What if I have no musical ability?

First of all, most people have -some- musical ability. At the very least, you can appreciate and derive enjoyment of music. If you can't, then you wouldn't be interested in filking in the first place. A strong interest in music and motivation in improving your own skills is important. I taught piano lessons for many years and this was definitely a key factor in the progress of my students.

If you want to be part of the filking community but are worried that you'll be pressured to perform, don't be. There are far more listeners in the community than performers. If someone asks you if you want to perform something in the filk circle and you don't want to, Just Say No.

If you want to perform but are afraid that you have no musical ability, then be assured that you have picked one of the best venues to help improve your musical and performance abilities. The filking community is well-known for its encouragement of newcomers and those who are insecure about their musical talents.

The best way to improve your musical ability, however, is to PRACTICE. For a lucky few, musical ability seems to come naturally. For the rest of us, we have to work at it. :-)

Things you can do to improve your musical abilities:

• Sing in the shower, when no one can hear and the acoustics are great.
  
• Sing along with the car radio.
  
• Do a lot of LISTENING to all kinds of music.
  
• Consider taking lessons, either from a paid professional (if you
  can afford it), or getting a few tips from a musically
  talented friend. Sometimes local schools will offer group courses
  which are more affordable (and fun).
  
• Push yourself. Don't be afraid of trying new things.
  
• Practicepracticepractice.
  

The most important thing is to have fun. If you're not enjoying yourself, what's the point?

Joe Kesselman points out:
"Note that not everything performed as filk needs to be music. Many of us perform some spoken-word pieces (poetry or storytelling or dramatic readings); I've known some who perform nothing but. So if you don't feel up to performing music, that doesn't necessarily mean you can't take a turn performing.

Also: You don't necessarily have to be "musical" to write lyrics to someone else's tune (though it doesn't hurt)... and if you don't think you can do justice to them yourself, you can often find someone else who'd be willing to be your instrument. (Similarly, if you need an instrumental accompaniment you can often find that too simply by asking.) It helps a bit if you ask in advance, so they've got a chance to try it through once or twice to make sure they know how it scans before they perform it... but some folks will be willing to wing it if you're willing to let them do so."

Other references to check out:

It's Okay For You...You're Musical! by Tim and Annie Walker.

Tips For Shy Or Nervous Filkers, part of The Dandelion Report.

Comments? Suggestions? Please post below.

Any tips for shy or nervous filkers?

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.

What is "schtick"? When is it appropriate?

See this column by Bill Sutton.

Comments? Suggestions? Please post below.

Schtick: Can you give me some tips on using schtick in my performances?

See this column by Bill Sutton.

Comments? Suggestions? Please post below.

Instrumental etiquette: How do I know when it's okay to accompany a performer?

I recently polled filkers about how they knew when it was okay to add an accompaniment when someone was performing a song, and how they knew when it wasn't okay. Also see How do I come up with an accompaniment?

Joe Bethancourt:

"It's ok when they don't glare at me or throw things. I tend to keep it VERY quiet unless they grin and obviously encourage me to join in at a louder volume."

Jeff Bohnhoff:

"I tend to jump in very infrequently. I will do it if the performer is someone I know, and I am absolutely certain that they won't mind, or if they have asked me to play along in advance. Even then, I'll only play something if I feel that it can add something and not detract from the song or performer. I almost never play along with someone I don't know. If you do play along, it's *not* OK if what you are playing is taking attention away from the performer and/or the song.

Be sensitive. If a song is very spontaneous, and the performer is very confident, then it may be alright to jump in. If the performer is hesitant, or has trouble on their own, then you'll probably just throw them off if you try to accompany them. At the other end of the spectrum, if the song is obviously very structured and rehearsed, then it's pretty likely that you'll just get in the way if you play along. This has happened to Maya and I a few times. We have some songs with intricate arrangements, and we've had people jump in and sort of stomp all over the song. I don't ever make a point of it, it's not the end of the world, but I do think that people should be generally sensitive to other's performances. Once you do jump in, pay attention to the performer. If he or she seems distracted or irritated, then back off. People should be allowed their turn, and may not wish to share the "spotlight". If you have any doubt, just ask. Pick your spots to jump in. If you're primarily a blues guitarist, don't try to force blues licks into a Celtic Ballad, and so on, wait until someone plays something that your style is compatible with. "

Dave Clement:

"I tend to follow the approach I use in irish music sessions. I listen through the first verse and chorus to hear what is going on, decide if there's anything I might do to enhance the song, start noodling very quietly to ensure that I am actually in tune with the person doing the song, and listen for any clues that might indicate that I should drop out. I also listen to see who else is jamming. It can be overdone. There's nothing more distracting to a singer than eight bodhrans and four dumbecks banging along with your song, each one playing their own rhythm. similarly, you don't need five people trying to play a lead guitar break in a song.

