God Bless America

Irving Berlin initially penned the words to “God Bless America” while serving as a sergeant at an army camp in 1918. As typical of many of his songs which didn’t fit the occasion at the time, it was put away in a trunk. Twenty years later, opportunity knocked on his door. Berlin pulled out this song for Kate Smith, the singer to debut at Armistice Day (now Veterans Day) in 1938. For many Americans, it became the unofficial second national anthem. [See the other national anthems.]

The lyrics to the one verse song is easy to remember. The many chords (mainly secondary dominants and passing chords) in its original arrangement poses a serious challenge for the beginning pianist and ukulele player. Though easier to play, the reduction to a four chord song loses its authenticity and harmonic richness. On the eve of Fourth of July, let’s examine various approaches to make it feasible for pianists, ukulele players, and singers alike.

The Introduction

The introduction serves as a necessary instrumental passage to set the tempo (mood and speed) and give the right starting note for the singer(s). One way to play the introduction is to use the last cadence or phrase of a song. Another way is to play the first chord many times.

The song does have additional words BEFORE the well-known lyrics of “God Bless America” as follows.

While the storm clouds gather far across the sea
Let us swear allegiance to a land that’s free
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer

Harmonic Reduction

Removing the major 7th, diminished, minor 7th, 7th, and minor chords reduces the accompaniment to its bare bones: a three or four chord song.

Vocal Range

While it’s considerably easier to play in C major than any other key on the piano, ukulele, and guitar, one has to ask if it’s singable in this key. The melody ranges from G below the starting note of C to an A above the starting note, just over an octave.

For ukulele players, playing the melody in C requires either playing it “up the neck’ or an octave lower on a low G ukulele as shown below.

Transposition for Singability

By transposing up a perfect 5th interval, it’s possible to play the melody on a high G ukulele. The key of G requires a vocal range from D below the starting note of G to an E above it, which suits more vocal ranges than the key of C. The simplified ukulele song sheet is more palatable for group singing, as shown below.

Chord Diagrams and Voicing

Returning to the original multi-chord accompaniment, we see that all chords transpose but not necessarily to the common chord diagrams we’re used to.

The choice of chord diagrams has to do with voicing (i.e. the order of notes in a chord), to allow the highest note to coincide with the melody, for chord melody arrangements, in which the notes of the melody and harmony (chords) can be played together, like an instrumental piece.

For this reason, the simplified D7 is used in the first line, while a normal D7 (2223) is used when the melody hits the note C.

Transposing the original multi-chord accompaniment to the key of G, we have the following opening for the ukulele, playable on high G ukulele.

Diminished and Diminished 7 Chords

The third chord in the song is Bb diminished, not diminished 7 as represented by the small degree sign in Bb⁰. In the key of C, it’s Ebdim not Eb⁰ as shown in the first image in this blog post. Similarly, in the key of A major, the third chord is Cdim not Cdim7 or C⁰, as shown below. Diminished 7th chords have four different notes, a minor third interval apart. Meanwhile a diminished chord has three different notes, hence a triad.

Sensitivity Analysis

Why bother transposing to another key if you can sing and play it already? You might sound better in another key. It might be easier to sing. Try it.

Chord Melody Arrangement a.k.a. Instrumental Solo

The next step to arranging for instrumental solo, otherwise known as chord melody arrangement, is to include the notes in the chords. Annotate as block chords and then arpeggiate to broken chords as fillers.

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