Hey everyone, today’s blog will be using a lot of information provided by the very popular youtuber Adam Neely. So if you want a much more in depth explanation I highly recommend you watch his video.
As we start off in the anthem, we see that it starts off in a very strong manner with the percussion and wind instruments. As well it’s in the time signature of 4/4 and in the key of gb, which is kind of standard for what it is today. When she starts singing we see how simple and yet beautiful. But when she starts singing the line “What’s so proudly we hailed” on the “proudly,” there’s a shift where it becomes almost jarring. As we come to the second line it’s very stately with none of the pop esque acrobatics yet to come. Everything up until when she says “And the rockets red glare,” is very standard for this. But, when she gets to “the rockets red glare” she starts singing as if she is in 3/4 time while the band is in 4/4 time. Eventually she comes to the start of 3/4 time. When she arrives at the line “...that our flag was still there.” she gestures to the flags of the four hundred thousand people who died during the coronavirus. And during the line she stays on the word there for a long time almost giving it a Broadway esque feel. And with that, the feeling of the 3/4 time has really taken effect with the whole piece feeling like it's faster than it really is. And when she comes to the end she seems to come to the line “of the brave.” a little early, and knowing this composition, it was probably intentional. Finally the band resolves the piece bringing this all to an end. And while I do think this was possibly one of the better iterations over the last many years, it still has almost nothing on Whitney Houston’s Super Bowl performance in 1991.
Hi! So, I don't know much about instruments, but it sounded really good. The singing was great as well, but at the same time, the begining and middle was a little off. She's amazing, and it is problably extremely stressful to sing at an event like this, but There were some parts where she sang very low, but at the same time, she naturally has a low voice, so overall her performance was amazing.
ReplyDeleteHi Jacob, thank you for introducing me to a new concept in music. Also, you're knowledge on this topic seems very advanced, and I am impressed. I did not really know that it was a thing to use two different time signatures in one song, and I even briefly checked out the video. I did not know there was so much planning behind Lady Gaga's rendition of the national anthem, so thanks for informing me.
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