Topic: sitting and thinking: Song of the moment

[frankie]

Just a few moments before I need to launch into the next thing around the house...  I often participate in another forum - banjohangout - some of you may be familiar with that site. One thing they do over there is they have a "song of the week." Folks commit in advance for a particular week and by the friday of that week, make a post about their chosen song. The post will likely include links to the performance of the song by the original artist or notable other renditions, history or background of the song. Other components might be:

- a transcription of one or another
- lyric transcription
- pointers to educational materials that can be purchased

This usually has the result of generating at least some discussion about what might be a somewhat obscure rendition, or even an old standby that's gotten a little dusty. Often, the post will result in several participants being inspired to play the song, either by way of using the materials provided in the post, coming up with an alternative way of playing it, or finding another rendition of the same song that they found on their own.

Anyway - I wonder if there might be some collective interest at weenie for something like this...  the thing that seems to make it go is the commitment of the participants. I don't think we're looking for full transcriptions - just a highlight of a particular song.

Is this just redundant to the ways in which we post regarding favorite YT clips or listening material? Maybe...  this might just be a silly idea for this site...  Thoughts?

[Johnm]

I like the idea, Frank, and am always interested in hearing different people's versions of the same song.  It's sort of the old "Don't Fish In My Sea" idea from years ago, which was a great idea.

[Lastfirstface]

I think it sounds like a good idea. What works well about it on the Banjo Hangout is they way that the full picture of the tune emerges as people contribute additional versions and perspectives, which would be fun for CB tunes that exist in several distinct versions like "Viola Lee Blues" vs "Joliet Bound".

[Gumbo]

good idea. how do they decide what the song is going to be?

[frankie]

good idea. how do they decide what the song is going to be?

Just by deciding...  as a participant, you'd just volunteer for some particular week. Beyond that it's up to the volunteer. Given the kind of site that weenie is, it's a good bet that the song will be CB or at least CB-related. Other than that, it could be anything - commercially recorded 78rpm record, a work song recorded in the field, latter day CB recording...  and the starting point might be a rendition by a favorite current day artist that the volunteer traces back to its source - whatever...

In my opinion, it's fair that a topic starter could be as simple as a pointer to the rendition in question with some basic history and details around the recording and related performances....  we do have a number of non-playing participants and it would be wonderful to get their perspective as well. The musical analysis could be provided by additional participants as part of the discussion with, as lastfirstface noted, the "full picture" of the song emerging over time.

It's not required that the topic starter actually play the song - not at all. Their job is just to get the rest of us interested in it!

[Suzy T]

Cool idea!

[EddieD]

I like this idea. I really like stuff like this. Like the what is this musician doing thread. It's really great when there is a bunch of members participating and interacting. I would be on board for being a part of this.

[uncle bud]

I quite like the tune of the week at the banjo hangout so count me as another yes vote. There are some differences, in that I guess old time has more traditional tunes, so more opportunity to post multiple examples. But there are lots of other aspects to cover.

[Prof Scratchy]

Great idea.

[frankie]

Well alreet then...  sounds like we collectively think it's a good idea... splendid!

Is once a week too often? This should be fun - not a source of stress! Maybe every other week? I have no opinion either way, but I'd rather see folks energized by this rather than stressed. Maybe we could have one of the mods post the schedule as one of the widgets on the forum or portal so that it's kind of exposed....

I'll be happy to draft a schedule if we get a list of volunteers..  maybe it's best to pm me and then I can put something together and post a schedule. I'm also happy to be on the bleeding edge of that and take the first installment.

My gut feeling is that we need about 7-10 volunteers to get started. Once we get rolling, new participants could always volunteer and we could slot them in.  At some point, I guess we might have a scheduled time without a volunteer...  we can cross that bridge when we come to it, but I'd rather not see one or two people becoming the regular source(s) for the installments...

I just love seeing an idea come together!

[Mr.OMuck]

O'Muck votes Yea.

[frankie]

For anyone who is interested in participating as a contributor: please pm me - you do NOT need to know what your topic will be...  you just need to be willing to commit to doing it when your turn comes up. The only reason I ask for a pm is that it's easier for me to keep track of. Thanks!

Regarding scheduling - are there any strong feelings regarding the frequency? Once per week? Every other week? Longer than that seems like it would never get any momentum, but I could be convinced otherwise.

[frankie]

Incidentally, I have one commitment so far - thanks, Alex!

[frankie]

We're now up to three committed contributors...  can we get a few more? Thanks, onewent and ProfScratchy!

[frankie]

got two more! Thanks Norfolk Slim and eagle rockin daddy!  A couple more and we're in!!!