Sing the National Anthem for the South Bend Silver Hawks

Oh, say can you see...four middle-aged divas in shades and baseball jerseys belting out the Star Spangled Banner before the first pitch of a South Bend Silver Hawks game? I can! And why not? They certainly wouldn't make any more waves than Cristina Aguilera...

Why South Bend?

Coveleski Stadium ("the Cove" to locals) has the welcoming charm of many minor league ball parks. In an older industrial area of South Bend, the stadium is in good repair and the field well-manicured. The games are attended by average crowds at best (slightly higher for dollar hot dog and beer nights) and one can always find a seat. There are generally plenty of seats so patrons can move about the stadium for upgrades or to accommodate the glare of the sun. Attending a game at the Cove is an exercise in comfort, even by Great American Pastime standards.

Singing the national anthem at the Cove is not a goal driven by need of fame and fortune. Although South Bend is a metropolis to residents of my own town (100,000 population compared to our 3,000), it is only the 4th largest city in a state with 11 electoral votes. However, being only 25 miles away makes South Bend is a logical place to start. My group won't have to drive hours to an audition and will be able to find a parking spot even on game night. If we make the cut and perform at South Bend, then my bucket list might include a revision to sing at say, an Indianapolis Indians game. If we perform at an Indianapolis Indians game, the bucket list item might be upgraded to "sing at a Cincinnati Reds game." Depending on the outcome of South Bend, my group could eventually bucket list its way to Yankee Stadium. Or right back to the annual church talent show. Whichever.

Female Barbershop

Female barbershop is a term that sounds like its very own contradiction. Some refer to this musical genre as a "beautyshop quartet" although most participants dismiss that effort to seemingly relegate their art to a fluffier form. Barbershop-style music has been sung by women for years, often in larger groups from various chapters of the Sweet Adelines. Two years ago during NBC's first season of The Sing Off, the group Maxx Factor brought female barbershop music (in quartet form) to the forefront of musical performance.

A female barbershop quartet uses the same structure as the male quartets, and in fact even though females sing in treble clef and males in bass, nearly all barbershop quartet music is written in bass clef. So in essence, women have to "think" an octave higher than the notes are actually written, and mentally translate from bass to treble clef while they practice. Think Ginger Rogers dancing with Fred Astaire, backwards and in heels.

The four singing components of a barbershop quartet (same terms for male and female) are lead (sings the melody), tenor (sings above the melody), bass (grounds chords with bottom notes) and baritone (can be all over the map, but generally below the lead line). Barbershop music is known for tight chords, and in fact to be classified as barbershop, a musical performance piece must contain 35% to 65% of "ringing" or "barbershop 7th" (dissonant) chords. Folklore holds that when a barbershop 7th chord is perfectly sung, an angel can be heard ringing a bell. Barbershop is always performed a capella (without accompaniment) and  by memorization. Memorizing is not as difficult as it sounds, as the tight harmonies require so much practice memorization occurs almost without effort.

The Four M's

Back in the early 2000's, I was part of an active female barbershop group with the most awful name around. We all attended the same church, and had kids active in various musical and sports groups, so we cleverly called ourselves "The Four M's (Methodist Moms Making Music). Despite our name we got several bookings--probably because female barbershop groups are kind of a unique thing. We gave holiday programs for local service clubs, sang at teacher appreciation dinners, performed for sororities, and even sang the national anthem at a high school basketball game (while, I'm certain, our kids wore paper bags over their heads). We were shameless nerds having the time of our lives. Over the years, the group has morphed as members needed to come and go. The Star Spangled Banner is one of the first songs new members learn, so our group (bearing whatever new name we come up with) will be ready to go at the removal of a baseball cap.

National Anthem Auditions

Some minor league ball parks use a recorded version of the national anthem, but most prefer the ambiance of having a live performance. If you are interested in being one of those performers, call or email the team marketing contact, which can be found doing a web search for the team of interest. Each team and stadium has a different tryout process, but here are some overall general items:

• The audition is usually announced on the team website, local newspaper or radio 2-4 weeks ahead of the actual date
• Most auditions are held in March
• Auditions are usually one day a year (although a few teams hold individual auditions as performers submit letters of interest)
• Many auditions are limited to a 3-4 hour time frame, and are on first come, first served basis
• Most auditions are a capella (no accompaniment)
• Either groups or individuals may try out
• Auditions are generally judged by either local TV and Radio celebrities, or team management
• Depending on the team, you may be able to select or request your performance date
• If selected, you may be asked to sing for more than one game
• The tryout process generally makes clear that you will be volunteering your time to perform

At what point in time did singing the national anthem jump on to my bucket list? I can't say with certainty. I'm sure many things led up to it--my own love of baseball (and spending an evening at a ball park), fond memories of fun musical practices with great friends, remembering the smiles on peoples faces when we sang, the sparkly vests (ok, just kidding there...) Whatever the reason, it seems like a fun and reasonable goal. If we eventually make it to Yankee Stadium I promise a Hupdate!