Essay On Orchestra Observation

On Monday, the 29th of February, I went to my 6th grade daughter’s orchestra concert. It was the Region 3 Orchestra Festival and included 5th grade, 6th grade, junior high, and high school orchestras. It was held in the Puyallup High school gymnasium, beginning at 7pm.
My daughter and I arrived at the gym at 6:15. She went to her seat on the floor and I searched for a seat in the bleachers. At 6:19, I began my participant observation, I wrote my thoughts and observations for 35 minutes.
There were many people looking for a place to sit and a place to reserve seats for family members that were not there yet. In one case a young man, dressed in a white shirt and bow tie, was practicing his violin and watching the door anxiously. Many of the performers,

Their voices started out quiet and in mumbled terse statements, then grew louder. Their mother finally intervened, chastising the two for being too loud and making a scene. She then removed the tablet from them and didn’t allow either of them to play it. The two accepted their fate and gave each other angry looks. I interpreted this as kids that need distraction from waiting and not letting the other have what they want. The mother obviously felt embarrassed and angry at their behavior.
Before the concert officially started, the orchestras practiced “Ode to Joy” together. As the music started the crowd noise of voices and shuffling and stomping died down. The cacophony of a crowd arranging themselves into high school bleachers subsided to a low buzz, as if the social contract of respect for performers as they perform was being enacted. The music was loud and scratchy at some points in the piece, the children performing were focused and anxious, hoping not to mess up in front of so many

In experiencing grief, he was able to better understand the actions of others in response to grief. In my observation, I feel this too came in to play. I have been the nervous and anxious young performer. The girls I observed that laughed a bit louder than usual and made sure their conversations were front and center to the crowd, those were my classmates at one time. The girls and boys that were trying so hard to simply blend in to the surroundings and not be noticed, were me. Rosaldo argues that my idea that these kids are feeling the same as I did is how objectivity and the idea of the neutral and impartial observer is not reality (Rosaldo, p.21). Cultural studies are changing how people view truth and gather information. Though the influence and the experience of the observer is embedded into the observations they take note doesn’t make the arguments they make any less valid. Geertz, I believe, makes us understand that when we observe without delving deeper into the mores and traditions of a people, we miss things and interpret incorrectly. Being able to interact and experience the customs and traditions of a culture will heighten the understanding and interpretation of the people. He states, “culture is not a power, something to which social