Nadine is the pianist and founder of the 15-year-old Gospel choir of the Olney Street Baptist Church. The following is an excerpt from my interview with her.
J: Do you think there’s something different about singing worship rather than just praying with speech?
N: (pause) Yes. I do.
J: Do you wanna... Can you tell me a little bit about that experience and how it’s different?
N: Um... I think between the words, and the sound, the rhythm, and the way people sing it, it... it just touches you a little bit different than just hearing it. You can sing a prayer, and the way that someone is interpreting it through their music, you... it touches you a little different than someone just stating the same words. So... but then again, if someone’s saying a prayer, the way they say the prayer... again, it’s the way... the tone, the emotion, that’s part of it, so you can get touched that way too but for me, music does that for me.
J: You mentioned the rhythm. What about the rhythm enhances that?
N: Like, if it’s a slow, mellow type of a song, then it touches you different than if it’s high beat, up beat....
J: Right, right.
N: But when it comes to the actual worship part, like, the Holy Spirit coming in, it depends on what’s going on at the time. So, if it’s a prayer, or it’s a prayerful song, then you’re touched a different way than if it’s upbeat. The praises are different.
J: Can you elaborate on that difference?
N: Um... (pause) I think it’s more like an emotional thing, so I never really think about it. You know what I mean?
J: Right. It’s just kind of—
N: It’s just part of.... it’s just part of the worship experience. So I don’t really know how to put it in words.
J: Mm-kay.
J: And is there something about the group experience? How is singing worship songs with other people different from singing them alone?
N: When you sing it by yourself, then it’s your personal testimony. So it’s just like if we try to sing um... songs from like, Kurt Franklin or something like that. Well that was his song, that was his testimony, so we can’t duplicate what he’s done. We can’t duplicate “Mary, Mary,” you know what I mean? We can interpret it our way but when you sing a solo, that is your interpretation, so that is you singing that song. But in a group situation, it’s all of us coming together. And, um, trying to be one. Singing it as one. But until it’s really in our hearts or whatever when we sing... it is a personal testimony, but when you sing in a group, you have to bring it together. But when you sing a solo, you’re singing it on your own and it’s your personal take on the music, on the song, on the words. The words become yours.
J: Do you feel differently when you’re doing solo stuff versus—
N: Mmm-hmm, yeah.
J: What’s the difference?
N: Cause it’s personal.
J: Yeah.
N: It’s personal. So, if I’m doing a solo or something like that, then I really... I think of what the words are, and so therefore it becomes my song. So, it’s different.
(someone comes in to hand a piece of paper to Nadine, then leaves. Break in recording.)
J: Um, what other kinds of music do you like besides Gospel?
N: Um... R and B, uh... Gospel rap, um, Jazz, love Jazz. Um... I like a lot of the... some, well... like Alicia Keys, that kind of... that kind of stuff. And back in the day, the Temptations, all of the... you know. Isaac Hayes... And some Country....
J: Yeah.
N: I like some Country, so.
J: And how is Gospel... Do you listen to Gospel besides just singing? Do you listen?
N: (nods)
J: How does it affect you differently compared with the other kinds of music you listen to?
N: Um... (pause) I think it affects me different because I’m trying to be a Christian, so therefore, the music helps me get grounded. Like, um, when struggles are in my life, or whatever, it’s Gospel music that gets me going. You know, that keeps me up, that keeps my faith going. Because if we look at our circumstances all the time, then it can bring us down, and we forget who our Maker is. And if we listen to some of the music that’s out there, it’s negative, so, you know, I can’t worry about my, you know, my man, and all that.
J: (giggles)
N: If God... if this man is from God than I can’t worry about all that. You know what I mean?
J: Yeah.*
N: So, it’s Gospel music that keeps me... focused. Where I can deal with my children, my grandchildren, my husband...
J: So it’s more of a positive force rather than—
N: Yes, most definitely.
*I feel I do know what Nadine means. I'm reminded of the lyrics of a song by Lauryn Hil, who I grew up listening to, called "I Used to Love Him." The lyrics, referring to a lover who has done Lauryn wrong, go:
"I see him sometimes and the look in his eye
Is one of a man who's lost treasures untold
But my heart is gold, see I took back my soul
And totally let my creator control
The life which was his to begin."
That idea used to help me through situations, too. If I was having issues with someone, it was nice to think that maybe it was not my responsibility to worry about them and what they do. It takes away some burden. Based on my own experiences, this is what I understood Nadine to mean here.
