Title: Warm Ups

General Information about Item:

• Customary folklore: rituals, traditions

• Language: English

• Country where Item is from: USA

Informant Data:

• Trevor Davis is an ’18 that joined X.ado his freshman year and sang in his high school choir for three years. He is 21 years old. He was born in Wheaton, Illinois. He grew up and still lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is majoring in computer science, and minoring in math and anthropology.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context

All group members participate in the exercises. These warm-ups have been used for years, and the informant believes possibly since the founding of the group.

• Cultural Context

Acapella groups and other singers warm up before they have to sing with exercises for their throat, and just to practice and make sure they’re on pitch. The group warms up together as opposed to individually,reinforcing the group’s efforts to be inclusive and maintain strong relationships between members.

Item:

• X.ado’s group members have a warm up routine that they conduct before each show and rehearsal. These are typical things that you would expect from an acapella group, such as breathing exercises and sounds so they can warm up their voices and get ready for the show. X.ado completes these warm up exercises before every rehearsal and show to prepare themselves.

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

https://youtu.be/Bf7qgwJN3ts

Transcript of Associated File:

“One thing is, being in an acapella group, we have a regular rehearsal schedule and we have a certain set of warmup, different breathing exercises, different sounds we need to get prepared. Being a Christian group, we do some different things before shows and rehearsals, so before each show, we’ll do a prayer circle about the show and about the people we’re singing to. So, one thing that makes X.ado unique to compared to other groups on campus is that we pray before all of our shows and rehearsals even in our performance group we’re going in with intention to each of those and that’s something we do on a regular basis”

Collector’s Comments:

• It is interesting that X.ado has the same exact warm up before every one of its rehearsals and performances. Many groups have slightly different warm ups every time and often, group members get warmed up on their own. The fact that X.ado members warm up together before every practice and performance reflects the inclusive and strong group culture X.ado has.

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed by: Afnan Enayet/Sruthi Pasupuleti

Tags/Keywords:

• Prayer
• Religion
• Christianity
• Warm up
• Acapella
• Singing

Title: The Lord Bless You – Wake Up Ritual

General Information about Item:

• Customary folklore: rituals, traditions

• Language: English

• Country where Item is from: USA

Informant Data:

• Trevor Davis is an ’18 that joined X.ado his freshman year and sang in his high school choir for three years. He is 21 years old. He was born in Wheaton, Illinois. He grew up and still lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is majoring in computer science, and minoring in math and anthropology.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context

All members of X.ado participate in this ritual. New members participate as they are woken up and surprised in their rooms. This tradition has been going on for as long as the informant can remember and he cannot pinpoint its origin. This ritual occurs towards the beginning of fall term right after new members for the team have been selected.

• Cultural Context

New member groups generally have initiation rites that involve some sort of arbitrary hardship or something notable so that everyone remembers the ritual and it signifies their entrance into the group. X.Ado wakes up their members by singing at their door very early in the morning, and this is an initiation rite that’s common to many acapella groups. Going to a diner afterwards to get to know the new members and introduce them to the group reflects X.ado’s inclusive culture.

Item:

After the new members of X.ado have been selected, they are woken up very early in the morning. X.ado sings the new members a song called ‘The Lord Bless You’ , and then all of the new and returning members go to a diner for breakfast. It is also a tradition to include ‘The Lord Bless You’ in the group’s performance every year.

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

https://youtu.be/2ueTizRurPs

Transcript of Associated File:

“There are some things that we always do with our new members. One is right off the bat, we like to wake them up to welcome them into the group with a song that we sing every year in X.ado called ‘The Lord Bless You’. We come to their door, early in the morning after we’ve decided to take them into the group. We wake them up and sing to them, and then we go out to a diner and have our first breakfast with them. Everyone’s tired, but you know, you’re bonding and really exicted that you have these new members. We also have a freshman retreat, and we do things like ‘get to you know’, and ‘hot seat’, and get stories from the new members like they always tell us their history and love stories and stuff like that. It’s always really entertaining and just funny ways to get to know the new members, and kind of break the ice, off the bat.”

