As I already mentioned in a previous post, I will be researching ARRR!!!! (for now on referred to without the exclamation points), the Brown University pirate a cappella group that sings sea shanties. Because ARRR just started rehearsing with its new members, I haven’t gone to any rehearsals yet, and there haven’t been any concerts this year since early September. I took the opportunity during this “waiting time” to reflect on my experiences with and my perceptions of the group.
I was standing under Wayland Arch when I first learned about ARRR from a peppy Brown University tour guide. A junior in high school at the time, I was on a road trip with my parents and my high school friend Joe Maurer, visiting colleges. Brown was one of the few schools that gave Joe and me great first impressions. The pretty main campus and quiet green, the noticeably happy and helpful students, and the strategic placement of stunning cherry trees around admissions, in conjunction with our knowledge of the University’s liberal attitude towards everything from core curriculums to alcohol regulation, made Brown seem like the most appealing college I could hope to go to. When we first heard about ARRR under Wayland Arch, Brown only continued to gain points with me. In a small way, the mere existence of ARRR contributed to my desire to apply to Brown. Now, I am a Brown University undergraduate student, typing an assignment for a Brown University music class. Joe “Bloody-Violet” Maurer is only half-a-Patriots’ Court away, possibly doing the same thing as me.
Why was and is ARRR so appealing to me? The group does not have the “musical” or “technical” prestige of the other a cappella groups on campus such as the Jabberwocks or the Brown Derbies; at their concerts, the pirates, the members of the group, are sometimes out-of-tune and forget words. There is no organized harmony for most songs; members improvise their own harmonies. Do I like the repertoire of sea shanties? Yes, but there’s more than sea shanties that attracts me to the group; it’s my perception of their unique style and image. Prospective pirates audition in character and full costume. Their performances feature debaucherous and bawdy skits, comedic energy, and lightheartedness. The pirates engage with the audience, often singing directly to volunteers. They come off as a cohesive fun-loving group, entertaining the audience with a hybrid of music and comedic theatre. When people talk about pirates outside of their concerts, some people smile or laugh, some people role their eyes.
I obviously see ARRR as more than “just” a choral group whose repertoire is sea shanties; they are a theatrical group and they have a distinct cultural image on Brown campus. For me, they have a casual but energetic and goofy image, and the fact that they aren’t technically “on-par” with most traditional musical groups on campus doesn’t negatively affect that image in my head. In fact, it may strengthen it.
These initial observations and reactions I’m having to ARRR bring up a lot of questions. If performing and preserving a traditional music is not the main purpose of the group, then what is the role of the music in this group? Is it important that the songs are sea shanties, or would the group image not work if they sang a different style of music? Do my initial thoughts on ARRR match-up with what the pirates and other Brown students think of the group’s role on campus?
I started to research the answers to some of these questions by interviewing Lorraine “Tuna” Fryer about her emic perspective about ARRR (interview edited):
Lorraine shared her and other pirates’ perspective on the role of the group. For Lorraine, ARRR is primarily a social group; the performances, both musical and theatrical, are second to the hanging-out, singing, and drinking they do apart from performing. Other pirates place more weight on the theatrical performance or musical performance aspects of ARRR. She also gave her perspective on the purpose of ARRR performances. She talked about the theatrical aspect, claming that it’s entertaining to watch people crazier than you putting on a spectacle and that each show is a “moment of fun surreality” for the audience.
While talking about the reason why ARRR is so popular, Lorraine began to allude to my observation of ARRR’s public image on Brown campus, saying ARRR is “part of what makes Brown, Brown.” I want to find out more about how ARRR makes Brown, Brown. I may interview an ARRR fan or a random Brown student to see what their opinion of ARRR’s place on Brown campus is.
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3 comments:
I also heard about ARRR for the first time under Wayland Arch as a junior in high school. I was there with my father, a Brown alum, who, when he heard the description, laughed and said to me "ahh yes, my alma mater." I was very intrigued by the notion of a musical group whose overwhelming objective wasn't necessarily performance. I had never heard of such a group before and I definitely look forward to hearing what you find out. I'm curious about the route that your research will take. Do you think you will focus mainly on the music or will you try to highlight the group's social interactions and activities outside of performance?
Yarrrr, a good start, matey! I like the way you are circlin' in on the core meanin' of the group. Music, comedic theatricality, and camaraderie do indeed form the core purpose of the group, but to an extent that I've not seen in other organizations, it means vastly different things to different members. Yet it more often than not manages to keep going, much to the bemusement of the people who started the group as a joke ten years ago. Also, an important note: the group's name is "ARRR!!!". The exclamation points are important! Just sayin. P-)
(that's a pirate emoticon, for those o' ye not in the know. just look at it sideways, it'll make sense)
I'm intrigued by the material you added since we talked about these notes in office hours. The notion that ARRR!!! is a particularly "Brown" ensemble could shed some light on broader community values at the university. (I note that Sam's dad corroborates this assessment.) But I can just as easily imagine the same thing being said at Chicago, where I was an undergrad, and maybe (not quite as easy to imagine...) also at Harvard, where I was a grad student. Could something about ARRR!!! be a good match for the perceived nature of American college life more generally? Your questions about the group's relationship to their musical repertoire (and to tradition/preservation issues) also promise to be fruitful; Joe's comment points to the likelihood of shifts in these attitudes across the history of the group. I wonder if you could get ahold of some of the early group members, via Facebook or something, for a few quick questions?
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