Title: Initiation rituals of music groups at Dartmouth College – Rockapellas2

General Information about Item:

• Genre: Initiation Ritual
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: USA
• Informant: Ijeoma Nwuke, female, 20 years old
• Place Collected: Dartmouth College, King Arthur Flower Café
• Date Collected: 10-13-2018

Informant Data:

• Ijeoma Nwuke comes from Lagos, Nigeria. She is a sophomore at Dartmouth College. She is an Engineering major. On campus, she has been a member of the Ricapellas acapella group since freshman year.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: The Rocapellas are an acapella group at Dartmouth College. They perform songs that deal with social justice. Many of the acapella groups at Dartmouth perform initiation rituals and the Rocapellas are no exeption. The Rocapellas’ initiation process is deemed important because welcomes the new members and allows them to see how they get along with the rest of the group outside of rehearsal.
• Social Context: The folk group that the Rocapellas consist of singers who feel deeply passionate about social justice. The setting in which one part of the ritual takes place is private – the new members are taken to an unknown location and initially made to believe that they

Item:

• On a Saturday, starting at 9 a.m, Ijeoma went through the first round of auditions to be in an acapella group. After the first round came the second round of auditions. Her welcome into the Rocapellas, also known as the initiation process, was being woken up at 3 in the morning. She was told they were going to Canada, gave her some “flair” and drove them to an unknown location. They ended up going to a restaurant, having breakfast and just getting to know each other.
• A second part of initiation consists of getting together, watching a movie, eating food, and singing their audition song. All the members are required to do this in an effort to bring the group together as a whole.

Analysis: Initiation rituals consist of three stages: separation, transition and incorporation.

• For the first part of initiation, the separation stage can be viewed as the process of being woken up by the group and taken an unknown location as they are separated from the campus. The transition stage includes the time during which they believe they are being taken to Canada as well as all the activities at the unknown location, including games and singing songs. Incorporation is the stage at which they go to the “Shack” and learn more about the new and the old members.
• The second part of initiation can be included in the incorporation stage and is used to further solidify membership and create greater group unity.

Meaning and interpretation: Initiation rituals of the Rocapellas, much like the initiation process of the rest of the music groups, has the purpose of making the new members feel welcome. According to the informants, even though the process was somewhat strange and scary initially, it ultimately made them feel less anxious about being new in the group. The initiation process also had the purpose of creating a feeling of excitement and group unity.

Comparison:

• Comparison within the subgroup: More professional groups (those guided by a director) are notified that they had become part of the group prior to initiation. That is not the case with acapella groups (i.e. the Rocapellas). All the groups within the subgroup are surprised by the wakeups and all the groups get a meal as part of initiation. This is the case because the meal has the purpose of bringing the group together as the new members and old members get to know each other better. The goal of initiation for all the music groups is not to scare or test the new members, but to welcome them into their circle.
• Comparison with the rest of the subgroups: The subgroups differ dramatically across the board. Some of the subgroups focus on various ethnic groups while others focus on groups within Dartmouth. The initiation rituals of the groups within Dartmouth usually have the purpose of welcoming new members into their community and are symbolic. Ethnic-based group rituals have the purpose of testing the new members. Additionally, ethnic groups’ initiation rituals tend to be related to religious practices. Initiation rituals of Dartmouth groups are not religious in character. What all groups have in common though is the fact that the process of initiation creates closeness with the rest of the group and makes one feel completely immersed into the group.

Transcript: “It made me feel welcomed and less frightened, especially since I was quite anxious going into the audition process.”