Informant’s Comments:

• See transcript

Collector’s Comments:

This is a very standard practice for an acapella group. Many groups, especially student groups, have some sort of initiation rite. The army even has it with the boot camp. It provides some sort of common experience/hardship that helps the group bond and establish an identity because they share that experience.

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed by: Afnan Enayet/Sruthi Pasupuleti

Tags/Keywords:

• Acapella
• Singing
• Team
• Wake Ups

Title: Prayer Partners

General Information about Item:

• Genre and Sub Genre: Customary Folklore: rituals, traditions

• Language: English

• Country where Item is from: United States

Informant Data:

• Trevor Davis is an ’18 that joined X.ado his freshman year and sang in his high school choir for three years. He is 21 years old. He was born in Wheaton, Illinois. He grew up and still lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is majoring in computer science, and minoring in math and anthropology.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context:

All members of X.ado are given a prayer partner. There is no specific time or place that prayer partners meet, but they are encouraged to interact and get to know one another. The informant does not remember when this ritual began but believes it is not as old as many of the other rituals. This ritual began as a result of X.ado wanting to create stronger bonds amongst team members.

• Cultural Context:

X.ado has a culture in which the group members are very close, and religious communities in general, especially with Christian sects in the United States, tend to be very close-knit communities. This ritual helps the team create a stronger bond between members. Prior to this ritual, rehearsals were the the time when most members interacted, but rehearsals are attended by all members and it is easier to form close relationships with partners as opposed to when a large group is present.

Item:

X.ado does more activities as a group than it used to. In order to accommodate the increased sociability of the group, they pair people off with “prayer partners”, where two members of the group are matched together so they can bond more.

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

https://youtu.be/o15wfAOuSWk

Transcript of Associated File:

A couple of things that got introduced in the group that changed since we got founded one is that we do more activities as a group. We have prayer partners where you match with someone individual in the group, that helps us bond more and know people on an individual basis since rehearsal’s everyone all together, and also as we become more established and groups like ours spread, we have more interactions with those groups. For example, there’s this conference we do every year called “Break it down Boston” which is a gathering of all the different Christian acapella groups so it’s a very different dynamic than you have with other musical conferences and that’s a cool way to see how our group along with other groups has evolved over time as we become more of a national thing.

Informant’s Comments:

• Comments are verbatim from the video, check transcript

Collector’s Comments:

This is a very similar practice to many other student groups on campus. Many groups facilitate mentor/mentee relationships, and this feels very similar to that. Groups tend to do this to provide guidance for younger members, as well as make the group stronger and ensure that members form relationships/friendships with each other.

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed by: Afnan Enayet/Sruthi Pasupuleti

Tags/Keywords:

• Acapella
• Singing
• Socialization
• Mentoring
• Parners

Title: Prayer Circle

General Information about Item:

• Customary folklore: rituals, traditions

• Language: English

• Country where Item is from: USA

Informant Data:

• Trevor Davis is an ’18 that joined X.ado his freshman year and sang in his high school choir for three years. He is 21 years old. He was born in Wheaton, Illinois. He grew up and still lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is majoring in computer science, and minoring in math and anthropology.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context

All members of X.ado who are attending the rehearsal or participating in the performance participate in the prayer circle. The informant does not remember when this tradition began as it has been happening for a long time. Prayer circles occur before every rehearsal and performance.

• Cultural Context

Christians often pray before they do something significant, so that God can give them strength and luck. X.ado prays before shows for comfort and for religious solidarity.

Item:

The members of X.Ado form a prayer circle and pray for the show, and the people they’re going to perform for before every show that they perform. The members also pray before every rehearsal they have to bring themselves good luck.

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

https://youtu.be/Bf7qgwJN3ts

Transcript of Associated File:

“One thing is, being in an acapella group, we have a regular rehearsal schedule and we have a certain set of warmup, different breathing exercises, different sounds we need to get prepared. Being a Christian group, we do some different things before shows and rehearsals, so before each show, we’ll do a prayer circle about the show and about the people we’re singing to. So, one thing that makes X.ado unique to compared to other groups on campus is that we pray before all of our shows and rehearsals even in our performance group we’re going in with intention to each of those and that’s something we do on a regular basis”

Informant’s Comments:

• See transcript

Collector’s Comments:

• Christians often pray before significant events, and almost everyone has some rituals they go through to comfort themselves. Many performers have some pre-show ritual that they go through in order to calm their nerves and get focused for the upcoming show.