It's also key to gauge the main performer. If they are a novice they may be negatively impacted by others playing along. If they are the type who must hear themselves play solo then it's better to stay out. If someone asks to have other stay out then... And, it never hurts to ask the person if they mind others playing along. Everything I say here re playing along goes for folks singing along too. The voice is another instrument after all. It takes skill to sing appropriate harmony and add to the texture of a song. And "adding" is what it is all about. Good jamming makes the main performer sound that much better. It almost always makes them feel much better about their music too. It's a form of appreciation when others join in and help on a song. I believe that it helps nurture people and bring them closer together when it is done well. When it is done badly then you need to grit your teeth and stay back."

Heather Rose Jones:

"Signs that it's ok include:

- a direct invitation by the performer for people to join in

- a clearly positive reaction by the performer to an accompaniment

- a relatively experienced and/or confident singer -- someone who won't be thrown off or distracted by accompaniment, and who is a strong enough performer that accompaniment won't drown them out.

- a song that can take the weight -- one with a strong melodic structure and a reasonably regular or predictable chord progression; not one that depends strongly on nuances of the lyrics.

- a song that works well with the instruments and accompaniment styles you have available

- other people joining in in a clearly non-rehearsed fashion

- a known history of the performer enjoying and/or encouraging accompaniment

- an overtly "sing-along" type situation

- a circle with an immediate history of spontaneous accompaniment

Signs that it's not ok include:

- a specific request for no accompaniment

- a clearly negative reaction by the performer to an accompaniment

- a new, uncertain, hesitant, or very quiet performer -- someone likely to be thrown off or drowned out by accompaniment; or similarly a "first performance" situation where even an experienced performer may be easily distracted.

- a song that is extremely variable musically, or that relies heavily on vocal nuance, or that involves "acted" interpretation (e.g., lots of tempo manipulation)

- the participation of what are clearly rehearsed accompanists performing a prepared arrangement

- a musical genre in which you are not comfortable improvising"

Jane Mailander:

"98% of the time I don't care if instrumentalists join in when I sing I'll usually say something up front if I don't want accompaniment, or if I want to sing alone."

Also see:
Instrumental Etiquette by Joe Kesselman

Comments? Suggestions? Please post below.

How do I come up with an accompaniment? (e.g. focus on harmonies? an interesting lead line? counterpoint? etc.)

A while ago I asked instrumentalsts how they came up with an accompaniment? (e.g. focus on harmonies? an interesting lead line? counterpoint? etc.) Their answers are below. Also check out How do I know when it's okay to accompany a performer?

Heather Rose Jones:

"It depends. When I'm accompanying on the harp, I have three basic modes: a "walking bass" type line (especially good with blues-type tunes); rhythmic chording (works only on songs with fairly "folk style" chords -- no accidentals); or a melody/descant line. (I'm not quite up to doing more than one mode at a time when I'm improvising.) On the flute, I tend to vary it a lot more within a piece: start out with some fairly slow-moving bass to get settled into the key and chord progression (and to have a chance for the performer to warn me off, if they want, without it being a big deal); move on into some melody and parallel harmonies; and then work up a little descant if the tune calls for it. If there are other accompanists, I'll spend more time going back to the moving bass to leave more "room" for others to play in, and I generally avoid doing more than maybe half a verse on melody, since there isn't much musical point to it, usually. Once in a blue moon, if the piece is right and the performer gives me the nod, I've had a chance to do a bit of serious soloing. Heaven. But as far as I'm concerned, that's purely the performer's call. I'm a lot more comfortable doing fancy stuff on the flute than on the harp -- it's my first instrument, and I don't have to think much while I'm playing it."

Jeff Bohnhoff:

"I tend to jump in very infrequently. I will do it if the performer is someone I know, and I am absolutely certain that they won't mind, or if they have asked me to play along in advance. Even then, I'll only play something if I feel that it can add something and not detract from the song or performer. I almost never play along with someone I don't know. If you do play along, it's *not* OK if what you are playing is taking attention away from the performer and/or the song."

Joe Bethancourt:

"I try to do the same sort of accompaniment that I would do for myself: to embellish and add to the lyric line and vocals. I try to keep away from what the performer of the song is doing on their instrument, and re-enforce their instrumental line.

Don't try to accompany folks who are "star-struck" over themselves. (I name no names ..... ) If it is obviously beyond your capacity, don't try. Learn to hear the chordal changes. Learn basic chordal patterns. Learn to find keys by ear. Let their instrument have priority of sound. Don't overpower their voice. Keep it simple.

