alongside the video, as well as extended descriptions that allow creators to pause videos and go into more detail about what is happening. This is what I used to create the audio description for the George Mason video.
For videos recorded on an iOS device, the Clips application can be used to add additional narration to videos and record audio description.
When posting videos on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, a video description can be shared or linked in the video caption or description, so that users can read the description on their own. Alternatively, a comment containing description can be pinned to the top of a feed.

Another potential option is to connect with disability services or the accessibility office to find out if they have a service or workflow they use to provide audio description for students.

How to create audio description for college fight song and school spirit videos

When I created the “unofficial” (not university sponsored) audio description track for the fight song as part of an assignment, I used the following workflow and came up with this list of strategies for others who want to create their own audio description tracks. Watch my video on the YouDescribe website at Learn the Fight Song with Doc Nix (student-created audio description)

Step 1: Watch the video and take notes

The first step of creating audio description for college fight song or school spirit videos is to watch the original video several times to capture notes and details about different visual elements— I would pause the video after each line of the song to take notes about the movement. For me, it helped that I already knew the choreography being performed in the video, but I still had to figure out how I would describe it and which side different movements would start on.

Step 2: Describe choreography and movements

When I wrote my first draft of notes, I used phrases like “make strength pose” and “extend arm in air” to describe some of the movements made during the fight song and accompanying cheers. I realized that some of these descriptions would need more detail in order for someone to follow along with the choreography, especially since pep bands members are expected to use their left hand/right hand for specific parts of the song. Some examples of how I updated my notes include:

Extend left arm in the air while making a fist, then lower it
Doc touches his right shoulder with his left fist and then bends both elbows at a 90 degree angle to mimic a strength pose

The video is structured so that the first part shows Doc Nix providing verbal descriptions of the movements and the second part shows him modeling the movements to a slower version of the fight song.

My notes from the first part of the video include the following details:

Doc raises his left arm in the air
Doc touches the top of the green diamond on the baton and the gold frames of his sunglasses while smiling
Doc extends his left hand while looking at his palm, with fingers spread out
Doc salutes the camera, angles his elbow at a 45 degree angle in front of him while making a fist, and then extends his arm straight up in the air before bringing it back down
Extend both arms back into the air
Doc makes a saluting motion and then moves his head while swaying from right to left
Doc touches his right shoulder with his left fist and then bends both elbows at a 90 degree angle to mimic a strength pose
Doc makes three punching gestures alternating his left, right, and then left fists, extending the elbows at a 45 degree angle in front of him
Doc claps along with the rhythm

My notes from the second part of the video that shows the fight song lyrics include the following details:

Extend left arm in the air while making a fist, then lower it
Point to green and gold
Extend arm while looking at palm, then lower it
Salute, lower arm, and then extend fist in the air
Extend both arms in the air again, then lower them
Make a salute, then move the head and torso from right to left. Return to center position.
Touch right shoulder with left fist, place left fist at 45 degree angle next to body
Make three punching movements, alternating left, right, left
Clap along to song

The second part of the video was mainly focused on the timings of each movement, rather than explaining what the movement looked like.

Step 3: Note any on-screen text that is not read out loud and descriptions of surroundings

If text is included on the screen but no one reads it out loud, it is helpful to read this text out loud in the audio description or to mention it in a video description. I didn’t read the fight song lyrics out loud because Doc Nix was saying them in real time as the lyrics appeared on the screen— I would have just been repeating things he already said.

Another helpful strategy is to provide a brief visual description of who is in the video and where the video is being filmed, which in this case was on a basketball court. I also included a short description of Doc Nix’s clothing and mentioned that he is holding a tall baton topped with a green diamond, as he uses the baton as a prop later in the video.

Step 4: Experiment with inline and extended description

When I first started recording audio description for the fight song, I wasn’t sure how often I would need to use extended descriptions that require pausing the video— the goal of the video is to learn both the lyrics to the fight song and the movement. As I recorded the video in YouDescribe, I noticed that I had to make some of my descriptions more concise, but ultimately there were some areas that really needed extended description, such as scenes with back-to-back movements.

One of the general rules of audio description is that the audio description script should not reveal movement on the screen before it happens. However, I found it necessary to break that rule to explain one of the GMU cheers, and incorporated an extended description to indicate the motions of the cheer before the cheer was shown on screen, mostly because it happens so fast.

Step 5: Play video and share

I watched the finished video several times to make sure that my descriptions made sense within the context of the video, and then shared it with another student with a visual impairment who had never learned the fight song. While I wasn’t looking for perfection or precision in the movements, it was helpful to observe how they interpreted the instructions in the description, and I revised some of my notes based on their feedback.

Once I was happy with how the video came out, I shared the video as a public link on the YouDescribe website, and have since shared it with other prospective students who are interested in GMU. Colleges and universities that are creating their own audio described videos can share them on social media or on YouTube and/or YouDescribe for students and fans to discover.

More resources for inclusive and accessible school spirit and learning the college fight song

Want to read more about being in Green Machine, the number-one pep band in the NCAA? Check out How I Play In GMU Green Machine/Pep Band With Low Vision
Need some tips for navigating game day? Read College Game Day and Sporting Events: College O&M
One of the fun parts of the video that I didn’t mention in the video description is how individual band members often add their own personal touch to their uniforms. Read more about some of my fun-but-functional accessories in Adapting Band Uniforms For Sensory Processing Issues

Published March 10, 2025. Updated March 2025

Reference

Lewis, Veronica. (2025). Creating Audio Description For College Fight Song. Veroniiiica. https://veroniiiica.com/audio-description-for-college-fight-song/ (Accessed on December 21, 2025)