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April 2006 InCider Press Page 5 |
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Will you know as much as the school children know? Below are two articles that have recently appeared in The American Legion Magazine. If our Nation’s school children are being taught about our national anthem, I thought it would be appropriate for each of us to refresh our memories so that we can answer questions if/when we are asked. National Anthem Project hits the road in 2006 (taken from The American Legion Magazine, February 2006) The National Association For Music Education National Anthem Project Road Show is traveling across the United States in 2006. The Road Show begins in January with the National Anthem Project truck visiting community programs, schools, sporting events and civic locations. At each tour stop, community members are invited to learn about the national anthem, find out how to support their local school music program and make music together. A recent Harris poll found that two out of three American adults don't know all of the words to "The Star Spangled Banner" and that many don't even know the name of America's national anthem or why it was written. The goal of the National Anthem Project is to teach 150 million Americans the history and meaning behind "The Star Spangled Banner" and to inspire them to stand and sing proudly whenever it is performed. American Legion Resolution No. 26, passed during the 2004 Spring Meetings, established The American Legion's involvement with the MENC National Anthem Project. Find out more about the National Anthem Project Road Show online at: www.tnap.org/index.html O say, can you sing all the words? (Taken from The American Legion Magazine, October 2005) On Sept. 13, 1814, Francis Scott Key visited the British fleet in Chesapeake Bay to secure the release of Dr. William Beanes, who had been captured after the burning of Washington. The release was secured, but Key was detained aboard ship overnight during the shelling of Fort McHenry, which was defending Baltimore. In the morning, Key was so delighted to see the U.S. Flag still flying over the fort that he began a poem to commemorate the occasion. First published under the title "Defense of Fort M'Henry," the poem soon attained wide popularity as sung to the tune "To Anacreon in Heaven." "The Star-Spangled Banner" was officially made the national anthem by Congress in 1931, although it already had been adopted as such by the Army and the Navy. As its singing became the ceremonial opening of public events and gatherings, the song was held to just its first verse. Following are all four verses: O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, what so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming? And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there. O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
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