The Star-Spangled Banner is more than a patriotic formality at U.S. sports events and other live settings; it’s become a spectacle.
Here are four legendary renditions of “The Star-Spangled Banner” for your listening pleasure. Recognize the various textures at play in these renditions, and discuss the impact that you believe these choices have on the song’s delivery and the meaning it conveys to the listener. (Just a few sentences for each example should do it; look at Chapter 5 for those other textures).
1. Jimi Hendrix, Live at Woodstock (1969) https://open.spotify.com/track/5nJ9WqiiVz9Rz6a2xLhHlZ
2. Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky (1964) https://open.spotify.com/track/6lBFkFuufqCVYnfrUJI…
3. Beyoncé at Super Bowl XXXVIII (2004) https://open.spotify.com/track/6TETYLUOA4VClpkxl79Lcc
4. LeAnn Rimes (1997) https://open.spotify.com/track/1BDxJYx3LpjnJe7TxHmCdl
Do you have a favorite among these? Does it depend on the texture of the music, or on other factors (the kind of voice used, the genre, the listener’s familiarity, etc.)? Alternately, or in addition to texture, you may also use any of the other musical concepts defined in the textbook’s Materials of Music chapter.
I propose that rather than assessing you on “right” or “wrong” answers, you be evaluated on how you engaged with the music and how well you used an idea from our reading. Focus on describing the sound’s texture in your own words if you’re having trouble putting it into the right terminology, and then try using them.
200 words max.
