Description
This paper and video aim to present findings of an investigation into the consumption of
weeklong music camps for adults
International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research
Music camp: experiential consumption in a guitar workshop setting
Seth R. Ellis
Article information:
To cite this document:
Seth R. Ellis, (2011),"Music camp: experiential consumption in a guitar workshop setting", International J ournal of Culture, Tourism and
Hospitality Research, Vol. 5 Iss 4 pp. 376 - 382
Permanent link to this document:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17506181111174655
Downloaded on: 24 January 2016, At: 22:17 (PT)
References: this document contains references to 8 other documents.
To copy this document: [email protected]
The fulltext of this document has been downloaded 337 times since 2011*
Users who downloaded this article also downloaded:
Daniel Carvalho de Rezende, Matheus Alberto Rodrigues Silva, (2013),"Eating-out and experiential consumption: a typology of experience
providers", British Food J ournal, Vol. 116 Iss 1 pp. 91-103http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/BFJ -02-2012-0027
Lynda Andrews, J udy Drennan, Rebekah Russell-Bennett, (2012),"Linking perceived value of mobile marketing with the experiential
consumption of mobile phones", European J ournal of Marketing, Vol. 46 Iss 3/4 pp. 357-386http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/03090561211202512
J ohan Bruwer, Karin Alant, (2009),"The hedonic nature of wine tourism consumption: an experiential view", International J ournal of Wine
Business Research, Vol. 21 Iss 3 pp. 235-257http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17511060910985962
Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by emerald-srm:115632 []
For Authors
If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about
how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/
authors for more information.
About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.com
Emerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than
290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional
customer resources and services.
Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and
also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.
*Related content and download information correct at time of download.
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
y
P
O
N
D
I
C
H
E
R
R
Y
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
I
T
Y
A
t
2
2
:
1
7
2
4
J
a
n
u
a
r
y
2
0
1
6
(
P
T
)
Music camp: experiential consumption in a
guitar workshop setting
Seth R. Ellis
Abstract
Purpose – This paper and video aim to present ?ndings of an investigation into the consumption of
weeklong music camps for adults.
Design/methodology/approach – Video-ethnography is an emerging research technique in marketing
academe. The technique derives from the ethnographic tradition in anthropology and incorporates a
blend of participant observer and thick description interview techniques. The video evidence does not
replace ?eld notes. Rather the video evidence contributes strongly to an edited deliverable that
complements and in some instances substitutes for a traditional manuscript.
Findings – Participants spend hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars purchasing a week of music
classes, concerts and jam sessions located in campus-like venues, often rural and remote and without
many of the comforts of home. Three strong themes emerged from the observations and interviews.
Consumer immersion in a musical enclave for a week to develop their musicianship is the ?rst theme.
The second theme intertwines the third: a sense of the liminoid in which a personal transition or
transformation occurs; and the emergence of communitas, in which community ties strengthen as a
consequence of experiencing these transitions within a group.
Practical implications – The video ethnography is remarkable because music camp organizers forbid
?lming. Indeed, for the ?rst time in the history of this music camp (of 16 years standing at the time of the
research), ?lming occurred in the camp. After a while, the presence of the researcher videographer
appeared to go unnoticed by participants, arguably becoming an integral part of the music camp
experience.
Originality/value – Little research has been done about the consumption of music camps. This written
and audio-visual ethnography addresses this gap in knowledge.
Keywords Video, Ethnography, Communitas, Liminal phenomena, Music, Experiential consumption,
Popular culture, Tourism, Communities
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Music Camp, the video associated with this written manuscript, portrays one of the dozens
of music workshops/camps conducted each summer in the US, typically ranging from three
to seven days in length. Music camp types include retreats for teenage rock-star aspirants
wielding electric guitars, jazz camps, and camps that focus on the Blues, Folk Music, music
of the early 20th century and Classic Rock. On the west coast of the US two venerable,
acoustically oriented camps occur. One camp is held in the Paci?c Northwest and is in its
25th year (in 2009); the other, essentially a replica of the Northwest camp and organized by
San Francisco bay area residents, is held in a remote section of the California wine country
and is in its 18th year (in 2009). Both camps typically offer two or three independent,
weeklong retreats each summer, usually with about 150 participants per session.
Music Camp is a result of participant observation, in-depth interviews and video
ethnography (Arnould and Wallendorf, 1994; Belk and Kozinets, 2005). The video
provides a rare glimpse into an under-researched consumption experience. We edited
PAGE 376
j
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CULTURE, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY RESEARCH
j
VOL. 5 NO. 4 2011, pp. 376-382, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1750-6182 DOI 10.1108/17506181111174655
Seth R. Ellis is an Associate
Professor of Marketing at
the School of Business
Administration, University of
San Diego, California, USA.
Received April 2009
Revised November 2009
Accepted March 2010
Please ?nd the video that
accompanies this article at:http://www.emeraldinsight.
com/promo/hospitality_
research.htm
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
y
P
O
N
D
I
C
H
E
R
R
Y
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
I
T
Y
A
t
2
2
:
1
7
2
4
J
a
n
u
a
r
y
2
0
1
6
(
P
T
)
seventeen hours of ?lm shot over the course of a weeklong session in 2007. For the ?rst time
in the camp’s history (16 years at the time of the ?lming), a video camera was allowed on site
after being sanctioned by the camp’s board of directors.
The Music Camp context
After arriving by private car or chartered bus at a retreat setting deep in the hilly, rural wine
country of California, campers begin the week’s session with registration and orientation
tours of the camp facilities. A group of 160 people have come together for seven days to
escape the rest of the world, especially broadcast news, email and telephones. Campers
?nd themselves in a comfortable but not lavish rustic setting, communal in nature. They do
not leave camp, and visitors are discouraged. Some participants bunk in four person-one
room cabins, many bring their own tents and camping furniture. Life becomes a simple
routine: breakfast, two music classes, lunch, another class, an afternoon period of practice,
relaxation and rest followed by a workshop, then dinner. After dinner activities include jam
sessions, dances or concerts, then bed – often in the wee hours.
After dinner on the ?rst evening (all meals are served in a communal dining hall) the teachers
individually take to the stage, introduce themselves and their courses, indicate the level of
dif?culty (participants are asked to self identify as beginner, intermediate or advanced), and
play a few sample licks to characterize their music. At this particular camp, the focus is on
the acoustic guitar in relation with other instruments. From the informational packets
distributed before camp begins, participants know that more than a dozen classes will be
running concurrently. These classes cover topics like ?at picking, western swing guitar,
?nger picking, applied guitar theory, country repertoire, jazz band lab, old time cowboy
songs, hillbilly jazz, rhythm guitar techniques, contemporary blues improvisation, and Celtic
?ddle tunes arranged for the guitar. The teachers’ introductions serve both to provide
information about the courses and to offer insights into the personalities of the instructors.