Collector: Katarina Nesic, Dartmouth College, Russian 13, Professor Valentina Apresyan, Professor Mikhail Gronas, Fall 2018

Tags/Keywords:

• Initiation
• Ritual
• Acapella Groups
• Dartmouth

Title: Initiation rituals of music groups at Dartmouth College – Rockapellas 1

General Information about Item:

• Genre: Initiation Ritual
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: USA
• Informant: Alice Zhang, female, 19 years old
• Place Collected: Dartmouth College Library, Baker-Berry Lobby
• Date Collected: 10-23-2018

Informant Data:

• Alice Zhang was born in and currently lives in San Clemente in Southern California. She is a sophomore at Dartmouth College. Alice is a very involved member of the Dartmouth community. On campus she is a member of the Rocapellas acapella group, a member of the Fusion Dance Ensemble and a member of Kappa Delta sorority. She joined the Rocapellas because the focus of the group is on social justice and freedom.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: The Rocapellas are an acapella group at Dartmouth College. They perform songs that deal with social justice. Many of the acapella groups at Dartmouth perform initiation rituals and the Rocapellas are no exeption. The Rocapellas’ initiation process is deemed important because welcomes the new members and allows them to see how they get along with the rest of the group outside of rehearsal.
• Social Context: The folk group that the Rocapellas consist of singers who feel deeply passionate about social justice. The setting in which one part of the ritual takes place is private – the new members are taken to an unknown location and initially made to believe that they are taken to a place in Canada, which creates an element of surprise as well as secrecy.

Item:

• After waking up at 9 a.m. to audition for an acapella group, Alice got a callback from the Rocapellas and ultimately decided to join. She was woken up at 3 in the morning by the old members, taken to an unknown location to sing and do games with the old members. After that, she was taken to the “Shack” in West Lebanon. They talked more and got to know each other better.
• Another part of initiation included the “Baby show.” All the new are featured as soloists in a show organized by the Rocapellas and Alice was no exception. At the “Baby show” they put together skits in which they make fun of old members for things they observed in the time they had spent with them.

Analysis: Initiation rituals consist of three stages: separation, transition and incorporation.

• For the first part of initiation, the separation stage can be viewed as the process of being woken up by the group and taken an unknown location as they are separated from the campus. The transition stage includes all the activities at the unknown location, including games and singing songs. Incorporation is the stage at which they go to the “Shack” and learn more about the new and the old members
• For the second part of initiation, also known as the “Baby Show,” separation is the stage in which they are tasked to come up with a skit and be featured as soloists. Transition is their task of performing their skits, as they are placed in a state of uncertainty because they are unsure if they had done their skit correctly. Incorporation comes at the end, when they are done with the skit and re-welcomed into the larger group.

Meaning and interpretation: Initiation rituals of the Rocapellas, much like the initiation process of the rest of the music groups, has the purpose of making the new members feel welcome. According to the informants, even though the process was somewhat strange and scary initially, it ultimately made them feel less anxious about being new in the group. The initiation process also had the purpose of creating a feeling of excitement and group unity.

Comparison:

• Comparison within the subgroup: More professional groups (those guided by a director) are notified that they had become part of the group prior to initiation. That is not the case with acapella groups (i.e. the Rocapellas). All the groups within the subgroup are surprised by the wakeups and all the groups get a meal as part of initiation. This is the case because the meal has the purpose of bringing the group together as the new members and old members get to know each other better. The goal of initiation for all the music groups is not to scare or test the new members, but to welcome them into their circle.
• Comparison with the rest of the subgroups: The subgroups differ dramatically across the board. Some of the subgroups focus on various ethnic groups while others focus on groups within Dartmouth. The initiation rituals of the groups within Dartmouth usually have the purpose of welcoming new members into their community and are symbolic. Ethnic-based group rituals have the purpose of testing the new members. Additionally, ethnic groups’ initiation rituals tend to be related to religious practices. Initiation rituals of Dartmouth groups are not religious in character. What all groups have in common though is the fact that the process of initiation creates closeness with the rest of the group and makes one feel completely immersed into the group.

Transcript: “The initiation made me feel pretty welcome – it was pretty obvious that they put a lot of effort into making us feel included and they were excited to take us on!”

