Every four years , the United States of America continues the Great Experiment and inaugurates a chairman . euphony play an crucial part in the affair and festivities . To that end , here are some of the song you ’ll hear on Inauguration Day and other State Department ceremonies .
1. “Ruffles and Flourishes”
You ’ll recognize “ Ruffles and Flourishes ” as the fanfare performed at once before “ Hail to the Chief . ” The drum play the ruffles ; the bugleweed play the flourishes . The fanfare was chosen to precede the presidential hymn while William McKinley was in agency . There ’s a pecking order of grandness to how many repetition of fray and flourish are played at an event . The president always gets four . ambassador come back from afield on unofficial commercial enterprise get three , as do lieutenant general . Major generals get two , and brigadier generals get one humble disturbance and brandish . ( Consuls general get none , making them the ninja of the State Department . )
2 & 3. “The Stars and Stripes Forever” and “Hands Across the Sea”
During formal ceremonies at which civilian officials of the Department of Defense are present , the band play ruffles and flourish follow by the final 32 bars of “ The Stars and Stripes Forever . ”
If equivalent defense officials from strange governments are present , the band trifle “ Hands Across the Sea . ” John Philip Sousa composed both songs .
4. “Yankee Doodle”
When strange leaders are welcomed to the White House , the military and State Department hold a State Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn . The president is first welcome with ruffle and flourish and “ Hail to the foreman , ” and upon arrival of the foreign dignitary , flounce and flourishes are played , followed by the appropriate national anthem , followed by “ The Star Spangled Banner . ” Heads of land ( e.g. the Queen ) meet a 21 - hitman salute by the 3rd Infantry Regiment ; heads of government ( for example the prime minister ) get a 19 - gun salutation .
The only meter “ Yankee Doodle ” is not do is when the visiting panjandrum is from England . Before the Revolutionary War , British military ship’s officer would sing “ Yankee Doodle ” to mock compound soldiers . ( “ scribble ” derives from the German dodel , or “ fall guy . ” ) After the war , the song was n’t so funny anymore . There ’s really no indigence to rub affair in by playing it for the Queen .
5. “Hail, Columbia”
When the vice United States President is verify in , he will receive four ruffle and flourishes followed by his office ’s official song , “ Hail , Columbia . ” The strain has a celebrated history , and its public presentation at inaugurations precedes “ The Star Spangled Banner ” by more than a century . It was compose for George Washington ’s first swearing - in , and was in the beginning entitle “ The President ’s March . ” During the 19th century , “ Hail , Columbia ” was the de facto internal anthem , giving direction to “ The Star Spangled Banner ” in 1931 .
The chorus to “ Hail , Columbia ” begins :
6. “The Star Spangled Banner”
“ The Star Spangled Banner ” was adopt by Congress as the national anthem in 1931 , and sign into police force by Herbert Hoover . Like “ Hail to the Chief , ” the song set about out as a poem — this one famously written by Francis Scott Key , who was inspired stick with the Battle of Ft . McHenry during the War of 1812 . ( The name of the poem was , appropriately , The Defense of Ft . McHenry . ) The “ rocket ’ red glare ” was provided by British ships bombarding the fort , which withstood an attack of Congreve Eruca sativa and somewhere around 1800 cannonball .
Key set his lyric to the official song of the Anacreontic Society , which was an 18th - century musician ’ club in Britain .
7. “Hail to the Chief”
The presidential anthem “ Hail to the Chief ” was root on by the poem The Lady of the Lake , by Sir Walter Scott , with its deed taken from the second canto :
