Box #19

My informant wears a water proof ring. It is made entirely of plastic, with the center plate being made of metal. The watch can be easily broken because of its plastic covering. By looking at the watch, I begin to think the informant doesn't have a lot of money and tries to save as much money as possible. Also, I wonder if the informant like to swim or do something of that nature since the watch is water proof. The texture of the watch is very smooth and the shape is in an octagonal shape. 

Step 2: When I look at the watch, I begin to think what does the informant like to do for fun. Does he like to swim since his watch is water proof? Does the informant leave his watch in his pants all the time and forgets about it when his pants are being washed? Also, when I look at the watch, I wonder what kind of income he gets or his family gets. I ask myself these questions: What income does the informant receive? How does the informant look at people who are wealthy? What kind of background does the informant come from? How does the informant feel about plastic? How does he feel about his family? Does his family help him with college and other money issues?

Step 3:

Who got you the watch?- his uncle from Minnesota. It was a graduation gift.

Where did it come from?- Minnesota

How much did it cost?- 80 bucks

What does it mean to you?- He considers it important because his uncle got it for him and he can't go up there very often and it's nice to know his uncle was thinking about him.

If it were to be stolen or lost, how would you feel?- He would feel devastated because it represents his uncle he doesn't see very often.

Step 5:

The artifact means a lot to my informant. Even though it looks like a cheap watch you can buy anywhere, the watch is actually more expensive than I thought, around 80 dollars or so. Also, even though some people might look at the watch as a cheap watch with no meaning whatsoever, the watch means a lot to my informant. My informant got it from his uncle who lives in Minnesota. He doesn't get to see him very often and this gift that his uncle got him means a lot to him in the sense it represents not only his uncle, but the love his uncle has for him and the fact he was thinking of his nephew even though he is hundreds of miles away.

Post #7

I feel that by doing my field study on the musical choir subculture I was once a part of, I can give back to my former culture by giving people on the outside more information about the culture and a better understanding of what they do everyday in their culture. This way people don't judge people in musical choir and they have an understanding as to why they do the things they do. I can let people know through my field research how singing and being in choir can actually benefit you in other subjects of school, such as English and Math. I can let people know about how music actually helps you remember things better and give them examples and reasons as to how that is possible. All of these things I plan on talking about in my mini-ethnography, and all of these things give back to the culture I was once apart of in many different ways. The main reason it gives back to people in the culture is it gives people a better feel and understanding about the culture, which would result in less judgment and more understanding of the musical culture as a whole and not just what you see.

By doing my field study over musical choir, I am giving people in my class and in my community a better feel for the culture as well as a better understanding of their environment, actions, and work ethic in their culture. I am giving valuable information to my fellow classmates that they can use when it comes to looking at a choir. Instead of judging them by how they look, people will judge them by how they act. Instead of making fun of people who are in choir, people will appreciate their efforts and see the benefits of being in a musical choir. These are the things I want to accomplish when I do my mini-ethnography, and I feel these things will not only benefit people who are not familiar with the culture, but help the choir members as well because less people will stereotype them because they will have a better understanding of the culture. So, through my research, I will benefit the community because they will understand more and have a better understanding as to why people like to be in choir. It will also benefit people in the culture because people will have a better understanding of the culture and see how being in choir is beneficial in more than one way, which will result in less stereotyping and people in choir getting made fun of.

Survey

http://FreeOnlineSurveys.com/rendersurvey.asp?sid=ctcxyvqbca3pwm9550039

Groundwork Activity

I don't remember a lot of my first impressions when I got into musical choir, but I remember a few of my impressions I had when I first joined choir in 5th grade. I thought choir was really dumb. Only losers and people with no lives did choir. I thought choir was for gay people. I thought the scenery of their environment was a little girlish, with their musical notes and bright colors covering the entire room. But, as I got into the culture, I realized most if not all of these first impressions were totally false. Choir wasn't for gay people, it was for all ages. Their environment was shaped the way it was shaped because it is choir. It's suppose to have musical notes and a few bright colors in their environment.

