I've heard comments like the following many times at filk conventions:

• "I've written a song, but I'm too nervous to sing it."
• "Everyone's so good! There's no way I'm going to perform in THAT circle."
• "My song didn't really follow any of the songs that were going on, so I didn't sing it."
• "I tried to jump in a few times with my song, but no one heard me and other people began singing their songs instead. I finally gave up."

One of main things to remember is that the filk community is MUCH more accepting of those with less-than-perfect voices than other communities and venues. If you want to sing in public at all, an open filk circle is one of the best places to start. No one will laugh or show impatience if you make mistakes or sing off-key. In fact, filkers tend to notice unusually shy or nervous performers, and go out of their way to support and encourage them.

I sat in filk circles for months before I worked up the nervous to start playing my flute. I even carried my flute with me (closed up in the case) and sat in the back of the circle, never opening the case. I finally forced myself to start noodling along with some people's songs, as quietly as I possibly could, and was shocked to find that people actually LIKED my flute playing. Then Clif Flynt and Mary Ellen Wessels started dragging me up on stage in their performances, and things were never quite the same after that. :-)

Anyway, here are a few tips to help those who are unusually shy or nervous about performing in public, or for those not confident in their performance skills:

Sing with confidence. If you happen to sing a wrong note, at least you sang it with gusto! Holding back will weaken your performance. If you're too quiet, then people won't be able to hear the lyrics.

It's ok to tell people you're nervous before you start singing, if you think it will help. On the other hand, don't go overboard with warnings about how bad a singer you are, how everyone's probably going to run screaming from the room, and so on.

Keep your introduction short (if you're giving an introduction to your song) or people might get impatient.

Don't pick a 48-verse ballad. Few performers can successfully pull off "pizza songs" (songs so long that you can order a pizza and have it arrive before the song ends)...you need a very strong song and/or lots of variety and/or audience participation and/or schtick to hold the audience's full attention throughout.

Focus on friendly faces.

Opt for smaller filk circles or a bardic circle (if one's available). Trying to start a song in a huge chaos filk circle can be intimidating and demoralizing.

For tips on how to get a turn singing in a large open filk circle, see this FAQ entry.

Comments? Suggestions? Please post below.

At my first OVFF this fall, I joined the smallest possible circles--empty rooms. I don't think I could sing to an empty room, but I could practice my dulcimer in an empty room. As people wandered in, I felt a lot less like an outsider--these people were joining me, so I wasn't walking into a room full of strangers. I could at least superficially acquaint myself with them one at a time.

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