The Boos Swell : It’s the Tune, Not Singer, Critics Chime In

As the furor raged Thursday over Roseanne Barr’s screeching rendition of the national anthem, the television comedienne got some of her most sympathetic reviews from an unlikely source: music professionals.

Although Barr could definitely use some coaching, voice teachers and critics agreed, the major flaw in her performance was completely beyond her control. The problem wasn’t Barr, they said, but her material.

“The bottom line is that the national anthem is impossible to sing,” said Martin Bernheimer, classical music critic for The Times. “It has a vast range. It goes way high and way low. The words are badly set. It’s an amateurish piece of music.”

Ann Campbell, the San Diego Opera’s development director, agreed: “A lot of opera singers won’t even do it when they’re asked.”

The reason? That throat-tightening phrase--”and the rocket’s red glare”--when the singer is forced to ascend higher and higher into the musical stratosphere. That’s the section where most mortals have to cheat, seeking comfort by dropping their voices an octave. Unfortunately, Roseanne Barr chose to plow ahead, her pitch faltering, her fingers in her ears.

So grating was her performance that some said she was beyond help.

“Silence is the only thing that could improve her,” said Jane Westbrook, a San Diego voice teacher.

Carolyn Terpstra, a voice teacher and president of the San Diego chapter of the National Assn. of Teachers of Singing, offered some pointers.

“She needs work on breathing--her mouth was just wide open all the time,” she said, explaining that trained singers have a different jaw position for each vowel. After a careful screening of Barr’s performance, however, she reconsidered: “In her case, perhaps keeping the jaw all the way up is the most important thing to improve her performance. Keep that mouth shut.”

Mary MacKenzie, meanwhile, a member of San Diego State University’s voice faculty, chastised the Padres for choosing Barr in the first place.

“Singing is athletic, just like playing baseball,” she said. “I don’t think they’d put someone on first base who hasn’t had training. They shouldn’t put (an untrained) singer out there either.”

Opera star Robert Merrill, who has sung the “Star-Spangled Banner” at Yankee Stadium in New York for 18 years, was among those appalled by Barr’s performance, which he called a “national disgrace.”

“This woman, who obviously has no taste at all, went out to sing the national anthem and distorted the song,” he told the Associated Press. “It was to me like burning . . . the flag. It was like, ‘Here I am and to hell with you.’ It was a complete mockery and outlandish.”

Kingsley McLaren, program director of KFSD-FM and host of its early-morning classical show, rated Barr this way:

“Adherence to pitch, on a scale of one to 10, I’d go minus 19. For feeling, minus 25. Musicality--I think it would be best not to comment.”

“She has about as much talent as a singer as she does as an actress,” McLaren said. “Roseanne Barr has a big future somewhere. But in music?”