This is the Discourse Community Analysis

Hitting the Right Notes A discourse community can be defined as a group of people who share common goals, ideas, interests, etc. Throughout our lives, we join multiple discourse communities, like a sports team or a book club. We must also have a certain level of expertise, some credibility, and be able to emotionally connect with other members. Beginning last week, we have been discussing the characteristics of discourse communities and how a person can become a part of that group. When asked to discuss a discourse community that I was already a part of, learning piano and participating in recitals came to mind. In this essay, I will prove that I succeeded in becoming a part of the community by acquiring the knowledge needed [logos], establishing my credibility within the group [ethos], and expressing my love for the music with other musicians [pathos]. As new students at UT Arlington, everyone in the class is also going through the steps to join a new group, specifically, one based on academics. The process that I used to become a successful pianist will hopefully assist in our assimilation into our new discourse communities here at UTA. It is crucial that when becoming a part of a new group, you learn everything about it (logos). Piano players are a part of a smaller discourse community within that of the music one. There are definitely overarching themes and words that are used but also those that are specific to the community. Becoming a part of the piano discourse group meant that I needed to make myself familiar with all of the important words like time signatures, dynamics, and ostinatos. When I first started to learn how to read a piece of music, I paid attention to the time signature because that’s what told me the pulse, or how many beats were in each measure. Not understanding the importance of the time signature would’ve affected my ability to learn how to play properly. Another piece of the sheet music reading puzzle is dynamics. Dynamics are Italian words or phrases that describe how quietly or loudly a piece of music should be played, which helps convey the mood of the music. The word “piano” at the beginning of a song meant that I should start by playing quietly. These dynamics could also change throughout the music so that the dynamics fit the intended feeling of a piece. Then, words like ostinatos, which was meant to be a persistently repeated phrase, were introduced into my vocabulary. The use of ostinatos in a song would build drama and suspense, even to something meant to be energetic. After around 6 years of playing, I learned this phrase because my skills were finally advanced enough to be introduced to a higher level of vocabulary. Acquiring this level of knowledge allowed me to be able to communicate with my piano teacher without any issues. All of the knowledge that I had gathered throughout my years of playing allowed me to become credible with my piano teacher and other players (ethos). The school that I attended as a kindergartener had the piano as one of their classes and my parents could see my interest. The lessons continued sporadically until I turned sixteen. Throughout the twelve years that I learned and improved my understanding of the piano, I had private lessons almost every week. I also participated in recitals and school concerts, with my first being in 2008, which was a schoolwide competition between all the five-year-olds. There were about 25 kindergarteners at my school and we all had been learning to play for about one year. This experience of playing in front of people and competing against other kids is what pushed my drive to become better, of course, I didn’t know it at the time. I won a couple of recitals over the years, mostly with solo pieces. The last first place I had gotten was in 2018 when I competed against 35 other students that my piano teacher taught. I knew it was my final recital so I gave it my all. The preparations for it took about 8 months and there were barely any days off for me. Furthermore, I participated in things outside of just learning and playing in my home, which I gratefully had the opportunity to do. This allowed me to make many friends who were a part of the piano academy that my teacher founded. Through my commitment to the craft, I was able to find a real passion of mine at such a young age. Even though it seems like a lot, knowledge and credibility aren’t enough to become accepted into an entire community. There has to be a certain emotional connection between you and the others within your group. It is definitely common for people within my discourse community to not have a relationship with other members, especially those who take private lessons. However, I knew that it was always good to have a good backbone and support system with another person who understood your frustrations. Along with building a bond with my piano teacher, I made sure that I developed friendships with her other students. We had group hangouts where we would eat lunch, talk, and just become comfortable around one another. Right before my last recital practice began, I invited my fellow pianists and celebrated since it was the end of an era for most of us. Those kids are still my friends to this day and we talk whenever we can. That was a needed group of friends because we all had a slightly different skillset when it came to playing. If any of us were having issues figuring out how to play something, we could rely on the person who had perfected that technique to help us. When I first began learning how to play “River Flows In You” by Yiruma, I struggled with the ostinatos. They were so repetitive and yet I wouldn’t be able to play the same notes over and over again. Thankfully, one of the girls in our piano group was a “master” of ostinatos and she gave me a tip, which was to practice off of the piano first. “River Flows In You” became one of my favorite pieces to play because I was able to conquer the ostinatos. We knew that we had each other's backs and that we would always be a part of a group. Being a part of a group as big as the pianists could seem very daunting to many people, but with the ability to build connections within, the group will accept you, with your knowledge and credibility of course. Someone who wasn’t familiar with the world of music might say that they don’t believe that the piano discourse community is valid because anyone can learn to play the piano. They might argue that reading sheet music isn’t specific to piano playing and that other musicians could learn how to with much ease. I can see where they are coming from since reading music is a very common skill within the music communities. For example, a violinist has a certain kind of sheet music, one that uses the treble clef. However, piano sheet music contains treble and bass clefs. Clefs are symbols at the beginning of the staff (a set of five lines and four spaces) that tells the player which octave they will be playing in. I would explain to them that sheet music isn’t the same all across the variety of instruments. Ultimately, I can assert that the piano discourse community is valid because we have a certain set of skills that only we in the community would understand. As I finished my last recital, I realized that I had a skill set and knowledge that could be used in the future. Putting myself into the piano community was possible due to the three rhetorical appeals: logos, pathos, and ethos. Of course, starting college and joining the discourse community for your intended major isn’t something that will take twelve years. However, there is still a similar process that you will go through: become knowledgeable, build credibility within the group, and be able to emotionally connect with others. I am glad that the piano took up such a significant portion of my life. Without that journey, the one that I will be on soon, joining the mechanical engineering major discourse community, would’ve been a lot more difficult.