pitzel's Blog

Jan 01

Approximately 2 hours before tip-off, Jennifer walks you through a sound check, guiding you and your guests through the entrance and onto the court where the players are warming up, running plays.

The sound check not only gives the audio guys a good feel for the mic level, it gives you a chance to get a feel for the arena, a chance to practice finding your starting note (I'll talk about that later), and, in general, helps set you at ease if you're a bit nervous about singing a rangy song that's just about as closely tied to our history as the Constitution in front of several thousand folks at an NBA game with a bank of cameras rolling...not that that would make anyone nervous.

Jennifer and all the folks calmly but efficiently going through their pre-game preparations around you really do project a sort of homey comfort along with cool professionalism. It's obvious folks here enjoy what they do, and enjoy the Blazers. It's tough not to feel good around that.

After a description of where you need to be and at what time, and where to head when you've finished singing - the mic is yours.

You're free to sing as much, or as little as you need to set the levels - but my suggestion is: go completely through it. Some folks might want to mark, basically just run through the song without pushing, but personally I think you gain a lot more in the sound check by going for it. Heck, you're amongst friends (and the seats are still empty) - much better to see if your singing strategy (yes, you really do need to have a strategy for singing the Star Spangled Banner) is working now rather than at game time! 

Also...I found during my sound check with something akin to horror,  that as much as I've practiced the song - especially over the past couple months - when it actually came down to singing it during the sound check...I had a moment of "which is it? gallantly...or valiantly streaming" and actually sang something in-between...okay, that meant I still needed to settle down and do some work in the dressing room before the game...

- more later -