Even though most of my first impressions are different now, I still have a few unanswered questions. For example, I would like to know why all choir rooms have musical notes up all the time? Why do the have to be up? Also, why can't students take their music home and study it? Why do they have an older piano and not a newer one? Why do they have a couch in the back room for no particular reason? These are just a few questions I have when I go and do my fieldnotes.

2.I feel different in the new space I have today. I've been used to being in choir for so long that not being in choir seems out of the norm for me. I have a sad feeling every now and then when it comes to choir. I miss it a lot. I miss singing solos and hanging out with friends. I miss performing for a bunch of people and dancing the night away during a certain song. I miss the plays in the auditorium, where I got to be a different character each year and was able to reinvent myself as not only a singer but an actor as well. These things are just a few of the things I miss when it comes to being in the musical choir subculture.

3. I know I am an outsider when I go to a choir room and I not singing my voice part. Or when I go to a choir room and it's like I'm not even there. Or when people ask me for advice when it comes to singing rather than me singing with them. Or when I critique voice parts rather than just sing my voice part. Also, when I go back to my old subculture, I am not looked at as a former choir member. People look at me as Steven Ward, a friend and a person who knows a lot when it comes to musical blend and music in general. These things make me an outsider in the musical choir subculture today.

Post #6

Durrant, Colin. "The Genesis of Musical Behaviour: Implications for Adolescent Music Education." International Journal of Education & the Arts. Volume 2, Number 5. 21 November 2001. 1-6. 18 Feb 2009. <http://www.ijea.org/v2n5/index.html>.


This article is about some of the concerns that music education has in secondary schools that are in England and how the people in music education plan on fixing this problem. It talks about some solutions to this problem that England faces in their secondary schools, such as having secondary schools who have music education be less isolated from other cultural contexts. The reason being studies show a decline in attitude towards music and positive gains in maturity and the valuing of music when they are around more musicians and less isolated from the culture. The article also talks about some of the music behaviour and the secondary music curriculum in England and how they plan on changing the behaviour in secondary schools so they can get more people involved in musical education.


I plan on using this source in my mini-ethnography so I can show the effects musical education has on people as a whole. I want to show outsiders through this source how music can be interpreted and taught in many different cultures, such as England, and show how this is similar or different to our musical choir culture over here in the states. I also want to compare the different attitudes and problems England's music education has compared to ours to show outsiders how similar the cultures are even though they are a part of two different countries and how musical education problems are similar no matter where you go.




Stearns, David Patrick. "Donald Nally, and a choir with intelligence ." The Philadelphia Inquirer. 25 December 2006. 1-2. 18 Feb 2009. <http://crossingchoir.com/review_XMass1.pdf>.


This article talks about Donald Nally and the wonderful performance his musical choir, The Crossing, put on during Christmas. Stearns talks about each aspect of the performance that he liked. From the intelligence of the choir to the wonderful crescendoing to the excellent blend and intonation of their singing voices, Stearns talks about each and every thing he found wonderful about the choir and why people should go see them sometime if they ever get the chance.


I am going to use this in my mini-ethnography to show how people in musical choir can affect a person both physically and emotionally. I want to use this as an example of what music can do to a person and how different people view musical choirs as a whole. I feel like this article gives a very good description of certain aspects to look for when it comes to a good musical choir and it gives in very vivid detail how a good musical choir can affect an audience. This article will help me in explaining the effects musical choir can have on an audience and how people have many different perspectives when it comes to musical choirs and arrangements of music.

Box #18

The focal point of my fieldsite where I am doing my field notes is the choir room. To some people, the choir room is just a room full of chairs and pieces of music. But to the people that are in choir, the choir room is more than that. It is a room where they can get away from the outside world and be in an environment where they are not judged by the color of their skin or the way they act or dress. It's a place where they feel like they fit in and they can what they love to do without being criticized, sing. Some people might not understand why so many people love to sing and be in choir, and they never will understand until they are in that culture for a long period of time.

