Get a pair of earplugs. Practice singing with them. Problem solved. Use your phone or computer. Sometimes that works, often it just sounds like someone is showing off, and sometimes, of course, it can result in a humiliating, viral fail.
And frankly, the more flourishes you add, the less powerful it becomes. Pure, clear notes. Not one single flourish. No histrionics. No emotive breathing. Nothing but glorious perfection. If you are looking to cut loose, be careful, because this song can eat you alive. Furthermore, all those embellishments seem to be more about the singer than the song. Cue Martina McBride:. Male singers who play it straight often do a workman-like, patriotic rendition, usually with a quick tempo e.
Mike Rowe. Every ballpark in America has their go-to old-school favorite — often a cop or opera singer — who does a rousing version e. Robert Merrill , Yankee Stadium. But slowing it down a tad really brings out the emotion.
A few tiny flourishes here and there, but mostly just pure sound, from the heart. I remember watching this game. I believe I even groaned when the band was announced. Then they started singing. Notice how relatively straight their performance is. Compare that to one the Backstreet Boys did just two years before. I actually watched quite a few Backstreet Boys versions.
For another great, heartfelt group effort, check out the Grateful Dead from All the examples above feature traditional approaches to the song.
If you are thinking of trying a new take on the anthem, be warned: most different versions are poorly received at first, and you may be subject to a ton of criticism.
Americans hate it when you mess with their song. But it did. He made it work, though it easily could have gone badly. It divided the public at the time. Traditionalists hated it, considering it a disgrace. She gets the lyrics and most of the notes right. And she keeps changing her accent. Or something.
Fergie is perfectly capable of singing the National Anthem, by the way. She did a decent version at a Miami Dolphins game back in More ». Our website uses cookies to deliver safer, faster, and more customized site experiences. The three types of cookies we use are strictly necessary, analytics and performance, and advertising. Please accept the use of cookies or review our cookie policy and manage your cookie settings. This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible.
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Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings. If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. It's a song that, in this writer's opinion, says much of what you need to know about the United States of America. It perfectly captures a precarious moment in our history.
When it was written, the young United States was once again at war with Britain: the War of —also known as the Second War for Independence—and we were losing. Washington, D. Would we become British again? The city of Baltimore, Maryland, was next on the British force's list and everything seemed hinged on its survival.
Francis Scott Key wrote the song in relief that the United States did prevail. The song describes those pivotal and terrifying moments—and gave our nation it's most important symbol, the flag. All said, it's an incredibly important song in American History. Then why is it so unbelievably hard to sing?
I frequently lead the Flag Folding Ceremony here at the museum see the video below or on YouTube , which includes leading visitors in the singing of the National Anthem after we unfurl a replica of the original Star-Spangled Banner.
No matter how low I start it, I know I'm switching keys and cheating that high note, and so is everyone else around me. Turns out, there is an answer to that question and we have just the experts here on staff who can help us out. Basically, the notes are very high. Educator Dan Holm, a tenor who frequently sings the Star-Spangled Banner for, and much better than, me during the Flag Folding Ceremony, agrees, "I'm always practicing the first part of the song to make sure I'm low enough, but still starting in a comfortable place so I can hit both the high and very lowest note.
If I don't, I just switch the octave I'm singing in. Folk musician Pete Seeger might agree. In this video from Smithsonian Folkways, he invites the audience to join in and assures him he's using a "a very, very low key, so everybody can sing it," which they do. Even trained choirs and singers have trouble with the song, and some flat out refuse to sing it because it is too difficult.
So if people whose livelihood is singing can't do it, what are the untrained to do? Kenneth offers sage words of wisdom: "Probably, it's best to be sung the way it was originally intended, that is to be sung as the Anacreontic Song , that is to say, a traditional British Gentleman's Club song—where you can really belt out the top. Another important tip: get the lyrics right. If you think "O'er the ramparts" is a tough line, just be glad we typically don't sing beyond the first stanza , which contains challenging phrases such as "foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes" and "fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
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