First Field Notes!

History

The Ursa Minors:
From the Ursa Minors Website: “Founded in 1981, the Ursa Minors are a women’s a cappella group at Brown University. The Ursas, as their fans refer to them, perform original arrangements of music from variety of genres including pop, jazz, rock, folk and R&B. The group currently features 15 women from all over the country and all corners of the Brown community who, in addition to singing, are involved in a wide range of activities all around campus, from athletics to theatre, religious life to community service and more. While the group’s membership and repertoire continue to grow and change, one thing remains the same: the Ursas are not only a group of musicians and voices, but a group of friends.”

The Higher Keys:
From the Higher Keys Website: “Founded in 1983, The Higher Keys are Brown University's oldest and premiere coed a cappella group. Though famed for our good looks, sense of humor and all-around sass, we are best known for our unique repertoire and award-winning arrangements. The Keys have recorded six albums over the past twenty-six years, including Lock It Up, our most recent release. Between recording sessions, the group travels regularly; we have toured such exotic locations as San Francisco, the Florida Keys, New York City, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, and numerous high schools and colleges along both coasts of the United States.”

The Bear Necessities:
“All-male, all-suspendered a cappella since 1992.”

Members

The Ursa Minors:
-All female
-Even mix of classes
-Have a business manager, President, Webmaster, Musical Director and Assistant Musical Director
-Two members are abroad this semester
-Music Director changed from semester 1 to semester 2.

The Higher Keys:
-11 girls, 10 boys
-One girl abroad
-President, AMD, MD, and Business Manager
-Two boys are from RISD

The Bear Necessities:
-3 Freshmen, 1 Sophomore, 5 Juniors, 5 Seniors, 1 Graduate Student
-All Male

Performance

The Ursa Minors:
The Ursa Minors perform frequently both on- and off-campus, in all kinds of venues and perform for groups of all ages and sizes. The ladies have entertained at charity functions, sporting events, Brown faculty and student affairs and Providence community events. In recent years they were featured singing the National Anthem and two concerts at the U.S. Tennis Open at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York . They have also competed in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) and hosted two rounds of the tournament in 2006 and 2007, welcoming groups from across the Northeast region to sing on the Brown campus.
The Ursas also travel to other universities in the to join their a cappella groups in concerts and frequently invite outside groups to be guest performers at Brown. Other groups the Ursas have recently sung with include the MIT Logarhythms, Tufts Beelzebubs, Yale Baker’s Dozen, Dartmouth Cords, and many of Brown’s other fabulous groups, most recently the Brown Derbies, Jabberwocks, and Higher Keys.



The Higher Keys:
Perform both on and off campus. Perform arch sings in Wayland Arch. Performed at the Triple Threat Concert in September and host the Holiday Organ Concert (in which all the a cappella groups on campus perform). This year they hosted the International Competition of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) New England quarterfinals.



The Bear Necessities:
Perform on Campus for events like the Beary Keys Holiday Concert and the Parents Weekend Concert. Have multiple arch sings a year including a Halloween Arch Sing and the Bear Cub Arch Sing in which they introduce their new members to the a cappella community (and give them their first pair of suspenders).



Recording

The Ursa Minors:
-Their first album, Until the Morning Comes, was released in 1999 and was nominated for a Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award for excellence in arranging. (“Yesterday,” which was originally recorded on that album, has since become a staple in the Ursas’ set.)
-In the fall of 2002, the Ursas released their sophomore album, Note to Self, which received honorable mention from the Recorded A Cappella Review Board as one of its “Picks of the Year.” -The group’s third album, The Little Black Dress, was released in 2005 and includes songs originally performed by Stevie Wonder, Jason Mraz, Maroon 5, and Ella Fitzgerald, among others. In 2006, the album was recognized by the Contemporary A Cappella Society of America’s nominating panel as one of the top 10 female collegiate albums of the year.
-April 2007 marked the release of the Ursa Minors’ fourth studio album, Minor Details, which was co-produced and engineered by CB Productions’ Ed Boyer and John Clark and includes songs by artists including Marc Broussard, The Beatles, Bonnie Raitt, Fiona Apple and many other favorites. The Ursas are currently in the studio recording their fifth album, set for release in 2010.

The Higher Keys:
-Taller Doors (1992)
-By Invitation Only (1995)
-Unlocked (1997)
-If I Had A Microphone (2001)
-It’s Natural (2005)
-Lock It Up (2008)

The Bear Necessities:
-Out of Hibernation (1993)
-The Bear Necessities Jam (1995)
-Circus People (1999)
-Dry Clean Only (2004)

Repertoire

The Ursa Minors:
-All at Sea (Jamie Cullum)
-Breathe In (Frou Frou)
-Dancing in the Moonlight (Van Morrison)
-Dreamlover (Mariah Carey)
-Fidelity (Regina Spektor)
-Gee Baby Ain’t I Good to You (Jazz Standard)
-Hard to Handle (Black Crowes)
-Hyperballad (Bjork)
-I’d Rather Dance With You (Kings of Convenience)
-Jingle Bell Rock
-Let Go (Frou Frou)
-Love on the Rocks (Sara Bareilles)
-Only You (The Platters)
-Put Your Records On (Corinne Bailey Rae)
-Rhode Island Is Famous For You (Blossom Dearie)
-Rocksteady (Marc Broussard)
-Son of a Preacher Man (Dusty Springfield)
-Sunrise (Norah Jones)
-The Way I Am (Ingrid Michaelson)
-Yesterday (The Beathles)

Notes on Ursa Repertoire: A majority of members have solos, mix of top fourty, some older popular songs, some lesser known songs, and standards (such as Jingle Bell Rock and Rhode Island Is Famous for You). Arranged by the Ursas themselves.