Some of my perspectives are affected because of the fact I was in choir for eight years, but some of my perspectives have remained the same. For example, I still look in a choir room and see the same old setting. The piano, chairs, music, props, etc. But to some people, like choir members, for example, the choir room is more than that. It's their way of life. It's a place they can go to when they are having a bad day or want to get away from the outside world. I didn't realize all of these things until a few weeks ago, when I went to my old choir room and observed all of the people in the room as well as the environment around them.

The choir room is the main focal point when it comes to studying the musical choir subculture. In order to understand the musical choir subculture better, you first have to understand the members of choir and their environment, their environment being the choir room. You must observe how they sing, what they do for fun, how they warm up, where they put their music, what their environment smells like, how the teacher teaches them the music, etc. All of these things you can find out if you go and observe the main focal point of their culture, and that is the choir room, which is their enironment.

In Class Writing

I remember when I went to Detroit, Michigan I was way out of my comfort zone. There were African Americans everywhere roaming the streets. Run down homes and buildings everywhere you went. Cops on every street corner. People being hijacked or robbed at gunpoint. All these things scared me to death and made me want to leave this place immediately.

Also, I remember an experience I had with my family driving thru Detroit to get to the Canadian border. We were driving through a particular neighborhood, all run down and full of African Americans, when suddenly we hit a stoplight. When we stopped at this stoplight, three African American people started to walk towards my parents car. I started to freak out. My dad was getting his gun ready to shoot these people. Well, luckily, there was a cop on the street corner cause if he wasn't there, me, my dad, and mom would've been robbed. Because of this experience, I think of Detroit as this run down, dangerous, and crappy looking place full of African American criminals and air pollution because of all the cars going in and out of the town.

Some of the other things I remember was the number of white people I saw in town. When you go to Detroit, you don't expect to see a lot of white people. But, when we got deeper into the town, more and more white people began to turn up. The inner part of town was a lot better looking than the outer part of town. The inner part still had its slums and crime, but not like the outer part. The inner part was full of stores, less crime, and an equal amount of whites and blacks.

Post #5

I have decided to go interview some of my past music teachers and friends that are in the musical choir culture today. My plan is to get all of my interviews done within the next week or so, do some research over my particular subculture from online sources and other sources, such as magazine articles and newspaper clippings, and then, after I have all the research I need, slowly piece all of the information I find together into a mini-ethnography.

I feel like I need to look more into how music is taught in choir compared to when I was in choir last year. I need to look at what is the same and what is different. Plus, I need to look at how the musical choir industry is being affected. Is there more people joining choir or less, and if so why? What are some of the differences between certain choirs? These are just a few things I need to look into more when I am doing my field research.

I need to spend a little more time in my fieldsite, but not a whole lot more. I was in the subculture for eight years, so I have a pretty good feel of what to expect in the culture. But, like I said before, I do need to look at what has changed and how choir is today in terms of number of people and the types of choirs.

I plan on finishing this assignment with good research and field notes. I will do my field research very carefully and slowly so I can get all the sensory details and descriptions that I possibly can. I will research my topic very thoroughly so I can get as much background on my subculture as possible. Then, when I am done doing all my field research and web research, I will do a draft of my mini-ethnography and see how it sounds. Then, after I find out what I need to fix, I will fix my mistakes and make it into a wonderful ethnography. The key to making my mini-ethnography good is time, lots of research, and lots of drafts.

Some questions I will probably have pertaining to upcoming assignments will probably be what do we have to have in this particular paper? What is the page length of this particular assignment? How many sources do we have to have? How detailed do we have to be when describing our subcultures? How is this paper different from the last? What activities will we do to help us prepare for these assignments? How will these activities benefit us when we write our papers? These would be the kinds of questions I would ask Dr. Disarro when it comes to the class and the upcoming writing assignments.

Revised Box #15

I think of the ground, full of water and grass
Snakes all over wanting to bite my ass
Trees all rotting and covered in dew
The owl at night making its little coo
The roads all curvy, which made it hard to drive
Some people just trying to stay alive
The sun in the morning as bright as can be
Would always fill my heart with happiness and glee
The beauty of the clouds all fluffy and blue
Made you want to start your life anew
I love this place with every ounce of me
And hopefully one day it can fill your heart with glee

Box #15

I remember my second home down in Shirley, Arkansas. I remember the long drive down there, making anyone want to fall asleep. I remember the roads being very long and curvy and country folk everywhere you go. I think of how the people of Shirley treat you, with kindness and respect.

