FW: Filking, and stepping on toes.

From: 	judy
Sent: 	Thursday, January 30, 1997 5:35 PM
To: 	'filk at dragoncat.net'
Subject: 	RE: Filking, and stepping on toes.

On Thursday, Jan 30, Micheal Phoenix wrote:
> Maybe a certain amount of misunderstanding and stepping on of toes is > par
> for the course, and I'm worrying too much over nothing, and should just go
> ahead and filk, and do my best to avoid offending people unnecessarily.

I think that is the best anyone can do. Usually, when someone steps on another's song, it is an error made from enthusiasm. I really like that song, so I want to sing/play along -- not I can do that song better. And definitely, I have never seen someone at a filking circle "step on" someone maliciously. (Now, the campfires at the Kerrville Folk Festival, that is another story entirely. But usually there it's pros stepping on other pros. For a pro to step on an amateur is BAD FORM )
> Maybe *everyone* worries obsessively about offending people at filk-> sings,
> and is breathing a huge sigh of relief that "it's not just me", and
> someone's finally opened the topic.

> There've been discussions of "filk etiquette" on this list before, all of
> which have been helpful and enlightening and useful--but all of which > seem
> to start from the assumption that it's possible to be perfectly
> etiquetteful, and that by so doing, one can avoid ever offending other
> filkers.
I am not a humanist, therefore I believe that education can improve, but not perfect behavior. And the etiquette is very different in a chaos vs bardic circle. People who are overly sensitive might not be ready for a chaos circle. All we can be expected to do is to be sensitive to others and sometimes to apologize.

I think that if someone doesn't want others playing or harmonizing they should maybe announce at the beginning that they would prefer to perform this one solo. That way newcomers won't offend because they were ignorant of the "common knowledge" that filker x is easily offended. Or if they are really that good, they should volunteer for a mini-concert.

> I'm a SNAG. I don't *like* having people upset with me. And it's gotten
> to the point where I'm seriously considering dropping out of filking
> entirely, just so I don't have to hear one more time "Well, most people
> really liked your filking, but X, Y, and Z were terminally offended by
> <action>."

Please don't drop out of filking. I know that I would miss you, and your Insta-Filks too.

Judy Craft Received on 01/30/97