The Higher Keys:
-Back To You (John Mayer)
-Beatles’ Medley
-Don’t Stop Me Now (Queen)
-Fly Me To The Moon (Frank Sinatra)
-Friend Like Me (Aladdin)
-Gershwin Medley
-I Don’t Know Where I stand (Joni Mitchell)
-Jet Airliner (Steve Miller Band)
-Just (Radiohead)
-Michael Jackson Medley
-Owner of a Lonely Heart (Yes)
-Samson (Regina Spektor)
-School of Rock (From School of Rock)
-Sentimental Guy (Ben Folds)
-Sir Duke (Stevie Wonder)
-Somewhere (From West Side Story)
-Sweet Dreams (Eurythmics)
-Too Darn Hot (Cole Porter)
-Undertow (Sara Bareilles)
-You and Me and the Bottle Makes Three (Big Bad Voodoo Daddy)

Notes on Higher Keys Rep: “Half Jazz-Half pop.” Multiple medleys. Arranged by Keys (most of whom were on the class of ‘07).

The Bear Necessities:
-Beautiful Day
-Brandy
-King of Pain
-Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)
-Ghost Train
-What’s My Age Again
-Hopeless
-Straight Up
-The Oaf
-Poison
-Crash Into Me
-Right Here, Right Now
-Zoot Suit Riot
-American Girl
-Fat Bottom Girls

Auditions

The Ursa Minors:
-First round: Held in a room in Wilson or Sayles along with almost all the other a cappella groups on Campus. Auditionees must fill out a card with their name, room number, phone number, year, experience singing, solo they are planning to sing, and favorite candy. The audition includes singing scales, pitch-matching (in which a sequence of notes are played on a keyboard and the auditionee must try to sing back the notes as accurately as possible), and a solo (chosen by the auditionee). Callback lists are posted at Midnight in Wayland arch the week after the auditions.
-Second round:
(Before the Callbacks, the Ursas hold “Ursa Dates” in which all the Callbackees go out on Thayer with one or two members of the Ursas)
Callbacks are usually held on a Saturday or Sunday
1. Meet and greet (usually with food). Sit in a circle and tell a little bit about yourself. Both the Ursas and the Calbackees do this. The Ursas then sing for the Callbackees.
2. Callbackees were asked to prepare a second solo, which they now sing for the group acappella, going around the circle.
3. The Ursas teach each callbackee a separate part on “Yesterday.” They learn it in individual part-groups, then come back together and sing it with the whole group of Callbackees and Ursas.
4. Model quartets are formed using “Yesterday.” These include putting four Callbackees together in front of the group (one on each part: SI, SII, AI, AII). Girls are switched in and out, depending on who the Ursas need to hear more from.
5. Once the model-quartets are over, the Ursas teach the solo for “Dancing in the Moonlight.” After practicing on their own, the Callbackees sing the solo facing the Ursas (who sing the background acappella parts).
6. Callbackees are instructed to fill out preference cards by Wednesday or Thursday at 9 listing which groups (if any) they would like to sing with out of the ones they were called back to and what their order of preference is. They are told to wait by their phones in their rooms on a particular night so that they can be “called” to be told if they were accepted to a group.
7. After the Midnight meeting (to be discussed later in the ethnography), a cappella groups split up to “sing in” their new members. This involves knocking on the door of the new member and singing “Only You.” The new member is then brought around to sing in the other new members. Often alcohol is a part of this event.

The Higher Keys:
-First round: Held in a room in Wilson or Sayles along with almost all the other a cappella groups on Campus. Auditionees must fill out a card with their name, room number, phone number, year, experience singing, solo they are planning to sing, and favorite candy. The audition includes singing scales, pitch-matching (in which a sequence of notes are played on a keyboard and the auditionee must try to sing back the notes as accurately as possible), and a solo (chosen by the auditionee). Callback lists are posted at Midnight in Wayland arch the week after the auditions.
-Second round:
Callbacks are usually held on a Saturday or Sunday
1. Meet and greet (usually with food). Sit in a circle and tell a little bit about yourself (The Keys call this a “spicy fact”).
2. The Keys sing for the Callbackees.
3. Each Callbackee is taught a separate part on two different songs.
4. Model quartets are formed with each song. These include putting four Callbackees together in front of the group (one on each part: Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Base). People are switched in and out, depending on who the Keys need to hear more from.
5. Once the model-quartets are over, the Keys teach Callbackees one of four solos (they can choose which they want to sing). After practicing on their own, the Callbackees sing the solo facing the Keys (who sing the background acappella parts).
6. Callbackees are instructed to fill out preference cards by Wednesday or Thursday at 9 listing which groups (if any) they would like to sing with out of the ones they were called back to and what their order of preference is. They are told to wait by their phones in their rooms on a particular night so that they can be “called” to be told if they were accepted to a group.
7. After the Midnight meeting (to be discussed later in the ethnography), a cappella groups split up to “sing in” their new members. This involves knocking on the door of the new member and singing “Sweet Dreams,” in the case of the Keys. The new member is then brought around to sing in the other new members. Often, alcohol is a part of this event.

The Bear Necessities
To be discovered....