| 
“The
Star-Spangled Banner”
For Elementary General Music
Objectives
•
Students will perform a song using correct posture, correct rhythms,
and accurate pitches.
•
Students will read music notation and lyrics of various patriotic
tunes.
•
Students will analyze the purpose and meaning of patriotic songs.
•
Students will discuss the social and cultural context of our national
anthem.
•
Students will understand the story of our national anthem.
National
Standards
1.
Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music
5.
Reading and notating music
6.
Listening to, analyzing, and describing music
7.
Evaluating music and music performances
8.
Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and
disciplines outside the arts
9.
Understanding music in relation to history and culture
Materials
•
Student copies of “The Star-Spangled Banner”
•
2004 WLC Rehearsal CD and/or piano accompaniment
•
Complete lyrics of “The Star-Spangled Banner” (provided below)
on a chart or transparency
•
Lyrics to verse 1 of our national anthem, cut into sentence strips
(see below)
•
Recording equipment
Prior
Knowledge and Experience
•
Students have familiarity with “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
•
Students can sing unison songs as a group.
Procedures
1.
Sing the first verse of “The Star-Spangled Banner” for the students,
or play the 2004 WLC Rehearsal CD. Ask the students if they recognize
the song, where they have heard it played or sung, and what is
expected to happen when the song is performed.
2.
Display the song lyrics for verse 1 of our national anthem for
the class on a chart or transparency.
3.
Sing or play the song again and ask students to follow the chart
and think about the meaning of the words. Check for understanding
of the following words:
Dawn:
beginning of day
Proudly: feeling very good about something
Thro': poetic abbreviation for “through”
Hail'd: cheered; poetic abbreviation for “Hailed”
Twilight: the time between sunset and dark
Gleaming: shining
Perilous: dangerous
O'er: poetic abbreviation for “over”
Ramparts: piles of earth around a fort to help provide
defense
Watch'd: poetic abbreviation for “watched”
Gallantly: bravely
Streaming: constantly moving
Rockets: bombs
Glare: a strong, bright light
Proof: evidence
4.
Ask students to choose a partner, or assign pairs or groups of
students to work together. Distribute a set of sentence strips
(see below) containing the lyrics to the first verse of our national
anthem to each pair/group of students in the class. Ask them to
cooperatively arrange the sentence strips in the proper order
as they listen to the song. Play the song once again and ask the
students to check their work. Play the song a third time, asking
the students to sing along.
5.
Explain to the students that Francis Scott Key (1779–1843),
a 34 year-old lawyer, wrote the words to our national anthem.
Ask them to imagine that they are Key, thinking about how he might
have felt that morning in September 1814, and why he wrote the
poem that would become our anthem. Share the following with the
students to help them imagine the scene:
The
date is September 13, 1814. Your name is Francis Scott Key,
and you are a lawyer-poet. For more than two years, the War
of 1812 has been raging between the United States and England,
our former mother country. The President of the United States,
James Madison, has chosen you and another person to go on board
the British warship, Surprise, anchored in the Chesapeake
Bay, to negotiate an American prisoner's release. Meanwhile,
the British have begun to bombard Ft. McHenry, which is guarding
the city of Baltimore in Maryland. Unfortunately for you, the
British are now holding you captive. During the night, you anxiously
pace back and forth on the deck, hoping to catch a glimpse of
the coastline; but you cannot see the coast clearly due to the
fog, smoke and haze. You know if the flag is lowered, it is
a sign that your fellow countrymen have surrendered to the English.
Then, as dawn draws near, with the flash of bursting shells
you can occasionally see the fort and the oversized flag bearing
fifteen stars. You are elated! Finding an envelope upon your
person, you jot down your thoughts to remind yourself of your
feelings of the long and restless night. Also, an old English
tune comes to mind, “To Anacreon in Heaven.” Since
this tune is well recognized by your fellow Americans, your
version, a parody, that you originally titled, “The Defense
of Ft. McHenry,” quickly becomes popular.
Of
course, this is exactly what Francis Scott Key did, and his lyrics
quickly became well known. They were sung shortly thereafter when
the British surrendered at the Battle of New Orleans, January
8, 1815. On March 3, 1931, “The Star-Spangled Banner” was officially
declared America's national anthem, 117 years after it had been
written. The flag now had forty-eight stars..
6.
Distribute student copies of all four verses of “The Star-Spangled
Banner” (see below). After reading through the other verses, discuss
why the second and third stanzas are now often omitted when it
is sung. (They are strongly anti-British.)
7.
Distribute student copies of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” Service
Version. After several class periods of singing the national
anthem, tape record the students' performance and ask that it
be played over the intercom. Send a copy of the tape to a local
Assisted Living Center or nursing home nearby. Connect with Music!
Sentence
strips
Copy
onto cardstock paper, laminate, cut into strips, and place in envelopes.
************************************************************************
Our
National Anthem
THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER
– Francis Scott Key
************************************************************************
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 watched were so gallantly streaming!
************************************************************************
And
the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
************************************************************************
Gave
proof through 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?
************************************************************************
Complete
text of “The Star-Spangled Banner”
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 watched, were so gallantly streaming!
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through 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?
On
the shore, dimly seen, thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the mornings first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream;
'Tis the Star-Spangled Banner: O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And
where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
O,
thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that has made and preserved us as a nation.
Then conquer we must, when for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Francis
Scott Key
Extensions
1.
Using the newly learned vocabulary discussed in step 3, ask the
students to create a crossword puzzle or word search.
2.
Encourage students to use technology to research national anthems
from other countries. Ask them to find another country's anthem
from which we borrowed the melody for another American patriotic
tune. For example, the melody to “America” is from the British
national anthem, “God Save the Queen.”
3.
Some have said “The Star-Spangled Banner” is difficult to sing,
and it has often been suggested that it be replaced by “America,”
“America, the Beautiful,” “God Bless America,” “Columbia, the
Gem of the Ocean,” “Hail, Columbia,” “O Beautiful My Country,”
or “God Bless Our Native Land.” Ask the students to a) find the
lyrics and melodies to the recommended replacements for the national
anthem; b) with a partner, compare and contrast at least two possible
replacements with “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Have the class role-play
as members of Congress, and “decide” which song should be the
national anthem.
4.
Select professional recordings, each made by a different soloist
or performing group, and present them to the class. Using a Venn
diagram, ask the students to compare and contrast the different
renditions.
Indicators
of Success
•
Students
perform song using correct posture, correct rhythms, and accurate
pitches.
•
Students show ability to read music notation and lyrics of patriotic
tunes.
•
Students demonstrate a deeper understanding of patriotic music.
•
Students realize the social and cultural context of the national
anthem and can retell its story.
Supplemental
Resources
Star-Spangled
Banner Web sites:
http://americanhistory.si.edu/ssb/
http://www.flaghouse.org/teacher/t_lesson.html
Lesson
plan for “The Star-Spangled Banner” provided by Maryanna T. Jones,
EMEA Member; Elementary Music and Middle School Choral Director,
Fort Knox Community Schools, Ft. Knox, KY, in dedication to Stephanie
Redmon, and other young music educators, in hopes that they sustain
MIOSM with the WLC as its centerpiece for many years to come.
The National Anthem Project Teachers’
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