Also, when I think of Shirley, I think of my aunt, uncle, and cousin. I remember the driveway to their home, so rough and old. The scenery in Shirley is beyond anything I have ever seen in my entire life. I remember the clouds being as fluffy and blue as any I have ever seen. The trees covered in dew and some about to fall down because of how rotten and old they were. The ground covered in grass and dirt. The wilderness so beautiful, with its numerous animals and beautiful blue rivers and lakes flowing throughout the wilderness.

As for the interior of my aunt's house, I remember a bunch of things. I remember the large tv in the front room, with its numerous channels and gigantic screen. I remember the feel of my aunt and uncle's couch and recliner, so soft and comfortable, making you want to fall aslepp because of how soft and cozy it is. I remember the kitchen, full of numerous drinks and food. The bedrooms I remember were very small, but had enough room for you to sleep in. The blankets that came with the beds were quilted blankets and were very warm and soft and full of color.

The main thing I remember about Shirley is the smell of my aunt's cooking in the morning. The smell was so mind boggling and irresistible that it would appeal to any eater in this world, vegetarian or not. I remember the eggs, biscuits and gravy, bacon, and sausage my aunt would make. The eggs would be cooked to perfection, just the way you like them. The biscuits and gravy would have a little bit of butter on them, but not too much, making a delicious meal with some warm, soft, and runny white gravy. As for the bacon, the texture of it was very greasy and soft, but was delicious in its own right. These kind of memories makes me want to go back soon, and eventually that will happen. But for now, all I have is the memories and sensory details to reflect upon.

Dog-town and Z Boys

Surf shop created a new type of surfboard, with a new attitude and a new design to the typical surfbord

Jeff Ho and company created a surf team and changed their look from the typical Hawaiian, beachy look

The POP closed in 1967

It was a place on the ocean where you could ride rides, eat carnival food, and be by the ocean and the beach

In 1965, skateboarding crashed as it was becoming popular

Larry Burdleman redefined a new way to ride waves, by touching the waves as he rode them

All of the skateboarders during this time watched this video and would do everything they could to copy what Larry Burdleman did on water

Style was the most important thing when it came to skateboarding and surfing

All the surfers and skateboarders were unique because they all had their own style and this is what made all of them come together on the zephyr teams, each one of them was unique in their own way

Because of the California drought of the 1970s, skateboarders began to skate in empty swimming pools that resulted from the drought, developing vertical skateboarding

The urothene wheel was created to help skateboarders with their skating and not break their wheels or wipe out as easy with the clay wheels skateboarders were accustomed to


I feel like the piece is entertainment and an ethnography. It looks at the surfing and skateboarding culture in dogtown as a whole and not a little part of the cultures. The movie gives you details about the culture, such as the smell of the town, where they surfed and skated, when they surfed and skated, etc. The movie gave you an in depth look at these particular cultures.

The people that are interviewed are people that were part of the cultures during that time frame. They gave you an in depth look at how skateboarding was when they were in the culture, what the atmosphere was like, where you'd go to surf or skate, etc. The interviewers gave you a better understanding of the culture and made you feel like you were a part of their culture with how descriptive they were with their details.

The attitudes of these subcultures were they didn't care what people thought. They were their own group and you were either with them or against them. They were people who broke the rules and did whatever they could to surf or skate and if you didn't like it, then get the hell out of their way. Some of the artifacts of the subcultures were the urothene wheel they made to improve skateboarding, the graffiti on the boards, which made them unique from any other boards of the time period, etc.

Some of the stereotypes I held about skatboarders was they were smelly, did drugs, broke the law, wear worn down clothes, partied all the time, etc. From watching the movie, I still hold a lot of these stereotypes. From the movie, you could see people drinking, breaking the law, partying a lot, didn't wear the greatest clothes, etc. So the movie didn't really change my stereotyping, but actually made it stronger because of its details and visuals.

