My experience with playing at ren faires is similar to what others have said. People are there mostly for entertainment not education. I played bagpipes with a bagpipe\rauchpfeife\drum group for a couple of years. In one our sets 3 of 5 tunes had a 'musical quote' of a rock song somewhere in the tune, and the audiences seemed to love it.
cheers, Kevin > From: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [HG-new] Hurdy Gurdy video - a response > Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:16:43 -0800 > To: [email protected] > > 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. > _________________________________________________________________ Get gifts for them and cashback for you. Try Bing now. http://www.bing.com/shopping/search?q=xbox+games&scope=cashback&form=MSHYCB&publ=WLHMTAG&crea=TEXT_MSHYCB_Shopping_Giftsforthem_cashback_1x1 -- 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.
