Saturday night I checked out the local open mike, a monthly folk night at the Perry Hall United Methodist Church. I wanted to see what the local music scene might be like.
I sat through 36 songs. I gotta tell you, I was falling asleep during the last third.
I was already pretty tired from not having gotten much sleep during the week, but the relentless 4/4 time or meter of the folk music was not helping, either.
I didn't know what to expect. Although, I guess I thought there'd be some decent singer/songwriters doing original material.
I'm not sure where people came from. How many lived in Perry Hall, or neighboring communities? One performer was introduced as coming from Anne Arundel county, probably an hour's drive away.
Turned out most folks did covers and standards and the like. A lot of old time country music. I recognized a lot of stuff. (I guess listening to WAMU on Sundays prepared me.)
When I think about the participants, I'd say the enthusiasm was pretty strong, but their inabilities (like faltering instrumental skills or off-key singing or predictable music selection) made for a dissatisfying experience.
There wasn't a single person who was talentless. It's just that a weakness of a performer would trump a strength. For example, an older gent played old time country music on a steel guitar. The pieces were nice to hear, but the fellow couldn't play that great. A woman followed him, who had a strong voice, but all her songs seemed to be Irish traditional melodies in a minor key of a religious bent. Some folks could strum the guitar quite well, but had weak vocals.
And getting back to the predictability factor, the similar characteristics of many songs made me start thinking about music that was more melodically sophisticated and rhythmically complex. Like Brazilian popular music -- genres like bossa nova and tropicalia.
(In fact, when I got back home, I had to play various Brazilian cd's to reinvigorate myself.)
A word on race.
All the performers were white. In fact, everybody there was white except me. I hadn't thought of that until now.
One old fella sang some blues. He was fine when it came to singin' and storytellin', but when it came to playing his guitar, it didn't resonate. The strings didn't resonate.
I sorta wish I could perform and bring something different to the mix. But to do that, I'd have to play a portable chordal instrument. (I have a very heavy Fender Rhodes electric piano (which I've not touched in a decade or two), and an erhu (a chinese violin, that I'm equally rusty on)).
I suspect I won't be going back to next month's show.
Posted by raacluse at March 5, 2007 11:31 PMI am the host of the monthly "open mike" Folk Music Night at Perry Hall United Methodist Church ( http://www.perryhallumc.org/FolkMusicNight/ ). Yesterday, I read with interest the above post. There is a lot of validity to what you say, but I would like to share a few thoughts, if I may.
My main purpose in hosting the Folk Music Night is to give amateurs the opportunity to perform in front of an audience. Of course, in order to do this, I have to attract an audience, which requires providing music that people would want to listen to. Since it's an "open mike", anybody with a pulse can perform. I have to admit that there have been performers whose offerings have made even me wince. However, since my policy is to be open to anyone, I sometimes have to just "grin and bear it".
Having said that, I would like to point out that I sometimes get performers who are very good. In fact, I sometimes present what I call "featured performers". I didn't happen to have one in March. In May, I featured Woody Lissauer ( http://www.woodylissauer.com/ ). This coming weekend, I am featuring ellen cherry ( http://www.ellencherry.com/ ). Both are excellent performers. In September, I may be featuring "Lea" ( http://www.thisislea.com/ ). I would encourage you to visit their web sites to hear their music.
On the Folk Music Night web site, there are also links to the sites of people who have performed in the past (including Woody). Some of these were featured performers. Others just showed up unannounced.
In answer to your specific observations: We do sometimes get "decent singer/songwriters doing original material" (including the people mentioned above). Sometimes members of the Baltimore Songwriters Association show up. We get performers from all over the Baltimore metropolitan area, as well as people from D.C., Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and beyond. As for race, we welcome anyone regardless of race, religion, national origin, etc. (I happen to be Jewish and host the event at the church to which my wife belongs.) I don't specifically go out soliciting white people. I like diversity as much as anyone. But I can't control who decides to show up.
As to your performing, we do have a piano. The church also has an electric piano that they might allow me to use. We wouldn't care if you were a little rusty. You might add a new dimension to the experience. (One performer who has played on two occasions plays ragtime music on the piano, and he's quite good.)
I would like to suggest that you should not dismiss us based on one evening's experience. Come back this Saturday, or on some future date, and see if maybe your original judgment was a little too hasty.
Thanks for taking the time to read my message.
Sincerely,
Neil Zimmerman
neil.zimmerman@ssa.gov
tryna look for some gigs
Posted by: ronnie siddique at March 4, 2008 07:25 PM