(can you tell I do this professionally?)

Common chordal patterns:

I vi IV V (C Am F G)
vi V (Am G common in Irish music)
I iii IV V (C Em F G)

and so forth..... each style has a distictive chordal pattern, and many writers use a preferential pattern very commonly, for example Leslie Fish."

Comments? Suggestions? Please post below.

How can I improve my performance?

See Bill Sutton's thoughts on the topic.

Comments? Suggestions? Please post below.

Should I take formal music lessons?

See Bill Sutton's thoughts on the topic.

Comments? Suggestions? Please post below.

Is it ok to perform a spoken word piece in open filk? Any performance tips?

QUESTION:
"Is it ok to perform a spoken word piece in open filk? Any performance tips?"

Respondents unanimously agreed that spoken word pieces are fine in an open filk circle. From Phil Parker: "With regard to spoken word pieces, I have never seen a spoken word piece that was well written, well chosen for the moment, and well recited or told fail to get a good reaction from a filk circle."

Advice included the following:

- Most seemed to agree that YOU SHOULD KEEP YOUR SPOKEN WORD PIECE SHORT. From Gary Ehrlich: "I have no problem with spoken-word performances. We have some excellent storytellers in the community: Mark Bernstein, Harold Feld, Ian Hanley are the ones who come immediately to mind. As folks have said, the timing is key, especially in a typical circle; I'd say keep it to around 5 minutes (similar for songs). Longer is fine for concerts or smaller circles where folks might be willing to listen to a longer piece.

I still recall with horror one story told in a circle that went so long I was able to go to the bathroom, hit the con suite, check out the alternate room, come back, pack my stuff up, and **move** to the alternate room...and the story was still going when I left with my last load of gear..."

From Harold: "Given that people come to circles to perform as well as to listen, it is polite to make sure your own material does not run overlong. Time yourself when practicing. Don't rush the performance, but you personally should know whether you will be taking 5 minutes, 10 minutes or possibly more and judge whether the audience is really in the mood for such a long piece."

- Practice. A LOT. From Justin Eiler: "Like musical performance, spoken word performance is just that--a performance. Therefore, it requires practice. Memorizing your performance is a necessity, but practice also helps with tempo and timing, delivery, and style."

- There were mixed opinions about whether memorization was necessary or not. Most seemed to feel that memorizing isn't necessary as long as you give an entertaining performance (i.e. don't just read in a monotone with your face glued to your piece of paper). "I disagree slightly re memorization being a necessity, just as you don't have to completely memorize every song you perform," says Joe Keshlam. "Doing so is definitely advantageous, because it frees you from having to spend attention on keeping track of where you are, avoids misreading errors, and lets you focus on the audience (which can be really useful). But if you need a lectern/music-stand in front of you, that's fine too -- just remember to deliver the piece to the audience, not to the paper, and try not to be *completely* dependent upon the printed page."

- Do a lot of prep. Practice (yes, again!) and study the material carefully. From Joe Keshlam: "Performance thought: Even prose is not _unstructured_ text. I'm not sure I could really claim there's a rhythm to it, but there's generally some clear sense of the author's style and the characters' personalities... and if you can develop an ear for those, it actually helps you memorize the material. It's a method-acting sort of thing; once you have a sense of how the character or narrator speaks, it's easier to remember exactly what they actually said."

- Put emotion into your performance. "Get into the emotion of whatever story you're telling," says vixyish in LJ. "It's all about the emotion, whatever that emotion is. That's going to be the thing that hooks your audience, above all else."

- From surrdave in LJ: "A bit of acting goes a long way with spoken word--specifically, using gestures and posture to intensify, interpret, or simply attract visual focus. I'd say at the least stand up to do the spoken piece, which helps get the attention in a chaos circle anyway. It's easy to leap from song to patter to talkin' blues to storytelling with musical interludes to plain ol' storytelling; the key is to maintain the fundamentals of rhythm, pitch variation, dynamics, enunciation... and passion."

- Consider adding musical accompaniment during your recitation. From Paul Bristow: "UK filkcons have also featured storytelling with harp accompaniment - although I think a vital lesson here is to keep it brief, given that some of your audience just won't be into story telling and will get fidgetty. (Of course, an over-long self-indulgent saga is still an over-long self-indulgent saga, whether it is sung to a tune or not.)"

