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Ashwita Saxena
Professor Vaughn
Intermediate Composition
26 November 2014
Intercultural Tunes: A Cappella as a Discourse Community
UC Junoon is a premium Bollywood fusion A Cappella group. A Cappella music is a type
of group singing dominated by vocal sounds without using any instruments for accompaniment.
The group performs fusions of Bollywood and Western songs on and off campus. The members
belong to various backgrounds, thus promoting diversity. Some of the members are Americans,
some are Indians born and brought up in the US, some are Indians and one person is Chinese.
Their performances are covered by the media and the community is very active on social
networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. It is interesting how this small
musical group can be a discourse community on its own with members from across the globe. I
analyzed the identity and authority of the discourse community by conducting interviews and
surveys within the group.
Looking at the history of A Cappella music, I found out that A cappella music started in
churches. Some churches believe that musical instruments should not be used inside chapels so
they came up with the concept of A Cappella. Through the 20th century, A cappella music grew in
popularity. In general, college students started imitating the sounds of musical instruments and
creating fusions of already existing songs. As time passed, A cappella music became more and
more popular and diverse. Now different A cappella groups use different tactics and innovative
techniques to come up with something new every now and then. UC Junoon, for example, mixes

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English and Hindi songs to produce beautiful musical compositions that have never been heard
before.
I have been a passionate singer since I was very young and have participated in numerous
events and won many city and state level competitions in India as well as the US. In order to earn
a reckoning in the world of music, being a part of UC Junoon becomes imperative for me.
Knowledge of music is very important for a person to be a part of this discourse community, and
given the fact that I have a degree in Indian classical music, I fit right into the Discourse. There is
a gap in the current research on music-oriented discourse communities such as A cappella
groups, which is why I chose to write about A cappella music. In order to understand this
Discourse better, I conducted a survey of all the members of the community and also interviewed
the president of UC Junoon.
UC Junoon is a comparatively new community, founded in the year 2012 by Neeraj, an
American-born Indian who felt the need to bring together singers who could perform Bollywood
and Western music fusions. Its fourteen members belong to different ethnicities and are pursuing
different majors. The members are selected through a process of auditions in which they are
asked to sing at various pitches to test if they would be suitable to join the group. They all share
an interest in Bollywood and Western music and are all passionate singers. The group is run by
its president, Grant Cothrel. Grant, along with Sruthi, the composer, write all original
compositions that the group performs.
In the book Writing About Writing: A College Reader, there is an article by linguist John
Swales called The Concept of a Discourse Community wherein he mentions six characteristics
that define a discourse community:

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A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals. These public
goals can be formally inscribed in documents, or they may be more tacit. A discourse
community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members. The participatory
mechanisms will vary according to the community: meetings, telecommunications,
correspondence, newsletters, conversations and so forth. A discourse community uses its
participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback. Thus,
membership implies uptake of informational opportunities. A discourse community
utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its
aims. A discourse community has developed and continues to develop discoursal
expectations. In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some
specific lexis. This specialization may involve using lexical items known to the wider
speech communities in special and technical ways. A discourse community has a
threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal
expertise. Survival of the community depends on a reasonable ratio between novices and
experts. (Swales 220-222)
UC Junoon forms a discourse community as it follows all of Swaless six defining
characteristics of a discourse community. All members of the group have a common goal of
establishing themselves as a well-known A Capella group in the university and the whole
Cincinnati area. The community aspires to become a leading A Cappella group by participating
in national and international competitions. The group wishes to integrate two different cultures
Indian and Western by composing fusions of songs from both the genres. The members of the
discourse community communicate through emails, Group Me mobile app and phone calls.
There are practice sessions every Tuesday and Thursday in French Hall where the members meet

