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I suppose I should say something about music, since my whole trip was a product of filk.
Prior to about two years ago I had not thought of attending FilkContinental, which is, after all, held in a place not especially near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I’ve told this story before, but for anyone who doesn’t know, my personal connection to German filkers came after Urban Tapestry’s guest appearance at FC, which of course I read about on LJ.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
allisona mentioned a song set to the tune of jodimuse‘s “The Lady” called “The Willow” by this German filker they’d met, aryana_filker. I sang it at the next housefilk, made a comment in the LJ thread about that, Aryana was all excited that someone in America was singing her song, and, two years and a great many e-mails later, I was flying to Düsseldorf to spend two weeks living with my German friends.
We did find time for some music at each household. Everyone loved my flute. Everyone really lovedmusicmutt’s “An Abridgement,” which was also a hit at the con, where I sang it in response to Franklin’s call for Lord of the Dance/Rings ideas. legoline, lisande and I found time for music on several days, and we shared lots of “new to you” songs. It was fun when Dea and Steffi started singing children’s songs. In German, of course. Some of the tunes were familiar, but the words were not so familiar.
aryana_filker naturally enjoyed my flute playing. I had the enjoyable-in-retrospect experience of getting lost in the sheet music on one piece I was playing for her but somehow remembering enough to keep on playing until I found my place. I had no idea I could do that. She played her piano, of course. The bigger musical thrill there was seeing the pipe organ she plays. That was fun. I’d never been up close to an organ before.
There was yet more musical fun withkinder1of5 and her family and friends, including singalongs in the car with them. Familiar geBORGt songs, among other fun.
I will bring my electronic tuner next time. At the con, of course, people with guitars are set up to tune them, but visiting people I ran into a surprising number of people with guitars who don’t really play them. I’m not the sort who’s good at getting a very out of tune guitar into tune without electronic help, though I could usually get good enough for fooling around. On the borrowed guitar subject, it was, of course, no problem to borrow a guitar as needed at the con. It was sometimes a bit of an adventure playing an unfamiliar instrument, though I do have practice with nylon-strung classicals and various 12-strings. Probably the guitar I played that was most similar to what I’m used to wassibylle‘s. I was glad to have that guitar for the song I was most nervous about.
Filkcontinental was, of course, world of amazing music. The guest Canadians were absolutely fantastic. Heather Dale I was not really familiar with before. There are clearly some CDs I will need to buy. I do seesexybass and decadentdave from time to time in North America, but, wow, they really were fantastic. Really fantastic.
The various concerts, spots, and whatever else they call the various performances were all excellent. Great music and great to see and hear old friends, new friends, and very new friends sharing music.
There were great moments in the filk circles, of course.filkerdave got a photo of me giggling during that photosynthesis song Alexa sang. Lots of great songs. I heard vixyish’s “Mal’s Song” several times—clearly popular in Germany. Secondhand Songs was heard, of course. tarkrai did the One Chord Song, which I’d never before heard anyone but Nate try.
As for me, the flute went over very well. You can’t go wrong playing Bach in Germany, can you? I was delighted with the amount of laughterhsifyppah‘s “Wreck of the Crash of the Easthill Mining Disaster” got. As I’d been both looking forward to and dreading for the previous year, I did sing Aryana’s Weigenlied für/Lullaby for Larean, which I’ve been singing in both languages here in North America for some time now. Singing in German, a language I can’t really speak, in front of an audience full of native speakers of the language was rather intimidating. I’d not been so nervous before a song in a long, long time. But the actual song went great, Aryana sang harmonies with me, and it was a terrific experience.
The flow of songs goes both ways, of course. I’ll be singing some new-to-me songs soon.
Prior to about two years ago I had not thought of attending FilkContinental, which is, after all, held in a place not especially near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I’ve told this story before, but for anyone who doesn’t know, my personal connection to German filkers came after Urban Tapestry’s guest appearance at FC, which of course I read about on LJ.
allisona mentioned a song set to the tune of jodimuse‘s “The Lady” called “The Willow” by this German filker they’d met, aryana_filker. I sang it at the next housefilk, made a comment in the LJ thread about that, Aryana was all excited that someone in America was singing her song, and, two years and a great many e-mails later, I was flying to Düsseldorf to spend two weeks living with my German friends. We did find time for some music at each household. Everyone loved my flute. Everyone really loved
musicmutt’s “An Abridgement,” which was also a hit at the con, where I sang it in response to Franklin’s call for Lord of the Dance/Rings ideas. legoline, lisande and I found time for music on several days, and we shared lots of “new to you” songs. It was fun when Dea and Steffi started singing children’s songs. In German, of course. Some of the tunes were familiar, but the words were not so familiar. aryana_filker naturally enjoyed my flute playing. I had the enjoyable-in-retrospect experience of getting lost in the sheet music on one piece I was playing for her but somehow remembering enough to keep on playing until I found my place. I had no idea I could do that. She played her piano, of course. The bigger musical thrill there was seeing the pipe organ she plays. That was fun. I’d never been up close to an organ before. There was yet more musical fun with
kinder1of5 and her family and friends, including singalongs in the car with them. Familiar geBORGt songs, among other fun.I will bring my electronic tuner next time. At the con, of course, people with guitars are set up to tune them, but visiting people I ran into a surprising number of people with guitars who don’t really play them. I’m not the sort who’s good at getting a very out of tune guitar into tune without electronic help, though I could usually get good enough for fooling around. On the borrowed guitar subject, it was, of course, no problem to borrow a guitar as needed at the con. It was sometimes a bit of an adventure playing an unfamiliar instrument, though I do have practice with nylon-strung classicals and various 12-strings. Probably the guitar I played that was most similar to what I’m used to was
sibylle‘s. I was glad to have that guitar for the song I was most nervous about.Filkcontinental was, of course, world of amazing music. The guest Canadians were absolutely fantastic. Heather Dale I was not really familiar with before. There are clearly some CDs I will need to buy. I do see
sexybass and decadentdave from time to time in North America, but, wow, they really were fantastic. Really fantastic.The various concerts, spots, and whatever else they call the various performances were all excellent. Great music and great to see and hear old friends, new friends, and very new friends sharing music.
There were great moments in the filk circles, of course.
filkerdave got a photo of me giggling during that photosynthesis song Alexa sang. Lots of great songs. I heard vixyish’s “Mal’s Song” several times—clearly popular in Germany. Secondhand Songs was heard, of course. tarkrai did the One Chord Song, which I’d never before heard anyone but Nate try.As for me, the flute went over very well. You can’t go wrong playing Bach in Germany, can you? I was delighted with the amount of laughter
hsifyppah‘s “Wreck of the Crash of the Easthill Mining Disaster” got. As I’d been both looking forward to and dreading for the previous year, I did sing Aryana’s Weigenlied für/Lullaby for Larean, which I’ve been singing in both languages here in North America for some time now. Singing in German, a language I can’t really speak, in front of an audience full of native speakers of the language was rather intimidating. I’d not been so nervous before a song in a long, long time. But the actual song went great, Aryana sang harmonies with me, and it was a terrific experience.The flow of songs goes both ways, of course. I’ll be singing some new-to-me songs soon.
