Brian Gravelle fieldwork Visions of Light Rehearsal

Brian Gravelle fieldwork Notes 9/30/06
2:00-3:30 PM

I left the South Plains Fair after my impromptu fieldwork and set out to go to my original destination…..the Soap Suds room in the UC (SUB for those who don’t know UC).
I debated on taking my camera or video camera, but since it was my first time in this setting, I opted for notes only.
I arrived at about 1:55 and frantically fast walked myself to the room. I met my friend Randon who sings in the group and he showed me where the rehearsal was. I walked up the stairs and walked into the room and sat down in one of the back rows of chairs. I sat and waited.
I felt very out of place because a) I was a giant white kid in a room full of black people, and b)everyone else knew I was this giant white kid in this room. I didn’t see much eye contact made with me, but then a girl in front of me turned around and greeted me, which made me feel more at ease.
There was also a piano to my right as I walked into the room. I surveyed the room and saw that in a group of about 15 people; only 3 of these people were guys. One of the girls was white, but the rest of them were black. The girl who greeted me then got up and started the rehearsal off with some discussion of different bible verses. She went on to say that the singers need to realize the purpose of the music is for praise and to praise God’s name. A male then walked in with a boombox and told everyone to come to the front two rows.
I was still hesitant about what they would think of me being there, so I moved to the third row behind the tenors.
The singers were divided up into Soprano, Tenor, and Alto, sitting in that order. There were no basses. Another man wearing a purple silk shirt and nice shoes asked the choir who was singing tomorrow. Four girls raised their hands and they proceeded to rehearse a song called Giants. They went over the lyrics and then the director started the cd. There was a tiny bit of conducting done by the man, but not much.
What was very interesting was that he knew the part. He knew every single part and if he could tell the section was off, he would immediately start singing their part, in that octave. He had a very commanding presence and a loud singing voice.
He rehearsed that one song and then left. Like the novice I am, I did not get his name. The other director then started rehearsing more songs. They then rehearsed a song called Grateful. They stood to rehearse the song. C. went over the lyrics before they started the music. There were also two dancers that danced behind the singers when the song was being rehearsed. All of this rehearsal was done with no written music. It was only done with a cd. I believe there was a cd with words and a cd with just accompaniment. C. then talked about next weeks rehearsal and how they might not have it because of the homecoming game. They then started rehearsing another song.
Throughout this rehearsal, I tried to sing the tenor part with the rest of the tenors. Some of the people looked back to see who was doing it, but I still kept trying. It was hard to discern the tenor part because I didn’t know the melody or the harmony. C then looked at me to see if I wanted to sing too, and one of the girls said, “Yeah, come on, you have been doin’ it back there, sing with us.” I sighed a breath of relief and moved into the second row behind my friend Randon.
We rehearsed some more songs and then C. said that we could get out early because we were getting out early. After rehearsal I introduced myself to him and he was very eager to help me in any way possible. He gave me his number and told me to get in touch with him so we could have a meeting over what I might need. I thanked him and then left at 3:20.

Brian Gravelle fieldwork notes 9/31/06

Brian Gravelle fieldwork notes 9/31/06
I went to the South Plains Fair for reasons other than fieldwork, but sometimes these things just magically happen. It was approximately 1:30 PM as I was leaving the Fair to go to a gospel choir rehearsal. I was running late and was frantically trying to persuade my girlfriend to stop looking at things so we could go. I walked away from the food venues and past a coliseum that housed all the winning items in the fair. As I was walking I heard music being sung and turned to see where it was coming from. To my surprise, I saw people singing gospel music. They were standing under four tents and were singing into microphones.
The sign next to them said Lubbock Are Baptist Association. There were four amps in front of them and a sound board behind them. One man was singing and six women were singing. The women were divided up into alto and soprano. Two altos were on one mic and four sopranos were on another. The man had a mic to himself and was singing the melodies to the songs. People would walk by and glance in their general direction, and then there were people who were sitting out of the sun, watching them perform. The crowd was predominantly Hispanic, but there were Caucasian and African Americans as well. One black woman would raise her hand and give them praise as they sang. I was just overjoyed that some gospel music fell into my lap.
One gentleman was standing in front of them handing out pamphlets. I approached him and asked him who these people were that were singing. He said to me that these were choir members of the Good Shepherd Family Worship Center. I explained to him that I was doing a research project over African American music in a sacred setting and asked him, “Can I attend a service of a rehearsal?” His words were, “CAN you? Of course you can.” I felt relieved because finally I had my foot in one of the doors. He gave me a pamphlet and told me that they would be done in a minute and that the gentleman singing was the music director at the church. I thanked C. and waited until they were done to approach him. I told him I enjoyed the singing and told him what I was doing. He was very eager to help me. He told me that I could attend a rehearsal any time. What I thought was interesting is that the people sang from recorded instrumental and piano music. I then left the fair at 1:45.

fantastic!

Fantastic new stuff from various teams: prose, photos, research design, analysis tools, web-presentations. Very well done all!

Ballet Folklorico Photos

The link below sends you to an album that is holding several photos that have been taken at the field work events when Rob and I attended The Mexican Indepence Day Festival Weekend back in mid-September. If you look, you will see how diverse and how crazy some of these costumes and dances get. After looking through these photos and the videos, naturally questions and ideas took off.

If you had no idea what Ballet Folklorico dancing is, just like I didn't and you want more of an idea what we are talking about, feel free to click below. enJOY

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/carmencarga/album?.dir=/4f08scd&.src=ph&.tok=phF69mFBR6NOStLv