(Untitled)

Jan 29, 2013 00:18

Back from Conflikt 6. I had a bit of a realization about filk. On the one hand, I truly loathe badfilk, but at the same time, if it weren't around, I wouldn't get nearly as much out of the filk circle experience. The filk circle that closed the con contained an unusual number of Real Musicians™. I am a very good singer, and my songwriting has ( Read more... )

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mneme January 31 2013, 23:09:57 UTC
My opinion: you've solved the math wrong. The problem is, by your math, your best approach is to improve your skills to the point where you are near the median, then avoid circles that could have bad filkers in them and only associate with Real Musicians. There are a number of reasons that isn't ideal, starting with the fact that being inclusive (which is one of the things that makes filk filk) means being able to have strong performers and weak ones in the same circle. More, -someone- always has to be on the weak side of a circle; if your performance is enjoyable in a weak circle, it should also be enjoyable in a stronger one even if it's not -as- strong as most of the other performances; if it's not enjoyable in a strong circle, I'd warrant that even if you're above the median, it's not really that enjoyable in a weak circle either (except that the tastes of those in the weak circle may find it more acceptible, in theory ( ... )

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two_star February 1 2013, 06:00:32 UTC
The level of inclusivity of the filk community is not entirely to my tastes. (I know that I benefit from it, and I recognize the irony.) I suspect that filk is driving away quite a few people with out of tune singing. (This isn't so much a problem at filk specific cons, where people know what they are getting. It's a pretty big problem at general cons, which is where the new blood is.) It would drive me away, but I like to write geeky songs and sing them, and short of having instrumental skills (or a bandmate with such skills) there is not actually anywhere else to go.

I know that being able to stand out of tune singing would make me a better person. I don't think this is anything I can work on, any more than I could work on my inability to stand bell peppers.

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mneme February 1 2013, 21:53:17 UTC
There are certainly people I won't encourage into filk circles as they have too low a tolerance for mediocre singing for them to (in my, and often, their opinion) find it comfortable ( ... )

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