Does this bother you?

[Lady Renee Buchanan]

Or am I just being too crabby?   

We love the musical acts best at the faire.  Our regular favorites and acts that are new to us.  We try to buy the performers CDs, as do many other patrons.  Hence, after listening to our CDs time after time, we, like others, know the words to most of the songs.  Which is great.  However......

It drives me absolutely nuts when we sit down to hear a musical act, and somebody (or bodies, it depends how many) starts singing along.  Not during an audience sing along, but while the performer or performers are playing and singing.  And some of the singers are not in key or even defined as "good" singers.  I end up hearing them - which I really don't want to - instead of the performer(s) I wanted to hear.

Does this bother anybody else?  What do you do? Since the performers never ask the audience to stop singing, I don't feel it is my place to ask the person next to me or in the row ahead of me to please shut up.  But it really makes me go batty.

[FOG]

I will caveat my reply by pointing out that I am very ne3w too all of this, but I have been going to VaRF all this season.  I would not have come at all were my girlfriend not a performer.  At VaRF there seem to be two different kinds of venues, the stages, and the tavern.  In the tavern I sometimes cannot hear the performers for all the miscellaneous noise, exclusive of those singing along.  It all seems to depend on weather and crowd size.  During a downpour, the acts were very hard to hear.  I think that singing along in the tavern is not a great offense.  OTOH, were such singing along to occur at the various stages, it would seem very intrusive.  A further complication, is that often entertainers will join each other spontaneously.  A patron could easily misinterpret this as an invitation to join in.

I have been volunteering at the gate,so sometimes I mis the intricacies of what happens elsewhere.  I can tell you this from what I see at the gate:  the faire is a lot of different things to many different people.  Some are very authentic, some have dramatic costumes, some are oriented to the entertainment, and others come in mufti to watch it all.  The militia guys want to talk technology, while the cast is surreptitiously glancing at timepieces which would have been the envy of a period navigator.  I don't see how one can create a common etiquette of behavior at shows, unless there is some kind of written guidance for all to see and accept. 

My vote would be for three different standards of behavior at three different kinds of performance venue.  For a tavern-like environment, I suggest that anything short of directly hindering the performance would be alright.  For informal stages, a mix of sing-alongs would be appropriate, with a performer being in a position to ask if the audience would be quietly attentive only for a limited set of songs.  Finally, some venues would be like concert halls, with an emphasis on not making sounds that could diminish your neighbor's enjoyment.

[SirRichardBear]

Not as much as the people that talk on their cell phones or to someone sitting next to them.  Sat some a hole sitting behind me were so load I couldn't hear half the songs the Moor of Dunee was singing.

[angusmacinnes]

Yes it bothers me.

Lady B I promise not to sing along with any performer at Bristol. 

Like Bear said Cell phones and loud talking aggravate me too.  It is hard enough to hear some of the ones at Scarby with no mikes or PA's.

[Lady L]

Doesn't bother me at all. People want to sing along and have fun, fine with me.

[irish]

I am guilty of singing along, at times. I just get caught up in the moment....

I do agree about the cells going off and people yakking. Get up and leave or better yet........turn the darn thing to vibrate! (get a tickle that way! lmao!  )

[KeeperoftheBar]

I agree with Lady Renee.  I d0 not come to hear anyone else sing but the performer.  Those singing or on cell phones should be asked to stop or leave, period.
And ren fests are not the only place there is a problem.  I remember one Moody Blues concert several years ago that was practically ruined by one woman who "knew the songs by heart" (Hah!) and "just can't stop because I am so happy".

If you want to sing along, get the CD and stay home, or join the group.

My 2 cents worth.

[Amyj]

I would have to say I disagree...I sing along.  I sing along with Three Pints Gone...I sing along with RUSH....I sing along with American Idol.  Music moves me, always has.  I have also performed, and nothing was worse than singing to a bunch of mannequins (I honestly have no clue how someone can feel music and sit like a stone...but that is just me).  I took it as a compliment that people sang along.  HOWEVER...I do not try to sing at or over the volume of the performers (except for RUSH, it's too loud to matter), or so that those around me can only hear me instead of the performers they are there to hear.

