“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. Sometimes the performances are really patriotic, and other times they’re dystopian and dark, like at Woodstock when he ends with “Taps.”Ībout a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”: He would stick in other melodic references like TV jingles to show what was going on in the country in any given moment. He played the anthem 70 or more times, not just at Woodstock, and every single performance is different. The combined message of patriotism and protest is fascinating. It’s actually pretty unusual, but it feels traditional because the performance comes from the heart and feels sincere, affirming, and absolutely true. But when you hear her sing it, with a beat added to every measure so the verses last longer, it’s a sacred hymn to the nation.
“The Star Spangled Banner” started out as a kind of waltzing, lilting, upbeat victory song. Whitney Houston’s at the 1991 Super Bowl. What’s the most influential performance of the song? My big tip for anybody trying to sing the song, particularly by themselves, is that you have to start low, as low in your range as possible, with the “O Say Can You See” part, so that you’re still comfortable when you get to the high notes. Part of why “The Star Spangled Banner” became the national anthem is because it’s rousing, it’s motivating, and it’s energizing in a way that, say, “America the Beautiful” is not. The song does require a heroic commitment. Often it was sung by a professional actor, someone equivalent to a Broadway singer today. The melody comes from a song sung at a musician’s club in England and was intended to be a rousing, challenging tune that really highlighted the skills of club members. It’s entirely the range required: The distance between the lowest and highest notes is unusually wide. For me, calling the country to account and calling Americans to live up to our ideals is really a function of the song, and it doesn’t disrespect it to call attention to where the country falls short. In a way, the anthem started as a protest song because it created a vision of a united future that didn’t exist in 1814. What do you make of protesters who take a knee during sporting events? An upbeat song of victory has become a solemn hymn of national devotion.
We have made the ritual last longer: We sing the anthem at a slower tempo today than would have been the case in Key’s day. From ‘Yellowstone’ to ‘The Chosen,’ boom times for small Texas towns
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