Paul Wilczynski's Observations

Saying something

Before I get to the point of this post, let me say that I'm the sort of person who on occasion speaks to a manager of a business to pass along my thoughts about it. Most frequently, that might be the manager of a restaurant, for example. I've told managers that the service I got from a waitperson was really great, that the food was really good, or that there was a little slippery spot on the floor (s)he might want to know about. My theory is that the more a manager knows about a patron's feelings, the better the establishment will be. I have no idea if it's a valid theory or not.

I've been going to a music venue for the last several months. The venue is what they call acoustic music; I would call it folk (my experience starts in the 60s). Most often it's acoustic guitar, but sometimes electric piano.

I've missed the last few performances for reasons beyond my control, and wrote to the coordinator explaining why. I also offered the following observations:

Here's one thing I've wanted to mention to you for a while about the shows ... please take it for what it's worth. Many of the people who perform have a couple of attributes that I think could be improved.

First, they don't seem to have a sense of what entertainment is. A good entertainer, for example, has a strong sense of how to segue from one song to another with introductions, general commentary, etc. Many good entertainers, but not all, have a good sense of humor and use it liberally. I'd say that the majority of the performers at the series fumble their way from one song to another without any forethought.

Second: many of the performers are not good at enunciating their lyrics clearly. I don't know about anyone else, but I get bored really quickly when I have to struggle to understand what's being sung. Do others feel this way?

I honestly mention these things for 2 reasons. One, if they're valid criticisms, then getting performers to work on them would make them better - and hopefully more successful - performers. Two, I'd enjoy the performances more :)

Personally, I thought that was legitimate criticism of a number of the performers, but not all. My feeling is that performers who are working for free (except for tips and CD sales) might be interested in one person's opinion of general things they might look at in their own styles which, of course, they could take or leave.

Well, it didn't go over so well. Apparently no one who has ever attended these shows has verbalized a similar opinion, and my impression is that the coordinator felt that, therefore, no one ever had the same opinion. What I heard back was how wonderfully talented all of the performers were.

So I wonder: should I have just kept my mouth shut because there was the risk of offending someone? I believe in constructive criticism. Maybe what I said wasn't construed as constructive?

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 6:00 PM