Initially, most of the participants are optimistic about their personal energy levels and ?ll their
?rst days of camp with a full slate of three classes. However, as the week progresses,
weariness and sore ?ngers set in, and people choose their classes more carefully. This
particular camp ranges over several hilly acres divided by a creek, classes sprawl
throughout the property, and the breaks between classes ?nd participants hiking,
sometimes trudging, from class to class with guitars in hand.
Participants are encouraged to supplement their classroom work with practice (called
woodshedding in the parlance of camp) during the afternoon break time. For many,
socializing and sleeping soon become alternative avocations to practice. Following the
afternoon break, and just before dinner, campers participate in workshops, one-time
seminars with a focus on some aspect of musicianship. Like the classes, workshops also run
concurrently and participants choose amongst them. Following an early evening community
dinner are informal jam sessions arising in nooks and crannies throughout the camp. The
largest jam happens around a sizeable camp?re circle; other sessions evolve from people
getting together organically and playing. The membership of these jam sessions ebbs and
?ows as they progress into the evening. On most nights, a few of these jams will last until the
wee hours of the morning. Often, early risers can wander over to the camp?re jam and listen
to a few sturdy souls who are still playing and singing well past sunrise. Surprisingly, the
major demographic stratum of this camp tends to be men and women in their 40s and 50s,
and even 60s, rather than a young crowd of energetic partiers.
On the third night of camp is the ?rst of two major events, the teacher concert. The 20 or so
camp instructors perform individually and in a variety of ensembles assembled especially
for this concert. All of the instructors are working musicians with numerous years of live
performance experience; many are nationally renowned within their genre. This show can
last more than three hours and most students sit through the entire concert in rapt attention.
The teacher concert models and foreshadows a major camp event happening two days
later, the student concert.
VOL. 5 NO. 4 2011
j
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CULTURE, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY RESEARCH
j
PAGE 377
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
y
P
O
N
D
I
C
H
E
R
R
Y
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
I
T
Y
A
t
2
2
:
1
7
2
4
J
a
n
u
a
r
y
2
0
1
6
(
P
T
)
As the camp continues, a sense of a special shared experience with certain ritualistic
dimensions develops that is somehow more signi?cant than the mundane world of everyday
life. Having experienced camp for many years, the organizers (and many veteran campers)
have come to see how this enclaved community can create both physical and emotional
stress, and they strive to promote a camp norm of communal safety; that we are all in this
together. The real world is outside camp but ‘‘the real, real world,’’ as one camper noted, ‘‘is
right here.’’ The apparent safety of a nurturing community becomes a container from which
individual evolution can occur: personal growth and even personal transformation.
The ?fth night of camp is perhaps the most signi?cant event of the week: the staging of the
student concert. All campers are encouraged to perform a musical set of approximately ?ve
minutes. Many opt to deliver a solo performance, some build ensembles with their comrades
and others perform as part of a class. During the camp session covered in the ?lm, there
were 65 performances and the concert lasted for more than seven hours: from6:00 p.m. until
1:30 a.m. To support the students, teachers often participate in several ensembles. In a
barely controlled meˆ le´ e of two or three minutes between each performance, technicians
must recon?gure the microphones and sound gear as one ensemble exits the stage and
another takes its place. Many students are performing in front of an audience for the ?rst time
in their lives; nervousness abounds, even amongst the veteran performers.
Personal growth or transformation occurs through the development of better musical skills,
learning about a new genre of music or performing in front of an audience for the ?rst time.
However, for many campers, the intensity of the week of camp, in combination with the
relative safety of the environment, fosters a deeper personal transformation. We see some
people come to camp primed for this transformation; they are in a liminal state of personal
transition and they are seeking something new, perhaps something healing. Others come
with super?cial musical goals but, nonetheless, ?nd themselves changing in rich and
unexpected ways.
After the climactic student concert, camp takes a turn towards relaxation as participants
begin to think about home, juxtaposing those thoughts with a certain melancholy that they
soon will be leaving the community established during the last week. The morning following
the concert ?lls with stories regaling the many personal experiences of the performers:
equipment problems, wrong notes hit, words forgotten, dif?cult licks successfully played (or
not), feelings of nausea, and so forth.
Data collection
During the course of this week, the researcher acted as both a participant observer and
videographer, conducting in-depth, free ?owing video interviews with more than a dozen
informants. To trigger the elicitation process, the researcher asked the campers their
reasons for coming to the camp, what they experienced, and what that experience meant to
them. One participant, a several year camper, was vehemently opposed to the presence
and use of a video camera in camp. For her, ?lming violated a deeply held notion of camp as
a sacred experience. A few of the instructors asked not to have their classes or
performances ?lmed.
Findings
Three principal themes emerged fromthe observations and interviews. The ?rst theme is the
ostensible rationale and explanation of why people come to camp: an immersion into a
musical enclave for a week to develop their musicianship. The second and third themes
intertwine a sense of transition or transformation and an emergence or strengthening of
community. We interpret these latter themes within the sociological framework of liminoid
phenomena, the quest for authenticity, and communitas. Previous studies of communitas in
a leisure context (Lyons and Dionigi, 2007) have included whitewater rafting, festivals and
events, summer camps, and organized tours. Communitas can occur where individuals are
able ‘‘to step out of their everyday lives and into a world where connection to others develops
spontaneously and temporarily (Lyons and Dionigi, 2007, p. 303).’’
PAGE 378
j
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CULTURE, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY RESEARCH
j
VOL. 5 NO. 4 2011
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
y
P
O
N
D
I
C
H
E
R
R
Y
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
I
T
Y
A
t
2
2
:
1
7
2
4
J
a
n
u
a
r
y
2
0
1
6
(
P
T
)
Participants generally expect personal musical growth because of the intense concentration
of classes, workshops, and concerts. Participants believe their musical development will be
fostered and nurtured while in the midst of other musicians with whom they can play their
instruments and share their affection for the musical genres represented. In this
environment, they experience greater emotional safety and are more prone to risk-taking
(in musical terms). They also experience a deeper sense of a special, shared community
away from normal civilization. Music camp reveals itself as an intensely communal
environment and participants surprise themselves with emotional and developmental
transformations.
Liminoid phenomena and the emergence of communitas
Turner (1969, p. 96) bifurcated social life into structure and communitas: structure being the
normally occurring, differentiated, politico-legal-economic system, with communitas
characterized as a comparatively undifferentiated community of equal individuals. Social
life is a process of alternating experience, of ‘‘high and low, communitas and structure,
homogeneity and differentiation, equality and inequality (Turner, 1969, p. 97).’’ Communitas
is a state that occurs during liminal times (times out of structure), or natural breaks in
socio-cultural processes (Turner, 1977). Examples include periods of disruption such as war
or natural disasters. These large scale social events, resulting in competing visions of normal
structured society, visions of a less differentiated aggregate, and a recognition and
celebration of vital human bonds, distinguish the experience of communitas as possibly
liberating and democratizing (Hearn, 1980). Each person’s life is a series of states and
transitions, of exposure to structure and communitas. Transitional periods are periods of
liminal phenomena that contribute to the emergence of communitas (Turner, 1977).