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed by: Afnan Enayet/Sruthi Pasupuleti

Tags/Keywords:

• Prayer
• Religion
• Christianity
• Warm up
• Acapella
• Singing

Title: Acapella Conference – “Break it Down in Boston”

General Information about Item:

• Folklore: rituals, traditions

• Language: English

• Country where Item is from: United States of America

Informant Data:

• Trevor Davis is an ’18 that joined X.ado his freshman year and sang in his high school choir for three years. He is 21 years old. He was born in Wheaton, Illinois. He grew up and still lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is majoring in computer science, and minoring in math and anthropology.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context

This conference provides a way for X.ado to socialize and connect with more people, and serves as an event for the people within X.ado to connect and socialize amongst themselves. All members of X.ado who can attend the conference participate in this event and this has been a tradition for as long as the informant can remember. At the conference, members of X.ado meet and interact with people from other acapella groups across the country.

The people in

• Cultural Context

People that engage in similar activities or are like minded like to connect, network , and socialize with each other. X.ado is no exception to this. There are many Christian acapella groups all over the United States and this conference allows X.ado to interact with similar people from different schools. X.ado also tries to create an inclusive culture amongst its team and this conference allows the team to bond and become closer as members travel to another school together.

Item:

Members of X.ado attend the “Break it Down in Boston” conference, which is a conference for Christian acapella groups to meet up. This conference usually occurs sometime in the early spring.

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

https://youtu.be/o15wfAOuSWk

Transcript of Associated File:

A couple of things that got introduced in the group that changed since we got founded one is that we do more activities as a group. We have prayer partners where you match with someone individual in the group, that helps us bond more and know people on an individual basis since rehearsal’s everyone all together, and also as we become more established and groups like ours spread, we have more interactions with those groups. For example, there’s this conference we do every year called “Break it down Boston” which is a gathering of all the different Christian acapella groups so it’s a very different dynamic than you have with other musical conferences and that’s a cool way to see how our group along with other groups has evolved over time as we become more of a national thing.

Informant’s Comments:

• Check transcript

Collector’s Comments:

• It’s not at all uncommon for college students to attend meetups and conferences. There are conferences for many different interest groups, such as for demographic factors (race and gender), intellectual interests, and for sports as well. These conferences serve as a way for people to meet people to network with that share some factor with them.

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed by: Afnan Enayet/Sruthi Pasupuleti

Tags/Keywords:

• Acapella
• Singing
• Conference
• Tradition

Title: Wake Ups

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Ritual, Tradition

• English

• USA

Informant Data:

• Dami Apoeso is 21 years old and was born in Hartford Connecticut. He grew up in the Bronx, New York City and currently lives in Spring Valley, New York. He is majoring in computer science. He danced for approximately 6 years in a summer camp before joining Sheba his sophomore year at Dartmouth.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context

All members of the team participate in this ritual. New members are unaware of the ritual at first. The tradition occurs in the early morning, during the fall term, after new members for the team have been selected. The information says that his has been a tradition for a very long time and he first experienced it his sophomore fall when he joined Sheba.

• Cultural Context

Sheba tries to be a very inclusive group and form a close bond with its members. This culture is represented in this tradition, as it helps the new members form a connection with the other new members who were surprised by the wake ups, and with the returning member who they have breakfast with.

Item:

After new member are selected for the team, they are woken up early in the morning by returning members. The new members are told that the team needs another audition. The returning members take the new members from their room but then surprise them with flair(mismatched, odd clothing), welcome the new members to the team, take them to Lou’s Diner for breakfast and take pictures with everyone. Afterwards, the new members are allowed to go back to sleep.

