I'm setting up the FAQ Pages over on my website, since it's a good way to keep my hands busy. One of the pages is, naturally enough, going to be questions about music and filk. I have three CDs, I attend a lot of filk conventions, it seems like a good thing to do. Now, I know that I have many non-filk readers on this journal. So I put forth this query:
What questions do you have about filk?
What questions do you have about my music in general?
Please let me know what it would help you to know, so that I can put all the pieces together coherently!
Inquiring minds want to know.
February 25 2009, 03:02:30 UTC 8 years ago
Re: Inquiring minds want to know.
February 25 2009, 22:09:23 UTC 8 years ago
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February 25 2009, 22:09:35 UTC 8 years ago
February 25 2009, 03:11:02 UTC 8 years ago
February 25 2009, 03:18:04 UTC 8 years ago
1: Filk is A) a parody of an existing song, usually with a SF&F slant, B) any original song that has a SF&F slant C) Folk music for SF&F fans, D) sometimes all of the above.
2: Yes. Weird Al's stuff? Totally filk, even if he doesn't know it.
3: Also yes. "Rocket Man"? Quite arguably filk, though that particular songwriter never wrote any other filks.
4: Often yes.
5: Gracious, no! There are a lot of female filkers!
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February 25 2009, 03:14:20 UTC 8 years ago
And this might not be the kind of question you were thinking of, but what music do you write to? (I'm just assuming you do write to music- I could be wrong)
February 25 2009, 16:15:51 UTC 8 years ago
A question on the question: Are you asking what music she has in the background as she writes, or are you asking which types of music she draws from when working up a parody?
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February 25 2009, 17:29:29 UTC 8 years ago
feel free to disregard any of these, or ask for clarification if I got too obtuse
February 25 2009, 03:35:51 UTC 8 years ago
What are your three most favorite filk conventions? Or filk-friendly cons, for that matter?
What's your favorite venue to debut new songs?
What's your current favorite song to perform?
Who do you consider to be some of the most inspiring and/or influential filkers presently performing? How about the most influential filkers you've ever heard perform or heard mentioned, past or present?
Do you have any plans to ever attempt a song-a-week endeavor, even for a short time, something akin to Jonathan Coulton's Thing A Week or Tom Smith's iTom?
What cons do you want to attend that you haven't yet been able to for whatever reason?
What cons are on your Must Attend list every year?
What sort of music inspires you?
What sort of music do you find most fulfilling to write?
Do you prefer to perform solo a capella, solo self-accompanied, with an accompanyist, or in an ensemble?
I think that about does it for now, but if I can think of anything else, I'll post again.
Re: feel free to disregard any of these, or ask for clarification if I got too obtuse
February 25 2009, 21:59:21 UTC 8 years ago
Re: feel free to disregard any of these, or ask for clarification if I got too obtuse
8 years ago
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February 25 2009, 18:08:27 UTC 8 years ago
February 25 2009, 04:27:03 UTC 8 years ago
February 25 2009, 15:41:20 UTC 8 years ago
(On the non-filk side of FAQness, will there be a fanfic policy of any sort? E.g., "okay, but I will never read it so don't send it to me!" or "please... just don't, 'kay?" or...)
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February 25 2009, 05:41:58 UTC 8 years ago
How do you remember all of those songs?
How do you come up with all the parts and make them fit together in things like Sycamore Tree or Fly Little Bird?
February 25 2009, 10:56:28 UTC 8 years ago
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February 25 2009, 18:43:28 UTC 8 years ago
February 25 2009, 16:08:06 UTC 8 years ago
Yersina pestis, the black-footed ferret, and the giant gerbils of Kazakhstan.
February 25 2009, 21:47:54 UTC 8 years ago
February 25 2009, 16:40:34 UTC 8 years ago
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February 25 2009, 17:53:07 UTC 8 years ago
One thing, although this might not be general enough since the answer would be personal to each filker, was something like "why don't you try to go for a more mainstream audience?" He was basically asking why, if we were talented enough, we didn't try making a living at this.
It got into a whole discussion about doing it for love vs. for money, and about the nature of *community* being the driving force behind filking, and such.
For purposes of a FAQ, that might break down into a few questions, like:
Is filking just for professional/trained musicians? Is it just for people who can record CDs?
Then is filking just for amateurs?
Are there any professional filkers?
Why do you filk, anyway?
What does the 'filk community' mean, and who's in it? How do you know if you belong to it?
and then there's
Isn't filking just a bunch of people who can't sing? (No idea how best to phrase that one, but since it seems to be a BIG misconception among non-filking SF-convention-goers, you might want to address it.)
You *might* want to have some questions like "what do I do if I want to record a CD?" but since that could be a whole other huge FAQ on its own, if you choose to go there you'd probably just want to have some general answers, like links to other places where people can research that for themselves, or something.
February 25 2009, 22:02:16 UTC 8 years ago
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February 25 2009, 22:09:07 UTC 8 years ago