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and carry out practices unique to the discourse. The meetings focus on practicing the
compositions and giving feedback to individuals and also teams as a whole, in order to grow as
performers.
The genres specific to this group is Music and Performing Arts. In the context of music,
the community has detailed knowledge of Western as well as Bollywood music, both of which
are genres themselves. With every passing day, the members of the discourse community grow as
professional musicians and as performers. Since this discourse community is comprised of
learned musicians, a plethora of musical jargon is used. Words such as dynamics, voice
modulation, vibrato, pitch pipe, back phrasing etc. are used regularly during practice
sessions. Members need to know how to read sheet music, and they have basic ideas of notes
and scales that are all related to musical lexis. The community has leaders, but overall everyone
is considered to be equal. The new members enter as immature vocalists and grow as performers
while being in the community. Everyone portrays respect and appreciation for each other. There
are some experts and some novices in the group. The experts are more trained musicians and
help novices better their knowledge and skill.
The group has been performing at many on and off campus events. They perform every
semester in the University of Cincinnatis Catskellar bar, where they do their A Capella
performances along with solos and duets by all the members. They also perform downtown at
Cincinnati TedX. Apart from that, the group has been performing on several on-campus Indian
festival events such as Deepotsav, Raas Garba, and even in the Midwest Dhamaka a National
level Bollywood Dance competition. Recently, the group got selected to compete in the
quarterfinals of International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA). The members are
now focusing on improving their work and composing a few more songs to perform at the

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competition. The members of UC Junoon say that these competitions and performances provide
them with motivation and encouragement to keep practicing hard and become better with each
performance. It gives them the exposure they need to become confident on stage and better
themselves as music artists. This directly relates to the common goal that the discourse
community possesses: to keep the growth graph going upward.
I interviewed a figure of authority within the discourse community, Grant Cothrel, the
current President of UC Junoon. He is a third year majoring in Chemical Engineering at the
University of Cincinnati who auditioned to join the group in spring 2013 and got in. He started
learning music when he was in second grade. His older sisters were learning piano from a
teacher and Grant started learning by imitating his sisters. Ultimately, his sisters taught him
whatever they learned. He learned how to play the instrument, read sheet music and sing all at
the same time. He gave his first stage performance in third grade where he sang with his school
choir. Once he joined UC Junoon, his passion and determination made all the other group
members elect him as the president of the organization (See Appendix 1). He has become a
figure of authority due to his past experience and passion for music. Upon being asked how he
communicates with the members of the group, he said that general conversations are carried out
during group practices, every Tuesday and Thursday from 8:00 p.m. through 9:30 p.m.
otherwise, he communicates with the group via emails, GroupMe app, text messages, Facebook,
Instagram and phone calls.
During the practice sessions the group practices all the previous compositions that
members have learned, and they work on new compositions. The whole group is divided into
four subgroups-- Bass and Tenor for the guys and Alto and Soprano for the girls. These groups
are based on the pitch and scale the singers are most comfortable singing. Everyone reads sheet

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music and coordinates with each other. The members discuss upcoming performances and
competitions. They use a specific lexis that contains terms such as octave, scale, notes, sharp,
minor, major, demographics etc. Only a person who belongs to the Discourse can understand this
music specific jargon.
A survey of all the members tells that all the members cherish being part of this discourse
community where everyone has similar interests and passions. Everyone has an urge to grow as a
vocalist and earn a name in the field of music. The uniqueness of this discourse community is
backed by the fact that the composed songs are a mix of Hindi and English music. The
Americans thus get an exposure to another language and get to learn more about Indian music
and culture. On the other hand, the Indians get an opportunity to better understand the world of
Western music. The members love this cultural symbiosis as it makes them more open minded
and accepting of diversity in everyday life.
The culture of the discourse community is determined by the diversity of the group.
According to James Paul Gee, a discourse is a sort of identity kit which comes complete with
appropriate costume and instructions on how to act, talk, and often write, so as to take on a
particular role that others will recognize (484). Similarly, UC Junoon is known for its diversity
in members and the songs they perform. Different ethnicities and multicultural members
complement the theme of the Discourse performing fusions of songs of different cultures.
Junoon is a Hindi word which means passion. The word itself describes the identity of the
group. The members share a different perspective to art and envision to instill this perspective in
every person that listens to their music. The community members are passionate about learning
music of different cultures and languages and promoting diversity through their tunes. Even
though members from different backgrounds sing fusions of different languages, the outcome is