Personally, I think that at faire, singing along is part of the experience.  Just as the random fae getting up and dancing at a show is....just as wearing garb when you aren't on cast is.  I think that the performers would  be really disappointed if we just got the CD and stayed home...but I can recommend that if you want a purely "Act Only" performance.

If you are talking loudly or on a cell phone however...take off....move to the side...AWAY from the audience...GO...scat!!!

Just my thoughts.

[Auryn]

I have to agree with Lady Renee.
Thankfully I haven't encountered this much at faire as most people at my local faire are sticks in the mud.
However I have encountered at concerts before.
One time at a Goo Goo Dolls concert I had to turn around and tell two teenage girls to either move or shut their trap or I would call security. I had laid out a nice blanket (on the grass) for my friends and I to sit on- we got there 2 hrs early to do this. These two came at the last minute and got their muddy feet on our blanket and stood literally 2 inches behind us (I could feel their breath on the back of my neck) screaming their guts out.

I am all about singing along- but sing along in a tone of voice for yourself, not so everyone else in the vicinity can hear you instead of the performer. You want to stand up and dance around like a maniac- go for it as long as your not totally blocking someone else's view or bumping into people.
AmyJ- see that to me is totally good because your singing for your own enjoyment- not trying to lose your voice.

See I'm the "jerk" that if someone starts yakking on the phone next to me at a performance/movie I will turn around and tell them to move away or keep it down. I guess it helps that I am almost 6' tall and have a very good "scary face"

[Lairde Guardn]

Wow....actually a topic that I find myself on both sides of the pub.  

I like to just listen to certain groups - and "sometimes" get annoyed when someone else sings along.  Although those that sometimes annoy me are the ones that are loud, off key, out of rythm and stop jerk (sing part, then stop because they forgot or don't know the words, then start again at the chorus)

Other times, I like to sing along - and I am the one that is loud, off key, out of rythm and stop jerk (because I either never learned all the words or my oldshiemers has caused me to forget them).

Usually it is in direct correlation to the amount of pints "I might ave been drinkin"

As for people that talk on a cell phone, just carry on conversations or let a baby cry when sitting in the "Audience" section.   I have the unique ability to turn and politely ask them to please SHUT UP so that I can go back to listening or annoying, whatever the pint rate may be.

But then again, usually about the time I say I am going to go to a show and sit in the audience section, some member of the group or one of their fans usually sends a pint my way in the pub, and like most know about my AADD, the pint is like a squirrel.....I get distracted and wind up staying in the pub.   

I also feel that any performers that actually are in a PUB and those that go to PUBS to listen to them, that is the place you must deal with any and all distractions.....Not everyone that is in the pub even cares that an act is there, some are just there for the Pints.

[Charlotte Rowan]

I sing along, but quietly. If people sing too loudly, it sometimes gets on my nerves.

[Tink]

See I'm the "jerk" that if someone starts yakking on the phone next to me at a performance/movie I will turn around and tell them to move away or keep it down. I guess it helps that I am almost 6' tall and have a very good "scary face"

You're my favorite person at a performance/ movie.  I'd love to tell them to shush it, but I'm too much of a chicken (unless it's one of my students- then I have no problem)

[Lady Renee Buchanan]

I completely agree with music in a pub.  Other people talking isn't the problem.

I also sing under my breath, no one can hear but me.  If you look at me, it looks like I'm talking or singing without any sound, so I am happily joining in, but I don't bother other people.

It's just at a stage, when the performers are up there, singing and playing, that it bugs me when people around me sing like THEY are the person everyone else came to hear.

[Tink]

maybe put a nickel in their mug and they'll get the hint?

[Zardoz]

I'll sing along TO MYSELF, if I know the words. But people singing out loud annoys me in most instances.    I guess what's worse was one time while I was enjoying a instrumental band, no vocals, and this lady pushes up to the front with her camcorder, and parks right in front of me.  No biggie, she was shorter, so she was getting an unobstructed view for her video.  But then she starts singing anyway.  Remember there's no vocals, so she's just "La La lalala " etc... Since the camera was next to her head, I'm sure her video sounded great!