07/12/2026
Well, they say that writing about your experiences helps others and helps you let them go. I really hope that’s the case. I know I’ll definitely be using this experience to better prepare those in my studio.
In four and a half decades of performing, I’ve never had a more traumatizing performance experience at the hands of a sound tech.
I feel very strongly about our National Anthem and seeing it done well! In fact, so much so that everyone in my studio has been asked to work on it this summer to make sure they are ready to sing it well if asked.
Well, Friday night I was supposed to sing the Anthem at the Tortugas game in front of thousands of people. I’ve performed it for them previously without a hitch (which I’ll attach here for my own edification). I’ve taken other students to perform it as well a capella, as a group.
I’ve also sent several students to sing it solo.
(Of note here….A similar traumatic story as the one I’m about to tell also happened to one of my students.)
Here’s what happened to me Friday:
I sent my backing track weeks in advance to the coordinator for the sound tech. Then I was asked last week to send it again to make sure they had it. So I diligently labeled the MP3 file with my full name and what it was.
Now mind you, I was also prepared to sing it a ca****la ….as I had just a few weeks prior….but this arrangement and track is my favorite and I think it’s the most beautiful!
Long story long…. It came time to sing and I stood there waiting for my track. I looked to the sound booth…nothing. I told the coordinator on the field with me I was waiting for my track…he used the walkie talkie to ask for the track. The impatient crowd started singing the anthem (in different keys and at different timing around the stadium). Not cool people. DON’T do this! You have no idea what’s going on and what it’s like on the field. 20 extra seconds of patience wouldn’t have killed you.
I had a decision to make, I could just start a ca****la over them but I looked to the coordinator who was on the walkie and knew that if I started and then the track started it would be a HUGE mess.
So I waited a few seconds that felt like an eternity and a track started. A track with no intro and that WASN’T my track!!!!!!!!!!!! So I started singing along but then the crowd was in a different spot, the track was not the same. I tried to get them to cut it off and I’d just sing a ca****la but they didn’t and I ended up just singing over the best I could.
I feel completely thrown under the bus. The owner came to me right after on the field and said I handled it like a pro, but it was BAAAAAAAAAAAD y’all and I pride myself on practicing and NOT messing up this anthem.
The fact is that all of this could have been avoided if the sound crew had cared enough to check the track before the game. It’s their JOB!
I’m writing this because I’m struggling to get over it and I’m working hard to put my ego and ANGER aside, so I’m hoping that telling this story will help me let go because I refuse to let evil win.
So here, enjoy a previous recording and what you SHOULD have heard on Friday!
https://youtube.com/shorts/hheid-5eGlY?si=piW1PgezrOeFP-KR
Mariah
This is me singing the national anthem at the Daytona Tortugas base...
