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.