Post 7

The topic of my music ethnography is western classical music in the high school setting in Dallas. I have been a part of this music culture for as long as i was in high school, before that, and even now to a certain extent. A major part of this music culture is the instrumentation and arrangement of the music. It is usually played in a large group setting with the number of actual performers depending on the size of the group,which could range from a few people to hundreds of people, called the orchestra or ensemble, which is led by the director or conductor who does not actually play an instrument him/herself but leads the group by keeping the tempo and cuing entrances. There are different meanings to the words orchestra and full orchestra. An orchestra is a grou of players whose instruemtns consist only of chordophones, violin, viola, cello, contra bass and percussion which includes a great variety of instruments. A full orchestra suggest a group that includes wind band elements. In other words, it includes instruments that require air, trumpet, trombone, french horn, etc.. Since orchestra back in the days of old were almost always a full orchestra, that is what will be discussed.

The arrangement of the music in the music culture is sophisticated, and the western music front in the high school world would most likely never compose anything. In the high school setting, those withing this music culture are almost solely performers. The music that they perform was written by composers of a long time ago like Beethoven or Mozart for this form of music is one in which, without proper training there would be no way to compose anything that "makes sense" or even deserves the attention of the performers.

In general, the music is very complex. Whether it is the massive number of notes or the difficult harmonic fabric of the piece, the structure and arrangement of each of the pieces is complex and intriguing. In order for the performer, withing a high school setting or any other setting for that matter, to bring out all the feeling and expression the creator intended for the piece is nearly impossible. However, is is perhaps this imperfection that makes this music culture great in it's own right in that there are so many "right answers" to the musical question posed to them whenever they pick up their weapons of choice.