Field work pt. 2

9/27/08

-arrive at OSBC at 11:30 for choir rehearsal. I hover outside the door of the rehearsal, and Michelle, the woman I spoke with last time, sees me and waves to me to come in
-There are seven people in the room besides me. Michelle introduces me and asks me to explain my purpose. I tell everyone I am a music student at Brown and I am doing a project on the music of the church for one of my classes. Some nod and smile and welcome me.
-I take a seat in the second row. The woman at the piano gets up and leaves the room, and the rest start discussing a surprise celebration they are having for her because she is the founder of the choir. She comes back and sits at the piano, and everyone changes the subject to the music.
-two more people enter. Michelle shouts out to them to introduce me. Besides me, there are 8 women and one man.
-we begin with prayer. a woman holds out her hand to me and we all form a circle holding hands. The pianist plays chords in a 3/4 meter along the lines of a VI (2, 3), IV (2, 3), IV (2) V, I (2,3). A woman begins to say a personalized prayer to God, and asks Him to bless the choir. During this, some people are humming, some mumble words of approval or "amen"'s.
-Michelle invites me to sing with the choir, and beckons me to sit in the front row. I agree, and a woman asks if I am an alto. I say I am, and she says she just knew it. I laugh and ask her how she could tell. She says sometimes she can just tell these things. She laughs then and says something like "we just need more altoes, some of them aren't here today." (I can't remember this woman's name and was too embarraced to ask again because everyone remembered my name, so for now I will just call her A.)
-The pianist calls out a song, and Michelle starts assuring me that it is easy and I'll catch on. A woman in the soprano section says she has music, and shuffles through her things, but the song has started and she can't find it.
-I listen through one verse and chorus, and pick it up pretty quickly. Michelle is calling out the words before each verse, for my benefit, it seems, because she is looking right at me with a sort of direction or indication in her eye.
-We sing about four more songs, all with this same process in which I listen and then join in, and Michelle is concerned that I am understanding how the part goes.
-The tenors are having trouble finding some of their notes. The pianist often asks them to step up to the piano and sing. There is one note in particular in the last song that they just cannot seem to get. The pianist has them sing it by themselves, and with the rest of the choir. She begins to get frustrated and starts banging the correct note on the paino, because every time they sing their line with the choir, they sing the wrong note. One tenor (one of two women, there is also the man) laughs and says something like "well if that is the right note that's not what we've been singin' all these years." I smile at her. The pianist ignores the comment and continues to play the transition from the note preceding the wrong note to its correction on the piano.
-between songs, A, who is on my right, makes various comments to me. Before about half of the songs, she whispers "I'm not to sure about this one" and giggles. I smile back at her and say "we're in the same boat" or something like that. Once she asks me if I am in the choir at Brown, to which I say no, I just transferred here and am still figuring things out. She later asks me if I'll sing with them two sundays from now, and I say yes not really thinking if this is a realistic possibility.
-Michelle, on my left, also talks to me between songs. She gives me little anecdotes about the choir, and seems very excited to have someone to tell these things to. One thing she tells me is that there is a sort of giant Gospel concert for multiple Gospel choirs including this one held at OSBC on Oct. 25. She tells me I am welcome to sing with the choir. I thank her, saying I would love to but meaning it in a sort of "that's a nice idea, I'll think about it" way but she stands up and asks everyone if it would be OK if I sing with them at this concert. A pipes in and says "she already agreed to!" The pianist gives a nod, but I am nervous that I am intruding and I cannot actually see the pianist (who is also the founder and choir director). I fear she nodded because she felt she had to, since I was sitting right there when she was asked.
-Before the last song, we stop for announcements. People begin discussing drapes that need to be replaced, and donations. Again, the Golden tin is braught out and people pull out donations. I awkwardly find my purse and open my wallet, only to find it is empty. I sigh and look at Michelle and appologize, and she stops me and says something like "you're singing with us, that's enough of a donation. We're just happy to have your voice." A nods in agreement, I thank them.
-We join hands in a circle for the last song. Then it turns into a prayer, in which the pianist is playing background chords similarly to the first prayer. People begin going around the circle, voicing their personal prayers. One woman is so emotional while she says her prayer that she almost breaks into tears. I start to get extremely nervous that I will be asked to do this. It gets to be my turn, and Michelle whispers and asks me if I'd like to, and I give an awkward smile and shake my head no. She pauses for a moment, and nods, and the prayer goes to the next person. I feel very uncomfortable, but nothing else was said about it. I feel that saying a prayer to "Jesus" would really be crossing a line of inappropriateness, since I don't share these religious beliefs. At the end, people begin to file out. The pianist, whose face I haven't seen yet, turns around, smiles at me, and hugs me and thanks me for singing with the choir. I am thrilled at this acceptance, hug her back, and thank her for having me. A does the same, and I thank her. Michelle asks for my email address, and I write it down. She explains that the Gospel event on the 25th is a celebration of the choir's 15 years. I ask if she has been in the choir for this long, and she said she has been there since the beginning. At first, she tells me, the choir had about 50 people but people moved, etc. and now they are trying to build it back up. She then hugs me, thanks me, and I thank her and leave.

-I am beginning to walk back to campus, but it is raining. A, who is sitting in her car parked on Olney Street, calls out to me and asks if I would like a ride. I decline politely at first, but she insists, so I cross the street. It is raining.
-During the carride, A explains again that the choir used to be bigger, and used to have more young people (I would estimate that no one was under 45) but they all went off to college or other places.
-She told me how much the music meant to her, and how much it lifted her up. I agreed that the music was very powerful. -And then she asked the question I had been dreading since I chose this topic for my project: "Are you a Christian?" I pause, and say "Actually, I'm not. I'm technically Jewish, but I sort of have my own religous beliefs. I'm still young, you know, and trying to figure out what's out there..." She smiles and nods, as if she understands. I wait to see how this will be received.
-She tells me that Jewish tradition is similar to Christian, and a lot of the songs have reference to the Old Testiment, which is true. (Slave spirituals especially referenced the Old Testiment when slaves were converted to Christianity, because the condition of the Israelites, who, according to the belief, were also enslaved, was relatable to the slave condition.)
-She tells me she was asking me because she saw that I was really into the music, and was uplifted by it the way she was.
I explain that even if I can't relate to a specific name, I still feel the power of the music because I can relate it to a higher power I believe in. I tell her I love Gospel Music, which is true, and she is delighted.
-She tells me it doesn't really matter if I can't relate to a specific name or religion, because with Gospel Music, people just feel the power of the "spirit." We are all spirits, she says, and we feel a connection to something more, to some kind of higher power. I verbally agree, even if I am not sure I actually completely agree. I try to encourage this thought by telling her that in some reading I have done, there are accounts of people who went to study Gospel Music and were so empowered by it that they couldn't help but join in.
-She continues to tell me that Gospel Music evolved out of slave spirituals, and that this music is what has carried African Americans through.
-We have mostly silence for the rest of the ride, I get out and thank her several times.