CMU Science Fiction & Fantasy Society

Filk and Cookies

One of the activities of the CMU Science Fiction & Fantasy Society is "Filk and Cookies".

what's filk?

The stuffy definition is "the folk music of the science fiction and fantasy community".

Around here that means "people who like science fiction / fantasy, sitting in some approximation of a circle, with some random musical instruments, singing whatever they feel like." Some songs may be sing-along (if many people know them and/or I was organized enough to print handouts) and some may be one person singing for an audience.

Filk circles are traditionally very tolerant of beginners. The point is to have fun: you do not need to be a music major, or good enough to play "in public", or good enough to write your own tunes. Some people are really good musicians.. but you don't have to be (you just have to be brave enough to open your mouth).

What if you just want to listen? That's ok too. Be prepared to hear "a wide range of talent"; that's the tradeoff for letting anyone participate. If you don't feel comfortable singing/playing, you can still request songs ("Anyone know You Bash The Balrog?"). If you write lyrics or music that you would like people to hear, but you don't feel up to performing it, you can also ask one of us instrument-wielding types whether we can handle it.. some advance notice might help.

ok, but that's not what the Jargon File said

The geek community may already be familiar with the term "filk" as a descriptor for "a parody of some mainstream pop/folk song, with rewritten lyrics that refer to computers or Star Trek" with the optional rider "and performed terribly by amateur musicians who suck."

I also hear that all rock songs refer to sex, drugs, and Satan, and are performed by lip-synching androids who wear heavy makeup and eat chicken heads. Your mileage may vary.

That said, if you go to a filk circle, and you are an amateur musician who sucks, you will have a chance to perform terribly your pop/folk computer parody and you will most likely not suffer grievous bodily harm! (Though depending on the algorithm, you may have to put up with hearing a lot of original tunes about unfamiliar topics performed fairly decently first.) I think that the unfortunate geek opinion of filk is a small price to pay for this ability.

what's filk and cookies?

An attempt to introduce the idea of filk to people who were not previously familiar with it. We use cookies to lure people to the site, and then begin their indoctrination.

filk for shy people?

Ok, I said before that you have to be brave enough to open your mouth. This can actually be quite difficult if you are not the most talented person in the circle.

There are various algorithms used in different regions of the U.S. to address the tradeoff between "everyone gets a fair turn" and "oooo I know a song that goes really well with the song that just ended" (this is known as a "follower" song).

Filk on the web

There's a lot of it. I'm too lazy to put in links just now -- type 'filk' in your preferred web search engine and see what comes up.

credit where credit is due

Copyright: The copyright on lyrics belongs to the person who wrote them. The copyright on music belongs to the person who wrote the music! If you ever want to record and distribute a song, even as a free MP3, better start trying to write your own original tunes unless you want a world of hassle.

Attribution: Some filksong writers give permission to sing/reproduce their songs provided that (1) if you charge money for it, they get a piece of the action and (2) proper credit and copyright information are kept with the song. It is still their copyright even if you have permission to reproduce, and one ought to respect that.

It is also a good idea to announce before performing a song "This here is 'You Bash The Balrog' by Lee Gold" and maybe add "to the tune of 'Waltzing Matilda'" (if it were a less utterly obvious tune). The writer gets credit and the audience gets to know who to blame. Yay.


Bridget Spitznagel
Last modified: Tue Sep 19 15:27:04 EDT 2000