But, there are many songs with larger vocal ranges that don’t give a singer half as many problems as does the Star Spangled Banner. So, I guess the song simply requires an excellent vocalist.

If you are aware of the late Whitney Houston’s recording of the work, you would have to say that her rendition does inspire hope, faith and patriotism. Okay, the Star Spangled Banner is difficult to sing partly because it has somewhat of an extended range. We stand and cringe because of the torturous execution of the song. We all wait in great suspense to hear if he or she is going to hit the note that makes us feel the sense of glory, freedom, respect and national pride we have for the United States. So, it’s always a bit dicey when a vocalist doesn’t have the high ‘F’ for the word free. The total range of the piece is an octave and a half. When performed in the key of ‘B flat’, the melodic range of the song is from a ‘B flat’ below middle ‘C’ to a high ‘F’. Why is the Star Spangled Banner so difficult to sing?įirst and most obvious, the Star Spangled Banner is a song composed with a fairly extensive vocal range.

The star spangled banner song poet