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We got it! And you know, it wasn't easy. Here's what we did: Titles make terrific clues when you're searching for something online; they're so specific. In this case, we plugged "Hail to the Chief" into Alta Vista. On the first screen of results, half-way down the page, we found a link to a Modern Presidency Theme Activity: Hail to the Chief. We'd stumbled upon an online musical activity for young students, provided by the folks at Discovery Channel School. The lesson exposes kids to the wonderful varieties of American music and includes four RealAudio versions of "Hail" -- in jazz, samba, baroque, and march styles. Great sounds, but alas, no
sheet music. We learned at the Discovery Channel site that the words to the song were adapted in 1812 by one "James Sanderson" -- and that he nabbed them from Sir Walter Scott's famous poem, "Lady of the Lake." When we remembered that we were looking for music not lyrics, we decided to change strategy. We tried the White House, which, like most U.S. government web sites, contains vast amounts of information. A search on "Hail to the Chief" yielded three results. At the first, we learned that the President has his own band that plays the song (and others!) for him: the United States Marine Band (aka "The President's Own"). Still, no music. So we searched on "The President's Own" and found a link to a Marine Band Exhibit: The President's Own, courtesy of the White House Historical Association. Right there, in the middle of the page, was an icon, and it read "Hail to the Chief." So we clicked on it. More sound clips, a brief informative piece about the tune, but still -- no music. We were at a loss as to what to do. We sat staring at the web page, considering our next move. Near the top of the screen, all the way to the left, we saw a small graphical image representing the corner of a musical score. Know what we found when we clicked on that image? Follow this link and click on the icon to see for
yourself...
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