Some meta-filking musings: emergent circle tendencies

[almeda]

These are not entirely novel thoughts I am about to express, either for myself or in general, but some analysis crystallized in my head laaaaaaate Sunday night at the con, so I'm 'talking it out' here in the hopes that it's coherent, and that perhaps it will spark other conversation that might lead to further interesting conclusions. I have no idea

Comments

[alymid]

I like your observations and classifications here. I know that I had a hard time Saturday night, a friend wanted listen in the room I was going to be in, and I had a hard time telling her where I might end up - and that was largely due to my own internal algebra factoring who was going to be where, and who I wanted to play with, and how many people would be in the room etc

[joecoustic]

Yep, I liked that circle too :).

[dornbeast]

My personal filk etiquette (as a more-listener-than-performer sort) requires me to keep a kernel of awareness on seating conditions. If the "performer space" fills up, I'll move out of it.

On the "guitar" side, I expect some amount of "push." Not just peeking in, but coming in and asking if somebody can help make space for me/us/my guitar/my flute/my harem of instruments. With great filking power comes great filking responsibility, or something like that.

[almeda]

In Sunday's case, the seat-occupiers didnt' seem to notice, and I was profoundly uncomfortable sticking my nose in and asking people to rearrange how they were sitting just to make the circle more attractive. Because I was not formally 'in charge,' and if I imposed my will on the circle and was bossy like that, I'd be an oppressor just-like-the-assholes-in-high-school ...

Said realization was part of what catalyzed this post.

[dornbeast]

That's why it's my personal idea of filk etiquette. Some people just take seats, and stop paying attention to anything except the music. There's nothing to do about that.

I believe that for the best circle, everybody needs to work a little. Make room for new performers, keep an aisle open for people in wheelchairs and the like, try not to filkhog, and, above all, sing.

Some part of fandom doesn't want to deal with The Man, or be The Man. The price of that is personal responsibility. The Man won't be comin' in if everybody's workin' to make things work.

[ex_hrj]

It's not simply a matter of filk ettiquette -- it's also a matter of greatly differing local cultures. The notion that "the front row of the circle is for performers only" still strikes me as extremely odd. To me, you have multiple "layers" of seating simply because of room topology but distance from the center is more or less accidental based on when you arrive and people/chair ratio. And yet I've attended circles in areas whose local culture is so strong on the "front row = performers" that if you're sitting anywhere but the front row, you'll never get a chance to perform, and in those cultures it can make an enormous difference whether the existing inhabitants make a space for you in the performers' row.

[tattercoats]

Wow. Golly. That's *fascinating*. And rings very true. To your many wise points I would simply add that, when one joins a thing, one necessarily changes it.

Food for thought, there. Thank you.

[tigertoy]

Editorial nit: at the end of the definition of class 5:

Interestingly, Class *4* circles are often less attractive to random wanderers than Classes 3 and *4*

I assume from context that the first *4* should be 5.

[almeda]

Eek! Thank you. Fixed. I know there are a couple of other minor spelling errors in there, but I hadn't felt like going in and rooting them out yet. I have now done so.

[katyhh]

This is an *extremely* interesting post! Very good observations. Sigh. Need. More. TIME ... I could go on for hours about this topic.

[almeda]

I hope you will. If you do so in your own journal, drop a link to it in comments here so folks can follow along?

[filkerdave]

Please do! (When you get the time, at any rate)