THE NATIONAL ANTHEM
Your first solo assignment will be to to perform the national anthem in class. I will assign some of you to sing for selected football games and basketball games. Here are a few tips to keep in mind as you prepare for this assignment.
1) DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE DIFFICULTY - This is a difficult song to sing. Do not underestimate the amount of practice it will require. The range is insane. I recommend finding the lowest note in your range and performing the song in that key. The song starts on a five, "Oh," but the word, "say" lands on the tonic or the one. That lowest note of your range should be the key you select.
2) KNOW THE LYRICS - It is embarrassing how many singers bungle the words to this song. Memorize the correct words (see the printed music to the right).Don't rely on your memory, you may have learned the wrong words when you were a child.
3) MARK YOUR BREATHS - Plan to breath at appropriately spots, and consistently place the breaths in the same place each time you practice. NEVER breath in the middle of a word, and it is best not to breath in the middle of a phrase,usually breaths make the most sense at a punctuation mark.
4) "AND THE ROCKETS RED GLARE" - Decide, in advance, whether or not you will chest this phrase or flip into a head range. Either way is acceptable, but if you do flip into a head range, you should make sure it is a mixed sound with a lot of point on it in order to balance the first part of the song.
5) TO RUN OR NOT TO RUN? - If you choose to place runs in your version of the anthem, they should be very well controlled and used sparingly. And let me take this moment to say that singers who are able to deliver runs well are the exception, not the rule. There is nothing wrong with a straight-ahead version without runs. Better to perform it simply with good control, than try to get too diva-ish and lose control. Watch the video above right to learn what NOT to do.
6) RECORD STARTING PITCH - Very few singers have perfect pitch, so I strongly recommend that you record your beginning pitch in your phone. THE NUMBER ONE MISTAKE SINGERS MAKE in singing this song is pitching it too high or too low. Don't rely on feel. When nerves and adrenaline hit before you sing, it is easy to pitch it incorrectly. Once you start, you can not change keys, so being confident that you are singing in the right key for you is critical.
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Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' 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?
HOW NOT TO SING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM! - Watch the girls from Groove for Thought give their "Diva" interpretation of the National Anthem. Unfortunately, I have heard it sung dangerously close to this, and I want to make sure you understand this is NOT acceptable!
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