Local musician creates new version of “America the Beautiful”
What started as a song for a children’s choir to sing at Hancock’s Martin Luther King Day celebration last year has become an ongoing collaboration of musicians and music groups across the country.
As a member of the planning committee for the event, Hancock singer-songwriter Steve Schuch had taken on the task of organizing a musical performance. At the time, he had been reading about the history of the patriotic anthem “America the Beautiful,” originally written as a poem by American author and poet Katherine Lee Bates in 1892, and studying the life and writings of American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr.
“Then, I thought, what would happen if we took the opening lines of ‘America the Beautiful’ that everyone knows and added a chorus and new verses that reflected Martin Luther King’s wider dream for all of America?” Schuch said.
The reimagined version of “America the Beautiful,” titled “America the Dream,” received such a “strong response” at the celebration, Schuch said, that he decided to keep expanding on the project.
He teamed up with another local musician, Mike Bradley, to write more lyrics and reached out to Shelbie Rassler, a senior at Berklee College of Music at the time, who had produced a viral YouTube video of a virtual choir of students singing “What the World Needs Now,” to assist with the musical arrangement and assembling a virtual choir to perform the piece.
Rassler was “all in,” Schuch said, and has produced three virtual performance videos of the song so far, with more on the way, including a contemporary country version out of Nashville.
“I hope that with each passing year, different singing groups around the country will want to do it,” he said. “It would be neat if someday Keith Lockhart wants to do this with the Boston Pops for the Fourth of July, or, hey, in my wildest dreams, maybe Beyonce would sing it at the Super Bowl.”
Late last year, Schuch and his collaborators launched the “American Dream Project” website where people can find the performance videos as well as sheet music for six different arrangements of the song, sound samples of the different choral parts and a piano accompaniment track for singing groups to use for rehearsals or performances if they don’t have access to live musical accompaniment.
“[The arrangements] run from really simple ones that are appropriate for elementary schools or children’s choirs up through ones for accomplished high school and college choirs and adult community choirs,” Schuch said. “There is enough variety that any music director or conductor could find a version that’s right for their group and their setting.”
What makes “America the Dream” especially unique, Schuch said, is that it’s an open source piece; not only can people access the sheet music and sound samples for free, but they also have permission to create and perform their own versions of the song with different musical arrangements and different or additional lyrics for non-commercial use.
“We encourage people to keep adding to it and would love for them to submit their recordings to add to the website,” he said.
The website also includes a list of suggested reading material and resources for groups or individuals who want to use the “American Dream Project” as “a springboard for discussion,” Schuch said.
“It’s more than a song,” he said. “It’s a chance for all Americans to think about what we hold in common for the dream of our country and what our country can become.”
Featured photo: “America The Dream” virtual performance by Berklee College of Music students, Shelbie Rassler Orchestral Arrangement. Courtesy photo.
