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I am going to play the Star Spangled Banner for a football game (no, not pro/college). However, I would like it without a piano, just a tuba solo. Do you where I could find it? Free is great...

Charles Atkins

I'd really like one in Db, Bloke

Hmm how about a version with tuba accordion?

I guess bloke’s not very secret agenda is about any instrumentalist in the US beyond his/hers 1.0.1 should be able to play the SSB in any key within the common range of the given instrument. By ear that is.

As a non-American I think of your national anthem as beautiful tune with a clear tonality. The Danish national anthem is so difficult due to modulations showing as chromatic passages in the tune, that it has been used as audition material for the Choir School associated with the Copenhagen Cathedral. The SSB then posses a problem by covering a wider range than most lay voices are able to cover well.

As a teacher, and for my own ear training as well, I consider playing a tune with a clear tonality through all keys of ones instrument’s range as the best way to manage the specific handling of the fine intonation in all tonal contexts.

As I had the SSB in a Finale file from a recent project, it wasn’t too much trouble to make a bass clef version with the tune starting in E major in the BBb tuba’s lowest main range octave and then repeat it in 25 ascending chromatic increments up to F major at the top of most euphonium players’ comfort range.

Similarly I made a treble clef version starting at C major at the bottom of the bass clarinet’s reading range up to F major taking the flute to its 4th C.

As a starting point choose the keys comfortable to you and then expand the range up and down. Eventually fill the gaps left by the keys that you consider less friendly. (I don’t use the SSB for this purpose, but a hymn by Carl Nielsen).

This music can be downloaded for free from my Yahoo based download project:

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Yo ... er%20Solo/


Klaus

In the words of Volta "Andy" Ohne Anders, "If you can sing it you can play it!"

You'll gain a lot more if you just sit down and figure this one out on your own, buddy. I promise.

Don't ever let reading music hold you back from making it.

Looks nice, Klaus. A few rhythmic errors that you might want to correct:

Bar 4, beat 3...should be 2 eighth notes
Bar 12, beat 3...ditto (same correction)
Bar 17, beat 3...also should be 2 eighth notes
Bar 19, beat 3...should be a single quarter note
Bar 23, beat 3...also should be a single quarter note
Bar 27, beat 3...should be 2 eighth notes
Bar 29, beat 3...also should be 2 eighth notes

All of these corrections assume that you are representing the first verse of the song (which is, almost without exception, the only one sung).

imperialbari wrote:I guess bloke’s not very secret agenda is about any instrumentalist in the US beyond his/hers 1.0.1 should be able to play the SSB in any key within the common range of the given instrument. By ear that is.

You mean, there are folks out there who can't? Seriously, I agree. Because of the wide range of the melody and of the different tessitura of different instruments and players, "should" is an understatement. It is an absolute necessity for anybody who pretends to be able to play our National Anthem for any occasion.

There are so many deviating sources for this tune. I have chosen one of these and I am staying with it. The corrections suggested and any other minor changes are easily applied by the instrumentalist. Had I chosen the rhythm suggested by you, then other corrections had been suggested by others.

Anyway the final goal is the ability to play this and any other tune by ear. These sheets are intended as stepping stones and no more.

Klaus

I personally think it should be a song more easily sung.

Like "America".

bloke wrote:

imperialbari wrote:As a non-American I think of your national anthem as beautiful tune with a clear tonality.

sticki-wiki wrote: The poem was set to the tune of a popular British drinking song, written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a men's social club in London. "The Anacreontic Song" (or "To Anacreon in Heaven"), with various lyrics, was already popular in the United States.

I see no obvious discrepancy between this tune being beautiful and it having British roots.

And yes, the wide range certainly is a problem for lay vocalists, but it doesn’t detract from the quality of the music.

Klaus

I have it arranged for three euphoniums and/or tubas in both A flat and B flat, if that's any use. I was going to attach it here, but apparently pdf files aren't allowed. Anyway, if you'd care to email me at deebee at pacific dot net dot au, I'll send it forthwith. (Actually, the offer's open to anyone who'd like a copy.)

There is an arrangement of SSB by musician/composer/comedian J. Raoul Brody that changes key when the melody gets too high or low to be easily sung or played. I have been searching for a copy on Teh Internets but nothing turns up.