General Notes, Reflection:
Conducting the interview was more difficult for me than I thought it would be. I had a few general questions written down beforehand, but it was hard to come up with anything specific without really knowing anything about Nadine. I was counting on that she would be so passionate about the music that she would go on and on, and while she was passionate, I got the impression that she felt sort of put on the spot a lot of times, and I in turn had a hard time thinking of good questions. I also had a difficult time understanding, or sometimes I wanted to take the interview in a direction it just wouldn't go, and then I found myself asking those "leading questions" that we're supposed to avoid as interviewers only because I needed clarification. It was hard to avoid those at times, and if I had another shot at this I would definitely plan more creative ways to approach questions if one way wasn't working.
When I listened to and transcribed this interview, I got frustrated because I thought of so many better questions I could have asked, such as:
What role has the church played in your life?
What occured in your life at age 12 that influenced you to start going to the Olney Street Baptist Church?
What do you think has influenced your passion for music, both with regard to your violin and piano lessons and Gospel music?
Has your family, either as a child or now, had any influence in your musical or other involvement with the church?
Are you affected differently by listening to Gospel and actually singing it? How about playing it on the piano?
You say Gospel music is helpful to listen to because it grounds you and gives you a positive feeling. Do you think there is a time and place for the other kinds of music you listen to; the kinds that are maybe not as positive?
Does belonging to the church, and the church's music, provide you with a sense of community in any way? How so?
You say "Gospel music is for everyone," no matter what race or age. Do you think Gospel music could be for people who aren't Christian?
etc.
Anyway, these are some things I would have liked to ask, but I also think it was important to let Nadine more or less take the interview in the direction she wanted to rather than me having a thought in mind and seeing if she would say it (ex. I expected her to say something about the feeling of unity of singing in a group, but maybe that was just my idea).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I definitely sensed some of your mild frustration during the interview, as it seemed you were trying to avoid being leading, but sometimes Nadine would give such curt answers that you had to sort of dance around the question, asking variations, or quickly thinking of alternate phrasings in order to elicit a more detailed response. I think that you did a good job at going with the flow and being conscious of your role as the interviewer.
It's definitely annoying when looking back at an interview and thinking of all the questions we could have asked, but I guess that each time we'll get better, and if you get the chance to interview her again, or interview another member of the group, your interview will be all the better for your experience and reflections on this.
I really liked your analogy to the Lauryn Hill song from your childhood. It's great to be able to really listen to what our subjects are saying and try to understand or connect to their meaning.
Your transcription also demonstrated something that I pondered when typing up my own: should we be absolutely faithful to the recording, including every "um", "like", and "uhh..."? Or should we excise these placeholders in order to make a more flowing, readable interview? I think there are arguments for both, as keeping them in serves as a clue for when the interviewee is very comfortable with a topic, and speaks in a flowing manner without use of such delaying words, or when they are more hesitant and use a great deal of "umm"s, possibly indicating that they haven't thought about the topic before and that they are taking time to structure their thoughts.
Overall, great interview and transcription!
-jm
I can certainly understand your frustration with this interview - while the questions you thought up later would have been helpful, there are bound to be some interviewees who simply don't have much to say. Or perhaps they don't have the means to say it - I know that I often struggle to find the right words when I try to communicate my feelings about music. Especially when dealing with how one experiences music emotionally, as you did in this interview, sometimes it's hard to past explanations like "It's personal."
That said, I really liked part of Nadine's point about how "[she] really... [thinks] of what the words are, and so therefore it becomes [her] song" when singing solo. When part of a group, focused on blending with it, I've found that it can be easier for me to ignore the my emotional response to the music.
Also, it's nice that you included your reflections with the interview.
Interesting contextualizing comments, and the sound example definitely gave me a different perspective on the interview. Nadine establishes important categorical differences between prayer, sung prayer, solo singing as personal testimony, and group singing as something harder to define; she discusses group singing as "trying to be one" and "singing it as one," but you're right, at least in this interview she doesn't seem to be focused on the idea of strength in unity, etc. It seems to me that her personal faith and individual emotional responses are quite strong and very important to her; perhaps under the circumstances it might almost be more difficult for her to sing as part of a group, since the song is less her own? Or this could be entirely wrong (and that's why follow-up interviews and long-term personal relationships are so important in ethnographic projects). I hope you aren't too frustrated with the limitations of this short-term project.
Post a Comment