The Arbor: The Voice of Gauchos PrefaceAt the heart of UCSB lies the Arbor, a high-traffic convenience store packed with food, beverages, school supplies, and Gauchos. Every day of the week, the Arbor systematically attracts thousands of students in and flows them out in a matter of minutes due to its central location, the plethora of merchandise, and organized staff efficiently guiding hasty Gauchos throughout their days. Food from the Arbor ranges from ready-to-eat, refrigerated meals, to fresh and customizable Subway sandwiches, to health-conscious gluten-free snacks, to tasty treats such as chips, ice cream, and candy. The beverages in the Abor include chilled waters, coffees, sodas, and teas. School supplies sold at the Arbor include scantrons, blue books, notebooks, pens, and highlighters. It is a one-stop-shop for any needs or inconveniences that Gauchos encounter throughout their day and is the fuel that pushes Gauchos through their lectures, exams, and late-night library sessions. The Arbor channels many different voices which are emphasized in distinct ways depending on what time it is - both hourly, and quarterly. During the day, the store is crowded and filled with a loud collective noise of students’ voices. By night, the Arbor is mellow and mostly filled with the loud humming and buzzing of machines. During midterms season, the soft flutters of blue books and scantrons are prominent. The multivocality of the Arbor is significant for one to consider as it speaks for UCSB Gauchos. The rhythmic humming of the refrigerators, consistent and sharp sounds of doors opening and closing, the beeping sounds of merchandise scanners and microwave timers, and the communicative voices of students and employees give observers insight into the identities, schedules, and consumption habits of UCSB Gauchos. Observational Information Location: The Arbor (Building 501, UCSB) Observation 1: Tuesday Feb 11, 2020 (6:30-7:30pm) Observation 2: Wednesday Feb 19, 2020 (12:00-12:30pm) Location: The Arbor (Building 501, UCSB) Observation 1: Tuesday Feb 11, 2020 (6:30-7:30pm) Observation 2: Wednesday Feb 19, 2020 (12:00-12:30pm) Voices carry information, express emotions, and stimulate feelings in listeners. Voice is contextualized, and exploring them grants listeners access to knowledge about particular contexts and human identities (Lecture Discussion, Jan. 6, 2020). In the Arbor, various types of voices can be heard, which are identified in greater detail in the Appendix. Voices of human activity include staff actions such as restocking the shelves and customer actions such as ladling soup out of the warmers. Additionally, communicative voices include the Subway staff asking customers questions about what they would like on their sandwiches, and the customers’ responses, which both range in tone throughout the day. More prominent during the quiet hours of the night, voices of running machines include the refrigerators’ steady humming sounds that emit warm timbre. Lastly, mediated voices include loud music that plays through the Arbor’s speakers which ranges in tempo and volume throughout the day. Non-traditional voices such as the rhythmic sounds of human activity and the high toned beeps of the microwave timers play a key role in the voice in the Arbor. Nontraditional voices are significant because they give observers insight into Gauchos’ shopping behavior. For example, by following the voice of the refrigerator door that opens and closes most frequently, one can see which items are most popular among customers at which hours. Also, the consistent beeping sounds of the microwave show which Gauchos bring food from home, reveal how many people are in line to use the microwaves, and on a whole, how crowded the Arbor is. Because the Arbor is a supermarket-type setting, there are no live performances inside the small convenience store per se, however, mediated voices are a core element of the collective voice of the Abor. During the day, mediated voices are the upbeat music played through the speakers along the perimeter of the store. On the other hand, at night, the most distinguished mediated voice is the soft, slow tempo music. The difference in mediated voices flowing through the Arbor’s speakers by day versus by night can be understood through considering the psychology of music, applying Mehrabian and Russell’s model of pleasure-arousal-dominance (PAD). In a study at a New York Grocery store, it was found that “fast music leads to high levels of arousal which, in turn, leads to moving at a faster pace through the store. Conversely, slow tempo music prevents these high levels of arousal and slows down the pace at which shoppers move, leading to an increase in items purchased” (Ford, 2013). During the day, the Arbor is significantly more populated, meaning sales rates are high, and it is safe to move patrons in and out of the store as quickly as possible. However, at night, when sales rates are lower, and slow music is shown have the opposite effect, patrons will likely spend more time browsing through the variety of options the Arbor has to offer and will purchase more items. Voice carriers of the Arbor participate in speech performance, which is “is much more than expressing words; it involves using our voices - timbre, tone, rhythm - and all other forms of accentuation or gesture that are often used to express both words and emotions” (Lecture Discussion, Feb. 12, 2020). At all times, the Subway staff modulate their voices to perform “customer service voices,” which tend to radiate a high, bright, and friendly tone of voice. Furthermore, The voices of the Arbor communicate information as well as feelings. In the store, Gauchos use their voices to engage in conversations with friends, make small talk with cashiers, and specify which toppings they like on their sandwiches to the Subway employees. “We often give certain voices that we associate with certain identities (of gender, race, ethnicity, etc) a certain sound,” (Lecture Discussion, Feb. 19, 2020). By observing the content of the communicative voices in the Arbor, one could draw conclusions about students’ identities such as where they are from by listening to what language they are speaking, and even how polite someone is by assessing whether they say “excuse me,” “please,” and “thank you” in the congested environment. Moving beyond the concrete, linguistic meaning of spoken words, voices also communicate a speaker’s feelings and emotions. During rush hours, students speak faster and louder if they are in a rush, and may speak in rude and harsh tones if they are having a bad day or stressed out from exams. Depending on how crowded the Arbor is, both students and staff will adjust their voices according to the proximity to other voices around them. Because the volume of voices gets significantly louder as more customers are present, to maintain the quickly moving system, cashiers speak louder and raise their hands with exaggerated gestures to stay on top of the commotion in the store. Analysis and Conclusions At the Arbor, many unique voices blend to create one collective voice which speaks for the students of UCSB, revealing information about Gauchos’ identities, routines, and consumption habits. Further, to analyze multivocal authenticity, students’ voices in the Arbor are authentic and random as they converse with their peers and move throughout the store, while the staff’s voices are constructed and catered to the business environment during operating hours. However, it is anticipated that once the store closes, the staff’s voices become more authentic as they no longer have to perform the role of an employee and instead take on the role of a UCSB Gaucho. Because the collective voice of the Arbor increases in volume and hunger increases in Gauchos during lunchtime hours, the voices of the Subway staff are given priority so that customers can move customers down the assembly line quickly and efficiently. Voices with special status can also be observed by examining printed voices in the store. Guyaki Organic Yerba Mate is given special status, as it is one of the most popular items purchased daily. Though there is a refrigerator filled with Guyaki Yerba Mates in the back of the store next to all of the other beverages, there is an additional Guyaki refrigerator placed at the entrance of the Abor, with large, digitally mediated messages communicating the brand’s slogan “Come to Life.” Despite the fact that shoppers aim to buy the freshest products, the Arbor, like many other grocery stores, systematically stacks shelves with the newest items in the back and the soon-expiring food in the front. In this way, newer food is deprioritized, and the Arbor staff organizes the food in contrast to what humans like to choose. Because the Arbor staff largely consists of UCSB students, and the majority of the Arbor patrons are also UCSB students, noticeable power differences between the two parties were not initially observed. This is because the employees and customers both have a shared aspect of identity, a common ground that leads them to treat one another with respect. Although there are higher powers and the small store is one part of a larger entity, UCSB, it is both run by and shopped at by students who go through the same experiences, such as countless hours of studying, working part-time jobs, and taking exams. Moreover, upon closer observation, there is a store manager who delegates tasks to employees to ensure that the store is clean and organized and that customers exit the store rapidly and happily. At first glance, the Arbor may seem like an average convenience store with little depth to explore. However, as voice is a carrier of information and feeling, there is plenty to unpack after listening to its collective voice. The Arbor is visited under many circumstances – it is a biweekly, rushed pitstop to snatch the vegan quinoa wrap between two classes, it is a leisurely stroll to browse through snacks, it is a fuel station to energize a late-night study session with Yerba Mate, and it is a lifesaver when hastily purchasing a scantron and pencil fifteen minutes before a final exam. Observing the Arbor’s collective voice has the overall effect of gathering information about Gauchos’ identities and behaviors, as well as noticing the key role that the Arbor staff plays in supporting students throughout their busy days and stressful evenings. References Ford, M. (2013, July 15). The Psychology of Music: Why Music Plays a Big Role in What You Buy. Retrieved from http://blog.motivemetrics.com/The-Psychology-of-Music-Why-Music-Plays-a-Big-Role-i n-What-You-Buy Tcharos, S. (2020, January 6) Unit 1: How Voices Get Made [Lecture Discussion]. Tcharos, S. (2020, February 12) Unit 5: Making Singers, Making Voices [Lecture Discussion]. Tcharos, S. (2020, February 19) Unit 7: Reflections; Setting Up Voice As Knowledge and Identity [Lecture Discussion]. Appendix
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