Thoughts from a Newbie: My .02 on Quarong's $4

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>SPECIFIC POINTS OF ETIQUETTE ...
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>In shorter terms, you could summarize this under 2 principles:
>-- (1) {Stop and think about the effects of your behavior before you act.}
>As John Bunnell said, "The dynamic of the circle should come before any
>one person's agenda." A little bit of thought might lead you to some
>important realizations before you upset other people; or it might tell you
>that X is probably ok.
>-- (2) {When in doubt, gather more information first.} This may mean just
>sitting back and watching a bit longer to see if you can pick up some clues
>from the performer or other experienced filkers. Or it may mean going to
>Filk 101 panels, reading discussions like this, or asking someone who's
>been around awhile for clarification.

This makes infinate sense to me. The only one that *might* be difficult is not singing along until asked, good songs tend to be addictive
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>EDUCATING NEW FILKERS =
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>At-the-Con:
>-- Circle Moderation =
An excellent idea! OryCon was my first big filking circle, and without Anita, I would have been totaly lost.
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>-- 101 Panels =

Again, a wonderful idea, even if it was done unofficialy in someones hotel room a few hours before the filk circle. A "Newbie Filk Class" would be a good way to introduce well known filkers. I knew who Cecilia was, but some of the others who
replyhad obviously been around a while, I had no idea who they were. And it would be higly embarassing (for me at least)to sing a song by "Joe Filker" and then have Joe come up to me later and say "nice job on my song" (or coversely, "You mangled my song!) I tend to think that a song should be sung replyreplyby the person who pened it, if they are around. Also it'd be nice to know what's "OK" to sing. A newbie could sing a nice rendition of BFA and not know *why* people were giving them nasty looks, or groaning, or whatever, for *them* it may be a good filker in joke, for the persong singing it could replyreplybe devistating. It could help avoid something I almost did too. Most of the songs I know well were written by Merecedes Lackey, and at the time I'd never heard about the Great Conflict. I still don't know what really happened, but it makes me very squeamish to sing them anywhere, filks or otherwise. But if I haddn't been so shy, I would have sung several at OryCon and never known what I did wrong

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>(2) Lyrics = Someone mentioned that it is tough to participate in a circle
>when they don't know the words to the songs that are being sung.

Heh heh heh. Oh this is sooo true! I've found m'self just singing random vowels to the tune. Having a copy machine is a nice touch, but with as many songs as I don't know, I'm going to have to find room in my suitcase for a pack of paper.

>(5) "Many local circles are mostly the Steve Dixon show."
 I don't mind listening to other people sing, mostly because I am new, and have never heard some of these songs before. I didn't see anyone hogging the spotlight at OryCon, what I did see (and talked to some other newbies about) was people calling on the most familiar faces. This goes back to introducing newbies to people. I may love some of Joe Filker's songs, but if I dont know it's him, I can't ask him to sing them.

Yes, it's scary to perform something
yourself. But to let you in on a secret, most of the "big-name
>performers" also get nervous in front of an audience, especially with a
>new piece or when they're having a bad day; so join the club. Fannish
>audiences are the most forgiving I've ever seen: If the spirit is there,
>you have a neat idea and make a solid attempt to convey it, they'll support
>you; and over time you'll find your skills, and your nerve, improving.

This is a good thing to know. I'm used to smaller singing circles, (SCA style, although most of what we sing in the SCA is filk and not period) The more it feels like just a group of buddies sitting around singing, the better I feel. I sang a song at the pre-filksing filksing that got tossed together at OryCon, and was only moderately nervous about singing, but when we got to the big filksing, I couldn't do a thing. It felt way to much like replyan audition or something, where all those people, some of whom do this for a living, were going to be watching ME and critiquing my performance. If I'd tried to sing I wouldv'e sounded terrible, no matter how well I knew the song.
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>DIFFERENT FILKS FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS = This is one concept that I think
>was only ever addressed indirectly by any of the other participants in
>this discussion, so I'd like to explore it a bit more fully here.
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>TYPES OF FILK CIRCLES
I kind of touched on this above, and I'm torn. I like to have the chance to hear lots of people sing, as in a big circle, I like to have a chance to sing myself, which I do better in a cozier situation, and I like the concerts showcasing one artist.
At OryCon (sorry to keep using OryCon as a comparison, but it's the only con I've been to.) I really enjoyed myself friday night, but it did take a long time, and felt myself keeping myself awake so I wouldn't miss anything. That and I wanted to go to the dance too. Saturday I was on painkillers and crutches, so I was *in* the filk room, but I wasn't really *there*. I don't remember a whole lot other than there were some really good songs that were repeated from Friday, it still went on until the wee hours, and the carpet had Barney's face in it.
Maybe you could do Bardic one night, and Chaos the next, and maybe start them a little earlier. If someone had the money, they could rent one of the "party" rooms and turn it into an open filk room for the whole con, someplace to come chat, and sing and make photocopies. And if it was one of the party rooms nobody could whine about the noise. There's been some dicussion about themes, would it be possible to have "theme hours"? From 6-7 it's the space hour! You wouldn't have to break the whole filksing up like that, but it'd give the Trekkies who don't know any other songs a chance to sing a rousing chorus of Star Trekkin'. Of course this would need someone working ahead of time with the concom.

I've been hoping to get to some house filks, but I haven't made it yet, and I'm soon moving to Canby (outside of Portland) so maybe if I get a place with a decent livingroom, I'll start having filks at my place. I'll let you all know.

Charlene Received on 05/29/96