The Jury Is Out...

[figmo]

...and I appear to have bombed.

I tried something different at ConChord for my concert. Instead of futzing with my guitar, I tried using the synth for all my numbers and using props and dancing around.

I thought it worked.

If the con reports of ConChord are any indication, it didn't.

In Debbie Ridpath Ohi's Blatherings I'm only mentioned by name (you know the bit: "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything") and in David Okamura's ConChord report on rec.music.filk I'm notably not mentioned at all (same thing).

Okay folks -- from those of you who saw it or heard about it, what am I doing that sucks so bad? Please! I can't improve my act if I don't get feedback!

Comments

[almeda.livejournal.com]

Honestly? From someone who (a) likes you and (b) was there for the whole thing? It sounded like you hadn't practiced. Like, at all. Your pitch was kind of tentative on some things, and one whole song was clearly topping you out - but you didn't adjust the midi beforehand ('capoing' down, as it were), or whatnot, you just let it shove you higher than you really ought to've been going. The scansion also felt kind of fumbled, in places, and just generally ... the overall impression was that you'd gotten the midis somewhere, decided two days before the con it might be a fun thing to do, and thrown yourself at it.

Plus, some of them seemed to go on for a very long time, after we'd gotten the joke and, honestly, after we'd already quietly wished you'd go on.

[figmo.livejournal.com]

I actually did practice. The "gotcha" was I had a really bad cold and it totally f***ed up my range and accuracy. I was afraid I'd start hocking loogies on stage.

Re: the MIDIs and pacing, that's the kind of feedback I need. I'm not sure whether it's "too much at once" or whether I need to cut some of the poems down a bit -- or both. Anything more specific would be appreciated.

[almeda.livejournal.com]

Huh. You couldn't tell you were flaring out the top of your range on that one song?

[figmo.livejournal.com]

I could soooo tell I was out of my range. The hardest part was not letting on that I knew it.

Normally my range covers the whole thing. My vocal cords were swollen because my (already bad) cold had mutated into a sinus infection that morning. My range was thus hosed. I normally have three good octaves, but right now (still sick) I barely have just over one octave, and it's at the low end of my range.

[johno.livejournal.com]

Yo! Lynn's inner voice, come here.

Yeah you.

Yep, right in front me.

Good, now stand still.

{{{THWAP}}}

Now shut up and let Lynn examine herself honestly. None of this nobody loves me, no body cares crap.

Lynn, you list 2 con reports Debbie's and David's. David's is short to the point of being terse. Debbie's focused on the GOHs and her drool favorites. Don't let 2 fairly simplistic.

Don't take it personally that you wern't reported on. I didn't learn anything more about ConChord then the web page had. And as much as I like Debbie, her con reports have always been a bit... flighty.

[bardling.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... if you knew your top range was shot... why not drop that one song rather than force yourself through and torturre your vocal chords? You could do permanent damage to them, forcing them like this...

And apart from the feedback on your spot that I can't give 'cause I wasn't there - why do you automatically assume noone liked it (or you - two very different things anyway, btw! Even if maybe your performance of something sucked, that *does not* mean you suck!) just cause you were not mentioned or only by name?
That has happened to me plenty of times in lots of con reports, because people will write about the most memorable (to them after the con) bits. And despite having liked my spot and, upon being asked giving me honest (and usually fairly positive feedback) I have not always been mentioned with more than a brief "listenend to..." - in fact rarely so. I think with con reports it's a matter of if someone views one as a personal highlight it's a rare treat, but shouldn't be expected to happen all the time.

Anyway - *hugs* and hope your infection goes away soon!

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

I could soooo tell I was out of my range. The hardest part was not letting on that I knew it.

If you knew it was out of range, then don't force it like that! That's a recipe for disaster; it will sound horrible and you can't hide it (as almeda pointed out). Yes, it was a last-minute thing, but if your voice is seriously that far off, then the intelligent thing to do is swallow your pride and NOT perform. Yes, we all have a bit of ego or we wouldn't be up there in the first place, but going up there and sounding horrible is worse.

And bardling is quite correct; you can damage your voice. Better to miss one set than to miss out on a lifetime of music.

[figmo.livejournal.com]

I've been working at KLIV for too many years and have developed a "the show must go on no matter what" mentality that I perhaps need to unlearn for filk.

At KLIV (the radio station where I anchor the news), the rule has been to put us on no matter what. I've been put on the air to anchor with full-bore laryngitis even though I was barely audible on the microphone. I've come to expect this of myself because it has been expected of me for so long.

When talking, even if I can only squeak out a teensy bit of voice, I know lots of tricks from my voice and broadcasting teachers to make myself sound credible on the air. The only time someone complained was when I anchored with the flu and I "didn't show enough enthusiasm" when the audible part of my voice had been reduced to about a three-note range. I had to explain that my voice would CRACK! and become inaudible if I were to go out of that range by doing so.

Unfortunately, these tricks don't work for singing because I can't alter my range when organic factors get in the way. I perhaps should've bowed out. I partly didn't because I was just afraid of appearing "unreliable" and "flaky" and figured, "Well, it's just comedy, and it's physical at that; I'll vamp around the parts where my voice won't work."

What made me think I sucked was I put a lot into that half hour. I brought props. I had started memorizing my material. When I had no voice I still practiced the choreography.

Yes, choreography. After practicing with the country line dance tapes from the library I went out and bought two instructional tapes to keep up my practice. I worked out the details of putting on and taking off stuff so I'd hide things. Every single motion in that set was pre-planned. I've watched Heather Alexander do that kind of thing with her concerts, and after a while she got to where it looked natural, so I figured I'd try it.

About the only things I didn't do involved a saw, tap shoes, and a blow torch (I'm saving the "tap shoes and blow torch" number for another ConChord).

I thought what I was doing was pretty outrageous even by filk standards. Oh well. I'm blathering too much. Perhaps it's time for me to look forward and think of ways to make the next gig better (almeda, please keep the feedback coming; I've got two weeks to tweak and edit those MIDI files).

One other thing I've learned: Have a fallback strategy. I didn't have one. Had I planned for it, I could have easily done half an hour of almost pure shtick with almost no vocal range and had the audience in stitches. Unfortunately, I hadn't planned for it.

Response and silence

[mannoftalent.livejournal.com]

Lynn:

I don't know if this means anything or not, but I sort of understand where you're coming from. I don't want to sound whiny or anything, but aside from you nobody even mentioned my hosting job for the Totally Tasteless. Maybe most people brush it off or whatever, but given the fact that I spent $ on the costume and makeup, and quite a bit of time and energy to make the concert more interesting, I thought that even an acknowledgement or two would be in order. Not even a verbal recognition from the con com at the end of it. Even if people thought I sucked and never want to see me with horns again, just let me know. I'm not angry or anything, but unless asked, I'm not going to bother again.

Re: Response and silence

[figmo.livejournal.com]

Sigh. You soooo kicked ass as TTTR host. I hope you'll do it again. Better yet, I hope they'll ask you to do it again. We hadn't had that level of theatrics since Chrys Thorsen directed Quentin Long.