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1-31-02
so
i get written an email just the other day... from dukemagazine.
i had a phone interview many months ago; completely forgot about
it. now its back. so anyway, i couldn't answer her questions easily,
so i started at the beginning . this was good reflection, yeah.
:)
what's
up kim? wow, i completely forgot about when you called me the other
day.
i
guess i'll answer your (one :) easy question first:
I
also want to be sure to get the name right... "Something Borrowed,
Something Blue," or "Borrowed and Blue"? Was it formerly
the Jesus Christ Power and Light Company? If so, when did it change?
yes,
it was formerly JCP&L.. started in 1969... originally a folk
band... turned a cappella in 1993, changed name to SBSB in 1998
to reflect changes in the group and a renewed calling. (see vision
page @ website... www.duke.edu/web/borrowedblue/)
The
'proper' name is Something Borrowed, Something Blue. Borrowed and
Blue is the more 'affectionate' term-- easier to say and shorter
too :). i prefer borrowed and blue myself :).
So,
here's the question. What's the appeal of a cappella for a college
student? (For the listener *and* for the singer?) Why do you love
singing it, and why do people -- Duke students -- love to listen
to it? Do you feel like you have a lot of support from the Duke
community?
maybe
it will help if I tell my story. I first saw a cappella at Duke
when I came to visit as a pre-frosh. my host (friend from home,
senior) was also in Lady Blue, so I got to see them and pitchforks
perform. I think that was probably where i figured i would try to
do a cappella at duke. I had some musical background, singing in
choirs here and there, and this was a very 'cool' way of musical
expression. They all looked like they were having fun, enjoying
singing and each other. I played piano and guitar more in terms
of music in high school, but i could carry a pitch and figured that
would be good enough.... So I came in freshman year and tried out
for pitchforks and borrowed and blue. I was pretty much a pitchforks
wannabe at the time. But I guess God had other plans, cause I didn't
get in (ah the disappointments we all face our freshman year). So
I ended up in Borrowed and Blue, cause they took me :). It took
a little while for me to stop thinking about the 'what ifs'.. i
guess i had had my heart set on pitchforks.
so
now i find myself as one of the musical directors for B&B and
i look back-- how different of an approach B&B is to music than
i had originally planned. Half of the appeal of acappella is image.
I think a lot of people like pitch and speak because of the image.
you cant help but think to yourself, "heck, if i could sing
like that [and more recently, dance like that], i'll look good and
get women. i'll be cool :)." and so as vulnerable, clean slated
freshmen-- we all want to be popular, all want to be liked. And
there's not many people who dislike a cappella here at duke -- its
kind of a tradition... plus with a post-modern worldview, no one
is supposed to criticize anything anyone does :).
i
do notice, though, that the interest level in acappella drops as
freshmen become seniors... You'll notice that freshman dorm concerts
are often more packed and more frequent than on west (with the exception
of the major concerts). i dunno whether interest drops or we all
just find our niche and get busy... but i think everyone likes music
in one way or another and acappella is a very creative way of performing
it. its a lot harder to form bands, espcially with drums being hard
to store in a cramped dorm room, and the lack of equipment/power
amps/ etc. I actually am kind of sad there are not as many music
bands here as i had hoped. but acappella is the laidback college
approach; people goofing off, blending/workign together to sound
good. singing popular songs that we all love in new arrangements.
and especially if you know the person singing-- its an extra bonus
to go listen to the group. i would bet that almost all the audience
at a given acap concert knows at least 1 person in the group personally.
What
i found different in SBSB is that the image view is different. obviously
we are kind of set apart from the other groups because we are christian.
thats automatically a turn off for some people unfortunately :(.
But christianity dictates that our image with people is not important,
its not about what the world thinks but what god thinks of us. in
other words, we are here to serve god, not man. So in that aspect,
I got my world turned around as a freshman. (not to say that i dont
still think a lot about my image/social life)... So in B&B,
I sing for a few reasons. One is that of musical worship, just like
as you might find in a church. In that way, we are actually believing
what we sing, either encouraging people in the faith or else trying
to convey a message or testimony of what and why we believe, since
to us, the Gospel are of ultimate importance to us. so for some
listeners it is really encouraging in their faith to hear some of
what we sing about/ say... and to those who dont share our faith,
we want them to be able to enjoy our music. we really don't want
to force our beliefs onto people... like the Bible, its there, but
no-ones forced to read it. But we do strive for musical excellence
as we are a performance group. thus those standards will always
be there.
So
for me, I enjoy singing and music has suddenly become one of my
greatest passions. Funny, I don't even think my voice is very good,
and often wish i had a butter voice :). I also enjoy the closeness
of the group-- which is something i think most a cappela groups
here possess-- a sense of community and belonging, meeting people
you might not necessarily hang out with... for me, fellow christians
in differing fellowships and different walks of life, ranges of
ages from freshmen to seniors. as a freshmen you look up to the
upperclassmen; as a senior, you take on the role of big brother.
in
terms of duke community-- support ... yes and no. obviously, we'll
often get more support from a christian audience, which is nice.
sometimes its harder to get a more diverse audience as people might
be turned off immediately by the fact we are christian without just
enjoying our music.. it all depends... people get busy, sometimes
there is just a cappella overload (you really can't humanly listen
to a cappella for a long time, to several groups, and not get bored).
but i think in general the duke community is pretty good towards
the a cappella groups here at duke. Quite a lot of support. It might
be pretty hard for new groups to start up nowadays because there
are many 'loyal' fans who dont have time for another groups concerts.
a
cappella is fun. hopefully we express that in our song and expressions,
that we are having fun, we are singing cause we like to, and hopefully
we sound good to us AND you the audience.
yeah..
well that was long... sorry about that. hope the information is
useful and not overbearing and rambling.
thanks
again. let me know if you have more q's. (if you dare to ask more,
hehe)
a dios,
dave
··· dave chong · windsor124 ·
919/613.0878 ···
·· dyc@duke.edu · http://www.duke.edu/~dyc/
··
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