Of musicians, By musicians, For musicians

"And the rockets' red glare" – The loudest part when sung, the quietest part when played by an orchestra. Discuss


Would this have something to do with the song's full one and a half octave range making a singing performance difficult?


That's an entirely too short and convenient an answer. Instead, what we should do is examine the song "To Anacreon in Heaven" which is the song which was combined with Francis Scott Key's "Defence of Fort McHenry" to create "The Star-Spangled Banner." It's more fun that way.

Despite modern singers' attempts to convert the song into the slowest funeral dirge imaginable (commonly referred to as the "Bleeding-Gums Murphy Rendition"), the original song is actually a peppy and festive drinking song. In fact, certain accounts say that it was used as a sobriety test...in that if you could make your way through an entire verse on key, you were sober enough to be served another round.

Anyway...back to the initial point, which has long-since been cast aside in favor of interesting and amusing facts about the National Anthem. In the patriotic American version of the song, the section of lyrics "And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air" coincide with the following lyrics in the original song: "Voice, Fiddle, and Flute, No longer be mute." I find this terrific. If you listen to just about any orchestral arrangement of the piece, this section of the song is played almost entirely without the brass section. As in, the only instruments playing (no longer muted) are the strings and woodwinds, which contain the fiddles and the flutes. If this was actually done intentionally, I would be very impressed.

You know...in hindsight, it probably would have been a good idea to run this Sametime Status next week, around the 4th of July. There's lack of foresight for you.