Scores

VIDEO ETHNOGRAPHY OF NAICP

In making the video, one of my grants allowed me to hire two camera people, Richard and Michele Turner, so I was able to work with one tape of close ups and one of long shots. The two most difficult tasks were converting the tapes to work with software I had and then connecting the sound with the visual when switching from close to long shots. I was fortunate to work with such great material, but was disappointed that I didn’t have footage from two of our other performance s, which were so much better. This made me especially glad that the video includes only short excerpts and not works in their entirety.

Fieldnotes: I love MC, but performing there can be such a drag. There are often problems with sound and just too much to do. You can’t just perform and there are always issues to troubleshoot. Having time to collect myself and warm-up and not be completely exhausted and distracted before performing are close to impossible. I so enjoy working with the students, but switching from performer to conductor, to educator, to technician, to publicist, to greeter… at least I got several shots at the performance and UMD was so good, now on to the Smithsonian with new composer feedback, so it will hopefully be the best of all three concerts.

I was disappointed that the UMD performance didn’t get videotaped and that the panel discussion did not get recorded as some of the most interesting, personal and important information was given at that time.

Fieldnotes: Well, in the future I have to remember to tell the videographers to record everything, as they left out the panel discussion. So disappointing. I do remember Raven saying, “I don’t really like Classical Music and I don’t call my music that, but I have a great respect for the instruments and I write for them.” I did say some very personal things about “Both Worlds” and how it was to depict the pain that so many of us go through as we try to negotiate living in two worlds and the schizophrenia that can create, and how it was originally inspired by someone who was on heroin because they couldn’t deal with this double-consciousness. Maybe it’s better we don’t have a visual record of that.

As I created a short video, I decided to let the performance and the music speak for itself to allow the viewer to participate without my commentary and to make it appear to be closer to the original performance. “It is easy to show something in film, but telling is hard. Cutting away from the ongoing story to present historical background, offer analysis, or otherwise contextualize the narrative dulls film’s evocative power by distancing the viewer’s imaginative involvement and identification with the characters and the story.” (Titon, 1992, 91) I included a thin description in which I showed the name of the project, name of each piece, its composer and tribal affiliation, and during the end credits, included the names of the supporters. “A thin description simply reports facts, independent of intentions of circumstances. A thick description, in contrast, gives the context of an experience, states the intentions and meanings that organized the experience, and reveals the experience as a process. Out of this process arises a text’s claims for truth, or its verisimilitude.” (Denzin, 455)¹ I am hoping that the video can serve as an important part of this ethnographic website, providing an introduction to the subject, while also engaging the viewer to check the calendar and go to a live performance. It also provides a sense of the project as it really was, without a lot of information, other than program notes that were provided before every concert. Here you can watch me play cello and rattles and sing, using a variety of twentieth century performance techniques. Seeing the music performed by a singing cellist is surely a different experience than hearing it on an audio cd, looking at a score or reading about it. “Representing people making music on film and video seems more real than representing them in books.” (Titon, 90)²