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"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music." -Sergei Rachmaninov

Discourse Community Map








Juan Rodriguez
English 1311
Marrufo, R.
9/1/10
   

       Throughout our generation, our use of communication has evolved and exceeded its standards to a higher and more proficient level. Mankind first began speaking to each other by creating hand gestures and drawing pictures on a stone wall. Now, mankind can text, talk, chat online, and pretty soon Skype to one another all on the palm of their hands! Furthermore, communication in our lives is imperative for our existence and social order. In my perspective, I am glad that I am living in an era where we can express ourselves through a higher form of communication, discourse…dialogue. We all have a way to show who we are in a community and have a specific way of interacting , also known as a genre. I, for example, play in the Wind Symphony at UTEP, where I show my community that I am prone to be passionate about music for the rest of my life. It shows that I have the potential to play an instrument in front of a large audience. Yes, this may not be a form of communication, but people then start to speak about what I do and what I play and what chair I am in in the symphony and what specific Major I am in…it starts breaking down into detail. Therefore, a discourse community, whatever type of context it is, shows a person’s character and how that person contributes to our community.
     A discourse community consists of four types of contexts, and one of them is civil, which is what a person does to the community. As a member of my church at Vino Nuevo, I am involved by helping out on events, concerts, and playing in our choir. We communicate to the city by utilizing genres like posting flyers in stores and schools. We also have a website, but our main type of genre that most people have seen on the road is our bumper sticker. We sometimes even joke about it, “If it isn’t Abundant Living”, it is Vino Nuevo!”. Believe it or not, this caught many people’s attention, which shows that even a bumper sticker could be a form of communication. We also have a billboard on the freeway that has upcoming events posted. As most Christian churches, our common goal is to show our society about God and how His path always leads towards peace, righteousness and harmony in life. Personally, this is also my goal in life, and I would like to show to the community that when you have God in your heart, no matter how cliché that sounds, you will always be joyous. Lastly, our preacher began this sort of act that we do in order to know God’s way better. It is called Tr3s (yes, it is spelled like that), which involves three words: Asistir (assist), Actuar (act) and Pertenecer (belong). This sort of act gives you an idea where what ministry you belong in church and where it is most comfortable. For example, if one person loves to teach and deal with kids, his ministry could be teaching and taking care of kids at church. I know there could be many arguments about this, but we believe that if we are active in church, we could follow His word, therefore be more successful in life.
Another type of context that constructs a discourse community is academic. Being a college student depicts that I want to be educated and have a successful future. To be more specific, I am a music education major studying to be a music teacher. I play the flute in the marching band and I am 3rd chair in the UTEP Wind Symphony. As of now, I also play the piano and learning the saxophone. There are several common goals that I possess as a Music Major. Every year, I try to enhance my level of playing so that I could build up to a professional musician. I also try to fulfill my goal of getting high grades in my music classes. I believe that a student being taught by an educated teacher will be far more successful in music than just an average band director. Lastly, the one goal that I love to achieve in… is to entertain a crowd! A musician is an entertainer, therefore, one important mission to accomplish as musician is to please the audience. In my opinion, the most obvious way that we , as the band, communicate to society is by our performances! We always have at least three concerts in a semester at the Recital Hall in the Fine Arts Department, and our newly improved Sound of the Southwest Marching Band always performs at pre-game and halftime in football games. One type of genre that we do is post flyers everywhere in the campus so that other students other than Music Majors know when we have concerts. There is also a section specifically for the Music department in the UTEP website that gives information about our ensembles. Us Music Majors also have a sort of lingo that some students do not understand. In a discourse community, it is called a specialized language. If a non-music major would walk inside the fine arts building, he is more likely to hear one of the music students whine about almost failing Aural Skills, or finishing up the Aural Skills homework, or studying for the sight-singing mid-term at Aural Skills class. Before you might ask yourself what the heck is Aural Skills is, it is obviously a class! In my opinion, this class should be called Ear Training because honestly, that explains most of this class! If it isn’t sight-singing that we have to worry about, which is reading and singing a piece of music right on the dot… or even worse….Music Theory….another class that most music students describe as the Math and Science of music. Other lingo that we use are the usual words that may be found in a piece of music, like andante, tempo, grave, piano, forte and so on. This is my life, my passion, my future….being a music major. This portrays that in my community, I am a musician.
     Personal in a discourse community could be the context that most people favor the most. In my life, this personal category involves my loving family and friends, the only people that give me a reason to live. In all seriousness, my family will always be my number one priority in my life. As broad as this sounds, the only common goal that we have within each other is to keep in touch as much as we can! Hey, it is a Mexican thing to have a wide variety of family members living throughout the United States. From California and Utah, to Las Cruces and Dallas, it is hard to keep in contact in the family. Therefore, trying to attend reunions is a big goal within us. From there, we fall into a deep nostalgia as we reminisce the past and catch up with each other‘s present…at times our feelings are elegiac, but in the long run, we are content that we re-unite as a whole once again. By keeping this communication between each other, we text, use the occasional house phone or e-mail each other via the internet, like facebook or yahoo. All in all, this has to be the best part of a discourse community because family shows unity, which what a community really needs in order to be an actual community.
     Finally, the last and probably the most important context is professional. Being a staff member of my old high school’s band could be an example of a professional context in a discourse community. To some people, one could relate this to a teacher’s aid. In other words, I deal with helping the band directors teach their criteria, like music and marching techniques, to the band students. To me, this is one of the common goals that I try to achieve in because this is what I am studying for, to teach students the awes and greatness of music. I also try to learn from the band directors, like mimicking their ways of connecting with the kids but also have authority. I am also beginning to give private lessons to any student that is eager to learn more about the flute or that needs extra help in an audition or competition. By learning from the directors, I have more of a chance to build up my music teaching techniques and skills. One important convention that I have to be potent with is showing up for class! I am in UTEP to educate myself so that I can be strong in the future. Ok, in other words, I am paying a pricey penny to become a music teacher, so I BETTER get my money’s worth and learn how to be a successful band director rather than just wasting my money and being a mediocre teacher! Attending rehearsals where the band directors need extra help is another convention that I must fulfill. Thus, communication is the key towards my profession. We take care of schedules by phone, text, e-mail or telephone. As a starter for being a private lesson teacher, I will start to post flyers out, which shows the community that I am an avid student, eager to become a music teacher by giving out lessons.
       Nevertheless, I indicate to society that my profession is music education. To conclude, everyone belongs in a group, a gathering of people that discuss within each other, also known as a discourse. It is vital that we show the community who we are and what we do in our lives by dialogue, interaction, conversations. I am a music student. I am a church member. I am a family man. I am a teacher’s aid. I am myself, Juan---not just another face in the crowd, but a part of my community.

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