TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

State Song Contest Gets Flood Of Entries

ADVERTISEMENT

By GRETCHEN PARKER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 3, 2007

Special Report: The State Song

TAMPA - Florida, it turns out, must be a powerful muse.

Two days after the postmark deadline for the state song contest, 185 songs have piled into the offices of the Florida Music Educators' Association. The size of the trove exceeded expectations of organizers, who thought they might end up with about 100 nominations.

"Gee whiz. Wow! Wow. That's exciting," said Sen. Anthony Hill, D-Jacksonville, who is leading the effort to find a new Florida state song. "Apparently some people want some change. That's what it sounds like to me."

Organizers of Just Sing, Florida! are sifting through the submissions and making sure they're complete, said James Perry, executive director of the Music Educators' Association. A panel of seven music teachers will narrow the nominations to three finalists, which it plans to announce in mid-December.

And starting Jan. 1, a Web site for the contest will post the final three songs and tally votes for each. Agile Communications Group of Tampa is designing and running the site for free.

"It really democratizes the process," said Hector Perez, project manager for Agile.

After the Web poll, which may also include text-message voting, Hill will write the winning song into a bill for next year's legislative session. He wants to retire Florida's current state song, known as "Swanee River," because of its negative racial undertones.

A couple of songwriters who submitted their work said they weren't surprised by the outpouring the contest generated.

"Once they called it an 'American Idol' contest, everyone wanted to be a star," said Stephen Ulrey, who recorded his chorus students at Temple Terrace Elementary School singing his version of the "Orange Blossom Song" and submitted it.

Songwriters in the running are from all over the state and range in age from 8 to 86.

Don Roberts, a 77-year-old Miami native who retired in Sarasota, penned an entry titled "Florida's My Home." He sings of mockingbirds, dolphins and Ponce de Leon. It pays tribute to evenings on the beach, "where the sun sleeps in the sea."

Roberts got his musical training performing with his family on evening excursion cruises out of Miami during the Depression. The Roberts Family Orchestra, with seven children and his mother on accordion, earned a few extra dollars before his brothers went away to fight in World War II.

Roberts was inspired by the contest, he said, and he's surprised organizers didn't receive even more nominations.

Everyone, he said, "likes to see their talents appreciated."

For information on the contest, go to www.justsingflorida.org or call 1-800-301-3632.

Reporter Gretchen Parker can be reached at gparker@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7562.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT