About the nMC

Introduction to the nMC
How it all started

Introduction to the nMC

The N'Early Music Consort is a filk choir based in Great Britain. What's that? Filk? Oh, well, in simple terms, Filk Music can be described as "music produced by and for the science fiction and fantasy fandom community". For example, if somebody gets his guitar out at a Star Trek convention and starts singing in Klingon, then that's filk. So are folksong-like ballads about Middle-Earth, Pern, Gormenghast, and so on. Actually, the range of topics and styles is so wide that an alternative definition has been proposed: "Filk is what filkers do". But for some more helpful descriptions, look at some of our Filk links. The N'Early Music Consort qualifies as a filk choir on three counts:

• all its performances are at filk and SF/Fantasy conventions (so far);
• all its members are filkers; and
• its repertoire consists almost entirely of arrangements of filk songs.

Text by Dan Bennett and Chris Croughton

Someone writing in a filkcon PR a few years ago suggested that if said PR arrived late, or didn't arrive at all, the unlucky filker should blame a Nyrond. Any Nyrond. However although it could, conceivably, be argued that Zander bears some responsibility for this farrago, the real catalyst was someone much less obvious. But if you really want to know who's to blame for the nMC, if you really, really, really want to know who dunnit, and before I've even told the tale, you'll have to wait. Not even Swiss Mocha chocolate or Riesen toffee chews will persuade me to reveal the culprit before the punchline.

The n'Early Music Consort made its debut as a filk choir at Obliter-8, the eighth annual British Filk Convention, held in Milton Keynes in February 1996. But before then, there had been performances of multipart harmony pieces at various filkcons by different ad hoc groups, some more ad hoc than others.

The first of these was at Contabile, the first British Filk Convention held in Newbury in February 1989, when Gytha instructed me, in the middle of the main concert and in front of the audience to "do Song of the Women. Now!" I hauled Pat Silver and Anne Whitaker up onto the stage to join me as they had sung through my arrangement about six weeks earlier (though Pat insists to this day that Contabile was the first time she had sung it!), and Mike Whitaker (on synthesizer) and Phil Allcock (on guitar) provided the accompaniment. And somehow we managed to sight read our way through the song without making a complete and utter hash of it, as you can hear on the Contabile tape. All this came as a complete surprise to Zander Nyrond, who had provided the lovely tune for his wife Janet's fine lyrics, but he was very nice about it afterwards.

In the run up to Con2bile (Peterborough 1990) Anne Whitaker asked me if I'd sing alto in a four part harmony arrangement she had done of Brighton Rhapsody, Chris (Minstrel) Malme's filk of Bohemian Rhapsody. Of course, I said "Yes!" and we rehearsed it surreptitiously after the main programme on the first night of the con and performed it the next day. As I recall, the performers were Anne and Mike Whitaker, Minstrel and myself all singing, with Colin Fine on piano and Bill Longley on triangle. (If I've missed anyone out, drop me a line and I'll post a correction.) The convention enjoyed it, and the techie "victim" of the song was grinning broadly all the way through.

(Round about this time, Rhodri James recorded his (highly recommended) tape Laughter and Laments and invited Pat Silver and myself to sing soprano and alto parts in his three-part harmony arrangement of his filk Three Fans.)

After Razing Arizona's highly successful set at Fourplay (Wolverhampton 1992) I was commissioned by the rest of the band to write a barbershop version of Mike Whitaker's Halfway There. I know nothing about barbershop harmonies, except that there is a harmony line above the tune, and the local library's extensive music section didn't have a book on the subject, so I ended up writing an arrangement that had very little to do with barbershop, but I had great fun doing it. Razing Arizona (myself, Smitty and Adam Heath singing, Martin GK on bass guitar) performed it at Pentatonic (Weston-super-Mare 1993) with the help of GoH Rhodri James. Fortunately Mike Whitaker didn't lynch me, but (for totally unconnected reasons) Razing Arizona split up, quite amicably, shortly afterwards. (Not only are we still talking to one another but most of us were on the VIbraphone (Brighton 1994) committee.)

Which brings me on to Transept (Cambridge 1995). The American guest was Joey Shoji, fine singer, all-round nice person, and complete and utter harmony nut. He searched the convention for fellow harmony nuts, as he needed his "harmony fix", and he didn't have to look far. He and I rehearsed the arrangement of Star Sisters published in the Stave the Wails songbook (Wail Songs/Harpy Music 1991) and then went in search of Rhodri James to complete the trio. Rhodri, being the convention's chairman, had much better things to do than sing the line Linda Melnick (of Technical Difficulties/Musical Chairs) usually sings, and of course he jumped at the chance to escape them! So we entertained at least 2 late night circles with Star Sisters. One day, very shortly after Transept, I was reflecting on how much fun it had been singing with Joey and Rhodri remembering all the other occasions when I had sung partsongs with other filkers, at Contabile and Con2bile and Pentatonic, when I had An Idea. Wouldn't it be fun to revive these arrangements and do them all as a programme item at Obliter-8. And include Three Fans from Rhodri's tape, which, to the best of my knowledge had never been performed in public. I should have known better. I should have kept my mouth shut. But I was stupid. I was very stupid. I mentioned it to not one but two Obliter-8 committee members, and in the next PR they announced I was running a harmony programme item and needed volunteers and suggestions.

People then started asking if they could take part in "my programme item", people who hadn't been involved the first time around. And some of the people who had been involved first time around were not going to be at Obliter-8. And Minstrel was busy preparing his GoH set. And Mike and Anne were busy rehearsing with Phoenix. And Joey was back in California. But Pat was keen, and Rhodri was keen and gave me copies of ten songs he'd arranged for multiple voices, and lots of other people were keen, so I reviewed the available material and started organising choir practice.

As you can see from the Obliter-8 running order, we did in fact do three of the songs I had originally intended for the programme item. The line up consisted of Pat Silver, Kate Soley Barton, Marion Beet, myself, Dave Holladay, Rhodri James, Chris Croughton, Roger Burton West, and Richard Wheatley. Simon Fairbourn was roped in almost at the last minute to play one of the recorder parts on Three Fans, and Anne Whitaker and American filker Mary Bertke joined us on a couple songs (most importantly Song of the Women) after a short rehearsal actually at the con.

After Obliter-8 a number of nMC members asked me what I had planned for them next. And Dan Bennett and Simon Fairbourn asked to join. And as Dave Holladay had already coined our name, n'Early Music Consort, it was clear I was not going to have any free time for anything else in the foreseeable future!

Our set at HarmonIX (which included arrangements of two of Zander's songs) went down very well, Tom Holt's filk of Song of the Women, Men's Laundry Song, (which was performed by the men wearing pinnies, while Kate and Marion held up a laundry line full of pink washing behind them), was particularly well received. And we were asked to give a concert at Intervention the 1997 British National Science Fiction Convention held over the Easter weekend, where we were joined by Colin Fine and Tim Walker. We are currently preparing for our slot at Decadence, the 10th British Filkcon, to be held in Eastbourne in 1998. (Fortunately members of the choir other than Rhodri and myself have started writing vocal arrangements, as have one or two filkers outside the choir, as I have other things to prepare for Decadence...) Some of us will be at FilkContinental, the German filkcon being held in September 1997. And I am frequently asked, when are we going record a tape/CD. The answer is Real Soon Now...

So if Joey Shoji hadn't got me to sing Star Sisters with him and Rhodri at Transept, none of this would have happened. The world would still be in total ignorance of "Rhodri specials" (arrangements by Rhodri involving weird and wonderful key changes), and I would have had a lot more free weekends. Which means I can't blame Zander or any Nyrond, 'cos it's all Joey's fault! But don't tell him I said so, will you? Because, you see, I'm hoping that one day he'll come to another British filk con, and he'll need his harmony-fix as usual, and he's a tenor, and, like all the choirs I've encountered, the nMC is short of tenors... So don't tell him. Please?

Text by Valerie Housden