Collector: Katarina Nesic, Dartmouth College, Russian 13, Professor Valentina Apresyan, Professor Mikhail Gronas, Fall 2018

Tags/Keywords:

• Initiation
• Ritual
• Acapella Groups
• Dartmouth

Title: Initiation rituals of music groups at Dartmouth College – Glee Club3

General Information about Item:

• Genre: Initiation Ritual
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: USA
• Informant: Katherine Yang, female, 19 years old
• Place Collected: Dartmouth College Library, Baker-Berry Lobby
• Date Collected: 11-27-2018

Informant Data:

• Katherine Yang was born in Parsippany, New Jersey and currently lives there. She attends Dartmouth College where she is a sophomore. On campus, she is a member of Glee Club and the Fusion Dance Ensemble. She has played several instruments in her lifetime, including the piano and the trumpet.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: Glee Club is a choir group that performs classical, choir songs. Initiation rituals of the Glee Club are specific to Dartmouth College – there is usually no initiation process for this club on other campuses. Initiation is deemed as important because of its purpose to welcome the new members and build team spirit rather than scare or test new members.
• Social Context: The folk group that the Glee Club consists of is those who are interested in and sing classical music. The setting in which one part of the ritual takes place is public – Dartmouth Hall and Lou’s Diner. The second part of the ritual takes place in private – the back room. All members have to participate in initiation.

Item:

• Katherine auditioned for the Glee club at the beginning of her freshman fall. She was scared because she was ill and she had never done cite singing before. She did end up being accepted to Glee Club. She was notified by email that she was accepted. After that came the initiation process. She was woken up at around 4 in the morning. She almost didn’t answer the door because she had just come back from trips and was ill. The older members were dressed in “flair,” put up a poster on her door which said “Glee Club loves Katherine” and took her to Dartmouth Hall were they sang traditional Dartmouth songs. When they finished singing, they went to Lou’s Diner where they all got breakfast and got to know each other. She said that the whole process was “a lot of fun.”

Analysis: Initiation rituals consist of three stages: separation, transition and incorporation. In the case of Glee Club’s initiation, the separation stage includes being woken up by the group and taken to Dartmouth Hall – they are separated from the familiar place, which is their dorm. Transition includes being tasked to sing the lesser-known Dartmouth songs – it is the stage of uncertainty. Incorporation consists of the meal they get with the upperclassmen and the post-concert song which shows they are fully integrated into the group.

Meaning and interpretation: From the interviews with the Glee club informants as well as personal interpretation, one comes to the conclusion that the ritual signifies becoming completely incorporated into the group. While various other groups (even some within the entire collection group) use initiation as a test to see if the person has the skills necessary to be fully immersed in the group, Glee club uses initiation to make the new members feel welcome and create a cohesive group.

Comparison:

• Comparison within the subgroup: As a more professional group (guided by a director) new members of the Glee club are notified of their acceptance prior to the initiation ritual, which is not the case with the acapella groups. All the groups within the subgroup are surprised by the wakeups and all the groups get a meal as part of initiation. This is the case because the meal has the purpose of bringing the group together as the new members and old members get to know each other better. The goal of initiation for all the music groups is not to scare or test the new members, but to welcome them into their circle.
• Comparison with the rest of the subgroups: The subgroups differ dramatically across the board. Some of the subgroups focus on various ethnic groups while others focus on groups within Dartmouth. The initiation rituals of the groups within Dartmouth usually have the purpose of welcoming new members into their community and are symbolic. Ethnic-based group rituals have the purpose of testing the new members. Additionally, ethnic groups’ initiation rituals tend to be related to religious practices. Initiation rituals of Dartmouth groups are not religious in character. What all groups have in common though is the fact that the process of initiation creates closeness with the rest of the group and makes one feel completely immersed into the group.

Transcript: “I thought initiation was pretty cult-y but in a good way!”

