Singing the national anthem...

[indysteve]

Anyone here ever done it at a public event (I mean you out in front of the crowd singing it solo, not singing along as a spectator at the event)? I know dog-ring played it on the trumpet for the Indiana high school basketball title game some years ago. I'll be singing it for the first time this Saturday at Hinkle Fieldhouse for the Butler/UIC volleyball game. At least I chose a small venue for my debut.

I figured there wouldn't be too many people there for a volleyball game. But I found out today that admission to the volleyball game will be free with your ticket stub from the Butler/Campbell football game which precedes it. The crowd may be a bit larger than I anticipated!

No one at Butler has even heard me sing yet, so they're taking a big chance here.

[Turn13]

I bet you'll do fine. Good luck, and thanks for stepping up!

[stnkypete]

Good luck and take a tip from Sinatra. Carry the words with you....just in case.

[Truth Detector]

I bet you'll do fine. Good luck, and thanks for stepping up!

[MethanolBuzzed]

Good luck

[Sea Fury]

Anyone here ever done it at a public event (I mean you out in front of the crowd singing it solo, not singing along as a spectator at the event)? I know dog-ring played it on the trumpet for the Indiana high school basketball title game some years ago. I'll be singing it for the first time this Saturday at Hinkle Fieldhouse for the Butler/UIC volleyball game. At least I chose a small venue for my debut.

I figured there wouldn't be too many people there for a volleyball game. But I found out today that admission to the volleyball game will be free with your ticket stub from the Butler/Campbell football game which precedes it. The crowd may be a bit larger than I anticipated!

No one at Butler has even heard me sing yet, so they're taking a big chance here.

I've done it several times. Keep the words clear (and remember the first word is not "Whoa"-I HATE when singers do that) amd remember to start out a little lower than you normally would, and you should do fine. Do that, and it's an easy song to sing.

[dog-ring]

It was 1963 and I did the sectionals, regionals, semi-finals and finals.....The best part was I got 2 front row tickets to the game.........the worst part was that someone snuck into a room that contained my Bach Stradivarious Silver trumpet that I worked 4 years to pay for and stole it ( only to be returned later by a huge Irish Catholic Cop that lived down the street from me after he uhhhhhhhhhhpresuaded the thief to give it back with his night stick when he found it in his possesion ..................OBTW Steve...........If the crowd is big enough, their singing will overwhelm you and your abilities> I was told that before hand so I played it at Shortridge HS one evening before a concert featuring Raphael Mendez who was considered the greatest trumpet player in the world at the time and a kid from Arlington who I beat out for All City and All State 1st chair in the trumpet section got to play in a trio with him on a song called " Buglers Holiday", One of the hardest pieces of trumpet music at the time...I played 2nd and the kid from Arlington played 3rd trumpet and when we were over got a stansin ovation from the standing room only crowd and then the most worderfull thing I have ever heard in my life beside a lone trumpet player playing Taps at Arlington Cemetary or the Indpls. Motor Speedway was hearing Raphael play it and another selection called "flight of the Bumblebee............with ONE Finger.......................

PS I was first chair at Tech HS and had a scholarship to Jordan College of Music at Butler but I joined the Marine Corps and didn't play trumpet again untill I joined my church. I can't play anymore(those who have seen me know why) but my Bach is being played by a young man in the United States Marine Corps Band.......................

Good memories............except I wrecked mothers 63 409 Chevy SS on the way home from Butler that night.................oooops

[Jamski]

...and remember to start out a little lower than you normally would, and you should do fine. Do that, and it's an easy song to sing.

Excellent advice, that. The song has a wide range and if you doubt your top end, it's better to start lower.

I have done it several times, most memorably at a regional HS basketball tournament back in 78, I think. It was supposed to be with our Madrigals vocal group from our school, but only four of us showed up, and I was the only guy...we must've sounded pretty well, we got a standing ovation from the crowd (not our home crowd!) and at the end of the term, A's in the class. The dozen or so no shows got no better than C's...

[PHJIndy]

Relax and enjoy the moment! It's a real honor to sing the Nation's Song!

[stnkypete]

(and remember the first word is not "Whoa"-I HATE when singers do that)

Everyone knows the the first word is Jose'!

[SpeedwayRyan]

I haven't (and never will) but my girlfriend has. If the words aren't on a big screen somewhere, I'd write them down (or at least the first couple of words of each line) on a tiny card to keep in the palm of your hand. Even though you know them 100% by heart, it's your first time singing it in public and you never know what might happen when you get a little nervous, and you DON'T want to end up on YouTube for all the wrong reasons...it would haunt you for the rest of your days

I'm sure you'll do fine...good luck!

[Jim Wilke]

National anthem trivia that I trot out from time to time: What makes our anthem unique, what is different about 'The Star Spangled Banner'? Typical answers are 'it was written by a foreigner' or 'it has the widest range, making it hard to sing.'

Nope, not a match and the board goes back.

The answer? Well, here are the lyrics in the form that we sing:


O! say can you see by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming.
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Our anthem is the only one in the world that ends with a question.

[Littleman]

"O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"

You'll do fine - as long as you have a little experience as far as talking to crowds, goes.

Well, to be honest, I hate it when those that sing our National Anthem use the sound of the letter "H" on some words. I also hate it when they have to change the pitch on the word free, to a higher pitch at that words ending. The Anthem wasn't written that way. And lately, I've heard the changing of the words "perilous fight" to "perilous night". Why, I have no idea.

[Turn13]

Our anthem is the only one in the world that ends with a question.

Aren't there two questions in the part you cited - 'can you see it?' and 'is it still there?' ?

[indysteve]

I'm not too nervous about this, actually. I've been leading the singing at our church for 25 years. Our entire congregation sings, so it's not like I'm used to leading a group of trained singers. I'm very used to blocking out things I need to ignore when I'm singing, because our congregation (like any good sized group of untrained singers) has several people who can't carry a tune in a bucket.

I very much believe in a traditional delivery for the national anthem. Butler actually specified that as being preferred when they put out a call for singers this year. I won't be engaging in any vocal gymnastics or changing the song in any way. I know a lot of people like Whitney Houston's rendition at the Super Bowl, but she actually made a very significant change by singing it in 4/4 time instead of 3/4 as it was written. Mine will be in 3/4.

When our preacher is out of town, I sometimes sub for him and deliver the sermon, so I'm very used to being in front of a crowd. Compared to a sermon, this will be easy.

Another way our anthem is unique is that it is the only one that is specifically about the nation's flag, IIRC.

BTW, I also know the Canadian national anthem if anyone ever needs someone to sing that.