- Consider taking a public speaking course, or at least listen to some well-known performers who use the spoken word effectively. From Jim Poltrone: "One of my favorite orators is the late Shel Silverstein. Listen to him read "Someone Ate The Baby" or "The Smoke-Off". There's vocal variety (pitch, volume, cadence, even character voices), descriptive words (I can see pictures in my mind when he speaks), and enthusiasm. Christine Lavin is another performer who often reads prose or poetry during her concerts, and some have been featured on her albums. Listen to these and other spoken-word performers, and try to imitate them. Or better yet, develop your own style. And one more thing: No. Shatner. Impressions. Please! :-)"

Any suggestions appreciated; please post them using the comment form at the bottom of this page. Also see the responses to this Dandelion Report LJ entry.

What can I do to make people -want- to stay and listen to me perform?

Cleverly using some of the suggestions kindly offered by filkers about how to get a turn singing in an open filk circle, Grizelda starts performing. As she does, however, she notices several people getting up from the circle and leaving the room. After she finishes performing, she is also disappointed by the polite but unenthusiastic response.

"What can I do to make people -want- to stay and listen to me perform?" Grizelda wonders.

There are all kinds of reasons why filkers might be leaving the circle that have nothing to do with Grizelda: They needed to stretch after sitting for so long, for example. They have to use the bathroom. They want to greet a friend who has just arrived at the convention. They were overcome by a sudden craving for chocolate or Tully. Yes, it kind of sucks re: timing that they happened to choose Grizelda's performance slot in which to leave, but chances are good they actually do regret having to leave.

That's why I added the last bit to Grizelda's situation. If she still gets an enthusiastic response to her song/piece, then it's very likely the reasons for the audience members leaving had nothing to do with her at all. BUT if she notices a trend of people always leaving as well as consistent unenthusiastic response to her performing, I can't blame her for looking for a solution.

If you have other suggestions for Grizelda, please post them using the comment form at the bottom of this page. Also see the many useful suggestions at the end of this Dandelion Report LJ entry.

Related FAQ entries:
Bill Sutton's performance tips
Spoken word performance tips.

What's the best way to handle mistakes in the middle of a performance?

Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, and unfortunately this occasionally happens in the middle of a performance. This could range from a barely noticeable stumble to completely forgetting one's lyrics or chords two-thirds of the way through a song.

What's the best way to handle performance mistakes?

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From Scott Snyder:

"Just keep on playing. Pick up where you stopped (if you stopped) and keep on going. If you stumble HARD and REALLY stop, just grin, pick a starting spot, and start over.

Your audience is really on your side. They want you to succeed and will forgive any error as long as you are sincere and keep going. They want to see you overcome the obstacles. Especially in filk, where many of your audience are also musicians, they empathize with your situation and want to see you get through it.

DO NOT apologize.

DO NOT point out the mistake. Either they caught it or they didn't - it doesn't matter.

DO NOT make derogatory comments about yourself, your playing or your instrument."

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From Paul Kwinn:

"This a piece of advice I got from Kathleen Sloan, who in turn got it from her voice teacher:

Practice making mistakes. Which is not to say you should deliberately make mistakes while practicing. Mistakes will just naturally happen while you're rehearsing. Take advantage of that fact, and practice how you're going to cover/handle a mistake if it happens in front of people."

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From Mike Whitaker:

"Depends to a large extent how catastrophic the mistake was.

Rule one, though, is don't apologise. Better people than you have screwed up far worse in public :)

Minor fluffs, or 'this is the last chord, it's the easiest one in the whole piece (a C) and I screwed it up. Twice."? Plough on, or if it's a repeating intro, sometimes it's better to loop round again so you're coming into a verse less rattled: the odds are 90%+ of your audience didn't notice. Trust me.

Frank Hayes disease or "What order DO the verses in Second Hand News go in?" syndrome: if you can, make it up and keep going: it's amazing how many folks won't notice. If you can't, then keep playing, loop the chords back to the start of the verse and try again: at this point a cheerful 'rewind!' or other light remark will probably earn you a sympathetic chuckle: we've all done it.

Oh-my-god-what-are-we-doing disease; a.k.a. he thinks it's in 4/4, she thinks it's in 3/4, he and she think it's in 2/4, he thinks it's in 6/8 and the singer's standing looking bemused. Or alternatively, 5 of the band are playing in C, and the keyboards player has forgotten to remove the transpose function on one synth, and her left hand's in C and her right in Eb. There is NO solution but to stop, laugh it off, make sure everyone's on the right page and start over.

