This short excerpt is the beginning an interview (about the first 7 minutes of a 25 minute interview) I had with "Angie" a member of the a cappella community at Brown. I hope that soon I will be able to post the entire interview.
Brady: So Angie, what group are you in
Angie: Ursa Minors
B: And could describe them for me? Like the style, the make up…
A: Um, we describe ourselves as the sassiest all-girls group on campus and we sing, like, pop and bouncy songs.
[laughing]
A: I think that’s the best way to describe us
B: Let’s see, I’m just going to ask you a little bit about the community hear at Brown. So you’re a transfer, correct?
A: Mmm hmm
B: And you transferred from Columbia?
A: No, NYU.
B: Oh! I thought you went to Columbia…
A: I went to high school, Columbia prep.
B: Ohhhh…Okay
So did you do any a cappella at NYU?
A: Ummm…. No
B: No?
A: No. But in high school I did.
B: You did?
A: Mmm hmm
B: Was it, like, co-ed or all-girl…?
A: Um, I did all girl a cappella and also was in the chorus
B: Do you think Brown a cappella is special or different?
A: Yeah!
B: How so?
A: It’s , like, really intense. And it’s just really important to the Brown community, like, moreso than other schools. And hyperactive, I would say - a hyper active community.
B: So there are A LOT of groups on campus, 15 I think…
A: Really?
B: Yeah, right?
A: Not in the… galactic….
B: Intergalactic? [to be explained later]
How often do you interact with the other groups?
A: Whenever we sing concerts because we sometimes group up with someone, another group, I mean
B: Okay. So it’s only during concerts… usually?
A: Yeah, we don’t, like, rehearse together.
B: Do you ever hang out?
A: With another group?
B: Yeah.
A: Not really. There’s kind of… tension sometimes.
B: Why?
A: Well at least between other girl groups. Um, I guess it’s very competitive and so it’s kind of catty. But we’ve been trying to eliminate that.
B: How’s that been going?
A: Well…….. not bad
[laughing]
A: Very superficially
B: The other girl groups, how would you describe them?
A: Um… the Chattertocks are, like, these really chill hipster who sing, like, slow songs; my group’s obviously the best; and the Brownstones are a bunch of belters who sing a lot of pop, I guess. Yeah, the Tocks are really hipster-y, and my group is really cool.
[laughter]
B: Is there a difference between all-girl, all-guy, and co-ed?
A: Yeah, I would have to say so.
B: Like what?
A: You’re like, “elaborate on that.” Well, I think guys are, like, physically made for a cappella; their voices are more resonant and girls don’t sound as good. The guys are obviously able to put… they have a more mature setting already for, like, singing and so they sing a lot more on campus and are less prone to competition. It’s like more legit. And co-ed groups… I don’t really know much about co-ed groups. But, they seem nice.
[laughter]
A: Except for Harmo [Harmonic Motion]. Harmo’s weird. HARMO’S WEIRD.
[laughter]
B: So you were talking about how men’s voices are better suited for a cappella… Are there any gender limitations on what you can arrange?
A: Yeah, definitely. We, like, have to arrange songs that aren’t too low, obviously, like, we can’t do a bass part. Um… so the harmony isn’t as rounded, it’s not as full-sounding. And then like, I’d say with girls, it’s definitely more limited. The repertoire that’s going to sound good with girls a cappella is not as wide as in male a cappella.
B: So, you said you sing pop… that your group is more “poppy”
A: yeah, oldies too. It’s definitely pretty eclectic, I’d say. It’s, like, fun-lovin’ music. That’s how I would describe it. FUN-LOVIN’ MUSIC WOO HOO!
[Laughter]
B: Did you choose the Ursas based on their repertoire?
A: Well yeah, kind of… I mean…I thought that they just had the best CD. Like, after auditions I got called back for the Tocks and the Ursas and Harmo, but Harmo was never an option for me. I wanted all-girls. I listened to both CDs, and the Ursas’ CD was just, I thought, a lot cooler. It was just like I “vibed” with it more than the Chattertocks’. And um… it was partially group dynamics. I really got along well with the Ursas, not so much Tocks.
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This interview has so many interesting little moments. The idea that each group has a distinct social personality (the Chattertocks are "hipster") is an interesting self-fulfulling characteristic of a capella as "Angie" describes it. There are so many different reasons why an individual would choose to join one group over another, and just in this brief excerpt, the interviewee seems to touch on a bunch of them: the personality, the gender makeup, the songs themselves... Does "Angie" get more into the why behind why she wanted to be in an all-girls group? She seems to characterize all-girl groups as very limited as far as vocal range goes, so I'd love to know her reasoning for why her initial criteria involved an all girl group.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting look at one inside perspective of Brown a cappella. I would've liked to hear more about her group specifically. Like about the rehearsals, her group dynamics, traveling and performing, just to get a detailed image of how one group is. she talked about how each group has its own style. It would be interesting to see if each groups audience had its own style too.
ReplyDeleteGood job with this interview!
Hey Brady. You did a really spectacular job expressing the tone of the conversation with your writing. I really got a sense of the connotations with which Angie was saying certain things; props for that. Also, I thought it was really interesting that she talked about "tension" between different female a cappella groups at Brown. I wonder if your research could tell you more about how these tensions arose. Hope the rest of your project goes well.
ReplyDelete