Category Archives: Musical

Long Island High School Band Customs

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Washington, District of Colombia
Performance Date: 4/21/19
Primary Language: English
Language: none

A – “There are a couple things we always did, every day we had class, once we got to class back in high school.  There’s this thing at Schreiber [our High School] where, every musician with their instrument ready would blow out some really poor-sounding tone, and then there would be a response from the other side of the room.  It didn’t really matter who responded, so sometimes there was more than one, but, you know, as long as there was a response.  And yeah, just a really poor tone coming from any instrument.  So this would happen every class, so twice a week, before our teacher/conductor got there, we were all getting ready.  This is kinda just our way of maintaining our individuality from the other students at school, I think we were all rather proud of being in the band.”

How were you Introduced to this tradition?

A – “So the first time I got into the band my sophomore year, I noticed people doing it, but no one actually said anything about it.  It took me a couple weeks before I realized that it was, like, an actual thing that we always did.  Taking part in that was kinda like a rite of passage, once you did it, you were a real member of the band.”

A – “I definitely won’t forget that we did that, I think just because it brings me back to my time in the band, where I had a lot of fun and spent time with people I liked.”

 

I was actually in the band with A, and I got there a year before he did.  So it was fun for me, who had gone through the same sort of vetting process with this one tone call and response, to watch him as he learned of it’s existence, and soon became proficient in it.  I definitely agree with his idea that this was a sort of rite-of-passage situation; I’d also add that it was almost a weird way of hazing new members, getting them to think that we sound awful, getting them to wonder why they’re even there if that’s the case.  Then we start playing.

Rugby Traditions and Songs

Nationality: Persian American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 3/25/19
Primary Language: English
Language: Farsi

Description

“One thing that we do in Rugby is called ‘shoot the boot.’ So if a rookie scores their first try, which is just like a goal or the equivalent of an American football touchdown, after the game, they have to fill their cleat or their ‘boot’ with beer and drink it all in one go. The other teammates sing a song that goes like, ‘Why are we waiting, we could be masturbating, drink mother fucker, drink!’ So, yeah, also, in rugby, the team sings a lot of provocative songs after every game. A lot of them are about having sex, drinking, respecting Jesus, that sort of thing. The one song that is like the worst goes like, ‘Shit damn fuck a damn, fuck a damn damn. Some mother fucker just fucked my man,’ something like that. I don’t know the exact lyrics to all of them.”

Context

Having played rugby, I know a lot of other rugby players that are more well versed in the folklore of rugby groups than I am. I sat down with one of them and asked specifically about things I’d been a part of, and the informant very eagerly shared this with me.

Analysis

This is one of the only pieces I collected that I myself have experienced. I have shot the boot, and it is about as terrible as it sounds, but also works as a rite of passage. You aren’t a “real” member of the team until you have participated in this custom, which is very interesting. It also becomes a sort of initiation, as well, and raises the question — can someone still be a rookie if they haven’t scored, but have played for many years? There are some positions in the game that hardly ever score. This piece of folklore had me wondering where it came from, also, and if the sport’s roots in New Zealand and Europe started this, or if it came about when the sport started being played in the United States.

 

Birthday Dirge

Nationality: American
Age: 54
Occupation: Government
Residence: Los Altos
Performance Date: 4/4/19
Primary Language: English
Language: ASL

Text:

“Oh happy Birthday, Oh happy Birthday
Worms and germs are in the air
People dying everywhere
Oh happy Birthday, Oh happy Birthday”

Genre: Folk Song

Background: The interviewee, KP, is an American man nearing his mid-fifties. KP resides in northern California, and his family has been in the states since the second ship after the Mayflower.He also states that he doesn’t know its exact origins, but assumes they are from the South (where he and his ancestors grew up). KP notes that the birthday song was originally passed down orally by his mother. The conversation was brought up after overhearing this song at a family birthday celebration, where he states the song is traditionally sung at since others cultures may not approve of such dark and depressing nature. This depressing nature, however, is not how KP sees the song, he states they “sing it just to be funny and change up the traditional happy birthday song, and never sang it to be mean just to have fun.”

