Re: Your message of Tue, 12 Nov 1996 13:47:47 -0800

On Tue, 12 Nov 1996, faberc at ohsu.edu (Catherine Faber) wrote:
> Mickey Phoenix wrote:
> >On Tue, 12 Nov 1996, c4winds at teleport.com (Clan of the Four Winds) wrote:
> >> Pros:
> >> Spliting up the rooms into chaos and bardic, some people feel very
> >> strongly either way. Perhaps next year a small sheet explaining the two
> >> styles could be on hand for newbies...
>
> Hmmm. I couldn't help but notice that the chaos filk came with
> a "user beware" type warning that I don't really feel it deserved.

I'd certainly agree with you, from what I saw--the difference between chaos and bardic was more one of degree than one of "here you get to sing, here you don't unless you can shout really loudly". People did in fact bend the rules slightly (and, IMHO, appropriately) at the bardic circle to let someone get in a song they *really* wanted to do before they left, and in the chaos circle I did see even some very quiet people indicating a desire to sing, and getting "called on" by the more extroverted filkers ("I think the gentleman in the blue shirt was next, *right* guys" type of thing).

> I was in the chaos all Friday night, and while we did have a couple of
> "doorway jams" (Cat's term for those times when there is more than one
> possible follow-up song available, but only one can be sung at a time),
> they all seemed to be resolved amicably and with consideration.

I was one of the jammers/jammees in two or three of those; in one, I went through the door first, because I had the *perfect* (IMHO, YMMV) follow-up song, and in the others, I just sat back and let the other person go ahead, figuring that sooner or later it would come back on-topic for what I wanted to do, or I'd want to do something else.

The chaos experience was *greatly* enhanced for me (and hopefully not to the detriment of others' enjoyment) by the willingness of several of the performers to let me hop over to their side of the circle and play/sing along with them when I knew the song. (btw, if anyone here was there while I was doing that, and felt that it was disruptive/inappropriate, please feel free to speak up and let me know, so I don't bother anyone in the future--but please do it in private email, so I'm not embarrassed in front of the list).

This also happened at the bardic circle, but more by invitation, and I want to say that I think it's a great thing, when someone *is* willing to be accompanied, if they announce this to the circle (regardless of circle type) so that other people who are just itching to *play* can do more than just "their songs".

> We stopped a couple of times to remind people that everyone was welcome to
> sing, and nobody that I saw tried to start a song and found it trampled by
> another would-be performer.

Yeah, it really wasn't that kind of environment. Very nice. For me, the bardic vs. circle choice is just a matter of how much energy I *want* to exert, vs. how much return in time-to-sing; in either one, I'll get to sing, but in bardic it happens to me, and in chaos I actually have to have minimal oomph to make it happen.

> I realize that a chaos circle *can* be a bard-battle-bard kind
> of place, but it doesn't *have* to be.

I've only once seen it be that, and it was really unpleasant, but it hasn't happened again in my experience, so...*shrug*.

> :> The 1/2 hour mini concerts. We've all heard the complaint that certain
> :> people get to play more than others, or that you don't get to hear some
> :> really good people as much as you'd like to. I think this was a *really
> :> good* idea, and I'd like to see it continue. A sign up sheet would be
> :> nice.
>
> There was a sign-up sheet for the mini-concerts, but it wasn't
> heavily publicized. I was lucky enough to hear about it in time to
> sign up. I don't know if it would have been feasable to have more
> concerts than we did--they ran until almost 1:00 in the morning, as
> I recall.

Wish I'd known about it, though. See my comments in my next email re: filking coffee-houses.

> If-I-ran-the-world, I'd like to have all day, or even all-con
> concerts, with a filk room dedicated for that purpose, so that filk
> concerts, instead of competing against the filk circe, were competing
> against the other programming (so filkers don't have such hard choices :-).

Yes! I love that idea!

In fact, here's a question for you--could we get five or six filkers on this list to agree to do 1/2 hour to 1 hour concerts at RustyCon or NorWesCon, and then apply en masse to the concom for a room to do that in?

I hereby volunteer to do either a 1/2 hour or a 1 hour concert, mixing folk and filk classics and folk/filk originals, at either RustyCon or NorWesCon.  Anyone else want to join the bandwagon?

> That would also provide plenty of concert time, so that lots of people
> could play short concerts, instead of 4 or 5 groups, the way it was
> this time.

Ayup.

> >I'm not sure if there *are* any "fair" or "comfortable" ways to introduce
> >someone to a bardic circle--but personally, I'd go for something like
> >"Hey, you who just came in--the cookie is here, so we suggest you sit
> >about five people to the clockwise of it, to give you time to fit into the
> >circle but so you don't have to wait forever to sing."
>
> But the opposite problem is what I've seen in some bardic or
> pokerchip bardic setups--you're waiting for your turn; you've been
> there, patiently, for an hour, and walk-ins fresh off the street
> keep lengthening the line before you get to go. Boy, talk about
> frustrating!

Heh. Ayup. And there's always the temptation, when you realize you've sat down just *behind* the hockey puck, to "go get a drink of water"--and come back and sit down right in front of it. :-)

Not that I ever would, but the temptation's definitely there...

For the first time in a bardic circle, though, my music was well-enough known by some of the people there that they picked me to play a song before the puck came around to me, which was a really nice experience. I'd actually never been asked to play like that before, and it did wonders for my musical confidence. And they even liked the song...:-)

> I think there is just a point where the performance
> to listening ratio gets too low to be fun for would-be performers,
> no matter how you slice it. That's why I liked the two-room setup--
> it made the circles smaller.

Absolutely. My ideal filk environment is a room with either three or four strongly performance-oriented people, maybe one or two "other voices" who either drift around singing along, or occasionally do a song of their own for variety, and a nice group of "audience" people who make requests, and sing along on the songs they know, but aren't competing for "floor space".

I've had that a time or two late at night at northwest cons (that's one reason I tend to filk from about 2:00 am to 6:00 am--the circles are getting down to just about my size by that time, and I can finish out the dance first...:-), and it's just yummy.

Take care,

Mickey. Received on 11/18/96