Anthem
Not the Ayn Rand kind. The real kind. National anthems.
Anthems are supposed to reflect the culture of their people, and a government or a people choose one that they feel is appropriate. Some are simple and instrumental; others have soaring patriotic lyrics. One of the amazingly cool things about watching the Olympics every two years (and I watch them obsessively but not indiscriminately) is hearing the anthems of different countries. We don't often get the chance to hear them here, unless it's "Oh! Canada" or "God Save the King/Queen" (in the form of "My Country, 'Tis of Thee").
The National Anthem of the United States of America is "The Star-Spangled Banner," adopted in 1931. It has four verses, although generally only the first is sung. And it's a difficult song to sing, with an unusually wide range of notes. It requires a fine-tuned sense of key and, well, tune, as it is traditionally sung a capella. More people think they can sing it well than actually can.
One of my pet peeves is performers who try to put their own "spin" on singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at sporting events. The worst offenders do so by singing different notes, or effectively singing scales every time there is a challenging jump to a higher or lower range. I hear people in the stands cheering this behavior, and singers seem proud to show off their vocal range. In fact, it's cheating. They're not sure they can nail the note change, so they sing around it until they can find it comfortably. Or, again, they decide that notes are interchangeable and they can sing whatever they want. Or they can speed up or slow down the pace however they want. They want to make the performance about them, rather than about the song and what it means (which is, of course, a poorly-played diplomacy game whose outcome was "Everyone Stab the Native Americans"), as a musical representation of the United States.
I get artistic license. I do. I'm not saying that it's WRONG to perform our national anthem in a unique way (see: Jimi Hendrix). However, at sporting events, when people in the stands expect to be able to sing along, we can't. As a citizen, I want to be able to hear - and sing - my national anthem with patriotic pride, rather than figure out what to sing and when. I want the focus to be on America, and not the singer. I also want the singers to make sure they know the damn words.
A more general message for the people in the stands: for the love of all that's holy, stop shouting "Oh!" at the beginning of the penultimate line during DC sporting events. It happens at RFK during every home game. Wrong sport, wrong team, wrong stadium. I've also heard people do it at Caps games, giving the explanation that it's become a form of recognition for Ovechkin. I'm not buying it. That's backfilling. I wonder if they do it at Nats games...but I'd have to go to one to find out.
Sing right, dammit. And get off my lawn.
Anthems are supposed to reflect the culture of their people, and a government or a people choose one that they feel is appropriate. Some are simple and instrumental; others have soaring patriotic lyrics. One of the amazingly cool things about watching the Olympics every two years (and I watch them obsessively but not indiscriminately) is hearing the anthems of different countries. We don't often get the chance to hear them here, unless it's "Oh! Canada" or "God Save the King/Queen" (in the form of "My Country, 'Tis of Thee").
The National Anthem of the United States of America is "The Star-Spangled Banner," adopted in 1931. It has four verses, although generally only the first is sung. And it's a difficult song to sing, with an unusually wide range of notes. It requires a fine-tuned sense of key and, well, tune, as it is traditionally sung a capella. More people think they can sing it well than actually can.
One of my pet peeves is performers who try to put their own "spin" on singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at sporting events. The worst offenders do so by singing different notes, or effectively singing scales every time there is a challenging jump to a higher or lower range. I hear people in the stands cheering this behavior, and singers seem proud to show off their vocal range. In fact, it's cheating. They're not sure they can nail the note change, so they sing around it until they can find it comfortably. Or, again, they decide that notes are interchangeable and they can sing whatever they want. Or they can speed up or slow down the pace however they want. They want to make the performance about them, rather than about the song and what it means (which is, of course, a poorly-played diplomacy game whose outcome was "Everyone Stab the Native Americans"), as a musical representation of the United States.
I get artistic license. I do. I'm not saying that it's WRONG to perform our national anthem in a unique way (see: Jimi Hendrix). However, at sporting events, when people in the stands expect to be able to sing along, we can't. As a citizen, I want to be able to hear - and sing - my national anthem with patriotic pride, rather than figure out what to sing and when. I want the focus to be on America, and not the singer. I also want the singers to make sure they know the damn words.
A more general message for the people in the stands: for the love of all that's holy, stop shouting "Oh!" at the beginning of the penultimate line during DC sporting events. It happens at RFK during every home game. Wrong sport, wrong team, wrong stadium. I've also heard people do it at Caps games, giving the explanation that it's become a form of recognition for Ovechkin. I'm not buying it. That's backfilling. I wonder if they do it at Nats games...but I'd have to go to one to find out.
Sing right, dammit. And get off my lawn.
posted by ilse at 4:21 PM
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