Hi, all- My experience in playing faires has been that the majority of folks who attend them as patrons (paying customers) have little to no interest in any kind of education whatsoever. They want turkey legs, beer, cleavage and jousting. And shopping- lots and lots of shopping. Music is part of the ambiance, the back ground, the buildings and the costumes. The more cleavage a costume shows the better and the same goes for the music. The louder, sillier and more extravagant the music the more likely you are to draw a crowd, sell some cds and make tips. If you are even remotely "authentic" people will listen, at most, for a moment or two and then wander on. Ren faires are not even a little bit about education but about entertainment. That is why a group of shirtless, kilted men playing Highland pipes and drums playing both traditional tunes and rock song covers will draw a huge crowd where an authentic and correctly presented group of excellent musicians will pull in maybe two or three people.
I'm not saying it's right or good or anything like that, it's just what ren faires are. I think most of the people who go there have an idea that this is a fairy-land version of the Renaissance or Medieval times and again, have no intention of learning anything. They don't care a whit about what it was actually like "back in the day," they just want to be distracted and entertained with sword fights, cleavage, horses, shiny things and food. On the other hand, there are folks who really get into it and are all about the correct details and love every minute of the real stuff and support it enthusiastically. It's just that there aren't as many of them as of the other kind. These folks make a lot of effort to dress correctly and even attempt to speak correctly (sometimes with less success than others but points for trying) and they are the back bone of the ren faires. Ren faires are only about making money and anything that gets folks in the gate and ready to part with their dough is what is going to fly. Personally, I think Medieval paintball booths are heinous but if it helps support the recorder consort tootling in that little booth down the lane then whatever. William and I have played faires on occasion and boy we are not even close to authentic. We are loud and colorful and try to make people sing along and laugh- but we're only moderately successful at it. I blame my lack of cleavage. :) Of course, if there were five of us with drums and shawms and could whirl around and be crazy that would really help. We do make every attempt to sing songs and play tunes that would have been appropriate for the time- in other words, no rock song covers. We do our own modern interpretation of them because we are not into the music for it's original shape and sound but for what we can do with it. We tell people this when we talk about our cds or the gurdy. I always point out that it's not a correct instrument for the time, that it's based on an 18 cent. instrument and go here on the internet for more information. I figure anything that gets people interested in music other than the general schlock that's on the airwaves is a good thing. My favorite memories of interacting with patrons about the gurdy was after Jimmy Page toured with Nigel Eaton (it was Nigel Eaton, wasn't it?) and I had pierced, mohawked and/or gothed-out punk boys in their teens come up to me and say, "I know what that is, it's a hurdy gurdy. They're cool!" ANYTHING that gets boys of that age interested in music out of the ordinary is a good thing. Nice act, Jocelyn! I hope I get to hear you live someday. Felicia. On Dec 10, 2009, at 10:24 AM, [email protected] wrote: > Hello once more, > > there is only one problem I sometimes see with the music on the > medieval fairs. Usually the audience does not get the information > that what they are presented with is a creative anachronism, that > the performances are rather part the modern popular culture than a > representation of the past. > > As this audience are "people who are not educated in music" they > cannot know the difference. They might go home beliving that this > is how music was back then, as it was presented to them by event > organizers pretending exactly this. > > Cheers, > > Simon > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "hurdygurdy" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy > > The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be > found at http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. To reduce > spam, posts from new subscribers are held pending approval by the > webmaster. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hurdygurdy" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. To reduce spam, posts from new subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster.
