By Jill Laster

How did the University of Notre Dame's marching band end up starring in an alt-rock video?

It went something like this: In 2006 the power-pop band OK Go released its video for "Here It Goes Again," in which the members performed an elaborately choreographed routine on treadmills. Their popularity soared, and a flood of eager fans responded by posting their own versions on YouTube.

One of those videos caught the group's attention: a clip of the Notre Dame marching band playing "Here It Goes Again" while lining up in a formation that looked like men on treadmills.

OK Go contacted Notre Dame, and the two bands—rock and marching—agreed to collaborate on the quartet's new video. "This Too Shall Pass," featuring OK Go and more than 120 Notre Dame marching-band members, had its debut in January.

"The kids taught them how to march, and they taught our kids how to be rock 'n' roll," says Kenneth W. Dye, the university's director of bands.

Mr. Dye worked on the orchestration for "This Too Shall Pass," and marching-band staff members helped with choreography.

Marching-band students stayed on the campus during their weeklong fall break to shoot the four-minute video, which appears in one uninterrupted take, in the style of OK Go's other videos.

That's no easy task for such a large group, even a disciplined one, says Aaron Hernandez, a drum major. Some band members, wearing costumes to blend with the grass, seemingly pop up from the earth, instruments in hand. Others march into the frame wearing uniforms, and later on band members flip white and black cards on bleachers to spell out the song title.

"If something goes wrong in a take, you basically have to scrap it," says Mr. Hernandez, who also plays the drum major in the video. "It kept me on my toes because you know if you mess up, everybody's not going to be happy with you."

The marching band was not alone in its excitement about the final product. OK Go was pleased, too.

"You want first and foremost for what you're making to come out great," says Damian Kulash, lead singer and guitarist in the band, which is on tour in support of the album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky. "But a close second is for it to be an enriching experience and for it to be greater that the sum of its parts. I think without question this was."

Now Mr. Dye would like the members of OK Go to return as guest lecturers in some of his classes. Mr. Kulash, speaking from Paris, says that would be OK with him.