Title: Keychain of First Chairs

General Information about Item:

Informant Data:

Eddie Pyun was born in Voorhees Township, New Jersey on September 24th, 1995. He and his family moved between Voorhees Township and a neighboring town back and forth a few times. When Eddie was 10 years old, he and his family moved to Pennsylvania because of his father’s job. Eddie’s mom was a musician (pursued music in college), and was very good at the oboe and piano. Because of his mom’s appreciation for music, she wanted Eddie to play the cello since he was seven years old. However, Eddie was very against playing the cello at that time of his life. It was not until shortly before Eddie’s eleventh birthday that he agreed to learn the cello. He picked up the instrument very fast and loved playing. Although he loved playing the cello, Eddie did not think of actually pursuing music for a career coming into college. He decided during his freshman year at Dartmouth that he wanted to major in music and psychology.

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: Although passing on the keychain among cello first chairs has been a tradition in the Dartmouth Symphonic Orchestra for whoever knows how long, every time a first chair cellist passes on the keychain to the next first chair, he/she probably shares a special feeling with all of the previous first chairs that also had to pass on the item at one point. The first chairs probably feel the most connected to each other at the moment they receive and give the keychain from/to someone else.
Social Context: This item of folklore was collected from a current senior who had been traveling on the weekends for a few weeks for interviews for music graduate schools. Since he was preparing for his life after college, he probably felt very reminiscent about both the good and bad times he had at Dartmouth. Everything probably feels very surreal to him as he will be leaving Dartmouth very soon. So, given this context, Eddie thinking about passing the keychain onto the first chair that will succeed him probably will remind him of how he was given the keychain almost a year ago.

Item:

Eddie, who is first chair cellist, talked about the old keychain that was passed down to him, from the previous first chair cellist. According to Eddie, not everyone, even within the cello section, knows about the existence of this keychain, but all the previous and present first chairs definitely do. The first chair before him told Eddie that it was just a token to remind him that there is history and culture that comes with being a cellist in DSO.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

This is Eddie with his cello after a DSO concert.

Transcript:

“There is this keychain that is handed-down to present first chair cellists from past first chair cellists. The keychain itself is pretty small and blue. It definitely looks pretty old because it has scratches everywhere. No one really knows for sure who started this tradition or even when it started, but the tradition continues. Not everyone within the cello section knows about the keychain, because it isn’t really something that is talked about, unless you are first chair and you had or currently owned the keychain at some point. I used to carry it around in my backpack when I was first presented with it, but now I’m too scared that I will somehow lose it, so I keep it in my room.”
“Our group is super close. We actually are the only section within DSO that has a GroupMe.”
“Unlike most of the other musicians in DSO, cellists collaborate and work together for the good of the whole section rather than being individuals who just happen to play the same instrument.”
“Even though I am first chair, I credit my stand partner for the sense of team that exists within our section. He is such a likable person with strong leadership skills. Almost makes me want to switch chairs with him so he can have the title of being ‘first-chair’ because he deserves it more than I do!”

Informant’s Comments:

This is Eddie’s last year at Dartmouth, and he is so glad that he was a part of DSO as a cellist for the sense of community and support that it brought him. He is thankful for the experience and cannot wait to go off to graduate school for music in the coming fall (he just had finished traveling for his interviews, and he is particularly looking forward to hearing back from Northwestern University).

Collector’s Comments:

I interviewed Eddie a few days after the DSO concert (that occurs every term), so Eddie had just spent a lot of his time at rehearsals and practices with just the cello section.

Collector’s Name: Junny Lee

Tags/Keywords:

Dartmouth Folklore Archive