[Highlight] A middle school band performs the national anthem as you’d expect while Duncan Robinson struggles to keep a straight face
Thought it would be worse, TBH.
Fergie wishes she was as good as this fucking middle school band
LET’S PLAY SOME BASKETBALL
Damn this brings back hardcore nightmares
This photo still cracks me up to this day
Every reaction to her anthem was fucking gold
My little brother was confused and asked me if this was considered good singing lol
I knew what it was gonna be before I clicked lol
Better than my middle school band woulda been lol
My middle school band was pretty good. Was I good? No. But some of the other kids were.
I hummed into my tuba like a pro while hoping my finger positions looked good enough to fool anyone.
“Uh there’s like 4 of us in the section they’ll never notice” and they didn’t.
Me too buddy. I still can’t play the clarinet, but I’m sure the world is better off because of that.
My middle school band was good. That was mostly because the conductor Mr. D was amazing. A hardass but top 5 teacher I ever had. We were regularly better than the high school at Memorial Day.
I dont know, it’s pretty bad. lol
It’s not like TV comical bad, but it’s quite rough.
That said, playing on national television is probably an extra level of pressure none of these kids have ever dealt with.
For a middle school band you honestly could have much, much worse. Not great but guaranteed those kids are still brand new to the instruments, so tbh there sound really isn’t half bad tbh
Fair, but maybe if a band is that unexperienced, dont throw them on national television. lol
Oh c’mon theres 82 regular season games, somebody has to do the anthem lmao and this one ain’t half bad
Facts lmfao thats a memory for all those kids for life who the fuck cares if the anthem you’ll hear a thousand more times in your life is played a little mediocre one time
somebody has to do the anthem lmao
Why?
Well maybe get 7-11 cashier Jeff to do it if we’re not giving a shit. lol
My issue isn’t the idea, it’s that this is terrifying for inexperienced kids like this.
The kids were probably super excited about this and made an awesome memory. It’s the national anthem of game 82 of the regular season. It’s really not that big of a deal.
You right, to me at least it’s definitely a little odd. But at the same time if I was one of those kids/the band teacher ain’t a chance in hell I would turn it down. Easiest way to get over stage fright? Perform in front of that big of a audience as well the ability to see other aspects of that arena you would likely never see any other time
Easiest way to get over stage fright?
Nobody with stage fright ever votes for that. lol
Moreover, half these kids likely didn’t even know they had stage fright til they were thrown into this situation. That’s the real problem.
Shit, I remember not thinking I had any fear of heights til I started doing roofing and siding. The first time I was asked to go up a 20ft ladder and then nail down some footboards was the first time I realized I was not all at comfortable with heights. lol I did get used to it, but never fully, and I was genuinely terrified my first time going up.
They are between 11-14 and have probably only played their instruments for a couple of years.
That’s only emphasizing my point. It’s a huge ask to put them on national TV.
By my ear, there’s a clarinet that is very confident and very out of tune that makes it all sound a lot worse. I’m not sure why a random middle school would ever be doing this though. At least use a middle school honor band, if not a decent high school
I think it’s a saxaphone. Everyone else sounds decent enough.
Props to the director who avoided the high “ooh see can’t you SEE” and lowered it by an octave. High notes (expecially on brass) are the worst offenders to the ears…
It’s “Oh say can you see”
Oh, you don’t say? I see
See what?
The US flag dawg. Do you know what the song is actually about?
The star sprinkled banner?
It’s a lot easier to just say “oh my bad I didn’t know the lyrics” lmao
But that isn’t funny.
and the rockets red hair!
Le brons bursting in aaaaair
this is officially cannon, now
Gave prooooof through the Dwiiiiiight
it’s about some fireworks or something
Yeah, I was expecting the squeal. That’s looking out for your kids.
I recently found old videos of my high school jazz band. I did not realize how awful we sounded.
Post em.
Hell nah can’t do dis
Thats actually decent for a middle school in this day and age.
In what day and age would it not be decent? Lol
This level of quality is what I was expecting
You’d be surprised, Texas has middle school bands that sound better than most high school bands
Compared to the middle school bands I’ve heard (endured), this is pretty solid. Most of these kids have only been playing their instruments for a couple years max.