In case you still believe that only you screw up? All the examples have happened to me, Phoenix or Fleetfoot Mike. In public, in front of (in at least one case) a paying audience. The overriding things to remember are 1) you are MUCH more critical of your mistakes than 98% of your audience. I have in the past come off stage to have a fellow band member REFUSE to go back on, despite the fact that the audience were clamouring for it, because they thought they'd played so badly. 2) If there's no way of not stopping, be it going back to start a verse, or a complete restart, laugh it off. even if you want to curl up and die. I make use of a cheery 'Ok. Shall we try that again with the *right* chords/words/notes".

But, to quote the lovely stevieannie and at risk of repeating myself: "amateurs practise till they get it right; professionals practice till they can't get it wrong". Or alternatively, Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance.

...and just in case I'm about to be accused of massive ego, no, I didn't mean me :) Lets see - there's a version of Love Me Tender that springs to mind. I have several bootlegs of Fleetwood Mac where certain bits just make me want to cringe... Even the pros screw up :)"

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From "redaxe" on LJ:

" A short list of folks I've heard (or have recordings of) forget or mess up the lyrics includes Paul McCartney, Peter Gabriel, David Byrne, Mark Knopfler, Maddy Prior, and Linda Ronstadt. And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

ALL of them either just went on, or finished a verse, got corrected by a band member and made a joke of it, then picked right back up.

For me, the key is to remember that the audience wants you to succeed. So give them the chance."

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From "cellio" on LJ:

"Yes, what he said. Don't angst about it; don't apologize; just fix it and go on. A quick comment to get them to laugh with you, like that "rewind!" or "oops, Frank Hayes dieseas" or whatever, does wonders.

Also, if you're part of a group, have an understanding before you go on stage of who's in charge. (This may vary from piece to piece, e.g. the lead singer is in charge, or the group may have a single leader.) If something catastrophic happens, like the key scenario above or a real bad tuning day or something, that person has the authority to say "you do X" (including "don't play", because the instrument is that far out of tune), and everyone else's job is to do it without arguing. Later, after the performance, you can discuss it to death -- but no discussions or arguments on stage.

Oh, and make sure the person in this role is in a position to hear everything. On the Mark once had a concert where we were on a wide stage with mikes and other equipment (that we don't normally play with) all around, and the instruments at opposite ends were out of tune with each other, but neither of us could hear that and the person in the middle didn't want to offend us by stopping us. Now she knows to do that; it's much better than annoying the audience. :-)"

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From "mdlbear" on LJ:

"As an amateur performer of limited talent, I get lots of practice handling performance mistakes. In almost all cases (flubbed chord, transposed lines, ...) the best thing is to keep going. Sing a little louder if you're having trouble with the chords.

Really amazing mistakes, like starting in the wrong key or with the wrong melody, can be covered with a humorous remark like "I'll have to remember that one for the blooper album"."

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From "randwolf" on LJ:

"John Hertz is fond of telling dancers, "think cat"--if possible, act like you meant to do it and go on."

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From "tigertoy" on LJ:

"It's already been said, but it bears repeating: if you make a minor mistake, just pretend it didn't happen and keep on playing. A minor mistake is any one where you can do this. Most of your audience won't notice, and the ones who do won't care if you don't stop and call attention to it.

Being able to ignore minor mistakes and keep playing takes practice. Once you've pretty much learned a song, make a conscious effort to keep going through your mistakes, instead of going back and immediately correcting them. Getting used to just singing/playing through mistakes when you practice makes it a lot easier to do it in front of an audience. If you can, try to do something to make the song harder than what you really mean to perform so you'll make more mistakes, and practice hanging onto the song in spite of the mistakes. One good way to do this is to do the song much faster than it's supposed to be. Not only do you get practice on ignoring errors, but the song will seem easier when you do it at the right speed. (Just don't get so used to doing it super-fast that you forget to do it normal speed when you perform it!)"

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From "catalana" on LJ:

"I agree with all the advice to keep going if possible. The other thing I've noticed is that, as screaming a mistake as it may seem to you, your audience may not have even noticed it. Did you sing a wrong line or a wrong word? Unless it's "Banned from Argo" (or something else similarly well-known), there's a good chance your audience didn't notice - you have the lyrics in front of you, but they don't. Similarly with playing a wrong chord, especially if it's fairly brief. You may know it was supposed to be a C, not a G, but your audience may not have noticed.

I once got asked to sing a really old song of mine (one that I hadn't sung in years) and I realized going into the chorus that I had no clue what the melody for the second and fourth lines of the chorus was. So I made something up. By the second repeat of the chorus I had remembered the correct music for the second line, and fixed it. I didn't remember the music for the fourth line until days later - but as far as I can tell, no one noticed. You can get away with a lot if you do it with confidence. *grin*"

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Please post other suggestions using the comment form at the bottom of this page. Also see the responses to this Dandelion Report LJ entry.