Title: Weekly Meals and Birthday Cakes

General Information about Item:

Informant Data:

Kyle Bensink was born in Victor, New York on August 31, 1998. Although Kyle was born in Victor, his family moved to Rochester—a city adjacent to Victor—when Kyle was just three years old. Ever since then, Kyle and his family have lived in the city. According to Kyle, his family is rather musically talented, and generally interested in the arts. He said that his father is the more musically talented one out of his parents, as his father played the piano, violin, and guitar throughout his lifetime, while his mom was a part of an acapella group in high school and college. In this way, Kyle was extremely susceptible to music from a very early point in his life, as music was a big part of his family’s identity. Kyle first picked up the cello when he was five years old. Currently, Kyle is a freshman at Dartmouth College. At school, Kyle enjoys playing for Dartmouth Symphonic Orchestra (DSO). He plans on majoring in physics and minoring in music.

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: Within any group of students/peers/friends, there is always some sort of “culture.” Going off of this idea, there definitely is a culture around the Dartmouth Symphonic Orchestra (DSO). Within DSO, there subgroups that are separated by the type of instruments. And each of these subgroups have their own separate identity and culture. As seen through the eyes of a cellists in DSO, the cello section (subgroup) is the tightest group that exists within DSO.
Social Context: These items were mentioned when I asked Kyle about any rituals or traditions that the cello section was a part of. At first, he had a hard time coming up with these items, as he was unsure whether the item he had in mind was actually an item that could be used for this project. During the interview, Kyle also talked about how tight the cello section was, as all of the cellists were willing to make plans outside DSO. The weekly meals between stand parents and the birthday cakes probably make the cello section very conducive to becoming friends with each other.

Items:

The two items of folklore that Kyle mentioned during the interview were that stand partners get weekly meals throughout the term and that all the cellists chip in to buy a cake from Lou’s when it is someone’s birthday within the section. Apparently, the cello section is the only subgroup within DSO that does this for everyone in the group.

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

Transcript:

“I actually didn’t go on trips. So I did feel a little left out when other freshman came into college already knowing other people, when I did not know a single person on campus. My freshman floor also wasn’t the tightest, so I had a hard time figuring out where I belonged at school. DSO was actually one of the first communities I got involved in. The community that DSO provided made me feel comfortable and supported. Now, I obviously have friends outside DSO, but my closest friend in college is also a cellist with me here.”
“My favorite thing about being a cellist in DSO is that the cello section is very tight. Stand partners try to get weekly meals right before or after rehearsals or practices. Of course sometimes it doesn’t work out because everyone is so busy all the time, but we all genuinely want to get meals together.”
“Another thing I like is that whenever it is someone’s birthday in the cello section, we buy a carrot cake from Lou’s for that person. It’s so neat that the section never forgets to do this.

Informant’s Comments:

This is Kyle’s first year at Dartmouth, and he cannot wait to be a part of the cello section in DSO for all four years of his time in college. He says he really feels at home within his section.

Collector’s Comments:

I interviewed Kyle only a few days before the termly DSO concert, which means that he was busy spending a lot of his time at rehearsals and practices with just the cello section in order to prepare for their concert.

Collector’s Name: Junny Lee

Tags/Keywords:

Dartmouth Folklore Archive