Collector: Katarina Nesic, Dartmouth College, Russian 13, Professor Valentina Apresyan, Professor Mikhail Gronas, Fall 2018

Tags/Keywords:

• Initiation
• Ritual
• Glee Club
• Dartmouth

Title: Initiation rituals of music groups at Dartmouth College – Glee Club2

General Information about Item:

• Genre: Initiation Ritual
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: USA
• Informant: Cecilia (Cece) Zugel, female, 18 years old
• Place Collected: Dartmouth College, King Arthur Flower Café
• Date Collected: 11-01-2018

Informant Data:

• Cecilia Cece Zugel comes from Northern Virginia near Washington D.C. She is a sophomore at Dartmouth College. She is currently trying to make a decision about what she wants to study. English, Film and Linguistics are her current top choices. She has been a member of the Glee for a bit over a year.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: Glee Club is a choir group that performs classical, choir songs. Initiation rituals of the Glee Club are specific to Dartmouth College – there is usually no initiation process for this club on other campuses. Initiation is deemed as important because of its purpose to welcome the new members and build team spirit rather than scare or test new members.
• Social Context: The folk group that the Glee Club consists of is those who are interested in and sing classical music. The setting in which one part of the ritual takes place is public – Dartmouth Hall and Lou’s Diner. The second part of the ritual takes place in private – the back room. All members have to participate in initiation.

 Item:

• Cece went through the typical audition process. She received an email that she had been accepted into Glee club and that she should come to rehearsal. At one point during the week, the upperclassmen went to her room to wake her up early in the morning and took her and the other new members to Dartmouth Hall. There, they sang some traditional Dartmouth songs. Afterwards, the upper and underclassmen all went together to Lou’s Diner to share stories and get to know each other.
• At the end of the first concert the initiation process continues. The old members surprise the new members by singing a song about all the classes and they are taken aback.

Analysis: Initiation rituals consist of three stages: separation, transition and incorporation. In the case of Glee Club’s initiation, the separation stage includes being woken up by the group and taken to Dartmouth Hall – they are separated from the familiar place, which is their dorm. Transition includes being tasked to sing the lesser-known Dartmouth songs – it is the stage of uncertainty. Incorporation consists of the meal they get with the upperclassmen and the post-concert song which shows they are fully integrated into the group.

Meaning and interpretation: From the interviews with the Glee club informants as well as personal interpretation, one comes to the conclusion that the ritual signifies becoming completely incorporated into the group. While various other groups (even some within the entire collection group) use initiation as a test to see if the person has the skills necessary to be fully immersed in the group, Glee club uses initiation to make the new members feel welcome and create a cohesive group.

Comparison:

• Comparison within the subgroup: As a more professional group (guided by a director) new members of the Glee club are notified of their acceptance prior to the initiation ritual, which is not the case with the acapella groups. All the groups within the subgroup are surprised by the wakeups and all the groups get a meal as part of initiation. This is the case because the meal has the purpose of bringing the group together as the new members and old members get to know each other better. The goal of initiation for all the music groups is not to scare or test the new members, but to welcome them into their circle.
• Comparison with the rest of the subgroups: The subgroups differ dramatically across the board. Some of the subgroups focus on various ethnic groups while others focus on groups within Dartmouth. The initiation rituals of the groups within Dartmouth usually have the purpose of welcoming new members into their community and are symbolic. Ethnic-based group rituals have the purpose of testing the new members. Additionally, ethnic groups’ initiation rituals tend to be related to religious practices. Initiation rituals of Dartmouth groups are not religious in character. What all groups have in common though is the fact that the process of initiation creates closeness with the rest of the group and makes one feel completely immersed into the group.

Transcript: “I feel like in the moment it’s cool, it’s awesome, I’m part of the group [….] but I also wish we kept up the social aspect throughout the term.”