Turner (1969, p. 128) elaborates on how communitas surfaces in society:
Communitas breaks in through the interstices of structure, in liminality; at the edges of structure,
in marginality; and from beneath structure, in inferiority. It is almost everywhere held to be sacred
or ‘‘holy,’’ possibly because it transgresses or dissolves the norms that govern structured and
institutionalized relationships and is accompanied by experiences of unprecedented potency.
Campers describe some of the aspects of what we ?nd in the theoretical language of
community. Jennifer, a 13-year camp veteran, suggests:
We live in a culture that worships the expert [. . .] it takes that music and that power out of our
hands [. . .] what I love about camps like this [. . .] it’s really devoted to giving people back their
right to the music which is theirs, which lives inside them and ?nd a way to help people free that
spirit.
From one of the camp’s founders:
Camp has made me feel like part of something really positive in the world and more relevant than
a lot of the stuff I do generally day to day. It’s [. . .] one on one connections with people, having
connections with a big group at one time.
In their work on service encounters in the context of river trip vacations, Arnould and Price
(1993) characterized communitas as a sense of linkage and belonging, of group devotion to
a transcendent goal. Parallel to this is Turner’s (1977, p. 44) contrast of luminal phenomenon
with liminoid phenomenon as he moves from grand societal disruptions to more micro level
phenomena:
Liminoid phenomena develop most characteristically outside the central economic and political
processes, along their margins, on their interfaces, in their ‘‘tacit dimensions.’’
For Turner, leisure can generate a type of liminoid phenomenon that might result in the
emergence of communitas. Going on vacation, or going to a retreat such as music camp,
one can step out of everyday life and enter a world where connections and relationships can
develop spontaneously, provisionally, and for a short term (Turner, 1977, p. 42):
Leisure is freedom from a whole array of institutional obligations prescribed by the basic forms of
technological and bureaucratic organization in the work domain. It is also freedom from the
VOL. 5 NO. 4 2011
j
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CULTURE, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY RESEARCH
j
PAGE 379
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
y
P
O
N
D
I
C
H
E
R
R
Y
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
I
T
Y
A
t
2
2
:
1
7
2
4
J
a
n
u
a
r
y
2
0
1
6
(
P
T
)
forced, chronologically regulated rhythms of factory and of?ce, and a chance to recuperate and
enjoy natural, biological rhythms again, on the beaches and mountains, and in the parks and
game reserves provided as liminoid retreats [. . .] It is freedom to transcend social structural
normative limitations, freedom, indeed, to play – with ideas, with fantasies, with words [. . .] with
paint [. . .] and with social relationships [. . .].
We ?nd these conditions in any number of situations and they may be of brief duration. In
some leisure contexts, where the normal boundaries the limitations of our usual lives are
absent, we are free to explore our authentic interests, to discard some of the societal norms
of everyday life and to discover a sense of personal authenticity (Kamau, 2002). As ?rst-year
camper Terry proposes:
It’s so removed fromthe regular life that most people live that I would wish for everyone to have an
eye opening experience like this once or twice in their life [. . .] Something about the intensity and
that tearing down and rebuilding process that makes people connect [. . .] Maybe this is not such
a bad thing to have a little bit of this outer exterior stripped off and get to the sort of raw level and
then build something more on it that’s more meaningful.
Rob, a second-year camper, discussed his own struggle with personal authenticity, with his
identity as a musician. Rob believed he had to be able to read music in order to be a
musician. Camp teachers suggested to him that it was his perception that was ?awed, that
he indeed is a musician, even without this particular skill.
The ?rst few days exemplify a liminoid period of transition; participants are learning the new
routine, challenged by the sudden thrust into a new communal, social environment, and the
load of stimuli offered by the classes, the surroundings, and the people. Some are veterans
of the camp and look forward to the experience as a retreat; they know what to expect and
may have a group of camp buddies they annually meet here; others are here for the ?rst time
and are overwhelmed, lonely and/or psychologically stressed during this time. Ken, a
?rst-time camper, recalls:
Coming to this environment has just been almost transformative [. . .] Initially this week I struggled
to kind of get grounded because so much was being thrown at me [. . .] I ?nd myself at a
crossroads in my life right now, so I thought I’d push myself [. . .] put myself out on a limb a little bit
[. . .] the ?rst day is the hardest and I felt that way cuz I felt overwhelmed [. . .] like I’m not sure I’m
going to be able to make it a week [. . .] I think it’s almost surreal to, to be away from civilization for
a week and I can’t help but think that’s a good thing. [. . .] this news blackout and communications
blackout to some extent and [. . .] that’s been therapeutic I think.
Campers move through this period and we start to see the emergence of communitas by
midweek. The shift towards communitas seems to happen the day after the teacher concert
on the third day. A settling has occurred, people have learned how to thrive (or at least to
cope), and a comfortable familiarity seems to settle in. Camp organizers hold a dance on the
evening of the fourth day, almost everyone attends and plenty of dancing and conversation
takes place. As camper Ken suggests:
What I’ve been overwhelmed by is the support and friendliness of the people [. . .] conversation
comes easily during meals [. . .] there’s a real sense of stripping away jobs and trappings of
whatever: wealth, class [. . .] there’s a real sense of equality here [. . .] I ?nd the conversations
much more substantive, if they’re not about music they’re about why you’re here, what do you get
out of this place, what does this place make you think of, how does this place make you re?ect on
life.
Turner (Kamau, 2002) suggests that there are only two status levels in liminality: the adept
and the neophyte. Adepts are set apart fromthe neophytes yet they are responsible to bring
the neophyte into the fold. In spite of this disparity:
All are equal: any distinction of class, race, or other statuses that kept them apart in ordinary life
are swept away, and they are united in their common circumstances (Kamau, 2002, p. 21).
The teachers are the adepts: professional performing musicians; and the students are the
neophytes: learning the mysteries of preparing a song to perform on stage. Teachers offer
lessons in technique and song but they also prepare the neophyte for initiation into the
mystery of performance. The ritual indicating a transition into this special knowledge, what
PAGE 380
j
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CULTURE, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY RESEARCH
j
VOL. 5 NO. 4 2011
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
y
P
O
N
D
I
C
H
E
R
R
Y
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
I
T
Y
A
t
2
2
:
1
7
2
4
J
a
n
u
a
r
y
2
0
1
6
(
P
T
)
Turner calls ‘‘symbolically sharing common substance’’ (Turner, 1977, p. 48), is the student
concert: a neophyte taking to the stage with a new song in his or her repertoire. This concert
serves to ‘‘frame and consolidate their identity as a communitas’’ (Turner, 1977, p. 48). For
about a third of the campers, this experience is their ?rst at performing. As Jennifer
observes:
You really reach a point of saturation about mid week [. . .] Thursday it gets really crazy because
that’s the day of the student concert and the whole climate just reaches this ampli?ed fever pitch
as people prepare for this amazing event that goes into the wee hours of the night.
