Look at me, I'm being mature

[eveglass]

On an email list I'm part of, I posted a new filk I just wrote, called "Waiting for the Pop." Essentially, it's about audiences who don't get engaged when a performer performs (in pro wrestling, the "pop" is when an audience either cheers or boos loudly about something happening in the ring).

Someone else on the list, someone who is admittedly has much more experience in bardic than I do, decided this was a fine time to pull out a soapbox and explain that she has no sympathy for performers who have "bad audiences," unless they've been told to perform in an utterly inappropriate venue. (eg: a feast hall with bad acoustics and in which no ones wants to listen to bardic)

How I wanted to write back an equally ranty reply. I still do. But I'm being mature and not letting this escalate. It's time to pick my battles, and I know I can't win this one.

Instead, I'm going to fill out a meme to take my mind off things.

Comments

Then rant away

[bytchearse.livejournal.com]

But do it in verse. :-D The perils of ticking off a bard...

BTW, other than my LJ, I have no use for email lists, for such people as you mentioned seems to find pleasure in their own wit at the expense of others online yet IRL are completely different creatures.

Re: Then rant away

[eveglass.livejournal.com]

Generally, this list is quite well behaved. For the most part (but not entirely) it's people who know each other through bardic and Pennsic, and things rarely descend into nastiness. (Usually.)

I'm not part of too many email groups, for exactly the reason you mentioned, though.

[dulcinbradbury.livejournal.com]

Hey... I'm on that list too.

I wouldn't take it too personally. I don't think she meant that your filk was poor or that it wasn't a subject worth poking fun at. Just that well... part of being a good performer is picking your battles and keeping the audience from being a "bad" audience. Doesn't mean you're a bad performer if you fail -- just means you hadn't figured out how to handle that particular situation.

I once talked through someone's performance accidentally and I felt *terrible* about it. He started out by chatting about his background. I wanted to wrap up a quiet conversation with a friend. The thing was, I was listening for the typical "I'm starting now" tones -- a shift in pitch, dynamics or even standing up to perform. Because I he never gave that kind of cue, he never caught me early on. Once I realized he was performing, I felt *terrible*... and listening to the end of the story, I really wished I'd heard the beginning.

I think that "no sympathy" is a bit tough on people. I see it as an opportunity to try to teach people to avoid some of the pitfalls of engaging the audience, if I feel I have enough authority to talk to the person. "No sympathy" to me says "sink or swim" and a lot of people don't intuitively grasp some of these issues. I'm still learning some of them. I'm good at grabbing a crowd's attention, but, I don't always pick the material that would *best* suit the situation. I can do what I do well enough that I'll get by pretty well even when it's not quite right.

[eveglass.livejournal.com]

When I decided to write it, I was thinking of a particular instance, actually. I had been invited to perform at Pennsic for a Camp Seven Leaves (I think that's the name), and also in attendance was Linda Cooper. I picked out songs that I thought would go over well for the audience, and I did seem to hold people's attention.

But they didn't "pop" when I expected them to.

For examples, I've got a few songs where I *know* people laugh at certain points, and plan for it. These are songs I'd performed dozens of times before, and I knew what to expect in terms of audience reaction. But this time, even though I was holding everyone's attention, they didn't laugh. It was really, really disconcerting.

They actually told me afterwards that they really enjoyed my performance and invited me back. In retrospect, I think a lot of them were stoned or high (don't even ask what sort of stuff was being passed around that camp).

While the song morphed into being about audiences who simply don't pay attention (or actively avoid listening), I wrote it thinking about this group who *were* paying attention, but just weren't reacting the way I expected them to.

[dulcinbradbury.livejournal.com]

Makes sense. And I think we've all had those sort of off-moments where you KNOW you're doing well and you KNOW the audience should be responding in a particular way, but, it's just... off for whatever odd reason.

[squidmark.livejournal.com]

It takes a lot of restraint not to react to provocation, good on ya for taking the high road!