Collector: Katarina Nesic, Dartmouth College, Russian 13, Professor Valentina Apresyan, Professor Mikhail Gronas, Fall 2018

Tags/Keywords:

• Initiation
• Ritual
• Glee Club
• Dartmouth

Title: Initiation rituals of music groups at Dartmouth College – Glee Club1

General Information about Item:

• Genre: Initiation Ritual
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: USA
• Informant: Abigail Buckley, female, 21 years old
• Place Collected: Dartmouth College, Kappa Delta Sorority Formal Room
• Date Collected: 10-28-2018

Informant Data:

• Abigail Buckley was born and raised in Rockville Centre, New York. She is a senior at Dartmouth College. She is a Physics major. On campus, she is the president of Kappa Delta sorority, a member of Women in Science and a member of Glee Club. Glee Club is a professional HOP ensemble at Dartmouth College that frequently performs over the course of the school year.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: Glee Club is a choir group that performs classical, choir songs. Initiation rituals of the Glee Club are specific to Dartmouth College – there is usually no initiation process for this club on other campuses. Initiation is deemed as important because of its purpose to welcome the new members and build team spirit rather than scare or test new members.
• Social Context: The folk group that the Glee Club consists of is those who are interested in and sing classical music. The setting in which one part of the ritual takes place is public – Dartmouth Hall and Lou’s Diner. The second part of the ritual takes place in private – the back room. All members have to participate in initiation.

Item:

• After auditioning for Glee Club and getting the email that she had been accepted into the group, Abigail is woken up in the middle of the night by a pounding on her door. Older members of the Glee Club come inside and take her and other new members to Dartmouth Hall. They are instructed to sing various lesser-known Dartmouth songs in front of the Hall. After they are done singing, they go to Lou’s diner and order breakfast for which the Glee Club pays.
• After their first show, Abigail, the rest of the new members and the old members of the Glee Club gather in the back room. They begin singing songs that originated at Dartmouth. One that stands out in particular is a song that talks about all the class years. Abigail feels very welcome after initiation takes place.

Analysis: Initiation rituals consist of three stages: separation, transition and incorporation. In the case of Glee Club’s initiation, the separation stage includes being woken up by the group and taken to Dartmouth Hall – they are separated from the familiar place, which is their dorm. Transition includes being tasked to sing the lesser-known Dartmouth songs – it is the stage of uncertainty. Incorporation consist of the meal they get with the upperclassmen and the post-concert song which shows they are fully integrated into the group.

Meaning and interpretation: From the interviews with the Glee club informants as well as personal interpretation, one comes to the conclusion that the ritual signifies becoming completely incorporated into the group. While various other groups (even some within the entire collection group) use initiation as a test to see if the person has the skills necessary to be fully immersed in the group, Glee club uses initiation to make the new members feel welcome and create a cohesive group.

Comparison:

• Comparison within the subgroup: As a more professional group (guided by a director) new members of the Glee club are notified of their acceptance prior to the initiation ritual, which is not the case with the acapella groups. All the groups within the subgroup are surprised by the wakeups and all the groups get a meal as part of initiation. This is the case because the meal has the purpose of bringing the group together as the new members and old members get to know each other better. The goal of initiation for all the music groups is not to scare or test the new members, but to welcome them into their circle.
• Comparison with the rest of the subgroups: The subgroups differ dramatically across the board. Some of the subgroups focus on various ethnic groups while others focus on groups within Dartmouth. The initiation rituals of the groups within Dartmouth usually have the purpose of welcoming new members into their community and are symbolic. Ethnic-based group rituals have the purpose of testing the new members. Additionally, ethnic groups’ initiation rituals tend to be related to religious practices. Initiation rituals of Dartmouth groups are not religious in character. What all groups have in common though is the fact that the process of initiation creates closeness with the rest of the group and makes one feel completely immersed into the group.

 Transcript:

• “[…] there are some things we do to solidify membership”

Collector: Katarina Nesic, Dartmouth College, Russian 13, Professor Valentina Apresyan, Professor Mikhail Gronas, Fall 2018

Tags/Keywords:

• Initiation
• Ritual
• Glee Club
• Dartmouth