Perhaps the highlight of camp, the student concert occurs on the night of day ?ve. All of the
students are encouraged to participate, either in a solo act or as part of an ensemble. Almost
a hundred percent compliance exists; the ritual symbolizes the emergent sense of
communitas for the group. The students are the neophytes, making their ?rst symbolic as
well as literal step onto the stage, doing what the adepts do: performing. This act brings the
neophyte into the mystical center of the group. Prefaced by days of practice and training, on
the day of the concert we ?nd a ?urry of last minute preparation and interaction between the
adepts and the neophytes. The student concert is of epic length; lasting almost seven hours,
with 65 acts performed.
The day after the concert the mood around camp is relaxed, even subdued. Campers’
thoughts move back and forth, remembering the concert, thinking about the comforts of
home. Camp will not end until the middle of the next day but there is already a sense of
culmination, of looking back at the week, of a settling into a sense of community, knowing it
will soon be gone.
A synopsis of the ?lm
As our ?lm opens we see a bit of the ?avor of Music Camp; a performance of old time hillbilly
music by an ensemble of camp participants and a look at the rural, rustic setting in which
camp takes place. Campers reside in tents or cabins, take communal meals, attend classes
and workshops, practice individually, perform in concerts and get to know each other over
the course of a full week. We immediately hear a common refrain from key informants. They
speak to basic themes and reasons for the camp: a way to progress in one’s musicianship, a
way to connect with other people, the camp as a community: a safe environment apart from
the rest of the world. In the segment titled The Arc of the Week, by following one instance, we
see the basic progression of several of the main events of the week: teacher introductions
the ?rst night, classes each morning, a teacher concert on the third night, a student concert
on the ?fth night. The teachers are the adepts: professional performing musicians; and the
students are the neophytes: learning the mysteries of preparing a song to perform on stage.
In this segment, we see a teacher at work, classroom activity, then a neophyte taking to
stage with a new song under his belt. Gaining knowledge of the mystery of performing is not
just about learning a song; rather the mystery corresponds to the experience of performing
live on stage.
Following this segment is a ?rsthand description of the camp experience. In The Emotional
Worlds of the Campers, informants describe the psychological experiences and challenges
of camp; campers and staff expect some of these challenges, some are surprising. Here, we
introduce evidence of liminoid phenomena. In The Student Concert segment, we see the
culmination of the week for many, although there are still a couple of days remaining before
camp is over. For numerous participants (neophytes) the concert is an initiation into the
mysteries of the adepts. This concert has 65 acts and lasts (in real time) more than seven
hours. We present informant descriptions of community in the segment The Emergence of
Communitas, and campers portray their thoughts about the experience as a vehicle to
enhance personal transformation in Finding Authenticity. Bookending the old time Hillbilly
song introducing the ?lm is a contemporary folk song written and performed by one of the
camp’s youngest participants. The ?lm ends with a few glimpses of a parting ritual: saying
goodbyes as campers pack the bus that will take them back to the city. Most everyone
experiences a sweet melancholy: happy to be getting back to family, friends, and the
VOL. 5 NO. 4 2011
j
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CULTURE, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY RESEARCH
j
PAGE 381
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
y
P
O
N
D
I
C
H
E
R
R
Y
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
I
T
Y
A
t
2
2
:
1
7
2
4
J
a
n
u
a
r
y
2
0
1
6
(
P
T
)
familiarity of their regular lives; and sad to be leaving the intense community built during the
course of the last seven days. For many this was a onetime experience, for some the
experience was yet another week of many weeks spent at this camp, and for a few more, it
was, perhaps, the ?rst of many of these weeks of camp to come.
References
Arnould, E.J. and Price, L.L. (1993), ‘‘River magic: extraordinary experience and the extended service
encounter’’, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 20, June, pp. 24-45.
Arnould, E.J. and Wallendorf, M. (1994), ‘‘Market-oriented ethnography: interpretation building and
marketing strategy formulation’’, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 31, November, pp. 484-504.
Belk, R.W. and Kozinets, R.V. (2005), ‘‘Videography in marketing and consumer research’’, Qualitative
Market Research, Vol. 8 No. 2, pp. 128-41.
Hearn, F. (1980), ‘‘Communitas and re?exive social theory’’, Qualitative Sociology, Vol. 3 No. 4,
pp. 299-322.
Kamau, L.J. (2002), ‘‘Liminality, communitas, charisma, and community’’, in Brown, S.L. (Ed.),
Intentional Community, State University of New York Press, Albany, NY, pp. 17-40.
Lyons, K. and Dionigi, R. (2007), ‘‘Transcending emotional community: a qualitative examination of older
adults and masters’ sports participation’’, Leisure Sciences, Vol. 29, pp. 379-89.
Turner, V. (1969), The Ritual Process, Structure and Anti-Structure, Aldine de Gruyter, Hawthorne, NY.
Turner, V. (1977), ‘‘Variations on a theme of liminality’’, in Moore, S.F. and Myerhoff, B.G. (Eds), Secular
Ritual, Van Gorcum, Assen, Amsterdam, pp. 36-52.
About the author
Seth R. Ellis is Associate Professor of Marketing in the School of Business Administration at
the University of San Diego. He publishes articles in such diverse areas as the psychometric
measurement of human behavior traits, law practice management, accounting ?rm
management, the green marketing movement in regional and national corporations,
customer satisfaction in professional services marketing, and the interface between
marketing, design, and engineering in new product development. Using ?lm and
ethnographic techniques, his current research programs concentrate on experiential
consumption activities and our relationships with favorite possessions. Seth R. Ellis can be
contacted at: [email protected]
PAGE 382
j
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CULTURE, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY RESEARCH
j
VOL. 5 NO. 4 2011
To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: [email protected]
Or visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
y
P
O
N
D
I
C
H
E
R
R
Y
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
I
T
Y
A
t
2
2
:
1
7
2
4
J
a
n
u
a
r
y
2
0
1
6
(
P
T
)
This article has been cited by:
1. Ebru Ulusoy. 2016. Experiential responsible consumption. Journal of Business Research 69, 284-297. [CrossRef]
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
y
P
O
N
D
I
C
H
E
R
R
Y
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
I
T
Y
A
t
2
2
:
1
7
2
4
J
a
n
u
a
r
y
2
0
1
6
(
P
T
)
doc_895984710.pdf
This paper and video aim to present findings of an investigation into the consumption of
weeklong music camps for adults
International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research
Music camp: experiential consumption in a guitar workshop setting
Seth R. Ellis
Article information:
To cite this document:
Seth R. Ellis, (2011),"Music camp: experiential consumption in a guitar workshop setting", International J ournal of Culture, Tourism and
Hospitality Research, Vol. 5 Iss 4 pp. 376 - 382
Permanent link to this document:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17506181111174655
Downloaded on: 24 January 2016, At: 22:17 (PT)
References: this document contains references to 8 other documents.