Nationality: American
Location: the South (transitioned into west coast)
Language: English

Interpretation: My initial reaction of hearing this dark and dreary birthday song was the thought of “ Who would want to hear this on their Birthday?” Often when celebrating a birthday we are trying to ignore the fact that we are growing a step closer to our impending deaths and this song seems to capitalize on this fear. After going into a deeper analysis of this text I found that the song or refrain is a variation of the Birthday Dirge a/k/a “The Barbarian Birthday Song”, “The Viking Birthday Song”, “The SCA Birthday Dirge”. This Dirge is sung to the melody of a Russian folk tune known as, The Volga Boatmen” (a 1926 American silent drama film). The Dirge often varies in lyrics based upon who it is being sung to and often is comprised of only 2-3 verses. It is said that after each refrain of “Happy Birthday”, often in Russian tradition, the noise “HUHN”-like a grunt, or a thump on the table or floor is produced. This thumping aspect has not followed into KB’s Birthday Dirge which I find extremely interesting as it is a quite prominent attribute to the Russian rendition. In addition to the thump or lack thereof, I found that the lyrics are slightly different from those recorded in the article I found; the only commonality being the line “People dying everywhere.”

Larson, Grig -Punkie-. “History of the Birthday Dirge.” Punkie’s Web Page – Lyrics for Viking/Barbarian Birthday Dirge, 2019, punkwalrus.net/cybertusk/viking_birthday_dirge.html.

Overtly Sexual Theater Tradition at a Public School

Main Piece

“The guys would go into a room and praise a plunger, and during the show girls would try and steal the plunger. Also, there was a pre–show girl’s song about being a lady:

“We’ve got vaginas, (vaginas), the ovaries too, we’ve got the boobies (the boobies), a

higher IQ, we are women and we are better than men”

Next, after the show, a female cast member would sing about a boy in the cast:

“Oh, (name of the boy), please don’t touch me, please don’t touch me, as I slither…” This is all that the informant could remember of this particular song. “The song would end in orgasm noises,” according to the informant.

Background

Informant

Nationality: Greek–American

Location: Northern California, Bay Area

Language: English

The informant found the first song about being a lady to be funny, while she thought the song after the show to be quite strange. Neither song had any particular meaning to the informant, other than serving as a fun and engaging way to prepare the group for their show. The songs were all learned from older members of the theater group, who learned them from students who have since graduated.

Context

The informant attended a public school in an affluent area near San Francisco. This tradition has been carried out since at least the early 2000’s and is still going on.

Notes

“Theater kids” as they are called are often stereotyped as being hypersexual, and songs and practices like this are part of the reason why. I find it interesting that the same songs, although they may have changed a bit over time, are still being sung. One might think that over the course of more than a decade the way teenagers engage in sexually explicit conduct would evolve, but in this case the practices remain the same.

 

Pre–Show Chant

Main Piece

The following is chanted: “Ooh I feel so good, like I knew I would, ooh I feel so good, ooh (pause) I (pause) feel (pause) so good!”

According to the informant, each person in the circle would do the chant once in their normal voice, and then everyone would do it as an impression of someone else, often a teacher or famous act. Finally, everyone would get into a tightly knit mob and say the following: “Little bit softer now, just whisper, mouth the words [with “mouth the words” being mouthed, not spoken], little bit louder now, shout it out!”

Background

Informant

Nationality: American

Location: Washington D.C.

Language: English

The informant clearly enjoyed the tradition, as she laughed a lot while telling the story and performing the chant. They learned the chant from other members of their theater group, and it now reminds them of the fun they had while in the group.

Context

The chant was done before the informant’s theater performances in high school.

Notes

When I have previously heard this chant, it has always been performed by high school football teams. I find it very interesting that such vastly different groups can use the same chant to get excited before a performance or a game.