I trust what the creator was telling me. The information was factual because of who was interviewed. The movie had interviews from people that lived in the subculture, thus making the information true. I had an average response to the movie. I kind've expected to see drinking, partying, lawbreaking, and the grimy clothes, and this movie strengthened my emotions towards skateboarders. Because of this movie, I still believe a lot of skateboarders are punks and need to lay off the drugs. The piece was constructed in a chronological order. Each scene talked about a development in their subcultures through the years. For example, the skateboards went from clay wheels to urothene wheels, the drought led to the skating of empty swimming pools, the falling down of the POP resulted in more surfing around the area, etc. All of these things were talked about in an order in which they happened to let you know what was going on in both subcultures over a certain time period and what stayed the same and what changed in these cultures over time.

Privileges

White, American-born male
Live in a country that gives you equal rights
Born into a family that makes a good living
Right to go in and out of the country as I please
Going to a good college because of my hardwork in high school
Given a monthly check because of my dad's efforts in Vietnam
Have the right to practice whatever religion I want
Speak out against my government under the Constitution
Male
Get to go to college for free because of the fact my dad is a disabled veteran and I'm his son

When I go to my subculture, a lot of my privileges will affect how I do my fieldnotes and how they view me as person. For example, all Americans have equal rights, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the freedom to come and go as they please, which means the participants I will interview and look at for my subculture will be on the same playing field as me. They will understand more about why I am the way I am and I will understand why they are the way they are because I am on the same playing field as them and understand where they are coming from. But, at the same time, I have benefits that a lot of people don't have. When I go to do my field notes, some people will be able to go to college for free because of scholarships and hard work. I, on the other hand, go for free no matter what scholarships I get because of the fact my dad is a disabled veteran. So that difference might affect how I look at different people in my particular subculture when it comes to why they work so hard in their field and things of that nature.

Overall, I believe my privileges won't have that much of an effect on my field reserach because of the fact most of the people in my choir subculture have the same privileges as me. The only differences between me and the culture I am looking at is my college benefits and my social class.

Posting #4

As of right now, I can conclude that my subculture has a lot of the same features as when I was in it before. Teachers still have students sight read music, students still put their music in music folders, students still wear uniforms for performances, and they still have the costumes and props room in the back. I think all of these things will stay the same for a long time, even it if was in a different city or state.

All over the country, I believe choirs would have their music folders, uniforms, and their own costumes and props. Some of the differences between different music classrooms all across the globe would include the smell of the room, how the room is decorated, how the chairs are aligned, how the teacher teaches his students, etc. For example, at my school, the chairs are aligned by rows and the teacher teaches each part separately. At another environment, the subculture might be the same, but the environment would be different. The chairs could be aligned by voice part, not by rows, and the teacher might teach all of the parts together without slowing down. Also, my choir had a febreeze smell and some days a candle smell depending on what the candle was. In another school, the smell could be terrible or have a vanilla smell, depending on the kind of school it is.

As for other countries, I feel like music is taught by playing and hearing the music rather than singing and reading. In Mexico, Spain, Germany, etc, I bet most of them learn music by ear and learned how to play an instrument by teaching themselves or had someone teach them, which is where our music subculture is similar to other cultures of music. We all have the same instruments, same music, same rhythm. The only difference is how we play and how we teach the music.

Music is affected by what is going on in that particular culture. For example, when 9/11 happened, you noticed a lot of our music related to soldiers and 9/11. When Vietnam was going on, most of our music talked about the war. Music is affected by what is going on in that culture. All over the world, music is portrayed by what is going on in the world. Which is how music comes back and relates to one another. Each subculture of music has its own unique way to get its point across and most music relates to something that is going on either in the world or that country's environment.

I believe the culture I was in would be a little different if it was in another country or state, but I do believe the music would be taught the same way. I would still have to be able to learn to sight read music. I would still have to be able to hear the different voice parts and know when my part comes in. I would still have to get lessons from someone if I wanted to get good at playing an instrument. Even though music is different depending on where you're at, how it's taught will never change no matter where you are.