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PaperclipPerfector  11mo ago (text post)   27875 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 27, 2023

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The most specifically challenging point of "The Star Spangled Banner" is that there actually is one weird trick that makes it easier to sing--at least for a soloist--that most people don't know. The third note of the song (on "say") is the lowest note you'll sing, so you want to start the song near the bottom of your vocal range.

It's pretty common for people to assume that the first note of a song is generally near the middle-ish of the necessary range, and choose their starting pitch accordingly, but this is a big trap here, leading to "free" being unreachable for most, when they are trying to fit the entire range of the song in the upper half of their own vocal range. "Free" gets most of the attention, but "say" is the first domino in the cascade--the "big range" of the song is mostly an illusion.

To me that is the worst part about it; it means that it can’t be sung communally by a group of normal untrained people without sounding like absolute shit. Personally I would prefer an anthem that is accessible to the common man, rather than being essentially an operatic aria which we all need to stand around and solemnly observe an elite trained singer perform.

It's not perfect, but,

And the rockets' red glare The bombs bursting in air Gave proof through the night That our flag was still there

Slaps

Personally I would prefer an anthem that is accessible to the common man, rather than being essentially an operatic aria which we all need to stand around and solemnly observe an elite trained singer perform.

I unironically agree with this. God Save The King thankfully is easy to sing, but the connotations of that are terrible (it's actually a French tune, with a rumour of being first invented when the King of France was getting an anal fistula removed), Land of Hope and Glory is so so much better than that doggerel tune.

Among the Limey anthems, I like Rule Brittania! the most.

Ah yes, that's another absolute banger. I have zero issues with it, but I think the populace of the modern country itself won't like it.

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