The Bulls will be hosting auditions for folks who want to sing the national anthem a couple of Saturdays from now (February 26th). Time to offer our 2¢ worth.
But first, a bit of background. Back in 2009 a few fans started a rating system to judge the performance of the national anthem at Durham Bulls games. Quite obviously as a result of our influence the year saw a steady improvement (at least until we quit keeping track late in the year).
For 2010, however, we did not sustain the effort. The main reason is that someone in the Bulls front office came up with the idea of inviting local choral groups to perform. For the most part, as we noted in our 2010 wrap-up, they did a brilliant job.
With that in mind, here’s WDBB’s advice for 2011 and the auditions:
- The national anthem is not a country-western song.
- The “free” in “land of the free” is a word of one syllable and is sung as one note.
- Brass groups are good.
- String quartets are good.
- Choirs/choral groups are good.
- Very small children in parent’s arms are cute, but cringe-making.
- Performers from shows at the DPAC have done well. Invite back.
Posts
Your advice is spot on. Guess it's got to be difficult to find 72 good performers.
ReplyDeleteDave
I think Christina Aguilera might be free to perform...
ReplyDeleteWasn't that awful? Even before she blew a line, the song was almost unrecognizable. Under our old rating system, would have voted "unconditional release".
ReplyDeleteAnd then there were the flashlight-lit zombies on parade for a halftime show.
At least the football was good for a change.
On the other hand, I'm gonna have to chase down that clip that has a group singing the beer-drinking song that was the source for Key's tune.
they should have a retro halftime show where the only entertainment was trad marching bands
ReplyDelete