The first time Lauren Phillips sang the National Anthem in front of a crowd, she wore a cap and gown. The occasion was her commencement ceremony at Tufts University and about 10,000 people were there, including her parents.
The second time, there were more than 32,000, and she was dressed in a Milwaukee Brewers jersey with “Sinai 60” embroidered on the back.
It started when Congregation Sinai, where Phillips serves as cantor, was brainstorming events to celebrate the congregation’s 60th anniversary.
“Singing the national anthem at a ball park had always been on my bucket list,” she said. With the congregation’s blessing, Phillips sent an audition recording to the team, along with a letter about the congregation’s milestone year and describing what a good community-building event it would be. The response was a phone call from a Brewers official, asking her about prospective game dates.
Phillips, a New York native, is a staunch Mets fan. The best time and date for 2015, though, turned out to be a Sunday afternoon game between the Brewers and the Arizona Diamondbacks. Which bothered her not at all.
“Singing for the Brewers on behalf of Sinai and representing Sinai was really special,” she said. “The Brotherhood arranged a tailgate, we had a block of seats, and the game I sang at went for 17 innings!”
Joining the 65 congregants at the tailgate and game were Phillips’ parents and boyfriend (now fiancé), who flew in from New York for the occasion.
She sang her a cappella rendition of the anthem pretty much as she’d recorded it on the audition tape. It was then, she said, that the real decisions about style and key were determined.
“I spent a good amount of time recording it,” she said, adding that the Brewers organization requires a 90-second time limit. “That was a challenge, to make sure I adhered to the time limit. One version I recorded was 1:35. And I experimented with keys, to see which one sounded the best.”
Phillips ended up singing in B-flat. As to the style, she said she didn’t try to fit anyone else’s model.
“It’s not going to sound good if I’m trying to imitate Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston,” she said. “I’d rather sound like myself. I sang it like I would sing any other song. I wanted to be focused on being in the moment.”
Phillips did confess to being “a bit nervous about pulling a Christina Aguilera and forgetting the words…I didn’t want to end up all over YouTube!”
That didn’t happen, and the response from congregants she knew were there, and a host of friends she didn’t know were going to be at the game, was both fun and reassuring.
“It was social media overload after I sang. Friends and people from Sinai who didn’t know were all saying that it was a great surprise,” she said.
While she’d love to stand on home plate again, at Miller Park or another stadium, Phillips said this year if she attends a game, she’ll be singing the national anthem as part of the crowd.
“It’s something I would love to do again someday, but if I did it every year, it might become routine,” she said. “And that’s not something you ever want to become routine.”
Loading ...