Last Tuesday, mezzo-soprano and Oberlin alumni Denyce Graves gave an outstanding performance in Finney Chapel. For several reasons, I felt extremely lucky to chance upon a front row center ticket. However, so did several others. As it turned out, front row center tickets were double sold to approximately six other people, some of whom were conservatory voice performance majors.
Then the confusion set in. The statement, "I'm a voice major and this is really important to me," become increasingly more audible amongst the front row. It was finally decided to get a manager to decide what should be done about the situation, or rather, who should be removed. One of the students looked at me and asked, "Are you a voice major? You're not? Well then I'm sorry buuuuuut." He did not finish the sentence but he made his point clear - if you're not a voice major step back because this couldn't possibly be as important or beneficial to you as it would be me.
His question was his first mistake, the apology his second. The question assumed that I somehow did not deserve to sit were I was in comparison to his needs.
Denyce Graves sang African-American spirituals as the last part of her performance. Not only have I appreciated hearing these songs from my mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, Northern church and Southern Baptist church congregations, I appreciate these songs for their unique history within African-American culture. These are among the earliest songs I remember as a child and it was fairly personal to hear them being sung from Graves in her own unique musical interpretation.
Graves is a successful mezzo-soprano and a black woman - a combination that is rare in this music industry and inspiring to see. As an African-American woman I have a fear of assuming that I will not achieve much in life because of my social status. This is not a foreign fear amongst minorities or women. It is because of this understanding that it is not uncommon see a line of African Americans sitting in the front row at such an event as a method of offering visual support, and as the only African American in the front row, my personal reasons for being there were compounded.
Certainly this was a performance that was highly important for all of us. As voice performance majors, it is important for them to be as close as possible to hear and see as clearly as possible the performance being given. However, being asked by this student voice major to remove myself from the front row based on the assumption that I was somehow unable to understand or appreciate to the same degree as his self was not only highly offensive, but arrogant and ignorant as well. Furthermore, we paid the same price for out tickets yet it was assumed that I would leave to make room for him based upon this strange kind of Musical Jim Crowism.
Finally, his apology assumed that his voice major status was high and final, and that I, as a lowly non-voice major who knows little about music, was obligated to cower towards the back of Finney. He thought he was sorry for his voice major status, but really he was sorry for his own misunderstanding and I would hope that this last incident is not a normal occurrance.
Knowing what you know now, would you still say I could not at least equally benefit from staying where I was? I decided the answer for myself at the point and sat exactly where I needed to sit. FRONT row center.
10. Owners of boom boxes who haven't figured out - or just don't care - that the people around them don't all share - or even appreciate - their taste in music.
9. Students who show up at classes, tests, enrollment, etc. with no writing instruments. Duh!
8. The fact that the phrases "Excuse me." and "After you." have no semantic content for most of the student body.
7. Students who don't realize - or just don't care - that wearing a backpack makes their bodies take up twice the space as without one. Those things become battering rams in crowds!
6. Students who hold up the whole rest of the class because they have to read a handout before picking it up. Is there really a chance you'll decide not to take one depending on what it contains...???
5. Students who can stand on line at the cafeteria for ten minutes before reaching the checker's desk - and only then start searching for their ID.
4. Students so enamored with their first-ever checking account that they hold up every line at every store they shop in, papering Lorain County with their checks. And what about those cretins who want to pay by check, yet don't carry a pen...???? Double-duh!
3. Cafeteria diners who throw away enough food each meal to feed a Somali family for a month. I'm sorry, but this is downright obscene!
2. Students who have so much really important shit to say to their friends that they totally ignore the professor's attempts to start the class. You're not only giving the prof the back of your hand, but stealing lecture time from the rest of us.
1. Student smokers who consider themselves obeying the letter of the law when they gather around a building's doors to smoke. Of course, the fact that every other person entering or exiting that building has to take a big slug of those carcinogens coming and going makes no difference whatsoever to our resident nicotine addicts.
P.S. And let's give a special hand to our non-college neighbors, who seem to regard Tappan Square and the rest of our campus as one giant doggie outhouse.
Copyright © 1999, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 127, Number 21, April 9, 1999
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