THE ENGINEERS OF SOUND MUsicians

What is a musician A musician is any one who enjoys making music Encompasses a large amount of people Musicians come from all walks of life, but can still relate to one another

Musicians as a Discourse Community All musicians share one common goal  To have their work listen to by the public Musicians have a very distinct lexis  Treble, bass, measures, drops, producer, octaves Musicians rely on feedback as a means to appeal to their audience  Reactions from fans can cause artists to completely change their sound

Musicians as a Discourse Community Musicians can communicate through their music alone  Can influence other artists through their work There is an obvious threshold level of members  From the person who makes beats in their garage to Kanye West

Methodology Interviews with local musicians Rolling Stone articles Online database Observations Online articles about the life’s of musicians

Characteristics of Musicians Musicians as a community are very helpful to one another The more that musicians interact the more that they adapt Musicians face a problem of being critical of their music Typically spend a large amount of time practicing to better their skills.

Social Media The rise of the internet and the connected world has made it easier than ever before to publish music Websites like Soundcloud and YouTube provide artists with outlets to the public Very popular options for prospecting mainstream musicians

Independent Mainstream Unsigned artists that make music. Typically take advantage of social media Do not usually have the money for a professional studio Artists that are signed to a record label Typically famous for their music Have many tools that independent artists do not Have a larger audience than independent artists Independent vs Mainstream

Emoceans Conor Forde is a local EDM artist that uses soundcloud Uses the stage name Emoceans “…it’s all about your confidence in your sound, you have to believe that it sounds great.” 1/roulette

Dave Grohl Former Drummer of Nirvana and Lead singer for Foo Fighters Describes the process of making music to be very time consuming In Rolling Stone article describes how he starts his day as a musicians that has 3 daughters  “I wake up at 5:45 a.m. to make breakfast and snack packs, then I unwind in my home studio”

Observation I sat in on one of Emocean’s sessions During the session he seemed very focused never once looking away from his computer Every once in a while would ask my opinion After the 4 hour process was over he played his finished product on a speaker for everyone in the room to hear

X-Factor There are essentially 2 problems facing the community of musicians whether they be mainstream or independent  The pressure of balancing personal time and time for music  The difficulty musicians face in being critical on their work

References Swales, John. "The Concepts of Discourse Community." Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. (1990): Rpt. in Writing About Writing`. Ed. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, Print. Partington, Kristian. "Music Evolves." Canadian Musician 35.1 (2013): Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center. Web. 25 Feb Fricke, David. "The Passion of Dave Grohl." Rolling Stone 4 Dec. 2014: MasterFILE Premier. Web. 4 Mar Personal Interview. Conor Forde. 3 Mar. 2015