Washington-- U.S. Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) today announced the introduction of a Senate resolution seeking to restore America’s voice by re-teaching all Americans to sing the national anthem.

The resolution, introduced with Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) and fourteen other Senators, supports the work of the “National Anthem Project” to promote the Star-Spangled Banner and increase awareness of the importance of funding for school music programs. The Project is organized by the National Association for Music Education.

“The Star-Spangled Banner is the one song that unites all Americans,” Senator Bayh said. “But many of us don’t know the words to the song, or it’s meaning. Too often we are divided as a nation, but we come together when we sing the national anthem. When we rise to sing the Star-Spangled Banner at sporting events, we rise as Americans in celebration of our shared heritage and united in the face of our differences.”

A 2005 Harris Poll indicated that about two-thirds of Americans do not know all the words of the first stanza of our national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner." Other polls have indicated that many Americans do not know the name of the national anthem, why it was written, or the author - Francis Scott Key. The Harris Poll found that a majority of those who do know these facts received five years or more of music education.

The resolution seeks to reverse these trends by encouraging all Americans to learn the Star-Spangled Banner and its rich history. It also acknowledges the important role that music educators have played as the principal stewards of the national anthem.

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