To copy this document: [email protected]
The fulltext of this document has been downloaded 337 times since 2011*
Users who downloaded this article also downloaded:
Daniel Carvalho de Rezende, Matheus Alberto Rodrigues Silva, (2013),"Eating-out and experiential consumption: a typology of experience
providers", British Food J ournal, Vol. 116 Iss 1 pp. 91-103http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/BFJ -02-2012-0027
Lynda Andrews, J udy Drennan, Rebekah Russell-Bennett, (2012),"Linking perceived value of mobile marketing with the experiential
consumption of mobile phones", European J ournal of Marketing, Vol. 46 Iss 3/4 pp. 357-386http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/03090561211202512
J ohan Bruwer, Karin Alant, (2009),"The hedonic nature of wine tourism consumption: an experiential view", International J ournal of Wine
Business Research, Vol. 21 Iss 3 pp. 235-257http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17511060910985962
Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by emerald-srm:115632 []
For Authors
If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about
how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/
authors for more information.
About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.com
Emerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than
290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional
customer resources and services.
Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and
also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.
*Related content and download information correct at time of download.
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
y
P
O
N
D
I
C
H
E
R
R
Y
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
I
T
Y
A
t
2
2
:
1
7
2
4
J
a
n
u
a
r
y
2
0
1
6
(
P
T
)
Music camp: experiential consumption in a
guitar workshop setting
Seth R. Ellis
Abstract
Purpose – This paper and video aim to present ?ndings of an investigation into the consumption of
weeklong music camps for adults.
Design/methodology/approach – Video-ethnography is an emerging research technique in marketing
academe. The technique derives from the ethnographic tradition in anthropology and incorporates a
blend of participant observer and thick description interview techniques. The video evidence does not
replace ?eld notes. Rather the video evidence contributes strongly to an edited deliverable that
complements and in some instances substitutes for a traditional manuscript.
Findings – Participants spend hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars purchasing a week of music
classes, concerts and jam sessions located in campus-like venues, often rural and remote and without
many of the comforts of home. Three strong themes emerged from the observations and interviews.
Consumer immersion in a musical enclave for a week to develop their musicianship is the ?rst theme.
The second theme intertwines the third: a sense of the liminoid in which a personal transition or
transformation occurs; and the emergence of communitas, in which community ties strengthen as a
consequence of experiencing these transitions within a group.
Practical implications – The video ethnography is remarkable because music camp organizers forbid
?lming. Indeed, for the ?rst time in the history of this music camp (of 16 years standing at the time of the
research), ?lming occurred in the camp. After a while, the presence of the researcher videographer
appeared to go unnoticed by participants, arguably becoming an integral part of the music camp
experience.
Originality/value – Little research has been done about the consumption of music camps. This written
and audio-visual ethnography addresses this gap in knowledge.
Keywords Video, Ethnography, Communitas, Liminal phenomena, Music, Experiential consumption,
Popular culture, Tourism, Communities
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Music Camp, the video associated with this written manuscript, portrays one of the dozens
of music workshops/camps conducted each summer in the US, typically ranging from three
to seven days in length. Music camp types include retreats for teenage rock-star aspirants
wielding electric guitars, jazz camps, and camps that focus on the Blues, Folk Music, music
of the early 20th century and Classic Rock. On the west coast of the US two venerable,
acoustically oriented camps occur. One camp is held in the Paci?c Northwest and is in its
25th year (in 2009); the other, essentially a replica of the Northwest camp and organized by
San Francisco bay area residents, is held in a remote section of the California wine country
and is in its 18th year (in 2009). Both camps typically offer two or three independent,
weeklong retreats each summer, usually with about 150 participants per session.
Music Camp is a result of participant observation, in-depth interviews and video
ethnography (Arnould and Wallendorf, 1994; Belk and Kozinets, 2005). The video
provides a rare glimpse into an under-researched consumption experience. We edited
PAGE 376
j
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CULTURE, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY RESEARCH
j
VOL. 5 NO. 4 2011, pp. 376-382, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1750-6182 DOI 10.1108/17506181111174655
Seth R. Ellis is an Associate
Professor of Marketing at
the School of Business
Administration, University of
San Diego, California, USA.
Received April 2009
Revised November 2009
Accepted March 2010
Please ?nd the video that
accompanies this article at:http://www.emeraldinsight.
com/promo/hospitality_
research.htm
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
y
P
O
N
D
I
C
H
E
R
R
Y
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
I
T
Y
A
t
2
2
:
1
7
2
4
J
a
n
u
a
r
y
2
0
1
6
(
P
T
)
seventeen hours of ?lm shot over the course of a weeklong session in 2007. For the ?rst time
in the camp’s history (16 years at the time of the ?lming), a video camera was allowed on site
after being sanctioned by the camp’s board of directors.
The Music Camp context
After arriving by private car or chartered bus at a retreat setting deep in the hilly, rural wine
country of California, campers begin the week’s session with registration and orientation
tours of the camp facilities. A group of 160 people have come together for seven days to
escape the rest of the world, especially broadcast news, email and telephones. Campers
?nd themselves in a comfortable but not lavish rustic setting, communal in nature. They do
not leave camp, and visitors are discouraged. Some participants bunk in four person-one
room cabins, many bring their own tents and camping furniture. Life becomes a simple
routine: breakfast, two music classes, lunch, another class, an afternoon period of practice,
relaxation and rest followed by a workshop, then dinner. After dinner activities include jam
sessions, dances or concerts, then bed – often in the wee hours.
After dinner on the ?rst evening (all meals are served in a communal dining hall) the teachers
individually take to the stage, introduce themselves and their courses, indicate the level of
dif?culty (participants are asked to self identify as beginner, intermediate or advanced), and
play a few sample licks to characterize their music. At this particular camp, the focus is on
the acoustic guitar in relation with other instruments. From the informational packets
distributed before camp begins, participants know that more than a dozen classes will be
running concurrently. These classes cover topics like ?at picking, western swing guitar,
?nger picking, applied guitar theory, country repertoire, jazz band lab, old time cowboy
songs, hillbilly jazz, rhythm guitar techniques, contemporary blues improvisation, and Celtic
?ddle tunes arranged for the guitar. The teachers’ introductions serve both to provide
information about the courses and to offer insights into the personalities of the instructors.
