Antonio Holland

Peterson
Eng 1101
March 31, 2014
Mini-ethnography
Youre Not Loud Enough!
It was a new semester, spring of 2010 to be exact. A freshman, just learning the ropes,
trudged through the halls of a vivacious high school. As I walked through the door, I wasnt
greeted by anyone. I had no idea who the teacher was. I found some classmates that I
recognized and we all sat together. The entire room was filled with loud conversations and
laughter. The bell had finally rang and the teacher began class. This was a beginners chorus
class so there werent necessarily any experts involved besides the teacheralthough later on
it turned out to not be that way. The teacher talked about the ins and outs of the class and
what concepts she intended on us learning and gaining through the class. The art of song and
music has been minimalized in the intellectual world. The objective of singers, especially in this
case, is to create beautiful music with purpose, deliver various messages, and express their
creativity.

Ive always noticed that musicians have had a different way of thinking. It takes a unique
mind to formulate the kind of genius that comes out of these musicians. Typically there is a
connotation that all musicians play some form of an instrument. That is a major misconception.
The technical definition says that a musician is someone who writes, sings, or plays music and it
goes on to say that a musician is a composer, conductor, or performer of music. Therefore that
goes to show that anyone involved in the creation of music is a musician. My chorus teacher
stressed that point. She emphasized how music was more than just something that simply
exists. She also explained to us that our instrumentation was our voice. Our voices have
dimensions and a diverse spectrum in which it is created to give beautiful music to the world.
Music is typically undermined and doesnt seem to get as much recognition however, music has
extreme purpose in everyones life. We learned that most of the songs we sung came from
movements and time periods where the only way to communicate and get points across was
through song. Music is a uniquely beautiful way to have a voice and convey a message.
In analyzing and observing this discourse community based on Swales six characteristics
of a discourse community, I found that most of these characteristics applied. In this chorus
class, so many elements of discourse community became more evident to me after really
thinking on how the environment I put under the microscope is actually a discourse community.
I began by trying to decipher what the goal of this community was. I asked myself, is there
even a goal? Once I identified the goal, which is to create music that tells stories, relays
messages, and that provides the opportunity for these people to express their creativity, that
was one check off my list.
Then I went and asked myself, is there a medium of communication that occurs?
There is. The conductor of the choir used numerous hand gestures to express what she was
expecting. A few key movements were in the pinching of her index fingers and thumbs during a
song that was followed by a quieting of the choir or the circular motion she made with her
index finger where the choir would repeat the phrase they were currently singing. Putting all
these motions together made me realize that this was their mode of communication.
Another key aspect or characteristic of a discourse community is that there are people
that take an active role in it. There were many who I considered to have active roles in this
community. Of course the singers were a key figure in the formation of this discourse
community along with the conductor. Without a conductor or singers, the idea of a choir is
pretty questionable. However, this was still a touring high school choir. Therefore, there was
people needed to help with the day to day routines and people to coordinate trips and
fundraisers. That job was taken on by the volunteers along with the interns that came to
observe the conductor for their college courses. Now that there was an established group of
people involved and taking on active roles, I moved on to another characteristic.
Lexis or special lingo was another feature that stuck out to me. I noticed the teacher use
words while teaching such as piano and measure. These are musical terms that mean to sing
quietly and a measure apparently goes along with the speed of music or an amount of time that
goes by in between each beat. Initially, I thought she was referring to an actual piano that has
black and white keys. In finding out that these things had multiple meanings in this discourse
community was astonishing.
Lastly, discourse communities usually have levels based on beginners and experts. This
was definitely apparent. It was obvious that the teacher was an expert on music matters. She
clearly explained to us these concepts that we probably wouldnt have gotten on our own. She
was there to give us insight on how to utilize music in such a way that we would never forget.
The teacher taught us that music isnt simply one sided. Its an imaginative world that doesnt
have to be limited and understanding it is imperative for creating beautiful music.
My teacher was influential in making us realize that the structure of a chorus and
especially in this class, is only achievable on many different levels. It takes creativity, physical
along with mental determination, and devotion to make it work effectively. Observing such a
discourse community was enlightening because although I experienced this personally, I never
would have looked at my experience in this time period as a form of discourse community.