minstrel: Folk, Filk, flames, and Fun

[Angus Armstrong]

I've watched the ongoing discussion here with mixed emotion and have resisted the urge to speak rashly, but I've got to take my turn on the ol' soapbox:

Compared to most of you, I'm a relative newcomer.  I've been involved with the Society for just a little over three years now.  I don't have a lot of education, I can't read music very well, and, unfortunately, public libraries don't stay open during the hours when I'm not working at my mundane job.

I guess what I'm getting at here, is this:
I play and sing and tell funny stories.  I perform the things that people ask me to perform, if I know them, because it makes them happy.  That includes a lot of (technically) OOP songs. If they're happy, I'm happy.  I've done my job and entertained the good folk.  If I don't know the piece they're asking for, I'll try to snag the closest Laurel and ask if he or she DOES know.  I'll try to learn those pieces, so the next time that someone asks, I can put a smile on their face, too. My arsenal of tunes has grown considerably that way in three years.  Granted, what I'd play at Feast isn't the same thing I'd necessarily play behind the walls of my own camp. (Unless, of course, Her Majesty summons me up to high table and requests it)  But only twice in those three years has someone pulled me aside and told me that they were dissatisfied with the content or style of my performance.  One of those two offered to and has taught me a few other more period pieces.  The other encourages me to write more original pieces.  Both of them continue to be good friends and mentors to me.  But none of the people I've had the good fortune to perform for, or with, in the Society so far has been aloof, negative, or condescending in their appraisal of my performance. Some of them even ask me in advance to come and perform in their camp(s).  And we have a fine old time, and Life in the Current Middle Ages is Good.
 
Bottom line here is, don't get so caught up in being Right, and Authentic, and Documentable, and Properly Defined and Categorized, that you forget how to have FUN and put a smile on people's faces.  They'll remember the good time they had by the fire being entertained, a whole lot better than they'll remember who won the argument.

Failte!

Angus Armstrong
Bard of Castlemere, Kingdom of Trimaris

(quietly putting the soapbox back in a dusty corner of the hall)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.pbm.com/pipermail/minstrel/attachments/19981008/b796eacd/attachment-0001.htm