Initially, most of the participants are optimistic about their personal energy levels and ?ll their
?rst days of camp with a full slate of three classes. However, as the week progresses,
weariness and sore ?ngers set in, and people choose their classes more carefully. This
particular camp ranges over several hilly acres divided by a creek, classes sprawl
throughout the property, and the breaks between classes ?nd participants hiking,
sometimes trudging, from class to class with guitars in hand.
Participants are encouraged to supplement their classroom work with practice (called
woodshedding in the parlance of camp) during the afternoon break time. For many,
socializing and sleeping soon become alternative avocations to practice. Following the
afternoon break, and just before dinner, campers participate in workshops, one-time
seminars with a focus on some aspect of musicianship. Like the classes, workshops also run
concurrently and participants choose amongst them. Following an early evening community
dinner are informal jam sessions arising in nooks and crannies throughout the camp. The
largest jam happens around a sizeable camp?re circle; other sessions evolve from people
getting together organically and playing. The membership of these jam sessions ebbs and
?ows as they progress into the evening. On most nights, a few of these jams will last until the
wee hours of the morning. Often, early risers can wander over to the camp?re jam and listen
to a few sturdy souls who are still playing and singing well past sunrise. Surprisingly, the
major demographic stratum of this camp tends to be men and women in their 40s and 50s,
and even 60s, rather than a young crowd of energetic partiers.
On the third night of camp is the ?rst of two major events, the teacher concert. The 20 or so
camp instructors perform individually and in a variety of ensembles assembled especially
for this concert. All of the instructors are working musicians with numerous years of live
performance experience; many are nationally renowned within their genre. This show can
last more than three hours and most students sit through the entire concert in rapt attention.
The teacher concert models and foreshadows a major camp event happening two days
later, the student concert.
VOL. 5 NO. 4 2011
j
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CULTURE, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY RESEARCH
j
PAGE 377
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
y
P
O
N
D
I
C
H
E
R
R
Y
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
I
T
Y
A
t
2
2
:
1
7
2
4
J
a
n
u
a
r
y
2
0
1
6
(
P
T
)
As the camp continues, a sense of a special shared experience with certain ritualistic
dimensions develops that is somehow more signi?cant than the mundane world of everyday
life. Having experienced camp for many years, the organizers (and many veteran campers)
have come to see how this enclaved community can create both physical and emotional
stress, and they strive to promote a camp norm of communal safety; that we are all in this
together. The real world is outside camp but ‘‘the real, real world,’’ as one camper noted, ‘‘is
right here.’’ The apparent safety of a nurturing community becomes a container from which
individual evolution can occur: personal growth and even personal transformation.
The ?fth night of camp is perhaps the most signi?cant event of the week: the staging of the
student concert. All campers are encouraged to perform a musical set of approximately ?ve
minutes. Many opt to deliver a solo performance, some build ensembles with their comrades
and others perform as part of a class. During the camp session covered in the ?lm, there
were 65 performances and the concert lasted for more than seven hours: from6:00 p.m. until
1:30 a.m. To support the students, teachers often participate in several ensembles. In a
barely controlled meˆ le´ e of two or three minutes between each performance, technicians
must recon?gure the microphones and sound gear as one ensemble exits the stage and
another takes its place. Many students are performing in front of an audience for the ?rst time
in their lives; nervousness abounds, even amongst the veteran performers.
Personal growth or transformation occurs through the development of better musical skills,
learning about a new genre of music or performing in front of an audience for the ?rst time.
However, for many campers, the intensity of the week of camp, in combination with the
relative safety of the environment, fosters a deeper personal transformation. We see some
people come to camp primed for this transformation; they are in a liminal state of personal
transition and they are seeking something new, perhaps something healing. Others come
with super?cial musical goals but, nonetheless, ?nd themselves changing in rich and
unexpected ways.
After the climactic student concert, camp takes a turn towards relaxation as participants
begin to think about home, juxtaposing those thoughts with a certain melancholy that they
soon will be leaving the community established during the last week. The morning following
the concert ?lls with stories regaling the many personal experiences of the performers:
equipment problems, wrong notes hit, words forgotten, dif?cult licks successfully played (or
not), feelings of nausea, and so forth.
Data collection
During the course of this week, the researcher acted as both a participant observer and
videographer, conducting in-depth, free ?owing video interviews with more than a dozen
informants. To trigger the elicitation process, the researcher asked the campers their
reasons for coming to the camp, what they experienced, and what that experience meant to
them. One participant, a several year camper, was vehemently opposed to the presence
and use of a video camera in camp. For her, ?lming violated a deeply held notion of camp as
a sacred experience. A few of the instructors asked not to have their classes or
performances ?lmed.
Findings
Three principal themes emerged fromthe observations and interviews. The ?rst theme is the
ostensible rationale and explanation of why people come to camp: an immersion into a
musical enclave for a week to develop their musicianship. The second and third themes
intertwine a sense of transition or transformation and an emergence or strengthening of
community. We interpret these latter themes within the sociological framework of liminoid
phenomena, the quest for authenticity, and communitas. Previous studies of communitas in
a leisure context (Lyons and Dionigi, 2007) have included whitewater rafting, festivals and
events, summer camps, and organized tours. Communitas can occur where individuals are
able ‘‘to step out of their everyday lives and into a world where connection to others develops
spontaneously and temporarily (Lyons and Dionigi, 2007, p. 303).’’
PAGE 378
j
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CULTURE, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY RESEARCH
j
VOL. 5 NO. 4 2011
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
y
P
O
N
D
I
C
H
E
R
R
Y
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
I
T
Y
A
t
2
2
:
1
7
2
4
J
a
n
u
a
r
y
2
0
1
6
(
P
T
)
Participants generally expect personal musical growth because of the intense concentration
of classes, workshops, and concerts. Participants believe their musical development will be
fostered and nurtured while in the midst of other musicians with whom they can play their
instruments and share their affection for the musical genres represented. In this
environment, they experience greater emotional safety and are more prone to risk-taking
(in musical terms). They also experience a deeper sense of a special, shared community
away from normal civilization. Music camp reveals itself as an intensely communal
environment and participants surprise themselves with emotional and developmental
transformations.
Liminoid phenomena and the emergence of communitas
Turner (1969, p. 96) bifurcated social life into structure and communitas: structure being the
normally occurring, differentiated, politico-legal-economic system, with communitas
characterized as a comparatively undifferentiated community of equal individuals. Social
life is a process of alternating experience, of ‘‘high and low, communitas and structure,
homogeneity and differentiation, equality and inequality (Turner, 1969, p. 97).’’ Communitas
is a state that occurs during liminal times (times out of structure), or natural breaks in
socio-cultural processes (Turner, 1977). Examples include periods of disruption such as war
or natural disasters. These large scale social events, resulting in competing visions of normal
structured society, visions of a less differentiated aggregate, and a recognition and
celebration of vital human bonds, distinguish the experience of communitas as possibly
liberating and democratizing (Hearn, 1980). Each person’s life is a series of states and
transitions, of exposure to structure and communitas. Transitional periods are periods of
liminal phenomena that contribute to the emergence of communitas (Turner, 1977).
