Star-Spangled Banner, The

From Wind Repertory Project
John Stafford Smith

John Stafford Smith (arr. Jack Stamp)


Subtitle: A Love Song to Our Country


General Info

Year: 1814 / 2002
Duration: c. 1:20
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Song
Publisher: Neil A. Kjos Music
Cost: Score and Parts - $80.00   |   Score Only - $6.00


Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute
Oboe
Bassoon
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion, including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Snare Drum
  • Crash Cymbals


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

In 1986, while a graduate student with Gene Corporon at Michigan State, I did an arrangement of The Star-Spangled Banner for wind ensemble to be performed at the WASBE Conference in Boston. The arrangement treats the work as a hymn/ballad with lots of suspensions and some substitute chords (but not in a pop style) rather than the ”drinking song” style of the tune’s origins.

On Friday, September 14 (three days after the brutal attack on the World Trade Center), Ken Ayoob of Humbolt State and a former classmate of mine, called to see if I still had that arrangement. I found it, though it was in manuscript form, and some of the parts were missing. That weekend I put the arrangement on computer and “tweaked” it (since I know a little more about composition fifteen years later).

George Naff, former marching band director at East Carolina University, said that a national anthem should be a citizen’s “love song to their country." It is in the spirit that I revised this arrangement as my part to support those brave souls, living and dead, who continue to support freedom in our country. I would suggest that before performing this arrangement you read the fourth verse of The Star-Spangled Banner to the audience. It is patriotic poetry that could have been written on September 11, 2001.

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto — “in God is our trust:’
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

- Program Note by arranger


Set in a symphonic style rather than a march style, with some surprising and effective harmonic twists, this is a very refreshing treatment of our National Anthem!

- Program Note from publisher


Media


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • Tri-Rivers Conference Honor Band (Clarence, IA) (Joshua W. Neuenschwander, conductor) - 15 January 2024
  • Youngstown (Ohio) State University Alumni Wind Ensemble - 21 May 2023
  • West Valley High School (Yakima, Wash.) Concert Band and Wind Ensemble (Kirk Knight, conductor) - 9 November 2022
  • The Ohio State University (Columbus) Collegiate Winds (David Hedgecoth, conductor) - 29 September 2022
  • University of Dubuque (Iowa) Concert Band (Nolan Hauta, conductor) - 14 and 22 October 2021
  • Youngstown (Ohio) State University Wind Ensemble (Michael Scott Butler, conductor) - 15 September 2021
  • Kentucky Virginia (Whitesburg, Ky.) Summer Winds (Jason Griffith, conductor) - 18 May 2021
  • Central DeWitt (Iowa) High School Symphonic Band (Josh Greubel, conductor) – 9 March 2020
  • Ocean Springs (Miss.) High School Wind Symphony (Kevin Shira, conductor) - 4 March 2020 (86th Annual ABA National Convention)
  • Strafford Wind Symphony (Sanford, Me.) (Bruce Gatchell, conductor) – 25 May 2019
  • University of North Carolina, Greensboro, University Band (Timothy Ellison, conductor) – 14 November 2018
  • San Luis Obispo (Calif.) County Band (Leonard Lutz, conductor) - 29 April 2018
  • Youngstown (Ohio) State University Wind Ensemble (Stephen L. Gage, conductor) – 6 September 2017
  • University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) Summer Band (Jason Gardner, conductor) - 27 July 2017
  • Champaign-Urbana (Ill.) Civic Wind Band (Linda Moorhouse, conductor; Yvonne Redman, soprano) - 1 July 2017
  • United States Marine Band (Washington, D.C.) (Timothy Rhea, conductor) - 10 March 2017 (82nd Annual ABA National Convention)
  • University of Louisville (Ky.) Wind Ensemble (Jason Cumberledge, conductor) - 9 March 2017 (82nd Annual ABA National Convention)
  • Dobyns-Bennett High School (Kingsport, Tenn.) Wind Symphony (Bobby R. Francis, conductor) - 8 March 2017 (82nd Annual ABA National Convention)
  • The Ohio State University (Columbus) Collegiate Winds (Phillip Day, conductor) – 21 February 2017
  • United States Marine Band (Washington, D.C.) (Jason K. Fettig, conductor) - 14 December 2016 (2016 Midwest Clinic)
  • Austin (Tex.) Symphonic Band (Richard Floyd, conductor) – 3 April 2016


Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music


All Wind Works


Resources

  • Stamp, J.; Smith, J. (2002). The Star-Spangled Banner: A Love Song to Our Country [score]. La Jolla Music Company: San Diego, Calif.