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one beautiful song which soothes every ear. Thus, the community promotes the concept of unity
in diversity as their identity kit.
There are some conflicts in this discourse community. All members are good friends with
each other, but sometimes there is a feeling of competition among the members. There can be
only two soloists in a performance, and sometimes members have a conflict deciding who gets to
be the soloist. In that case, the group carries out auditions to decide who gets to sing the solo, and
all members vote for the final decision. There is no bias while deciding who wins, and the
decision is respected by all the members of the community. On the other hand, sometimes a
member is nominated and others just vote if they want that person to be the soloist. I was chosen
to be the soloist of two of our group performances through the latter method.
Sarah Weiss, in her study about Yales A Cappella group said: As I surveyed the murkyminded, mumbling bodies sloping ever-downward towards the flat solace of their desks, I found
it difficult to recognize the eager and engaged people who had populated the space just a few
days ago (Weiss). Due to busy and stressful life as college students, the members sometimes
become laid-back and do not perform to their full potential during practices. Some members skip
practices while some arrive in late. There is also a cost of affiliation linked with the discourse
community. Members are expected to be enthusiastic and passionate, but sometimes other
factors, such as academics and jobs provide enough stress to the students that they are not able to
focus on many things together. To this, Grant, the president of the club, said: Well, being a
college student I understand that students have busy and demanding lives and I cannot expect
everyone to be excited every time we meet. But all I can do is try to make the practices as fun as
possible. We sometimes dance on random songs, play Pictionary on the white board, have secret
Santa on Thanksgiving etc. (See Appendix 1).

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In a nutshell, even though there are conflicts within the discourse community, at the end
of the day UC Junoon has thrived as one of the best A cappella groups on campus. I love being
part of this discourse community because it is just like a little family. Each member supports the
others when it comes to singing, and everyone appreciates others. Due to the internal motivation
and encouragement of the Discourse, UC Junoon continues to grow and the members keep
gaining knowledge of music and the specific lexis required to be a part of this community. We
aspire to keep growing and reach great heights in the future and thus earn a greater goodwill for
the University.

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Works Cited
A Cappella Music and Theater. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.
Gee, James Paul. "Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction." Writing About Writing: A
College Reader. 1st ed. Ed. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St.
Martins, 2011. 482-495. Print.
My Conversation with Grant Cothrel. Personal Interview. 22 November 2014.
Swales, John. "The Concept of Discourse Community." Writing About Writing: A College
Reader. 2nd ed. Ed. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins,
2014. 217-228. Print.
Weiss, Sarah. First Encounters: Yale A Cappella Rush. Singing Community. N.p., n.d. Web. 24
Nov. 2014.

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Appendix 1
Interview with Grant Cothrel
Ashwita Saxena:
Hey Grant! Can I ask you a few questions regarding UC Junoon?

Grant Cothrel:
Yeah why not! Go for it!

Ashwita Saxena:
I am writing an essay for my Intermediate composition class on UC Junoon. Can you tell me
how and when this group was formed?

Grant Cothrel:
Umm So UC Junoon was founded by Neeraj, in 2012. He was pretty keen on forming an A
cappella group which would perform fusions of Bollywood and English songs.

Ashwita Saxena:
Okay! When did you join Junoon?

Grant Cothrel:
I joined Junoon in 2013 Spring semester. Sruthi and Neeraj took my audition.

Ashwita Saxena:
When did you start learning music? When did you give your first stage performance?

Grant Cothrel:
When I was in second grade, my older sisters used to learn piano from a teacher at our house. I
used to sneak into their piano lessons. They taught me whatever they learned and that is how my
interest in music got aggravated. They taught me how to read sheet music too. I gave my first
stage performance in third grade with my school choir.

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Ashwita Saxena:
Wow! That is awesome! Can you tell me how were you elected for this position in Junoon?

Grant Cothrel:
In the summer of 2014, I was on coop, but I still attended all the practices and meetings. The
members thought I was responsible enough to hold such a position and Sruthi asked me if I
would want to be the President of Junoon. I said yes. Everyone else was happy with the decision.
So here I am, President Grant!

Ashwita Saxena:
Well congratulations for that!! I just have one last question for you. How do you communicate
with the group? How do you make sure that everyone attends the meetings?

Grant Cothrel:
I reach out to the members through emails, Group Me app, texts, phone calls and our facebook
page. About participation.. umm.. well, being a college student I understand that students have
busy and demanding lives and I cannot expect everyone to be excited every time we meet. But
all I can do is try to make the practices as fun as possible. We sometimes dance on random songs,
play Pictionary on the white board, have secret Santa on Thanksgiving etc.

Ashwita Saxena:
Thats so cool! Well thank you for your time. We should probably start with our practice for
today now.