Turner (1969, p. 128) elaborates on how communitas surfaces in society:
Communitas breaks in through the interstices of structure, in liminality; at the edges of structure,
in marginality; and from beneath structure, in inferiority. It is almost everywhere held to be sacred
or ‘‘holy,’’ possibly because it transgresses or dissolves the norms that govern structured and
institutionalized relationships and is accompanied by experiences of unprecedented potency.
Campers describe some of the aspects of what we ?nd in the theoretical language of
community. Jennifer, a 13-year camp veteran, suggests:
We live in a culture that worships the expert [. . .] it takes that music and that power out of our
hands [. . .] what I love about camps like this [. . .] it’s really devoted to giving people back their
right to the music which is theirs, which lives inside them and ?nd a way to help people free that
spirit.
From one of the camp’s founders:
Camp has made me feel like part of something really positive in the world and more relevant than
a lot of the stuff I do generally day to day. It’s [. . .] one on one connections with people, having
connections with a big group at one time.
In their work on service encounters in the context of river trip vacations, Arnould and Price
(1993) characterized communitas as a sense of linkage and belonging, of group devotion to
a transcendent goal. Parallel to this is Turner’s (1977, p. 44) contrast of luminal phenomenon
with liminoid phenomenon as he moves from grand societal disruptions to more micro level
phenomena:
Liminoid phenomena develop most characteristically outside the central economic and political
processes, along their margins, on their interfaces, in their ‘‘tacit dimensions.’’
For Turner, leisure can generate a type of liminoid phenomenon that might result in the
emergence of communitas. Going on vacation, or going to a retreat such as music camp,
one can step out of everyday life and enter a world where connections and relationships can
develop spontaneously, provisionally, and for a short term (Turner, 1977, p. 42):
Leisure is freedom from a whole array of institutional obligations prescribed by the basic forms of
technological and bureaucratic organization in the work domain. It is also freedom from the
VOL. 5 NO. 4 2011
j
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CULTURE, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY RESEARCH
j
PAGE 379
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
y
P
O
N
D
I
C
H
E
R
R
Y
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
I
T
Y
A
t
2
2
:
1
7
2
4
J
a
n
u
a
r
y
2
0
1
6
(
P
T
)
forced, chronologically regulated rhythms of factory and of?ce, and a chance to recuperate and
enjoy natural, biological rhythms again, on the beaches and mountains, and in the parks and
game reserves provided as liminoid retreats [. . .] It is freedom to transcend social structural
normative limitations, freedom, indeed, to play – with ideas, with fantasies, with words [. . .] with
paint [. . .] and with social relationships [. . .].
We ?nd these conditions in any number of situations and they may be of brief duration. In
some leisure contexts, where the normal boundaries the limitations of our usual lives are
absent, we are free to explore our authentic interests, to discard some of the societal norms
of everyday life and to discover a sense of personal authenticity (Kamau, 2002). As ?rst-year
camper Terry proposes:
It’s so removed fromthe regular life that most people live that I would wish for everyone to have an
eye opening experience like this once or twice in their life [. . .] Something about the intensity and
that tearing down and rebuilding process that makes people connect [. . .] Maybe this is not such
a bad thing to have a little bit of this outer exterior stripped off and get to the sort of raw level and
then build something more on it that’s more meaningful.
Rob, a second-year camper, discussed his own struggle with personal authenticity, with his
identity as a musician. Rob believed he had to be able to read music in order to be a
musician. Camp teachers suggested to him that it was his perception that was ?awed, that
he indeed is a musician, even without this particular skill.
The ?rst few days exemplify a liminoid period of transition; participants are learning the new
routine, challenged by the sudden thrust into a new communal, social environment, and the
load of stimuli offered by the classes, the surroundings, and the people. Some are veterans
of the camp and look forward to the experience as a retreat; they know what to expect and
may have a group of camp buddies they annually meet here; others are here for the ?rst time
and are overwhelmed, lonely and/or psychologically stressed during this time. Ken, a
?rst-time camper, recalls:
Coming to this environment has just been almost transformative [. . .] Initially this week I struggled
to kind of get grounded because so much was being thrown at me [. . .] I ?nd myself at a
crossroads in my life right now, so I thought I’d push myself [. . .] put myself out on a limb a little bit
[. . .] the ?rst day is the hardest and I felt that way cuz I felt overwhelmed [. . .] like I’m not sure I’m
going to be able to make it a week [. . .] I think it’s almost surreal to, to be away from civilization for
a week and I can’t help but think that’s a good thing. [. . .] this news blackout and communications
blackout to some extent and [. . .] that’s been therapeutic I think.
Campers move through this period and we start to see the emergence of communitas by
midweek. The shift towards communitas seems to happen the day after the teacher concert
on the third day. A settling has occurred, people have learned how to thrive (or at least to
cope), and a comfortable familiarity seems to settle in. Camp organizers hold a dance on the
evening of the fourth day, almost everyone attends and plenty of dancing and conversation
takes place. As camper Ken suggests:
What I’ve been overwhelmed by is the support and friendliness of the people [. . .] conversation
comes easily during meals [. . .] there’s a real sense of stripping away jobs and trappings of
whatever: wealth, class [. . .] there’s a real sense of equality here [. . .] I ?nd the conversations
much more substantive, if they’re not about music they’re about why you’re here, what do you get
out of this place, what does this place make you think of, how does this place make you re?ect on
life.
Turner (Kamau, 2002) suggests that there are only two status levels in liminality: the adept
and the neophyte. Adepts are set apart fromthe neophytes yet they are responsible to bring
the neophyte into the fold. In spite of this disparity:
All are equal: any distinction of class, race, or other statuses that kept them apart in ordinary life
are swept away, and they are united in their common circumstances (Kamau, 2002, p. 21).
The teachers are the adepts: professional performing musicians; and the students are the
neophytes: learning the mysteries of preparing a song to perform on stage. Teachers offer
lessons in technique and song but they also prepare the neophyte for initiation into the
mystery of performance. The ritual indicating a transition into this special knowledge, what
PAGE 380
j
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CULTURE, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY RESEARCH
j
VOL. 5 NO. 4 2011
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
y
P
O
N
D
I
C
H
E
R
R
Y
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
I
T
Y
A
t
2
2
:
1
7
2
4
J
a
n
u
a
r
y
2
0
1
6
(
P
T
)
Turner calls ‘‘symbolically sharing common substance’’ (Turner, 1977, p. 48), is the student
concert: a neophyte taking to the stage with a new song in his or her repertoire. This concert
serves to ‘‘frame and consolidate their identity as a communitas’’ (Turner, 1977, p. 48). For
about a third of the campers, this experience is their ?rst at performing. As Jennifer
observes:
You really reach a point of saturation about mid week [. . .] Thursday it gets really crazy because
that’s the day of the student concert and the whole climate just reaches this ampli?ed fever pitch
as people prepare for this amazing event that goes into the wee hours of the night.
