Challenges of Researching the DSO

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra really has not presented too many difficulties for me in putting together this musical ethnography. The only difficulty I really had was in finding the interview, or a primary source to get information from. The only real contact point the symphony offers, or at least offered me, was guest services which deals primarily with ticketing and other issues relative to the actual performances. I ended up having to just ask questions of other concertgoers at the event I went to. Actually, they ended up being really helpful especially in regards to the material culture sections; they provided some insights in that area that I don’t think any formal staff would have given me. So while it seemed like a difficulty it actually ended up working out well.

With them being such an organized culture, I didn’t experience any other significant difficulties. Event schedules are well publicized and accurate, and their website is an excellent source of information. The biggest other issue I faced was that I neglected some of the practices of the culture when scheduling it. For instance, the concert started a bit late which is apparently common, and I had forgotten about the intermission which lasts quite some time to allow for more socializing. It didn’t affect my information gathering at all, but since my event was the evening before our last exam I kind of had to sleepwalk through the test :).

All told, the DSO was a fairly easy organization to profile, and I’m really excited about the information I gathered!!!