Band Meetup for Sunday, April 13

[Briallan]

This Sunday at our regularly scheduled meetup, we will continue play-testing songs for the upcoming Greenfields concert which occurs on the following Sunday (April 20). If anyone has any additional songs they want tested for the concert, please get them to me (or let me know where they are) within the next couple days so we can put them in the test queue.

As usual, anyone who hasn't played in the band before, but is interested in participating at some level, is welcome to attend to listen, ask questions, or participate.

I will publish list of songs for the next meetup sometime this Saturday.

[Ice Weasel]

I'm making certain to reserve my Mentoring cool-down, as well; I'll be able to mentor someone. 

(Another place to always get mentoring is at Monday night's Ales and Tales. Lonely Mountain Band offers mentoring at mid-way through the evening. In Game, use "/joinchannel AlesAndTales" to monitor the announcements, and see where it is taking place. They change locations every time. Last Monday was ... IN THE POND up near the road to Evendim from the Shire. We danced in the water.)

[Ashigaru Trecalia]

There's a good chance that I won't be able to be there.  Ashi's Mentoring is off cooldown - all my characters have the Coursera channel, so just call for me there if you need one, but let other Minstrels do it first - there are two deeds for mentoring, and Ashi's done them both already, so let someone else advance them first.

[Briallan]

Ho-ho, we have tons of material to test before Greenfields ... 31 songs ( here is the link to them ) .. though some of these are multiple versions of the same song.

This seems like too much to test in one session .. do we want to start cutting stuff now? or have an extra test session later this week?

[Ice Weasel]

I'd say we ought to look at holding off on anything for after Greenfields. Certainly "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "Ring My Bell", while fun (and full of cowbell) would likely work for things at Windy Acres, if not the thing on May 3.

We've got one week to Greenfields, then another Sunday (April 27) before the May 3 thing, then two Sundays (May 4 and May 11) before Windy Acres. Of course, that is looking at Sundays, and we are talking about possibly moving Meet-up to another day/time... 

I do think it's nice to have stuff tested and in the list as far ahead as possible, but with the gigs coming fast I think we need to concentrate on "the next one" until we get through this series. 

Don't forget, we need to start thinking about Weatherstock, too... Most of those slots are competition slots, so we need our very best stuff in there, and likely things not performed before, for crowd reaction. It's also possible to get tapped for a Showcase, which is a one song (or short set) of really top-notch stuff.   Early days on organization for that, but it is coming.

Anyway, yeah, my vote is to move out of Sunday's test any songs for things taking place after Greenfields. 

Oh, and as a PS: We don't necessarily need to test the whole of songs where there are multiple versions... some may stand out as "let's try that all the way through" after a few bars, others may be "hmmm... well THAT was interesting...".

[Briallan]

songs and parts for today's meetup are here.

[Ehn Farad]

Here are my lyrics for Roxanne - let me know what you guys think!

Farmer Sam

Farmer Sam
You don't have to put on those Stoor boots
Those days are over
You don't have to your worry 'bout tripping on a root

Farmer Sam
You don't have to cover those lovely toes
Walk the fields feeling nothing
You don't care if you soften up your soles

Farmer Sam
You don't have to put on those Stoor boots
Farmer Sam
You don't have to put on those Stoor boots

Farmer Sam (put on the Stoor boots)
Farmer Sam (put on the Stoor boots)
Farmer Sam (put on the Stoor boots)
Farmer Sam (put on the Stoor boots)
Farmer Sam (put on the Stoor boots)

I thought that I once knew you
I thought I understood you
I have to tell you just how I feel
I think you're wasting those majestic feet

I know you can't be thoughtless
So put away those stockings
Told you once I won't tell you again
It's a bad way

Farmer Sam (you don't have to put on the Stoor boots)
Farmer Sam (put on the Stoor boots)
Farmer Sam (put on the Stoor boots)
Farmer Sam (put on the Stoor boots)
Farmer Sam (put on the Stoor boots)
Farmer Sam (put on the Stoor boots)
Farmer Sam (put on the Stoor boots)
Farmer Sam (put on the Stoor boots)
Farmer Sam (put on the Stoor boots)
Farmer Sam (put on the Stoor boots)
Farmer Sam (you don't have to put on the Stoor boots)
Farmer Sam (put on the Stoor boots)
Farmer Sam (put on the Stoor boots)
Farmer Sam (put on the Stoor boots)
Farmer Sam (put on the Stoor boots)

[Ehn Farad]

I don't know how lyrics work, but it would be hilarious if the rest of the band sang the bracketed stuff hehe

[Briallan]

That's funny! *I* had to look up what Stoor Boots meant, but I am sort of nooby with a lot of lore details, and prolly the audience will get it. It would be cool if we could come up with the name of an *actual* hobbit farmer character that rhymed with Roxanne... but can't think of any .. Sam *is* a hobbit name, so prolly everyone will get it...

[Ehn Farad]

I think most people will know what Stoor boots are, and for those who don't, it will add a level of learning/curiosity to the song.

