Difference between performance and written poetry

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Leonie

Re: Difference between performance and written poetry

Post by Leonie » Sat Mar 19, 2011 3:51 pm

I'd suggest (Your Honour) that there is no difference between "Written" and Performance" verse.
... and that was pretty much what I was trying to say (I think :? ) :D Maybe I would insert 'should be' instead of 'is'.
Last edited by Leonie on Sat Mar 19, 2011 3:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Dave Smith
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Re: Difference between performance and written poetry

Post by Dave Smith » Sat Mar 19, 2011 3:52 pm

Jeez Manfred I wished I'd said that
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Neville Briggs
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Re: Difference between performance and written poetry

Post by Neville Briggs » Sat Mar 19, 2011 4:50 pm

manfredvijars wrote:I'd suggest (Your Honour) that there is no difference between "Written" and "Performance" verse
That's why you're printed in red Manfred, you are correct.

I wonder what would happen if a concert pianist got up and played a Beethoven sonata and made all sorts of wrong notes and phrases that Beethoven never wrote, could she get away with the explanation " performance is more flexible than the written stuff"
What would it sound like if someone recited Dorothea McKellar's poem My Country and put in words and sentences that Dorothea never wrote or left out words that she had put in.
The result would be atrocious.
But that one is well known you might say...so...., since when does not well known become a license for shoddy work ?

Of course there's performance flexibility in loudness, speed of delivery, pauses and tone of voice, there is no flexibility in structure, either the poem is structured right or it is unstructured. Free verse is unstructured, accentual/stress verse cannot be unstructured, and you mob claim to distain free verse in favour of " metred and rhymed " verse. Make up your minds. :roll:

The other thing to consider is, what are we drawing attention to in our performance ? Is it the poem or the performer. Do we want to present poems .....or be admired as celebrities of stage and screen and radio. Just a thought.
Neville
" Prose is description, poetry is presence " Les Murray.

Kym

Re: Difference between performance and written poetry

Post by Kym » Sat Mar 19, 2011 6:22 pm

I just want everyone to enjoy writing poetry. :P I'm tired of negative people who turn everything into an argument and scare newbies off :| ... it's scary posting poems, it's like laying your heart out in front of everyone and waiting to see who stomps on it first. Let's try encouraging everyone, not nit-picking over tiny details. We will ALL improve with time and practice. There is no such thing as a "perfect poem" that everyone will love, because we all love different things, but we can all enjoy each other's ideas and stories. No matter what our level of writing ability or experience, we ALL need reassurance and praise. Not everyone can be a concert pianist, some of us are quite content being mediocre, but if we're having fun, then that is the most beautiful part of writing and sharing our poetry! :D
Last edited by Kym on Sat Mar 19, 2011 8:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Maureen K Clifford
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Re: Difference between performance and written poetry

Post by Maureen K Clifford » Sat Mar 19, 2011 6:29 pm

clapping Kymie clapping ;)
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Bob Pacey
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Re: Difference between performance and written poetry

Post by Bob Pacey » Sat Mar 19, 2011 6:47 pm

Yeah new age guys like me get cut to the bone when someone does not like our poems !! Sob Sob. that is me crying not (son of a bitch). I had a lady come up to me at a charity function for the Flying Doctors and said " Bob I have heard you perform at markets and always thought you were loud and brash, now I have really listened to you I like what you do. " oh course i was loud i had to scream my guts out to get any one to hear me over the Belly Dancers music and the band.


" Sick of fixing those i's gotta get that key fixed. "

yeah i agree Manfred it all has to click to be a good performance and it all has to click to be a good poem. Why would we bother to compete if did not matter or why have score sheets for the judges ?

it is all good as far as I'm concerned

Write it, read it, or stick it in the cupboard so long as you enjoy it.

cheers Bob
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After you grasp that everything else seems insignificant !!!

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Re: Difference between performance and written poetry

Post by Neville Briggs » Sat Mar 19, 2011 6:54 pm

I agree totally Kym, we want everyone to enjoy writing poetry.
And if anybody cares to check my posts they will find that I try to give a lot of encouragement and reassurance and praise. In fact you will find that I do not turn everything into an argument.
I hope I haven't "stomped" on anyone. Where did I do that ?

Isn't there room for opinions or discussion on our forum ?

To quote the late Neil Postman " An opinion is not a momentary thing but a process of thinking, shaped by the continuous acquisition of knowledge and the activity of questioning, discussion, and debate "
Isn't this process a help to the improvement of what people refer to as " our craft "

Poetry is a very complex art, I wouldn't have thought that discussion on the structure and designs of the craft in any way detracted from the enjoyment.
Neville
" Prose is description, poetry is presence " Les Murray.

Kym

Re: Difference between performance and written poetry

Post by Kym » Sat Mar 19, 2011 8:02 pm

:shock: I didn't say anything about you in my post Neville ...

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Dave Smith
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Re: Difference between performance and written poetry

Post by Dave Smith » Sat Mar 19, 2011 9:18 pm

Neville, Kym, everyone just keep doing what you are doing, It’s the diversity along with the poems that make this forum great.

Dave smith.
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Re: Difference between performance and written poetry

Post by Neville Briggs » Sun Mar 20, 2011 7:38 am

You mentioned concert pianists Kym, (which was my illustration just to make a point about the relationship between written and performance, that's all )

I am convinced that part of the enjoyment for both writers and hearers is the way in which a wordsmith (or craftsperson if you like ) has mastered the difficulties of form and poetic conventions to bring out something original and expressive. So I think that a robust debate on technicalities is not a distraction from enjoyment but a way to go forward and build up our
abilities and quality of presentation.
I am on the side of building up, not tearing down.

Manfred made a good point about getting away from thinking competitions. I must admit I'm getting uninterested in performance at competitions. There's little enjoyment in them for me, just torture; memorisation is very difficult for me. And I usually come last
anyway because I can only learn short ones which doesn't impress the judges.

I think if we are going to foster bush poetry as performance enjoyment, we are going to have to organise events where performers are not expecting to get paid or win prizes but join in for the enjoyment and promotion of the poetry. Same with the written work, some get shown on this site and some get shown in the ABPA Magazine and I think newspapers like The Land print a bit of bush poetry. If we work to get the written stuff up to a good standard maybe there's opportunities for the enjoyment of publishing through newspapers and magazines, though not for any profit or return.



Sorry about the rambling. Just a few of my thoughts
Neville
" Prose is description, poetry is presence " Les Murray.

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