A Peek from the Other Side

I wanted to ask the people out there who have been (or have considered) posting messages about why they do/do not prefer certain types of filk circles over others to consider one other aspect that is easily forgotten.....

The "Performers!"

>From the majority of people I have talked to over the years, I believe the following to be generally true (no flames, please - be gentle with me) -

There is a trend for people who are new to prefer Bardic and it's various outgrowths over chaos. There is a greater chance for them to be heard and more of an impetus for them to speak up when their turn comes. They don't seem to mind the weird pauses and lack of consistency/followers/themes.

After people have more of a repertoire and want to perform more, they seem to start leaning toward chaos or a modification thereof. They want more of a chance to show people the neat new things they have learned and are a little less interested in the "always requested" things that are common at a bardic. I'm not saying they don't still enjoy them - they have heard them before and know them now.

When people become "veteran performers" they have an even stronger trend towards chaos. They are even more tired of the "old favorites" - even when the ones that always get requested are their own songs and would like to hear and perform newer items and sometimes just jam with the other performers.

I don't consider myself a performer per se - but I have been in filking for 25+ years all over the country. I have seen wonderful and horrid bardics and wonderful and awful choas.

A small chaos circle just doesn't work well. There is not enough "critical mass" and people with good repertoire to get a good theme structure going. Themes are wonderful! They give consistency and flow to the whole evening. You have to have a certain number of people to make it work, though. Otherwise you end up with a semi-concert by the only performers in the room.

A large bardic circle does work well either. We have had instances here in the Pacific Northwest where a person running a circle at a convention where there was a more than generous filk performer turnout was set on a bardic theme and the circle NEVER made it around the room. There is another instance where the circle took about 5 hours to get around the room. This leads to people really wanting to do a particular song and doing it when they get a chance, whether or not it flows with the current theme. This leads to a choppy and disjointed evening. The performers often get bored because they hardly have any chances to perform and have left in disgust after only an hour or so. This is especially true if there is a visiting filker that people don't know up here. This isn't good for anyone.

The Pacific Northwest filking community is in a strange growth phase right now. The number of people showing up at convention filks is not consistent and thus there cannot be a uniform "rule" of "How to run a filk circle in the Pacific Northwet".

We are planning (at this moment, of course) to have the filking at next year's Norwescon begin in the early evening as a poker chip bardic and then, once we have reached critical mass and have finished a round of chips, we will declare it chaos. This might be able to solve some of the problems of the two sides to every coin issues.

We are also planning on having some sort of "moderator attire" to designate who's moderating the filks. If we have to leave, we will put someone else in charge until we get back. This may solve the "who's responsible here?" problem.

So ----- now that I've had my say about considering everyone's side of things --- flame me gently if you must flame me at all. Otherwise, I'd love to hear everyone's input as we plan to make Norwescon '97 a filk-friendly convention!

----Maura Received on 05/11/96