Fieldwork Notes 5

A performance!

10/22, J. Walter Wilson lobby, 3:00 (that's the agreed-upon starting time. But they actually don't start until around 3:30). They are in the little nook across from University Mail Services (by the main entrance facing Waterman St.)

Dress is casual for all. I think they just wore whatever they were wearing that day for class.
The performance is a "surprise" for most people. It has not been announced.

Before the performance starts, I ask Sarah where I should sit so I "don't look creepy." I wonder how other bystanders/passerby feel about me, as I attempt to hide in a corner.

No announcing of music to be played. Brian is not there--no non-playing conductor.

One of Sarah's friends walks by, they say hi and Sarah asks him if he wants to hear the saxtet play. He asks why they're playing; she replies, "'Cuz the saxtet just wants to play before the first Wind Symphony concert" (their first "official" performance).

Marc is telling Sarah the order of songs that they will play--Scriabin first, then a Fugue, a Scherzo, and a Fugue from Marc's collection.
Micah (to me and Mike): "I hope we don't hit the resonant frequency of these bricks…The corporation will definitely kick us out of Brown if that happens." We laugh.

In general, there are interested looks from passerby, but no one stops to listen.

They retune after the first song.
A mail worker comes out to watch. The two workers behind the University Mail counter are talking and glancing over with smiles. Also [2 students--names deleted], friends of saxtet members (and me). Two construction workers pause as they exit the building.

No one claps after they finish playing.
They're trying to figure out who starts the next song: "Who starts?" "You start."

Two observers now, one reading his mail. They leave together in the middle of the song.

There is the sound of a hammer from the construction workers outside. It doesn’t distract the group, which surprises me because its "beat" is slower than the tempo for the Fugue and sometimes irregular.

The behavior is mostly similar from rehearsal behavior.
I can't see their faces. I'm sitting behind and to the left of them so I don't intrude. They are in an arc facing University Mail Services. From left to right (facing the group), it is Mike, Sarah, Micah, and Marc.

Then, they play the Scherzo. An older man comes in to watch. He's standing in front of them. When they finish playing, he asks how many Selmers (sax brand) are "over there." It's just the (Brown-owned) soprano. He says, "great" and leaves. We (collectively) wonder who he is after the performance is over.

I wonder how my presence is affecting them, because usually audience members are not behind performers.

There is applause after the Scherzo, mostly from the mail workers (no students watching). The group re-tunes again. They talk about how someone famous (didn't catch the name) played the same concert in a subway station that he did at Carnegie Hall the night before. Time-lapse photography showed that only a few people stopped to watch, though a couple did for significant periods of time.

They now start "Fugue 7." Micah is moving more than he did during reherasal. Sarah cuts them off on this piece; there is no applause.

They wonder if they should play anything else, but the group consensus is that nothing is ready, though Marc seems to want to "read" something. They decide to migrate to Faunce by the Blue Room. There is a meeting in the Peterruti Lounge at 4, and the group wants to "catch" people as they walk in.

The group packs up, and a construction worker jokes about the group leaving as they come in. The boys go to check their mail (Sarah did before the performance). On the way to the Blue Room (I'm carrying a soprano sax, it's case, and a sax stand), Mike jokes that I'm a roadie, and Sarah jokes that I'm doing participant observation.

When we get to the Blue Room, I tell the group I'm leaving because I have an advising meeting at 4, and I start to leave, but then I realize that my meeting is in University Hall, so I "sneak" back into the Blue Room to observe the "audience." I can't see the group from where I am sitting.
They tune, and almost no one reacts--one person goes to look, and mimes closing the door to the people she was sitting with. Then she closes the door. [I drew a sad face in my notes here] Soon, Sarah opens it.

They start off with the Scriabin again. That group (I think they were studying) moves closer to the windows facing the Main Green. Someone from the group (different person as before) gets up to look and see who's playing, says, "I can't close it." A different girl throws out her trash by the doorway where the group is, looks at the group curiously, and leaves.

There is silence (for a significant moment), then they play the Bach. A Blue Room worker dances for a couple seconds. The cashier steps around the door and looks at the group for a while. The studying group is moving again (I heard someone say "library"). I wonder how the saxtet's music is "worse" than the babble of voices.

Another Blue Room worker goes to investigate, then goes back to work, half-dancing and half-walking.

Again, there are no announcements for what the piece is playing, or the group name.

They start the Scherzo. A table of 3 kids tries to get everyone to start clapping on the beat, but they stop after only 3-4 claps and no one else joins in.

And I'm off to my meeting...