For the last couple of days all I have heard on the news and from friends is that Beyonce lip sync'd the national anthem. My response has been "so what". It is not that I don't care about the story, it is because most folks don't understand what a performance threshold is for an artist. People think that good vocalist should get on stage and sing no matter what the weather conditions are, the acoustics of the venue are, or what type of equipment used. It is just not that way in real life, as just like any instrument, you ability to sing your best depends on many things.

Sometimes you have to lip sync, and it does not mean you can't sing live(for some that is the case). I personally do not do my best singing outside when it is cold or windy. For other singers this may not be a problem. I also don't like excessively dry air either. I know some singers that don't like to sing in the morning, but that is no problem for me. I know professional singers that don't talk during performance day. If I did that, I would not sing my best. Every singer is different no matter how talented(or non talent) they are.

Ladies and gentlemen the Star Spangled Banner is one of the hardest songs in the world for a vocalist to sing. I have performed it a dozen times in my life. It stretches one and a half octaves from the lowest to highest notes. Most pop singers barely do a half octave. Most folks who have sung it should not have tried in the first place. Beyonce is not one of those singers. She can kill this song. Her reasoning for not going live would not have bothered me, I have stepped into situations with little or no rehearsal and have done fine as long as I knew the material well. She had no rehearsal time with the Band, and she didn't feel comfortable singing without some rehearsal. I understand this completely. So she went into the studio and pre-recorded the song like most vocal artist at events like this. You never know what can happen the day of the event, and it is always good to have some sort of backup just in case.

Here are reasons that I would lip sync if I were a pop singer.

1. If I have a lot of choreography in my performance. It is VERY difficult to do a lot of dancing and sing your best at the same time. Combining the right breathing for dancing and for singing is completely different.

2. If I had to sing a wide range song on a cold or windy day. I have lost my voice during these conditions so many times, that I would be smart enough to have a backup just in case.

3. When the acoustics are really bad that it creates a long delay between musicians and singer. Or if there was a lot of reverberation in the venue, like a basketball court.

4. If I could not sing live very well, which is the case for many pop singers these days.

I have to remind people that your voice is an instrument. A just like any instrument, the elements can have a profound effect on how it sounds. Yo Yo Ma pre-recorded his song during Obama first swearing in 2009. The cold made his hands numb, and his Cello would not stay in tune in 20 degree weather. Aretha Franklin sang live after sitting outside for an hour in those same conditions, and she sounded like garbage when she opened her mouth. She stated she should have lip sync'd it instead. I marched Drum corps when I was young, and I used to hear brass complain about tuning issues when the temperature got very hot or cold. Worf can correct me on this, but when the strings of a guitar and piano are subjected to cold weather, the strings contract making the instrument sharp. When it is hot, the strings expand making the instrument flat. The same can happen when the vocal cords are introduced to cold weather.

There are some pop stars that should never sing the national anthem in life again. Christina Aguilera, Anita Baker, Carl Lewis, Cuba Gooding, Keyshia Cole, and Miley Cyrus come to mind as some of the worst performances of the song.

What do other feel about this flap? Or maybe you just don't care. LOL