Star-Spangled Banner: Rehearsal Aids

This is a very difficult piece for everybody but the sopranos. It’s an advanced Barbershop piece, suitable for a grand concert. If we can learn it, I’d like to open our May show with it.

Please note some differences in the rehearsal aids from what you’re used to. Since there are so many sustained notes here, I did not use piano alone on the section parts. Rather, I doubled the Ah sound with Piano, in hopes of capturing the best of both worlds. (The clarity of pitch on the Piano sound, and the tone quality and sustaining of the Ah sound.)

As a result, you may find it desirable to practice with the part-predominant tracks more often than with the part-only tracks. For this reason, I have reversed the customary order below, putting the part-predominant ones first.

All 4 Parts

All Four Parts–Ah Sound–No Piano (This is the closest to how our performance would sound.)
All four Parts Ah Sound With Piano (for rehearsal only)
All Four Parts on Piano Sound Only–No Ah. (You’ll be missing the longer notes here as the piano doesn’t sustain that long.

Soprano

Soprano Predominant (Doubled on Piano)
Soprano Only (Ah & Piano Sound)

Alto

Alto Predominant (Doubled on Piano)
Alto Only (Ah &
Piano Sound)

Tenor

Tenor Predominant (Doubled on Piano)
Tenor Only (Ah & Piano Sound)

Bass

Bass Predominant (Doubled on Piano)
Bass Only (Piano Sound)