Yeah this isn’t that bad
It was pretty bad…
Honestly that’s the best anthem of the year
Did you not see the Spurs’ commentator perform the anthem a few days ago? He nailed it!
Fuck he did? Omg I’ve gotta find that
The disrespect to the Koreatown seniors harmonica national anthem
Thank you, made my day
https://youtube.com/shorts/rptAleElbiA?si=XfoInPyVoxQdhsok
Nah some little kid at a Lakers game earlier played it on a guitar and absolutely killed it
Sac had a kids string orchestra play a few weeks ago and it was beautiful.
[ Removed by Reddit ]
the kings national anthem yesterday was electric tbh
Orlando City had a mariachi band do the anthem last year. Best anthem all year
Were these kids from Francis Scott Off-Key Middle School?
How were they all missing in the same way? It’s actually kinda impressive.
Normally middle school concerts are a cacophony of different sharps and flats, but these kids are all bad in the same way!.
I expected a little better from a middle school, ngl.
I went to a public junior high in a district that relied on fundraising for band equipment and scores, so not a well-to-do, privately-tutored-outside-of-class situation, and I feel like we were def more well-rounded than what I’m hearing in this clip.
I always found that my ensembles sounded better to me while I was playing with them than rewatching them on video FWIW
I blame the arrangement in part, I used to play the same one growing up. The music theory people can correct me, but I think they invert the interval because it would be too hard for kids this age (which is why you hear some instruments going lower when they should’ve gone higher)
My band teacher had us doing orchestral pieces adapted for band instruments. Like we were doing Mars- Gustav holst. It helps that our band teacher required us to tryout for state chairs no matter what, so we practiced an ungodly amount.
If everyone’s doing the same mistakes, it’s on the conductor.
Their band teacher was in Nickelback.
That sounds like an amazing Key and Peele skit.
Off-Key and Peele
That the same school that taught Squidward Tentacles?
TOO SOON
Still better than most singer renditions
You can say Fergie
Roseanne
I always blamed the people who invited her for that one. No serious person could have believed she’d do anything different. Imagine inviting Gilbert Gottfried and being pissed off he sounded like shit and treated it like a joke when he was booed.
That kid in middle school has a whole fucking sleeve tattoo?!
Sharpie
You didn’t see anyone with drawn on tattoos back then?
I definitely didn’t but I live in bumfuck nowhere
Inland empire isn’t that bad
Nah I live in southwest Virginia
So bumfuck nowhere. (Unless Charlottesville)
It is bumfuck nowhere with just a few thousand people
I like Shenandoah. Used to go there a few times a year. See how much elevation I could do in a day then regret it when hitting DC traffic in a manual on the drive home.
How you end up a Laker fan my guy? Locally DC or Charlotte would be the choices
I would be caught dead before being a wizards fan. And I got into basketball relatively recently so I just said fuck it become fan of LeSunshine’s team
Just glad you didn’t go celts
straight up
Proof they’re not a racist. Side eye for being a fan of a rapists former team, though.
LMAOOO gottem
-Los angelino
Could have been worse. With the title I expected this to be as bad as that intro from Soul
Coincidentally, I learned today that it took a professional musician 90 minutes to record that 30 second intro. Apparently it’s really hard to purposely make bad sounding music for a professional.
That makes a lot of sense honestly. You have to break thousands of hours of practice of playing correctly to play poorly. It would be like Steph trying to replicate a horrible shooting form.
They probably took the sheet music and fucked it all up on paper, tested it out, and iterated on it until it sounded bad, but still close enough for people to know what was being played. I would think that a musician trying to fuck up on the fly, on purpose, would be harder than just starting from the top down to design it in a fucked up way lol
It was also better than the Egyptian Band’s Russian national anthem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OxK4lPRoww
(A) Wasn’t that bad. (B) Bad video - cuts too early. 2⁄5 would not recommend.
Best middle school band in the tri-state area
Duncan actually being pretty cool was probably my unexpected realization if the year. Great signing.
Most of heat nation miss the Duncyard Dawg
Miami used to run on Duncan 😔
Top 5 underrated nicknames
Fantastic nickname.
