p. 306

1. What is the context, and where are you in this scene? What is the nature of the relationship between you and your informant?- When doing my field research, I notice that I'm not really considered an insider anymore. I'm more of an outsider looking in on what the musical choir culture is doing. But, I still talk to the informants, still give them advice, interact with them in other words. So, I guess in my particular field site, I would be in the middle. I'm not exactly an insider in the subculture, but I'm not exactly an outsider either. I'm right in the middle of both of them. The relationship I have with my informants is simple. I talk to them, I'm friends with them, give them advice about choir since I used to be in it for so long, etc. My relationship with my informants is mostly at a friendly level, nothing more and nothing less.

2. The meaning behind the recorded words is to get stuff down about your particular culture that you might not remember. This way, if there is something you want to include into your mini-ethnography, you have it written down and you can add it to your field research. The things that influence my fixed positions is the fact I used to be a part of the culture and have a bunch of friends in the culture, therefore my fixed positions as well as my subjective will be biased because I used to be a part of the culture and have friends in the subculture. In other words, I won't say anything bad about the culture because I used to be a part of it. The relationship between me and my informants is very strong. Most of my informants are some of my best friends and people that have helped shaped not only the singer I am today but the person I am as well.

3. What I've noticed about some of the informants is some of the younger informants really don't have much of an opinion when it comes to choir other than they like it and it's a lot of fun. When you talk to older people, such as a teacher for example, you notice a different view on music, at least in my field site. The teacher I am interviewing has a wide array of facts and opinions as to why he enjoys music, what effect it has on a society, why it is so important, why he chose to teach music, etc. So, to answer the next question, there are some major gaps between older people and the younger people of the subculture. The reason being the older people have had more experience in the field and have more of an understanding as to the importance and reasonings behind choir, whereas younger people are just getting started out in the subculture.