Any Suggestions ?

[keats]

Yes Neville, the occasional Paterson poem.

To despise Paterson's works just because they have been over exposed, is to despise Paterson as a bush poet and I don't think that is justified. The endurance of Paterson's work speaks for itself I reckon. When it comes to writing bush poetry A.B. Paterson was a better man than a lot of people we could look at. ...Me, for instance

No one is despising Paterson or his works, I do not know how you read that into what I wrote. I am saying to do nothing but Paterson poems as one's traditional poems is like a musician doing all Beatles songs in their performances. There are literally thousands of great traditional poems around a great part of putting on an entertaining performance is to dig amongst them and find those jewels that suit our individual style.

But I don't see any reason why the well known poems of Banjo Paterson need to be discarded or viewed in a dismissive way.

Again, I don't know how you read that I was suggesting that everyone discard Paterson's works nor that I was being dismissive of his poems in general. Bob was asking, I gave a suggestion. Paterson's works are usually the first chosen in comps, etc. and more often than not, the performers seem to believe they will gain extra points for simply choosing a Paterson poem and then deliver a more than forgettable performance.

I think you are being dismissive of the thousands of traditional poems NOT written by Paterson.

Cheers

Neil

[Neville Briggs]

Neil, it's just that you said " get away from Paterson " and then referred to " the old crap ". To me that sounded dismissive and despising.

I hope you would agree that the problem is that too many people keep recycling the same couple of poems. I suggest that the over use is what makes them seem stale rather than the merit of the works.
It happens in the music ( real music that is ). I go to the shop loking for some good recorded music and all I find is endless CDs of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture or Nutcracker Suite or Pachabel's Canon. These composers wrote much much more than that, I can't stand listening to these things any more. So I take your point on widening the repetoire.


And on the poem, My Country. I think you and I would agree it's leans very much to the sentimental. But I wouldn't agree that it is " horrible ". A lot of bush poetry is very sentimental about our heritage and aspects of the landscape.

And broadly speaking, I would argue that Dorothea McKellar was a good poet.
The modernist "free verse" Australian poet, Jamie Grant has included both Dorothea McKellar and Banjo Paterson in his publication of great Australian poets ( 100 Australian Poems You Need to Know. Jamie Grant, 2008 )

[Maureen K Clifford]

when i ask the audience if they would like to hear some of the classics I have found that A Bush Christening or The Man from Ironbark seem to be the most requested ?

Could that be because most Australians have a very limited knowledge of bush poetry and so just trot out the titles of the ones they do know? There are so many excellent poems out there that never or rarely get an airing that are truly beautiful and so Australian. I agree with Heather but if it were me I'd be looking to give the audience something a little different

eg - This one of Henry's I can't recall ever having heard anywhere and yet it would resonate just as much today as it did back then

When the Children Come Home

Henry Lawson, 1890

On a lonely selection far out in the West
An old woman works all the day without rest,
And she croons, as she toils 'neath the sky's glassy dome,
'Sure I'll keep the ould place till the childer come home.'

She mends all the fences, she grubs, and she ploughs,
She drives the old horse and she milks all the cows,
And she sings to herself as she thatches the stack,
'Sure I'll keep the ould place till the childer come back.'

It is five weary years since her old husband died;
And oft as he lay on his deathbed he sighed
'Sure one man can bring up ten children, he can,
An' it's strange that ten sons cannot keep one old man.'

Whenever the scowling old sundowners come,
And cunningly ask if the master's at home,
'Be off,' she replies, 'with your blarney and cant,
Or I'll call my son Andy; he's workin' beyant.'

'Git out,' she replies, though she trembles with fear,
For she lives all alone and no neighbours are near;
But she says to herself, when she's like to despond,
That the boys are at work in the paddock beyond.

Ah, none of her children need follow the plough,
And some have grown rich in the city ere now;
Yet she says: 'They might come when the shearing is done,
And I'll keep the ould place if it's only for one.'



Or give them a real treat and recite The Babies of Walloon - you have a connection now to that one and it is a lovely poem and you know the story behind it. Plus a new statue was dedicated and erected to the Broderick girls after the Ipswich Poetry Feast, with some relatives - around 30 - of the little girls in attendance. They were brought down from Rockhampton for the ceremony and prior to Ipswich council contacting them knew nothing of the poem or the statue dedicated to the little girls . They were very excited about the whole proceeding.

[keats]

I hope you would agree that the problem is that too many people keep recycling the same couple of poems

Could not agree more, Neville. Although we will have to agree to disagree on the music side. I am afraid Classical music and opera are a pain to my ears. When I speak of classics, I refer to Pink Floyd!!!

Maureen has pretty much nailed a very good point. How many Bush Poems can the audience name or request, if asked? Very few I would imagine. Thus it is up to the performer to take them on a journey of discovery by presenting them with a combination of flavours. Paterson didn't write 'Turbulence' but I bet more people have heard, or know of that, more than, say Saltbush Bill. I know which I would see as the better piece of writing. And I certainly don't mean that as putting the Muzza classic down. I think he would agree. But which one would have the audience react better? Turbulence every time.

Did I mention I hate classical music?

Neil

[Maureen K Clifford]

I love Turbulence - no matter how many times I hear it I just love it. It makes me laugh and seeing/hearing Muzza do it live is even better. To someone who has not heard Bush Poetry before I always reckon this is a poem that will hook them and hold them, even those who reckon they can't stand poetry.

[Neville Briggs]

You hate classical music Neil ? , many do it is not given to all to appreciate life's great profundities.

[keats]

Haha. Many believe in God also Neville.

There was a reason Beethoven was deaf!

Cheers

Neil

[Zondrae]

on the topic of over use,,

I saw, at KVFF a few days back, one of the, if not THE, best performances of TMFSR that I have ever seen. High praise I know but it shows that the classics should not be overlooked. Done well - they shine like the gems they are. Not one person present at this performance could have complained. In fact the it was just half a second from a standing ovation - the applause went on and on.. I almost jumped up myself but didn't want to look like a goose. I am so keen to see this bloke perform again. He is a natural. Totally erased the most recent comedy version of this classic from my mind.

[Neville Briggs]

A good point Zondrae.
That's a very important bit of information.

Neil, Beethoven's ability to write music despite deafness was not the defining feature of his artistic genius. Any of the other composers of his time could have probably managed to write music given the same disability.
Beethoven's genius is that he brought something new. Things changed with his work. Same with all great and enduring artrists.

The same I think with people like Lawson, Paterson and C.J.Dennis. they made it new.

They made poetry over again by relating it to Australia and the Australian landscape in a way that hadn't been done before. And, for the ordinary person who read the popular press rather than the 'literati' who might have read Wordsworth, Keats or Tennyson.
In the same way, Roberts, Streeton and McCubbin made the landscape of Australia into Art with a capital A, something unthinkable to the art academies.
And there was Russell Drysdale who made the arid plains and the people of the outback into high art. He made it new.
And again Sali Hermann who painted the streets of inner Sydney, Paddington and Kings Cross. People despised his art as pictures of slums, now it is highly regarded for its boldness and innovation, and social content.

So Lawson and Paterson and Dennis stand as classics of bush or folk poetry because they made it new.
Every time we revisit them we should remember that, I think. Don't just look at them as old hat, they were not that when they did their work.

But then, there is the challenge for us I suspect. How are we going to " do it new " ?
It's a BIG challenge.
Are we up to it ? probably not me

[keats]

Yes.