Today I went to the funeral for "Aunt" Wanda". She is actually my first cousin, once removed. When we found out that she wasn't really our aunt, we of course, just "had" to call her Wanda, but it just didn't seem right. She was and always will be Aunt Wanda, the funny, talkative (same family, different branch!) exciting aunt that we all love.
The graveside was very touching as it is for all veterans. Aunt Wanda was in the Navy during WWII. After watching all of those people who made me look like a spring chicken, stand at attention, do the gun salute, play taps and then fold the flag in high winds walk off, one using a cane, I came home to the following in my email.
I didn't witness the super bowl, thank goodness. I am saddened when I hear my nation's anthem butchered, therefore my nation disrespected, but I did hear about it. Thanks for sharing Marva Dean!
I'm not sure who the author is, but I couldn't agree more.
"So, with all the kindness I can muster, I give this one piece of advice to the next pop star who is asked to sing the national anthem at a sporting event: save the vocal gymnastics and the physical gyrations for your concerts. Just sing this song the way you were taught to sing it in kindergarten - straight up, no styling. Sing it with the constant awareness that there are soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines watching you from bases and outposts all over the world. Don't make them cringe with your self-centered ego gratification. Sing it as if you are standing before a row of 86-year-old WWII vets wearing their Purple Hearts, Silver Stars and flag pins on their cardigans and you want them to be proud of you for honoring them and the country they love - not because you want them to think you are a superstar musician. They could see that from the costumes, the makeup and the entourages. Sing "The Star Spangled Banner" with the courtesy and humility that tells the audience that it is about America, not you."
Makes you wonder if they could make this a rule so that when The Star Spangled Banner is being played/sung it would bring tears to every eye . . . just like the night my high school played for the State Football Championship. Every member of our band (yes, I was a band geek, live with it!)was sniffing before we reached the end of that wonderful old song. Boy was it hard to play, but what a wonderful memory that feeling of pride and gratitude made deep in our young hearts!
The graveside was very touching as it is for all veterans. Aunt Wanda was in the Navy during WWII. After watching all of those people who made me look like a spring chicken, stand at attention, do the gun salute, play taps and then fold the flag in high winds walk off, one using a cane, I came home to the following in my email.I didn't witness the super bowl, thank goodness. I am saddened when I hear my nation's anthem butchered, therefore my nation disrespected, but I did hear about it. Thanks for sharing Marva Dean!
I'm not sure who the author is, but I couldn't agree more.
"So, with all the kindness I can muster, I give this one piece of advice to the next pop star who is asked to sing the national anthem at a sporting event: save the vocal gymnastics and the physical gyrations for your concerts. Just sing this song the way you were taught to sing it in kindergarten - straight up, no styling. Sing it with the constant awareness that there are soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines watching you from bases and outposts all over the world. Don't make them cringe with your self-centered ego gratification. Sing it as if you are standing before a row of 86-year-old WWII vets wearing their Purple Hearts, Silver Stars and flag pins on their cardigans and you want them to be proud of you for honoring them and the country they love - not because you want them to think you are a superstar musician. They could see that from the costumes, the makeup and the entourages. Sing "The Star Spangled Banner" with the courtesy and humility that tells the audience that it is about America, not you."
Makes you wonder if they could make this a rule so that when The Star Spangled Banner is being played/sung it would bring tears to every eye . . . just like the night my high school played for the State Football Championship. Every member of our band (yes, I was a band geek, live with it!)was sniffing before we reached the end of that wonderful old song. Boy was it hard to play, but what a wonderful memory that feeling of pride and gratitude made deep in our young hearts!
2 comments:
Love this thought! There is nothing sweeter than the sound of our National Anthem being sung as it was intended to be sung! Had this been the case, it would have been much easier to swallow the messed up words.
I love being able to teach that song to high schoolers. At first it always depresses me at how little they know about the songs origin adn history...and how much they take all that we have for granted. But as we learned to make music with the song, there comes a day where I am moved to share my feelings with them...yes, it usually comes with tears...and you can just see something click in their minds. They finally have a spark, a glimpse perhaps, of what it means and they sing it with more feeling and pride. The song is not complete until we've reached that moment as a group. it is a special moment for me.
Post a Comment