I plan to attend their Friday afternoon rehearsals, as well as any arrrch sings and other performances that come up during the semester, and hope to meet their new members and see their progression into part of the group. I will conduct interviews with at least one alum, current member, and new member, and compare their experiences as part of Arrr at Brown and beyond the Brown community.
Some questions I would like to answer:
- How did Arrr originate? Who founded it and what were the early years like?
- How has the culture and makeup of the group changed over time?
- What is the typical makeup of the group?
- What percentage of participants have formal musical training?
- Do Arrr members also perform in other groups at Brown?
- How is the group perceived by members of other a cappella groups?
- How does the selection of officers occur?
- Where do Arrr nicknames originate and who selects them?
- How is music selected and arranged? Who does this?
- Do many Arrr members stay involved with the group post-graduation?
Ana,
ReplyDeleteYou have landed on a very interesting fieldwork topic. It is great that you are able to go to Arrr's rehearsals weekly - this helps to establish a more comfortable relationship with the current singers, which helps along the learning process and exchange of information immensely. Would it perhaps be even possible for you to sing along in the rehearsals?
Your questions are excellent. Since they are mostly oriented in finding out about specific facts or conditions connected to Arrr in the past and currently and should be relatively easy to answer (although what at the moment seems easy could turn into the most difficult thing to pursue), I would recommend forming an umbrella question that includes all of your questions.
To end with some questions: To me, it seems that you are most interested in Arrr's structural aspects throughout their history, is that right? Furthermore, are you interested in how people from Arrr represent these aspects themselves and how their representations vary or are you interested in how "outsiders" see this group of people?
Looking forward to learning more about Arrr through your work!