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

Wake Ups

Transcript of Associated File:

“Since i was a sophomore when I auditioned, I only auditioned for Sheba. The process took about 4 hours. Once I was done I went home, went to sleep, received a knock on my door at 6 am saying that we needed another audition and when I got there they said, just kidding welcome to Sheba and they handed me these items of flair to wear and then we went to Lou’s and took some pictures and then had breakfast and went back to sleep.”

Informant’s Comments:

The informant remembers his wake up as a great experience as it was his first real experience with Sheba after joining the team.

Collector’s Comments:

Wake Ups are another common tradition amongst various groups and teams across campus, and they do a good job of making new members feel included and special.

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed by: Sruthi Pasupuleti

Tags/Keywords:

• Dance
• Team
• New Member Initiation
• Tradition
• Ritual

Title: Sheba Sign

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Ritual, Tradition

• English

• USA

Informant Data:

• Dami Apoeso is 21 years old and was born in Hartford Connecticut. He grew up in the Bronx, New York City and currently lives in Spring Valley, New York. He is majoring in computer science. He danced for approximately 6 years in a summer camp before joining Sheba his sophomore year at Dartmouth.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context

All members of the team use the hand sign. The sign originated a long time ago and the informant is not sure when. The sign is used during practices, before, during and after performances, and any time members wish to use it.

• Cultural Context

Sheba is a very close knit group and this sign is a special tradition that represents the entire group. The group takes pride in its sign and this is reflective of the group’s culture – the team takes pride in its accomplishments and is like a family.

Item:

The Sheba hand sign consists of two hands placed in the shape of an S. The hand sign is used throughout many dances and it is a tradition for performances to end with the sign. The sign is also used during photos and any other time the group would like to represent itself. A video containing the hand sign can be seen below.

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

Sheba Sign

Transcript of Associated File:

“We also do the Sheba sign we like to incorporate it into many of the dances and we normally end with that as well and then we do it when we take photos of course. A lot of the times we do this thing where we complete someone else’s hands so ill like go like this and someone else’s hand will finish the s. So yeah thats like a symbol of our connection I guess.”

Informant’s Comments:

The informant believes the sign is a symbol that represents the group and takes pride in the symbol.

Collector’s Comments:

It is very interesting because many dance groups and other groups have symbols, but from the informant’s description it seems as though members of Sheba take a large amount of pride in their symbol as opposed to many of the other groups for whom the symbols are not as important.

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed by: Sruthi Pasupuleti

Tags/Keywords:

• Dance
• Team
• Symbol
• Ritual
• Tradition

Title: Women’s Pre-Performance Ritual

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Ritual, Tradition

• English

• USA

Informant Data:

• Dami Apoeso is 21 years old and was born in Hartford Connecticut. He grew up in the Bronx, New York City and currently lives in Spring Valley, New York. He is majoring in computer science. He danced for approximately 6 years in a summer camp before joining Sheba his sophomore year at Dartmouth.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context

All female members of the team who are dancing in the performance participate in this ritual. The ritual occurs before every performance. The informant believes this tradition has been going on for a few years and the earliest occurrence of it that he knows of it is from 3 years ago.

• Cultural Context

Sheba is a close knit team and this ritual helps the female members spend time and bond with each other.

Item:

All female members of the team get ready for performances together. To elaborate, they do their makeup, hair and get dressed in a room together and spend the time talking, and bonding with each other.

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

Women’s Ritual

Transcript of Associated File:

“So usually the day of the show the guys normally just get ready by themselves, but the girls, they uh they tend to like go to some girls room and get ready together and do their makeup together and I don’t even know what goes on in there but i know that they’ve been doing this for as long as they’ve been on the team. Especially like the 18s, I know Emily said that the 18s used to always get ready together, the girls and they still do to this day.”

Informant’s Comments:

The informant believes this tradition has really helped the female members of the team bond with each other.

Collector’s Comments:

This is a ritual that is similar to one in other groups and emphasizes that many performance groups strive to be inclusive and act as second families. Many traditions and rituals for performance groups seem to focus on creating a strong bond between members.

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed by: Sruthi Pasupuleti

Tags/Keywords:

• Dance
• Team
• Tradition
• Ritual
• Pre-Performance