Weekend

I spend this morning helping a friend relevel a shed.  It isn't hard - you take jacks, raise it up a bit, and replae the blocks underneath, repeating as needed.  all in all it took about an hour.  the soil and rain patterns we get here cause shifting, and perioducally we need to check the supports to make sure they are still ding the task they are supposed to be doing.  there were only three that needs to be fixed.

I spent the afternoon playing music with some friends.  We've got some shows planned in March, and are planing our sets out.  I'm working with a talented bazouki player and vocalist, a great fiddler, and myself.  we've all worked together before, so it is a matter of getting together.

a group of musicians is different than just about any other team, whether it be sports or a work group.  while there are similarities, the musicians group needs full trust on the other members. it has no opponent to blame.  it has no office politice.  just you, your fellow musicians, and hopefully an audience.

Yesterday I was at the performing company orientation for Scarborough Faire.  a morning spent getting information from the company director, the entertainment director, security director and site director, and then signing up for events.  There will be plenty of new things out there, non of which I'm going to tell you about.  I'll leave that up to marketing to reveal that at the proper time.

I have been associated with Scarborough for almost twenty years, and am currently the music director.  so how did i get there?  well, it began over twenty years ago, at a festival in another climate.

I was the director of puppeteering at the Michigan Renaissance Festival, outside of Holly, Michigan.  these aren't your small puppets, but the large body puppets, much like mascot at a sporting event.  i had a crew of around eighteen, doing multiple shows a day, parades, lane work, and general mayhem throughout the day.

i also starting playing with a pickup band at one of the pubs.  a harpist, a hammered dulcimer player, a fiddler, and me.  i had started learning whistles and flute, and later the concertina.  The group formed the heart of SpiralDanse, a group that performed all over the area for a while back in the early 90s.  

i remained up there for about five years, until one spring day, while visiting a friend in Dallas, I went to a cow pasture outside of Waxahachie, and got pulled in.  the next summer I moved down and never looked back.

I first met the director when talking to him about the puppets.  I had experience in working with them, repairing and refurbishing them, and ultimately keeping them them operational.  I went to auditions, and did a short monologue and played a tune on the flute.  things were a bit different back then.  I made cast that year, and first saw the cast a couple months later.

Workshops were different back then, too.  The first few weeks were held at Navarro College.  While this space did give protection from the elements, it isolated us from the site for a period.  this did change in later years.  Auditions for groups were also don at the first meeting.  Chess match, music, dance, and a few others.  I went to music, and never looked back.  from the start it seemed to be something special, and pulled me in.  I learned a lot that season - ensemble play, new tunes, new pieces, how to play for dancers.  It was a small crew - a harpist, a couple of guitarists, a hammered dulcimer player, a drummer, and me.  but it worked.

the next year, the music director left to do something different.  as the question went out as to who the new director should be, all eyes pointed at me.  as I looked behind me, and realized that they weren't looking behind me, was when I realized what I was the one.  Did I handle the task admirably?  i must have - I'm still doing it.

My first year as a director I learned even more.  How to lead a group, how to teach music, and how to lead an ensemble.  I grew into the role, and prospered.  i learned about copyright and fair use.  I even took on the music directorship at another festival located north of Forth Worth.  Hawkwood was short llived, but quite a number of Scarborough's finest can trace their roots back there.  I was able to support both fairs because I had a set of rules and ethics between the two.  I would not put one before the other.  I would not reuse music between the two, keeping their own unique sounds.  I wouldn't poach people from one or the other, and I wouldn't play politics.  

it wasn't always a bed of roses.  One year I was sick and dropped out for a year.  there was a succession of other directors for a few years. When I was asked to assume the directorship again, I did so, and have held it in some form or another since that time.

 

I remember telling people we will not do a song.  

I remember when pub sing went from a sing along to a check box on the scenario.  

I remember when pub sing was given totally to the scenario, and musicians were asked to go elsewhere.

I remember a pub sing with more performers than patrons.

I remember when the melee was required, and pub sing went away to make space.

I remember when pub sing died. 

I remember asking myself Why I was at this melee.

I remember being talked to about my continued inclusion in the scenario melee.

I remember telling them there was no need for me to take another punch in a fight that I had no need to be in.

I remember telling them I would make their decision easy.

I remember going up the hill and joining the musicians.

and I never looked back.  I feel I made the right choice.  

 Pub sing came back a few years later, and has been there ever since.  It is one of the higher energy shows, enjoyed by hundreds every day.  While the rest of the fair is winding down, our show is still running at full bore, and will until the end of the day.  At this time we go to the front gate for a final parting glass.

At the end of each day the performing company gathers at the front gate, sings the parting glass, and closes the fair day.  never fail, rain or shine, wind or snow. 

The parting glass is an old tune.  the words are simple:

Of all the money that e'er I had
I've spent it in good company
And all the harm that e'er I've done
Alas it was to none but me
And all I've done for want of wit
To memory now I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all

Of all the comrades that e'er I had
They are sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that e'er I had
They would wish me one more day to stay
But since it falls unto my lot
That I should rise and you should not
I'll gently rise and I'll softly call
Good night and joy be with you all

there are other verses, but we don't do them for a number of reasons.  timing and interest are the primary ones.  tradition is another.

A member of the performing company wrote a multi-part version of this tune.  it starts simple - everyone is in unison on the first verse.  on the second verse the cast breaks into five parts, much like a movement of Handels Messiah.  I have told people that I have the best seat in the house - I am in front, and hear it all - the good times and the bad, the mistakes that others don't hear.  I hear the patrons behind me singing along, and it gets stronger every year.  I hear it when it is only the cast singing, and when there are hundreds behind me also listening.  I heard it for the first time this season on Saturday, and while a bit rusty, the song will be ready for opening day.  This song always has been a bit special to me.