Crowd surprises with a cappella 'Star Spangled Banner'

I doubted that it could happen in this day and age, but I was wrong.

I wasn’t even sure that a crowd at a high school basketball game could get it together and sing the “Star Spangled Banner” without lots of preparation and maybe the words on the video board. But not only can it be done but it can happen quickly.

Prior to the start of the Portales vs. Moriarty boys game we all stood for the national anthem, which was recorded music played on the public address system. About two bars into the song, somewhere close to “the dawns early light” the recorded music stopped.

Most crowds would have stood there and began talking among themselves while the music was re-cued. Instead, a few musically inclined either picked the song up immediately or kept singing along. More and more of us quickly caught up and by “the home of the brave” we were lifting the rafters (a little bit).

Once it finished, the crowd gave itself a well-deserved round of applause and the ball game got under way.

I don’t know if folks were inspired by Luke Bryan’s a cappella version of the anthem at the Super Bowl or what but it was about as spine-tingling a performance as I’ve ever been witness to.

I’ve heard really good a cappella renditions before but I can’t remember singing it together as a crowd many, if any, times.

I’ve been blessed to grow up in the Church of Christ where we sing hymns during worship service without any accompaniment. We have practice doing it so maybe it was the Church of Christ folks carrying the day. I’ll admit I was sitting in a section where I was surrounded by Church of Christers so that might be why it sounded so good.

Some of the Baptists around me came in a little late, but they quickly got the hang of it so I’m sure it was a team effort.

Some of those nearby were also Rotarians, where we still sing at our club meetings (without accompaniment). We used to even have our own little blue songbooks with songs like “Bicycle Built For Two” and “Row, Row, Rotary.” How could we be intimidated by the “Star Spangled Banner?”

The school administration half-joked that they may just have someone stop the music every game to trick the crowd into performing.

It’s pretty common for crowds to sing “Take Me Out To the Ballgame” during the seventh inning stretch and everyone pitches in on that song. I think we’re capable of getting through the national anthem at the start of a ball game. Start there and work our way up to “America The Beautiful,” “God Bless America” and “Bicycle Built For Two.”

Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at: [email protected]