Fieldnotes excerpt

I observed a rehearsal for Brown University Gilbert and Sullivan on 10/8/12 from 9:30-11:10. All names are changed for privacy.

9:25 -- I arrive 5 minutes early. I am a little put off by how empty the building is. Where is everyone? Am I in the wrong place, or are the directors so disorganized that they don't even show up on time?

9:30 -- Emma, the music director [who I know previously from music classes and work and with whom I previously corresponded], arrives. She is on the phone talking to the director (?) and seems as confused as I do. Apparently rehearsal starts at 10...

9:35 -- Emma I and sita chat waiting for rehearsal to start. She mentions that the singers are going to start rehearsing with the pit soon, something she is pleased about. Apparently in the past, singers didn't rehearse with the pit until tech week. Is there a big divide between cast members and pit members? Do the two groups get to know each other/make friends by the time of the show?

I mention some of my own experience as a singer in musicals not getting enough time to rehearse, particularly egregious when I was in Sweeney Todd. Emma is excited that I was in Sweeney and starts talking to me about Sondheim's music, which she seems to know well. What is here theater experience outside of BUGS?

Emma also mentions offhand that they like to rehearse the leads separately from the chorus because the chorus members are usually slower to learn music and don't all read staff notation. Is there a major divide in skill level between members?

9:45 -- Two men arrive. One is middle aged, does not appear to be a current Brown student. He expresses dismay that rehearsals are so late at night recently, especially in light of the fact that he is working. What is his history with BUGS?

Emma introduces me, they introduce themselves as Kurt and Dave, after which Emma adds that Kurt, the older one, is "our duke." Kurt seems amused at my ethnography, and starts talking about BUGS, apparently trying to help out with my project. He explains that it is unusual that there is a director and an assistant director, as well as a music director and assistant music director (Emma corrects, "co-music director"), ironic in light of the fact they are short-casted.

9:50 -- We get into the rehearsal room. It has a big mirror along the long wall like a dance studio and no chairs or piano. It strikes me as rather a bad location.

9:57 -- Emma starts playing the keyboard and Kurt and Dave sing along informally.

10:00 -- Rehearsal starts. Only three singers are rehearsing, but all four directors are present. I start to see Kurt's point from before.

One of the warmups that Emma leads is just rhythmic. The singers say "ta" on the beats and she conducts them, speeding up, slowing down, and giving them expressive cues. She clearly has a musical vision that she intends to communicate to her musicians with her conducting.

10:10 -- They do a harmonic warmup singing a simple chord progression. Dave is having a lot of trouble holding his part. Emma halts the exercise to teach Dave his part alone. Aaron, the other music director, interrupts and starts explaining triadic harmony to Dave, which seems to be confusing him more than anything. Dave keeps trying to sing the part, but always stops himself and apologizes.

Kurt is quite a strong singer, and appears to be more "in character" than the other cast members at rehearsal.

10:15 -- The start rehearsing a trio. Dave continues to have trouble holding his part. Aaron sings with Dave to give him more confidence. Emma sometimes corrects Dave's intonation even when he sings the right contour. Aaron seems more concerned with Dave singing the right notes, poorly tuned or not, and gives him more encouragement than Emma, saying after Emma's criticism "but the notes were all right." Is there a little tension or power struggle? Emma certainly is taking the lead, and Aaron is struggling a little to get his voice heard. Is Emma more senior, a more experienced musician? Or do they have a good cop/bad cop thing going?

10:22 -- A loud band is rehearsing in a nearby room, and the door to the BUGS rehearsal room is open. Emma jokingly mentions something she calls the "shock therapy group" that was rehearsing last time. Annie (one of the directors) is confused and Emma explains that there were people wailing in another room at a previous rehearsal and she gave them that name.

10:35 -- Emma makes a mistake while giving Dave some more one-on-one help. She jokes, "I need to loop [i.e. sing over and over] this myself!" trying to relieve the awkwardness of Dave's relatively slow learning.

10:37 -- Emma tries to help Dave by suggesting that he think of the note C for the whole passage to help ground himself in the key. She then refers to the passage as "one big Shenkerian C," which I laugh. Clearly a joke not meant for Dave, so I wonder why she mentioned it.

10:40 -- I notice that the directors have hardly said anything and are just on their laptops. What is the point of their presence at music rehearsals?

10:45 -- Kurt gives Dave advice every once in a while, now about holding a single pitch. Is he some kind of de facto authority or paternal figure?

11 -- Dave gets frustrated, and Aaron takes the lead for the first time and proposes an exercise. Everyone must tell an embarrassing secret in order to feel more comfortable and not be embarrassed or feel vulnerable while singing in rehearsal. He turns to me and tells me that I need to also, and I very enthusiastically accept.

Aaron starts with a very intense and personal secret, and everyone is a little put off. No one quite knows how to follow him. The rest of the secrets are much lighter. It's a bit tense. I'm not convinced the exercise is helpful. Why did Aaron do this? Was he trying to assert his authority a little?