I second everything Felicia said I play on the local equivalent of a ren fair and they are the same anywhere in the world...
Augusto Brazil On Thu, Dec 10, 2009 at 5:16 PM, Felicia Dale <[email protected]>wrote: > 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]<hurdygurdy%[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]<hurdygurdy%[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.
