Odd assortment of accompaniment--2 acoustic guitars, 1 electric guitar, 1 piano, 2 clarinets. This suggests that the group is formed of whomever is interested, rather than with the ideal of acoustic excellence. In music, more is only sometimes better, but I am guessing that in the church world, more is always better. This leads me to believe that the group considers itself a church group first and a music group second.
Interesting guitar techniques--despite the untraditional inclusion of the electric guitar, most educated classical musicians are aware both of the historical relevance of the harpsichord in church music as well as the relatively simple technique of using an acoustic guitar to imitate the harpsichord's distinctive plucking sound. These guitars, however, were not making this attempt, rather than plucking the chords, they were vigorously strumming them on a consistently elaborated downbeat. This either suggests ignorance of the classical church music tradition, or an active attempt to "modernize" the music.
The guitars would play while the singers would try to learn their parts--While any musician is experienced with the boredom that occurs while the leader is working with another group of musicians, most consider it unprofessional to occupy oneself by idly playing during this time.
The rehearsal atmosphere is very relaxed, with no clear authority figure. While there is a group leader, they seem to only have authority over the musicality of the group, rather than social authority as well (such as the ability of a respected conductor to instantly silence a noisy orchestra)
The singers blend well. This suggests to me that they most likely sang in a high school choir, if they do not at Brown.
The singers are pleasantly surprised when they end on the proper pitch. This suggests a lack of rigorous ear training, such as is found in most college theory courses or choirs.
The rehearsal consisted purely of teaching music, there was no refinement of technique, or group shaping done by the leader. The leader acted more as a teacher than the leader of a musical vision.
The clarinets are not always doubling the soprano, they sometimes play independent lines or harmonies. This suggested (which I later confirmed) that there is music specifically written for clarinet. Because a clarinet is not a traditional church choir accompanying instrument, this in turn suggests that the books were written with a very diverse group of instruments in mind, designed specifically for a rotating series of instrumentalists designated by availability and interest, rather than an aural standard.
evaluation
I have noticed in my notes that most of what I focus on is the musicality of the group, and much of what I write is somewhat critical. I believe this is because of my bias as a music major and someone who is experienced with opera. While I would like to be honest in what I write, I think that the biggest thing that makes this group special is not excellence in musicality, but rather the reasons they come together to play. While I suspected this from the beginning, I did not suspect how much my personal experience with music would influence the things I notice and record about this group. I would like to focus on more than their music in the future, and hopefully this will allow my research to be much more positive in nature.
5 comments:
As a participant in the Manning Chapel Choir (violin), I feel like you touch on some very compelling ideas, one being the fact that electric guitars and the acoustic strumming technique suggest a movement towards a more contemporary church setting. This seems to be a perfect example of "invention of tradition" in progress. Whether or not the church community adopts this tradition remains to be seen. At what point though is an equilibrium reached and more and more traditional aspects begin to seep back into the music (i.e. song choice, song style, performance style)?
I also observed a prioritization of inclusion and creation of community over musical aesthetics in the Christian a-cappella group I am studying. You noted that the leader was more a teacher than someone who had a musical vision. Perhaps this is because the musical vision is already prescribed by the religious leader or the tenets of Christianity. (does the choir have a denomination?)
I also noticed that you hypothesized frequently; these guesses may be fruitful questions for when you do interviewing. I also felt that the evaluation of your notes was perceptive and valuable for changing how you might approach further fieldwork sessions.
it is interesting to see an set of notes on a musical group where the priority is not necessarily musical performance. It brings up the fact that in an ethnomusicology study, music is only the basis for the research, and a true understanding demands consideration in other areas. This is true especially for a religious group, where there is likely a greater purpose in mind. I am interested to see how your views of this group will change over the course of your study.
Your observation that the group is focused on the music itself, and not so much its presentation was interesting to me. It is tough to notice this in certain groups - and after reading your notes, I discovered that the group I'm studying focuses less so much on individual performance, and more on the group. This is different from a genre like opera, which gives much value to the fach of the singers, and less to how 'tight' the performers are.
Despite not being overtly focused on "affective experience," these notes have a very personal tone; even without reading the meta-note at the end, most people would probably be able to surmise that you have classical music training (and that your classical music experience might greatly exceed your experience with Christian worship ensembles, since your observations almost exclusively draw on values associated with the former cultural setting). There's nothing wrong with this -- it's just further proof of the inherent subjectivity of fieldnotes. Your reflection on your notes is a great addition. (About the guitars, by the way: to me, the chord-strumming approach you describe might indicate a continuity with piano- or organ-accompanied American congregational singing rather than a discontinuity with a harpsichord tradition. Or there might be a stylistic connection with guitar-backed participatory folk-singing, some of which made its way into various American worship settings starting in the 1960s and '70s.)
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