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State Tune Is About To Sing Its Swan Song

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By GRETCHEN PARKER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 9, 2007

Florida's "American Idol"-style search for a new state song is a step closer to anointing a winner, now that judges have culled three finalists from 243 entries.

The top three are unknown even to the six judges, who scored each song individually. The songs will be revealed Tuesday at a news conference in the state Capitol. That will mark the beginning of Internet voting to determine the winner, which will be considered by the state Legislature next year.

"We have put a lot of thought into it. We hope it will pass everyone's muster," said James Perry, executive director of the Florida Music Educators' Association, which organized the Just Sing, Florida! contest.

Starting Tuesday, voters can listen to the finalists and cast their ballots via www.justsing florida.org. Voting closes Jan. 11; the winner will be announced that day.

The judges sat around a hotel room conference table in Ocala in October and listened to each of the 243 original tunes that were submitted.

"You name it, we got it," said judge Andre Thomas, a music professor who directs choral activities at Florida State University. "We got it in country style, reggae style, blues style, jazz style. We even got it in easy listening style."

Some, he said, were very good.

"There is an honesty, and I think some very great music can come from not necessarily the most trained or sophisticated musicians," Thomas said.

Some were not as good.

"It's kind of like when you listen to the early rounds of 'American Idol'," Perry said.

"You're getting everything. There's nothing that qualifies you to enter this. Anyone who wanted to enter could."

Many of the entries fit into a category that Thomas described as more "jingle" than state song material.

"Some seemed quite appropriate for a tourism board, to promote Florida, versus what the purpose of this would be - to have a state song to be sung at all state occasions," Thomas said.

As judges listened to each original tune, they kept in mind how that song would fit in when played at somber state ceremonies after the national anthem. They steered away from the songs that focused just on "having a good time on the beach," Thomas said.

Judges were impressed by the range of ages of the composers. They heard voices of children and voices of seniors.

After a day of listening to submissions, each judge loaded a box with a CD of each song and took them home to listen again. They gave each song a score of 1 to 6 and filed their spreadsheets with organizers. Because there were so many entries, Perry pulled out the top 20 songs and asked judges to score them again.

The second round of scoring determined the top three.

Along with Thomas, other judges were George Farmer, who teaches music to autistic students at Caminiti Exceptional Learning Center in Tampa; Billy Chapin, a musician and songwriter who owns Chapin Music Group; Margaret Griffin, the elementary fine arts supervisor for Hillsborough County Public Schools; Deborah Fahmie, the music teacher at Cypress Elementary School in Osceola County; and Michael Allen, professor of music education at FSU.

Sen. Anthony Hill, D-Jacksonville, is leading the effort to retire Florida's current state song, widely known as "Swanee River." Some decry the 1850s-era song as racist because of its ode to plantation life.

His goal is to find a song that can be used at state ceremonies; Gov. Charlie Crist and former Gov. Jeb Bush both nixed "Swanee River" from their inaugurations because of its racial undertones.

Rep. Ed Homan, R-Tampa, has said he'll file a companion bill in the House nominating a new song.

Reporter Gretchen Parker can be reached at gparker@tampa

trib.com or (813) 259-7562.

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