I like the idea of it being a farmer because it provides a whole back story/reason as to why he might be putting on boots. I was thinking that when the song is sung, it should be done so by a hobbit if possible, to add another level of humour to it. That might also help to clear up any confusion about what the song is saying, since most plyers realize that hobbits abhor footwear.

[Malvy]

GDPR#3463094

[Ice Weasel]

Oh, BRAVA!  Brilliant!

I like it indeed!

The plug-in to do lyric is called... "Lyrical" and available on LOTRO-Interface LINKED HERE

It's easy to use. I use it for announcements and song intros as well as "singing". It supports "folders" internal to itself, so (for example) in my Lyrical, under "Open" I have "Special", "LOTR", "Traditional", "Remediators", and "Personal" and "Realworld", with lyric files in each.  Straight lyrics for "She's Come Undone" are in "Realworld" for example. My solo version of "Abby Abby" which I did for the Just Abbys concert is in "Personal", "Smaug O'er The Water" is in "Remediators", etc.

Once the plug-in is loaded, you just hit "New", give it a title and then a "folder" in the box below, and paste in the text from a out-of-game text file (or enter text directly into the big box). Hit "Save" and it's good to go. You can also "Edit" any file inside Lyrical.  I do that to insert specific lines before or after songs. For example, I edited my files in Lyrical so i could open the next song file while playing out the previous, so I had a "Thank you very much!" in front of the set-up intro and lyrics. Made for smooth running.

Depending on the song, if the melody lines are hard to hear or if I find I get tricked into hitting the next line way too early (bridges fake me out sometimes), I run the whole thing with a stopwatch, timing the breaks and verses, placing timecode tight in the Lyrical file (like [2:12 BRIDGE!] [2:38 Verse Start:]). I just click past those in the upper window so I don't "say" them. I run the stopwatch on my phone when performing those, so I keep an eye on the times. 

It's certainly possible to have more than one person running a Lyrical session, and for choruses, everyone just hits the "SAY LINE" button... Call-and-response stuff works well that way, each person having their lines in Lyrical and knowing their turn at bat, so to speak.

Most people use symbols to denote "singing": I like tildes, and have started wrapping each line in them:

~ When the moon.. ~

~...is in the Seventh House...~

~... and Jupiter aligns with Mars... ~

Other people use pound signs (#) or other symbols. Mostly a matter of personal preference, but a song should be consistent in all parts, across "singers". It's just a visual cue to say to the listener, "I'm singing this...".  Often descants or chorused lines (sung by more that one person) are set into parenthesis: 

~ Get Back! ~

(~ Get Back! ~)

~ Get Back to where you once belong...~

Mainly, any shorthand that can be easily understood and is intuitive for the audience, to help them understand the performance, is good.

Oh!  And emotes work just fine within Lyrical. Just be careful that you don't invoke any that will drop /music mode, or you'll quit playing when you hit it.

For example:

~ Litte Finny Finny won't... go home! ~

/chuckle

That will break music mode, so once you hit the Chuckle, you stop playing, and the song quits.  Use the /em command to get around that for emotes that cause /music to drop.

~ Litte Finny Finny won't... go home! ~

/em chuckles with a wink

~ You can't tell Finny cause Finny won't go! ~

The last sequence above would "sing" the line, issue an emote: "Krohkur chuckles with a wink", then "sing" the next line, as the "Say Line" button is pushed.

There are a lot of little tricks like that, but the basic operation of that plug-in is really very simple.

 

[Ice Weasel]

I've got an idea of how to do the whole band singing the "chorus parts" without overloading the Chat window.

What if we used the /em function? Then just one person would have to issue the line in Lyrical, but it would read like the group...

For Example:

Briallan uses Lyrical to do a line that reads:

/em , Ashigaru, Malvie, Raventrick, Rhovanael, and Krohkur sing: (~ put on the stoor boots! ~)

then in the chat window it would read:

Briallan , Ashigaru, Malvie, Raventrick, Rhovanael, and Krohkur sing: (~ put on the stoor boots! ~)

No way to avoid the space before the initial comma, or the command will fail. Also, this will be in the gray "emote text" color. But it keeps the window from scrolling away.

Another option is to code the chants in the singer's Lyrical, and do:

/em and the Band: (~ put on the stoor boots! ~)

That would read, in "emote gray":

Radgallac and the Band: (~ put on the stoor boots! ~)

I think either way works, and is kinder to the audience.

Opinions, thoughts?

[Ehn Farad]

I think a lot depends on how most people view things (whether via chat window, or via chat bubbles), which is difficult to know. I think that chat bubbles would be more visually entertaining. The audience would see one line sung, and then 2 or 3 others sing a backup vocal simultaneously, that would have visual impact. The emote might also seem a bit off, if the emote says that people are singing backup, but there is no chat bubble.

On the other hand, the emote is kinder to those who do use the chat window primarily, and even if that's only a few people, it's worth considering. Perhaps a good compromise is to designate one backup singer, and then you'd have the best of both worlds - limited chat spam, chat bubble for visual impact.

[Ice Weasel]

Good points. I tend to use the windows as I'm deathly afraid of missing a bubble.  But I know a lot of (most?) people use bubbles.

I like the compromise (but then, I almost always like the middle road).