To: Rebecca Agosta, ENG 1101 Instructor From: Paris Blackwell Date: October 30, 2013 Subject: Discourse

Community Progress Memo I am doing my Discourse Community on the gospel choir that I am apart of on campus. Our group is called Voices of Eden or V.O.E for short. Ive known about this group for years through friends who have come to UNCC in the past, so I have always wanted to be a part of this great choir. Anybody can really be apart of this discourse community. All someone really needs is to have a love and passion to praise the Lord and some ability to sing whether thats in a solo fashion or behind the scenes. Becoming a member is really the easiest part, staying in is the hassle. To join all one has to do is attend one of our practices. The more open rehearsal are on Mondays at seven oclock pm until nine oclock pm. If really interested and it is your first time, this is the practiced to be at. We also have practices on Tuesdays, same time, every week. The rehearsals are located on UNCC campus in Fretwell 121. We hardly move practices; this way new members or potential members are not confused. We also meet in the same place when we have engagements off campus; this is located near the front of the school on the step of the Cone building. I will not sugarcoat anything, we are a gospel choir. This typically attracts people of color; however, we do not discriminate. We have people of all race and even some with disabilities, as long as their hearts are pure and they are committed to the choir. We do all sorts of events, mostly church related events. But on the other hand, we do accept any event. We have done weddings, sung at benefit concerts downtown, and sung at nursing homes. We are also dedicated to giving back. With that being said we volunteer with different programs including Scaroowinds. Due to V.O.E being not being funded by the school we also have fundraisers to raise money for our concerts and tours. These have included car washes and other donation-related activities. We do put on concerts almost every month, some on campus while others are off. Our concerts are completely free and we only ask for offering donations, we are not ones to beg for money. As I did my observations on the choir, I learned some new things about my discourse community that I had not otherwise know. Usually I am seated with the other altos and never really pay a lot of attention to the others not in my section. However, when I took a step back, I began to see just how close and sociable the choir really is. While observing I saw that everyone is constantly interacting with other people. No one is ever just sitting and waiting to sing. There were people singing the leads to songs, up talking to people in the other sections, studying for class, or just not paying attention at all. Even though there are forever distractions occurring during rehersal, when time came to sing full out to see how everything sounded, everyone was up, focused, and so passionate about what they were singing. While standing to the side, I could see how everyone responded to the songs we were singing. It seemed as if everybody was just so involved, either closing their eyes, moving their hands or even dancing. I am still observing some parts of the choir, but my main focus is really on how the choir gets ready for concerts and eventually the big tour and how everyone personally gets ready for these events.

Questions for my interview: Interviewers Zaach (Founder) and Ranada (Section Leader/Choir member) 1. How long have you been singing with gospel choirs? 2. Why did you decide to found Voices of Eden? 3. Did you have help founding the choir or did you do it solo? 4. Is it hard to stay committed to the choir while belonging to other clubs/organizations? 5. Is the choir worth all the time it demands? 6. How long do you plan to keep V.O.E going for? 7. How has Voices of Eden changed for experience at UNCC?