Field Notes #2: Rehearsal and Interview

I attended an ARRR rehearsal last Friday from 3:00 PM-5:00 PM. Before entering the Zeta Delta Xi Lounge, both pirates and visitors asked “Permission to Board” of the captain, the leader of the group and first person there. After permission was “granted” members of the group flopped onto to couches and began to socialize. A few pirate alumni showed up and they were greeted with hugs and enthusiasm. The captain calmed down the talking and started the rehearsal with a lusty “ARRR!!!!” in which everyone in unison shouted “ARRR!!!!!.” The chaplain read a pirate poem and then members of the group made announcements, which included things like “Hey guys I baked cookies for rehearsal, enjoy” to “These are my parents, they’re going to watch the rehearsal.” Announcements turned into a disorganized but energetic discussion about Parents’ Weekend, during which the pirates plan on having an arch sing. During the discussion of what songs to sing at the concert, pirates would test whether or not they wanted to sing a song by singing it in rehearsal. Usually a confident pirate would burst into song and others joined in after him or her. The pirates evaluated songs based how energetically the group sang them and on whether or not they knew all the words. The cabin boy, serving as the secretary, wrote down which songs they would sing at the concert. Here is a recording of this discussion process with a song:



The pirates also programmed their show to have a variety of styles of songs. They decided on singing a kid-friendly pirate song from Muppet Treasure Island, a slow Sea Shanty ballad, a slightly off-color song, and a call-and-response song, where ARRR would showcase the new pirate members, who would sing the verses. Here is a recording of the pirates practicing their call and response song “Clear Away the Track.” Some of the verses are traditional and some humorous and improvised:



The rehearsal ended with another lusty ARRR!!! And pirates made some more announcements before everybody left or stayed to socialize. The captain expressed interest in partying later that evening.

The rehearsal was very casual and social; pirates sang from their spots on couches, even talked a little with their neighbors in the middle of the songs. There was no vocal instruction, the pirates learn by singing; each new pirate has a binder containing only lyrics to shanties. After the rehearsal, I got the opportunity to interview two pirate alumni of the group, John Cannon and Daniel Byers. This interview gives a very good sense of the theatrical performance aspect and image of the group:



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John=J, Daniel=D, Mike=M

M: Alright, I’m recording now guys. It’s ok I’ll probably cut this part out.

[pirates making ninja slices noises as they “cut” each other’s throats with their hand, laughter]

M: They’re just being silly. Alright, so who am I with right now?

D: Stephan Blackheart of the pirates of ARRR.

J: I recently renamed myself captain Jack Cannon, the Adder, but in fact I am just a guy

M: So those are your real names or what, your pirate names?

J: Yeah

D: Yarr, our pirate names. I’m a former captain and he’s a former traitor. [Referring to the fact that John wasn’t a very active member his senior year]

J: That’s about right; I’m a former a lot of things.

D: Yes.

M: Ok, so you’re alumni of the group.

D: Since last may we’ve been- graduated.

J: Is that Greek?

M: Alright, I think what they’re trying to tell me is that they are alumni of the group.

[laughter]

M: Alright, so I was wondering if you can tell me what you guys think of ARRR. What is ARRR?

J: What is ARRR?

M: Yeah what is ARRR?

[1:00]

J: ARRR is the last line of defense.

D: -Against the Ninja Menace

J: Among other things.

D: Yes. You See, back in the days when pirates road dinosaurs…

J: And Brown was allowed to have a militia…

D: [laughter] We don’t really know where we’re going with this.

J: I do

[both laugh]

J: Well you see, so obviously, so have you been to other university where they have crenellations on top of their buildings?

M: What’s a crenellation?

J: Crenellations are ramparts if you will, like little arrow slits in the sides-towers- and things like that. That was because they needed archers to defend the campus. But Brown didn’t have the kind of stones they needed for crenellations, they preferred to use granite, all we had was brick here, so instead we decided that we would use a melee force to defend the school and hire mercenaries, who happened to be pirates.

[2:00]

D: -That also however failed to work; the original mercenaries weren’t very affective because every spring, as you know, Brown is submerged in at least ten feet of water, and this brings in many sea-faring beasts, such as the kraken, from the ocean.

J: -And manatees.

D: -And manatees, lots of manatees that constantly barrage the campus with their large, bulbous, grotesque, worm-like bodies.

J: -So once several generations of mercenaries were killed, Brown decided to hire outside help.

D: See, pirates, pirates are special in that they are amphibious; they can both attack on water and on land.

J: I have gills, I think he absorbs oxygen through his skin.

D: -And fires it out in the form of bad TV shows from my eyes.

J: Anything else?

M: Yeah, I was wondering, is ARRR a theatrical performance group, a musical performance group, or like a social organization?

J: It is theatrical, it is vaguely musical at times, what’s the other question?

D: Could all of those options-

M: -A social organization?

J: Socialist?

M: No, like you hang out together, is that the primary purpose-

D: We do hang people sometimes

J: We do hang people, yes

D: -Out-on-

J: Oh, yes.

G: -Lines-

J: Two brave sailors died just last year.

D: It’s a very socialist process.

[3:00]

J: They put their heads on pikes in University Hall

D: That wasn’t so much hanging as sticking, but in general, yes-

J: -Well, we hang them first.

D: We’re socialist in that we all agree who we’re going to hang, and then we do it to the greater common good of people who aren’t be hanged.

J: It’s a Hindu thing.

D: Right. It’s hilarious for the rest of us so the one guy getting hanged goes with it. He’s like “yeah guys, it’ll be so funny for you, I don’t even care.” He usually really drunk at the time.

J: It’s a natural high.
D: That’s the thing that we do here, we get people drunk and hang them.

[laughter]

M: Alright, thank you.
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I also had a more serious interview with Daniel Byers:



In the interview, Dan claims that the group has multiple foci, saying that the goal of group changes depending on who is in the group and who is leading it, however he does say that singing of sea shanties keeps the group together. Dan also claims that Brown students find ARRR attractive because of the mythos of pirates, the casual and quirky feel of the group, the theatrical aspect, and social aspect of the group.