ABSTRACT
This chapter shows the complexity of action at the very moment of its unfolding. This ties in to long-standing work in Vygotskian psychology and more recent developments in ethnomethodology. The chapter shows how local constructions can disappear as they are placed within larger frames. As a professional musician, Merry Naddeo could differentiate between "good" and "bad" voices on several evaluative scales. Talent, by the American definition that the residents of the inn reconstructed, is an individual property dependent only on individual resources. But words, like performances, are embedded in cultural history, and they gain their meaning through the activities of those who arrange them. The request for a taped solo was a social scene between the requester and Naddeo. The choir was charitable and research activity in Naddeos life. All this flowed without a hitch to its scripted conclusion; the crowd actively cooperated and disappeared, and the soloist revealed herself for evaluation as someone who might become an individual success.
