“What So Proudly We Hailed”
Interns with the University of Michigan Sports Marketing Department served as judges during the university's recent auditions for singers to perform the national anthem at sporting events. (Photo by the writer.)
The girl makes her way across Cliff Keen Arena’s wood-paneled gym floor toward the long table where the judges sit, leaning forward over their clipboards. She looks to be about eight or nine. She wears pink tights, a jean skirt, and an absolutely terrified look on her face: the corners of her mouth tug down, her eyes wide.
The judges smile at her as she steps forward to take the microphone. As she backs up toward the empty bleachers, looking no less nervous, one of them offers a compliment in a soft voice: “I like your tights!”
The girl opens her mouth and begins to sing: “Oh, say, can you see…”
Her voice is startlingly steady, given her evident anxiety. She finishes the song and hands to microphone back to the nearest judge. Then, the ordeal behind her, she turns and runs toward the door. She calls out in a high-pitched voice, to whoever’s waiting for her outside, “I sucked! I sucked!”
The judges exchange smiles, mark up the evaluation sheets on their clipboards with their maize-and-blue pens, and wait for the next person auditioning to show up. They will spend the afternoon and evening listening to singer after singer – young and old, nervous and confident – offer their personal rendering of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Why the national anthem? Because these Sept. 9 auditions determine which vocalists will perform that song at University of Michigan sporting events in the upcoming season. [Full Story]