Product Description
In
2009 when Sanctuary Choir of South Main Baptist Church in Houston where I served as Music Minister was scheduled
to sing the National Anthem for the Houston Astros baseball game, I carefully
examined the several arrangements in our library and other resources. Finding
nothing which met the simple, straight-forward criteria I was searching for, we
created this simple arrangement. Since its addition to the music library it has
proven very useful on numerous occasions for a variety of groups.
About the National Anthem:
The lyrics
for The Star-Spangled Banner were written
on September 14, 1814 from a British ship in the Baltimore Harbor where
attorney Francis Scott Key had waited anxiously through the night as the
twenty-five hour bombing of Ft. McHenry progressed. He had been sent to
negotiate the release of an American civilian and then was held on board the
ship. At "the dawns early light" when
the flag could still be seen indicating the British had not taken the fort, he
jotted down this poem which on March 3, 1931 finally became the National Anthem
of the United States.
Interestingly,
it was Robert Ripley who in November of 1929 drew a panel in his syndicated
cartoon, Ripleys Believe It or Not stating "Believe It or
Not, America has no national anthem." With the encouragement of John Philip
Sousa, President Herbert Hoover signed into law the adoption of The Star-Spangled Banner to rectify this
situation.
According
to the Smithsonian, the melody, written by John Stafford Smith, was originally
titled Anacreon in Heaven. Anacreon
was an ancient Greek poet known for his love of wine and love. The song had
become the "constitutional song" of a London gentlemens club called the
Anacreontic Society. Could this explain the wide range of the melody? By
utilizing this tune to the moving text, this once merry drinking song took on a
bold new and powerful meaning.
Thomas
Coker, August 27, 2015
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.