by Pamela Pike and Rosanne Simunovic
Pamela Pike’s Recollections
In the year of 1812, an attempt to
take Baltimore the British attacked Fort McHenry, which protected the
harbor. After witnessing the
bombardment, a young lawyer, Francis Scott Key wrote a poem from which the
lyrics came for The Star Spangled Banner.
The song is a notoriously difficult one
to sing. Thousands of singers have performed, “The Star Spangled Banner” only
one person renditions blows me away and that’s David Archuleta.
For just a moment, let’s consider
the musical skills of David Archuleta.
At every sport event a musician is
asked to sing the National Anthem or God Bess America and more often than not
they ruin it by forgetting lyrics and doing a bad job. This song is difficult even for the most
trained singer as it calls for an enormous vocal range.
The range of TSSB covers an octave
and a fifth. People tend to want to sing
their hearts out without having to stretch to reach the higher notes. The song
goes from the lowest extreme of the voice to the highest with an enormous
melody. The outcome is sharp pitchy
notes and loud screeches.
David has shown the world how you are
supposed to sing this song! It is usually performed a cappella with no
accompaniment which hinders a singer to manage a pitch. Very few people have perfect pitch except for
David Archuleta which allows him to start in the right key.
Singing the anthem takes more than
vocals and courage it takes focus.
Usually you have a great deal going on around you, fireworks and
flyovers and stadium acoustics. Frank Sinatra once said the anthem was “a
terrible piece of music.”
The key to David’s success is his
sincerity, he doesn’t make the song about him, he shows some modesty, hits all
the notes, thanks everyone and then walks away. He nails it every time!
The one rendition that I hear often
from people is Whitney Houston’s at Super Bowl XXV in January 1991, many people
find that most memorable, and as good as it may have been she lip-synched the
performance.
David may change his renditions
somewhat but always renders the integrity of the song from where it belongs, directly
from his heart and soul. He always
instills great pride with his every performance.
Kate Smith (May 1, 1907 – June 17,
1986) was an American Singer, an Alto, best known for her rendition of Irving
Berlin’s “God Bless America” which became her signature song. It is an American
patriotic song written by Irving Berlin in 1918 and revised by him in 1938. Irving
Berlin donated all royalties from the song to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts
….he often said it was the most important song he ever wrote.
A far as I am concerned there are
only two people that really know how to sing this song. One was Kate Smith who passed away in 1979
and the ever present awe-inspiring David Archuleta.
David’s voice is glorious and he
sings with such power and conviction, and over the last several years has given
us rousing renditions and absolutely stunning performances with goose pimple
effects.
David’s powerful voice echoes
throughout stadiums and arenas. He is
always concerned with the words to his songs, and his simple but deeply moving
words has taken on added meaning for all of us because of the way David sings
them.
His dynamic voice carries his
passion with great enthusiasm and his performances are so smooth and charismatic
you are rendered speechless.
http://youtu.be/pofp7MioPoM
Rosanne Simunovic's Recollections
I
honestly cannot comprehend how David continues to deliver meticulous,
clean, pitch-perfect, LIVE performances time after time after time.
During
this version of the Star Spangled Banner, he vocalizes this extremely
intricate melody with musical precision, adding his subtle but clean
soulful inflections to create one of the best performances of the
American National Anthem I have ever heard.
The melodic range of
this song is vast, tickling the lower range while challenging the singer
to sustain powerful, upper-range vocals in last two-thirds of this
song.
David, wisely, uses this opportunity to further sustain
his extremely confident and technically secure upper range by changing
the melody subtly to add increased drama and dignity to this signature
anthem.
And it works, for during these special glorious moments,
the crowd erupts and the fireworks explode! There is moment after
moment after moment during this song that only David and his sublime
vocal gift can deliver.
If there is any doubt why technical
study is so important for the longevity and success of a singer's
career, this video pretty much eliminates the last residue of denial.
Ha! The whole purpose to becoming a great singer is to achieve a level
of significance and longevity that can only be achieved through the
perfect combination of technical and artistic skills.
David understands this and his stellar performance of "The Star Spangled Banner" is testament to this.
This
statement is reinforced through his beautiful performance of "God Bless
America", as featured in Videos #2 and #3 - the former at the tender
age of 12 and the second as an adolescent in 2011.
Age is
irrelevant here - David has a musical gift that has always been mature
beyond his years. He is a true vocal prodigy and always envisions
melodic entities that are absolute genius to the ear.
I love how
he starts slowly and reverently during the opening strains of this
number. By doing so, he reinforces the spiritual basis for this national
treasure of a song.
However, David is an exceptionally
expressive singer and, as he did during his performance of "The Star
Spangled Banner", delivers a very nuanced, highly dynamic rendering of
this hymn.
As the song moves along, his voice becomes more
resonant, more passionate but still so resplendent with head voice.
Because of this, he easily taps into exposing that pure, translucent
head voice at the end of this song without a waver. This is incredibly
difficult to do after such an energetic and powerful performance. The
control that David exhibits is absolutely remarkable.
I loved
how he stretches the vowels in some of the words, to emphasize the
meaning and heighten the expressive elements. David also intelligently
shapes his phrases so well - such a beautiful ebb and flow, exquisite
highs and lows.
And, the arrangement is so gorgeous and
inspired. I believe there are three key changes within this number and
it adds so much dimension and power to the final product. But, without
David's stellar technique, work ethic and artistic vision, the
arrangement could never have risen to such extraordinary heights.
Bravo David!
Rosanne Simunovic
Grandmother to the best four grandchildren in the Universe because they are mine and I said so! Ha!
