That national anthem was bad.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

Flat nearly all the time. Scooping up on the first note of EVERY phrase.

There's putting soul in and then there's overdoing it.

SKRITCH! This is like nails on a blackboard to me, but what do I know? I'm a trained musician on piano, violin, & voice for decades, and I've done some choral directing in church.



Please, I'd rather hear the Hendrix version than this. He had more artistry.

And before you ask, yes I could do a better job myself.

[EC]

1. Stop it

they were kids and I thought they did a nice job.

[FSogol]

2. Wasn't Miley Cyrus available?

BTW, Context is king. Not everyone is watching the same channel as you.

[lamp_shade]

3. You're kidding, right? I thought the singing was beautiful. n/t

[snooper2]

4. Did a baseball game start or something?

[revmclaren]

5. Maybe the Whitehouse should have booked professional singers

instead of kids singing from their hearts?

The 'American Idol' mentality has now made it to DU.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

7. False dichotomy.

"Professional" and "singing from their hearts"

are not mutually exclusive. Logical fallacy.

I don't watch "talent shows" because even some of the winners are bad.

It's not the channel that I'm watching is different; it's that I have had decades of musical training and am acutely aware of bad pitch and too much portamento.

If the singer can't hit a note dead on pitch they have a problem. Slurring is different than portamento and can be allowed at times.

[revmclaren]

8. ???

The singers were singing out of respect for the marchers of 50 years ago, not for the respect or positive ratings of the audience members. One would never critique the sobbing singer at a funeral, so why critique the singers at a wonderful emotionally filled rally praising civil rights???

[enlightenment]

6. Was just rewatching this last night -

seems apt, under the circumstances (I have no idea which rendition you're referring to, but I'll take you word for it)

[MineralMan]

9. Yes, well, so could I do a competent version of it.

Guess what? You and I were not invited to perform the National Anthem there. Some children were.

We should learn to get over ourselves a bit, I think.

[Bluenorthwest]

10. I refuse to judge anyone performing anything at these large, outdoor political events

because a harder gig is impossible to imagine. The professionals almost always play to sync because instruments don't hold a tune, the entire set up is for speakers not musicians, and face it, the emotional weight of the moment can be a challenge to endure. I said the same thing when Beyoncé sang to tape. I would too.
And since you are telling us about your training, let me ask you about your largest outdoor crowd. How large was it and what did you sing and what accompanied you?

[UtahLib]

12. +++ n/t

[boston bean]

11. was it worse than this?

[Manifestor_of_Light]

13. No.