University of Michigan musicologist Mark Clague explores more than 100 different sets of words sung to the tune we recognize today as only “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Mark Clague reveals that Francis Scott Key’s famous song is just one moment in a dynamic and lyrical conversation about what the nation was, is, and could be.

The program will incorporate music examples, following the anthem's 200-year journey from broadside, to victory ballad, to protest song, to anthem and back again.

Mark Clague is an Associate Professor of musicology and American culture at the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theater & Dance, and co-director of the American Music Institute. He also manages the comprehensive website: starspangledmusic.org. A nationally-recognized expert on the anthem, Clague is the founding board chair of the Star Spangled Music Foundation.

This program introduces the new Ford Library lobby exhibit “Banner Moments: The National Anthem in American Life,” which follows The Star-Spangled Banner from the moments leading up to September 14, 1814 through the present day, and explores the social history of our national song.