Being an ass to middle schoolers = cool? 😂😂😂 maybe to Detroiters
Was there something he did that I missed?
Evident
I don’t know what that is supposed to mean here. What did he do?
He’s not pointing at them and laughing, a camera happened to catch him. He’s being entirely respectful. We don’t even technically know why he was laughing.
We need a Derek Anderson-type follow up
middle school french horn girls with near-full-sleeves and 2⁄3 of the boys look like Jake Paul impersonators. Broccoli Head Podz scored 30 last night. These are tough times for ‘old heads’..
What are you blabbering about
You figure it out in 20 more years
I laughed. That particular note when they cut to him. lol.
Let’s play some basketball!
I feel like they over mic’ed the harmony which is why it sounds uncanny
Only comment that understands music in this thread
Yayyy they did good :3
Yall haven’t heard enough middle school bands. This ain’t that bad
They’re probably sitting all their starters too.
Sounds fine to me. Of all the things to poke fun at, pre teens nervous as fuck at an nba arena is one I will abstain from
This was fine. I’d take this over some singer doing their rendition. Personally, a solo sax or trumpet does it best.
Well, at least they’re kinda on tempo. I’ve tried to teach kids to play a piece, it’s tough, because most kids in school bands just… suck at their instruments. It’s more about the social part than the music. I am deaf now, though.
Parent here. I’ve sat through a bunch of those performances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCPj4JPbKtA
i think they’re doing great! i also think its funny! it can be both
Gotta start somewhere.
It’s the perfect amount of bad for it to be funny.
If you look carefully you can see Chris Bosh in the back ground saying “and I’m better than you at French horn!”
Still weirds me out that play the anthem in the NBA
Duncan is a goof, they were decent
It’s really hard to be critical on these kids however when they look back on this performance, they can be proud of the opportunity that was given to them to perform at a professional game, which more than likely none of us have ever done.
Take this as a learning moment for music directors, you must have your students practice the national anthem and the Pomp and Circumstance Graduation Walking March song throughout the year since they will be performing that at a school graduation.
Dunc almost went the orchestra route in college, he was a great clarinet player.
Hahaha this is great
Its one of those moments where you don’t want to laugh and trying not to laugh makes you want to laugh even more.
“To perform on tv? Are you sure you want us…”
As somebody who was in a middle school concert band that won a local competition, I’d say that band did not perform as I expected.
Do they not teach them to tune before they play?
https://youtu.be/MUIC1ettOW0?si=MsErrtwqevU4iE7c
Duncan fighting to not get fined lol
Bro I played in my middle school band and we could belt the fucking national anthem out with our eyes closed. We played it dozens of times lol where did they find these kids?
Bruh.
It’s middle school kids ffs.
Doesn’t mean it’s not funny lol
Are they rushing or are they dragging?
This happened to me when I went to a middle school recital thing. I had to walk out woth my head down laughing
not as awful as what I’ve heard as some graduations. good job to them
They had ms do it at our minor league teams game once with kazoo’s and that was so bad it was almost disrespectful lol
Duncan is having some intrusive thoughts right there lol
Did that first kid has a sleeve tattoo and mustache? I know people are saying the tattoo was sharpie but what about the stash???
Better than Fergie
Dude thinks he’s Steph
The real life Jerry Smith
This doesn’t even sound bad
Still better than Fergie.
For a middle school band not bad. Calm down Duncan Robinson
Wild that I ctrl+f for Carl Lewis, and find no results. You kids are too young.
National anthem is actually pretty difficult to play, especially for beginners. School band director here. Kids did great!
Why is a middle schooler tatted up?
Euphonium player on the right has correct fingers—player on the left is wrong.
Source: middle school band director.
french horn w the sleeve was unexpected
It’s pretty bad.
is not even that bad tbh
Fucking bums
Wait till Biggus Dickus hears of this.
He’s lame
Wtf have some respect for the kids
but someone hit a honker. sounds like a recorder. it’s kinda funny tbh
Maybe he’s laughing because their country is a fucking joke
ANGSTY EDGELORD ALERT
BRACE FOR HOT TAKES THAT WE HAVE DEFINITELY NOT HEARD BEFORE
Can we get some country flair on this one?
You aren’t deserving of my information just because I have an opinion.