Perhaps the highlight of camp, the student concert occurs on the night of day ?ve. All of the
students are encouraged to participate, either in a solo act or as part of an ensemble. Almost
a hundred percent compliance exists; the ritual symbolizes the emergent sense of
communitas for the group. The students are the neophytes, making their ?rst symbolic as
well as literal step onto the stage, doing what the adepts do: performing. This act brings the
neophyte into the mystical center of the group. Prefaced by days of practice and training, on
the day of the concert we ?nd a ?urry of last minute preparation and interaction between the
adepts and the neophytes. The student concert is of epic length; lasting almost seven hours,
with 65 acts performed.
The day after the concert the mood around camp is relaxed, even subdued. Campers’
thoughts move back and forth, remembering the concert, thinking about the comforts of
home. Camp will not end until the middle of the next day but there is already a sense of
culmination, of looking back at the week, of a settling into a sense of community, knowing it
will soon be gone.
A synopsis of the ?lm
As our ?lm opens we see a bit of the ?avor of Music Camp; a performance of old time hillbilly
music by an ensemble of camp participants and a look at the rural, rustic setting in which
camp takes place. Campers reside in tents or cabins, take communal meals, attend classes
and workshops, practice individually, perform in concerts and get to know each other over
the course of a full week. We immediately hear a common refrain from key informants. They
speak to basic themes and reasons for the camp: a way to progress in one’s musicianship, a
way to connect with other people, the camp as a community: a safe environment apart from
the rest of the world. In the segment titled The Arc of the Week, by following one instance, we
see the basic progression of several of the main events of the week: teacher introductions
the ?rst night, classes each morning, a teacher concert on the third night, a student concert
on the ?fth night. The teachers are the adepts: professional performing musicians; and the
students are the neophytes: learning the mysteries of preparing a song to perform on stage.
In this segment, we see a teacher at work, classroom activity, then a neophyte taking to
stage with a new song under his belt. Gaining knowledge of the mystery of performing is not
just about learning a song; rather the mystery corresponds to the experience of performing
live on stage.
Following this segment is a ?rsthand description of the camp experience. In The Emotional
Worlds of the Campers, informants describe the psychological experiences and challenges
of camp; campers and staff expect some of these challenges, some are surprising. Here, we
introduce evidence of liminoid phenomena. In The Student Concert segment, we see the
culmination of the week for many, although there are still a couple of days remaining before
camp is over. For numerous participants (neophytes) the concert is an initiation into the
mysteries of the adepts. This concert has 65 acts and lasts (in real time) more than seven
hours. We present informant descriptions of community in the segment The Emergence of
Communitas, and campers portray their thoughts about the experience as a vehicle to
enhance personal transformation in Finding Authenticity. Bookending the old time Hillbilly
song introducing the ?lm is a contemporary folk song written and performed by one of the
camp’s youngest participants. The ?lm ends with a few glimpses of a parting ritual: saying
goodbyes as campers pack the bus that will take them back to the city. Most everyone
experiences a sweet melancholy: happy to be getting back to family, friends, and the
VOL. 5 NO. 4 2011
j
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CULTURE, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY RESEARCH
j
PAGE 381
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
y
P
O
N
D
I
C
H
E
R
R
Y
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
I
T
Y
A
t
2
2
:
1
7
2
4
J
a
n
u
a
r
y
2
0
1
6
(
P
T
)
familiarity of their regular lives; and sad to be leaving the intense community built during the
course of the last seven days. For many this was a onetime experience, for some the
experience was yet another week of many weeks spent at this camp, and for a few more, it
was, perhaps, the ?rst of many of these weeks of camp to come.
References
Arnould, E.J. and Price, L.L. (1993), ‘‘River magic: extraordinary experience and the extended service
encounter’’, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 20, June, pp. 24-45.
Arnould, E.J. and Wallendorf, M. (1994), ‘‘Market-oriented ethnography: interpretation building and
marketing strategy formulation’’, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 31, November, pp. 484-504.
Belk, R.W. and Kozinets, R.V. (2005), ‘‘Videography in marketing and consumer research’’, Qualitative
Market Research, Vol. 8 No. 2, pp. 128-41.
Hearn, F. (1980), ‘‘Communitas and re?exive social theory’’, Qualitative Sociology, Vol. 3 No. 4,
pp. 299-322.
Kamau, L.J. (2002), ‘‘Liminality, communitas, charisma, and community’’, in Brown, S.L. (Ed.),
Intentional Community, State University of New York Press, Albany, NY, pp. 17-40.
Lyons, K. and Dionigi, R. (2007), ‘‘Transcending emotional community: a qualitative examination of older
adults and masters’ sports participation’’, Leisure Sciences, Vol. 29, pp. 379-89.
Turner, V. (1969), The Ritual Process, Structure and Anti-Structure, Aldine de Gruyter, Hawthorne, NY.
Turner, V. (1977), ‘‘Variations on a theme of liminality’’, in Moore, S.F. and Myerhoff, B.G. (Eds), Secular
Ritual, Van Gorcum, Assen, Amsterdam, pp. 36-52.
About the author
Seth R. Ellis is Associate Professor of Marketing in the School of Business Administration at
the University of San Diego. He publishes articles in such diverse areas as the psychometric
measurement of human behavior traits, law practice management, accounting ?rm
management, the green marketing movement in regional and national corporations,
customer satisfaction in professional services marketing, and the interface between
marketing, design, and engineering in new product development. Using ?lm and
ethnographic techniques, his current research programs concentrate on experiential
consumption activities and our relationships with favorite possessions. Seth R. Ellis can be
contacted at: [email protected]
PAGE 382
j
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CULTURE, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY RESEARCH
j
VOL. 5 NO. 4 2011
To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: [email protected]
Or visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
y
P
O
N
D
I
C
H
E
R
R
Y
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
I
T
Y
A
t
2
2
:
1
7
2
4
J
a
n
u
a
r
y
2
0
1
6
(
P
T
)
This article has been cited by:
1. Ebru Ulusoy. 2016. Experiential responsible consumption. Journal of Business Research 69, 284-297. [CrossRef]
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
y
P
O
N
D
I
C
H
E
R
R
Y
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
I
T
Y
A
t
2
2
:
1
7
2
4
J
a
n
u
a
r
y
2
0
1
6
(
P
T
)
doc_895984710.pdf