Singing with a Local Filk Group

Singing with a Local Filk Group [by Susan Shepherd 11] For me, one of the greatest things about MIT is the culture. Its hard to describe, but theres a peculiar mix of scientific and technology-related jargon, crazy ideas (These habanero peppers arent nearly hot enough. I agree. What do you say to refining the capsaicin to get a really spicy dish? Actuallythat would work. Okay, lets do it!), and a lot of creativity from people who enjoy doing very offbeat things. Better yet, since MIT has a lot of sub-communities, its easy for you to learn about neat stuff through the grapevine. If youre interested in film-making, you might take a class in it. Later you might hear from a fellow classmate about this interesting club, the Lecture Series Committee, which shows films every weekend for a relatively low price. While hanging out at LSC, you might hear about an upcoming play In short, there is a definite geometric progression which takes place. The larger the number of neat things you get involved with, the more things you hear about and have the chance to particupate in. And thats how I discovered MASSFILCa group of people, some of them college-age, many older (including a fair number of MIT alumni) who get together once a month to sing science fiction and fantasy folk music, called filk for short. Filk music can be awfully hard to define. Strictly speaking, it is music played by and for members of the science fiction fandomthe people who read hard sf books, who dressed up for the midnight showings of the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, and who show up to conventions to meet others who share their interests. More broadly, crazy or offbeat music with a nerdy, fantastic or science fiction theme can qualify. Jonathan Coultons Still Alive, Weird Al Yankovics song The Saga Begins, and Leslie Fishs Hope Eyrie can all count as filk, depending on who you ask. I really found out about filk music through my addiction to fantasy and science fiction books. If youre familiar with Tolkiens work, or Garth Nixs Abhorsen trilogy, or Susan Coopers The Dark Is Rising sequence, then you know that many authors include poems or songs in their novels. When I was younger, I put some of these to music. It was just a hobby for me, and I assumed I was the only person who would be interested in that kind of activity. Like bowmaking, or raising chickens, or cultivating irises, I assumed that most of my peers just wouldnt be interested. Then I got to MIT, and discovered that those unusual hobbies werent all that unusual after all. I encountered more people who had memorized poems and songs from those and other books. I also started collecting filk music. Pretty quickly, I had collected songs like Kill the Zombies (a helpful song about what to do when the zombie apocalypse comes) by Songs to Wear Pants To, Merlin, a song about the legendary wizard, sung by Kathy Mar, and the love song Finite Simple Group (of Order Two) by the Klein Four. Recently, after Id learned that several of my friends were also were fans of filk music, I attended Boskone, an annual science fiction convention held locally. There, I wandered into a meeting of filk singers singing The Last Saskatchewan Pirate, and just like that, I was hooked. One of the wonderful things about the filk meetings is that you arent required to singbut anyone can, if they wish to. Song requests are also popular. If you enjoy watching Babylon Five but dont know any filk songs on that subject, you can ask around and someone else will probably start singing Five Years (lyrics can be found here, on the authors website). Some songs, like Pirate, mentioned above, have choruses that are a treat to join in on. And if you enjoy guitar or the flute or the drums, instruments are also welcome. The subject matter is nearly unique to the genre. A typical meeting may feature one or more songs promoting space exploration, several about various aspects of nerd culturefor example, Talk Like A Pirate Day is about the holiday and those who celebrate it, and Tech Support includes a hilarious word-for-word transcript of an actual calland numerous parodies. Not all the songs at meetings have to do with science fiction, however. Word of God by Catherine Faber is about evolution and the scientific method. A Boy and His Frog was written to commemorate Jim Hensons work; it is sung from the point of view of Kermit in mourning. (Its better than it sounds.) Traditional songs and folk songs are also welcome; Ive heard White Squall and Siuil a Run at meetings, and in truth, as long as youre interested in a song, no ones going to be annoyed at you for sharing it. Filking isnt the most common pastime, Im sure, although I do suspect that the number of fans who have memorized The Man They Call Jayne, The Birthday Dirge, or Aerlinn in Edhil o Imladris is larger than we usually think. But I am glad to have learned about it, and gladder still to have found out in my sophomore year. This way, I know I and my friends can participate in the local meetings for years to come.