Folk Clubs: Once a week or once a month

Subject: Folk Clubs: Once a week or once a month
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 24 Mar 07 - 10:33 AM

Their seems to be a growth of clubs, sessions and sing-arounds that meet once a month rather than once a week.

I guess their is no simple answer but which is most successful in terms of people turning up?

I would be interested in what people have found to be the advantages and otherwise of each.

Subject: RE: Folk Clubs: Once a week or once a month
From: Leadfingers
Date: 24 Mar 07 - 10:47 AM

Weekly , all you need to remember is the DAY - Monthly , you have to remember First , Third or whatever , but that is more sensible than the fortmightly , eg First and Third or what ever - Every now and then there is a three week gap !

Subject: RE: Folk Clubs: Once a week or once a month
From: Hawker
Date: 24 Mar 07 - 10:52 AM

I agree with leadfingers, but it is often more a case of how much commitment the organisers have, it is not always easy to be there EVERY week, whereas once a month is easier. Bute weekly is by far easier to remember!
Cheers Lucy

Subject: RE: Folk Clubs: Once a week or once a month
From: Old Roger
Date: 24 Mar 07 - 11:20 AM

I started an alternate Thursdays folk club a year and a half ago and it has been very successful. I did debate the pros and cons with myself before deciding. People seem to be able to able to manage their diaries well enough but I did collect everyone's email address and I always email a reminder the Monday before. Plus I do hand out postcards with the meeting dates for the year which they can keep in their wallet or pin up at home. Plus I do stick up an A4 poster in the meeting room (right beside the bar) with the next two or three meeting dates in bold red letters.

I thought every week would become a little bit automatic and boring and that having to wait a fortnight would create just a little feeling of "can't wait" which could be positive.

I truly believe that it doesn't matter much whether it is weekly or monthly. For a successsful club, there are more important things to get right like creating a really friendly place, welcoming and inclusive. And to work hard to get the "atmosphere" - now that's just about indefinable but you know it when you encounter it.

We have our eye on the alternate Thursdays we are currently not using We plan to run different events on those. One maybe to be an instrumental session evening (with a few songs) and another to be a "floor spots" evening to provide our many better performers the chance to warm up in a 30 minute slot. We haven't done this yet but are building up to it.
Cheers
Roger

Subject: RE: Folk Clubs: Once a week or once a month
From: Bainbo
Date: 24 Mar 07 - 11:24 AM

Well, then it'll be a weekly folk club, won't it? :-)

Subject: RE: Folk Clubs: Once a week or once a month
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 24 Mar 07 - 12:13 PM

I think Friday is a good alternate Thursday but that is just Personal preference:-)

We are lucky at Swinton in that, at the mo, we have every Monday and every last Friday - With the odd special thrown in for good measure - Hank Wedel and Ray Barron on the 18th of May and George Papvergeris on the 21st Sept for instance!

I do like weekly clubs myself.

Cheers

Dave

Subject: RE: Folk Clubs: Once a week or once a month
From: Travelling Audience
Date: 24 Mar 07 - 12:30 PM

If you have a fornightly or monthly club then this gives you chance to visit other clubs within reasonable travelling distance.
e.g. Gainsborough and Faldingworth are alternate Fridays, as is Lincoln and Gainsborough.

Subject: RE: Folk Clubs: Once a week or once a month
From: Leadfingers
Date: 24 Mar 07 - 12:36 PM

Must admit that IF you have two or three clubs quite close , the alternate weeks DOES work in that people can go to a different club the same night EVERY week , if they have the stamina !

Subject: RE: Folk Clubs: Once a week or once a month
From: bubblyrat
Date: 24 Mar 07 - 12:36 PM

I regularly go to a session which takes place every Monday.That suits me ,because if I miss one, I know that there"s only a week to go before the next !! Miss a monthly session, and there could be people you don"t see for several weeks on end !! So it"s weekly for me !!

Subject: RE: Folk Clubs: Once a week or once a month
From: Mo the caller
Date: 24 Mar 07 - 12:47 PM

Depends what else is on.
|Round the Cheshire / Shroshire border theres a session (songs & tunes) most Weds, different towns / organisers, but mostly the same crowd. Same folk every Moday at Audlem too, but no-one organises that. Both work well.
If you are doing things other nights once a month is fine.

Subject: RE: Folk Clubs: Once a week or once a month
From: Susan of DT
Date: 24 Mar 07 - 12:56 PM

In the US, at least around here, we seem mostly to gather monthly, rather than weekly. Remember that these are in people's homes, for the most part, rather than pubs. We host a monthly song circle here. Weekly would be rather much. Also, that way we get to go to other circles as well.

Subject: RE: Folk Clubs: Once a week or once a month
From: Mr Red
Date: 24 Mar 07 - 01:18 PM

the problem is rumour.

If you have an event running weekly and change to another format - then if folks turn up on the wrong week not knowing the format has changed - the word goes round it is no longer running.

Mr Red's calculator for day of month for the next 28 days. providing your PC clock is correct.
Enjoy

Subject: RE: Folk Clubs: Once a week or once a month
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 24 Mar 07 - 04:27 PM

If it's fortnightly, it's every other week. Twice a month ISN'T fortnightly.

Subject: RE: Folk Clubs: Once a week or once a month
From: Rasener
Date: 24 Mar 07 - 05:20 PM

>>but that is more sensible than the fortmightly<<

Don't agree there Leadfingers.

Its just a case of

I went tonight
I don't go next week
I do go the next week

The problem is if you do twice in a month

Subject: RE: Folk Clubs: Once a week or once a month
From: GUEST,Nicholas Waller
Date: 24 Mar 07 - 06:47 PM

There's a club in Somerset - The Old Down Acoustic Club* - which manages to be both monthly (Fridays) and weekly (Wednesdays), and it seems to work very well.

Every Wednesday there's an open mic night, which is well-supported, with more than enough performers and some spare audience too, entry £1. Once a month on a Wednesday there's a special guest who gets 45-60 minutes (plus there are some of the usual floor performers); these nights are £2, get some more audience, and have recently featured Ember, Beck Sian, Sheila Chandra, Megson, Keith Christmas, and Jeff Gillett & Ron Taylor, among others.

Then there's a monthly Friday concert, entry £10 generally. These are also very well-supported, but with a mostly different clientele/audience, which is interesting. Recently they've had John Kirkpatrick, The Devil's Interval, Spiers and Boden, Vin Garbutt and Robin Williamson. Jez Lowe and the Bad Pennies are coming later this year.

So that's good for a newish (started in 2003) club which, though not quite in the middle of nowhere, is in a fairly small village well off the main road between Wells and Bath. It's a pretty big commitment for Johnny Francis and Cathy Judge, the organisers, but they always seem to be there (the occasional holidays excepted).

*It calls itself Acoustic as it is not strictly folk; it has its share of folkies but there's a lot of blues and other acoustic stuff. It also has several mics and a PA, and the odd bod has been known to plug in too.

*Also, it still calls itself the Old Down club, though it is no longer at the Old Down in Emborough, where it started up, but at the Kings Arms in Litton.

Subject: RE: Folk Clubs: Once a week or once a month
From: Bugsy
Date: 24 Mar 07 - 08:41 PM

Mrs Bugsy & I ran a very successful Folk Club on a weekly basis for a couple of years.

The only problem with weekly clubs is that you seem to spend 2-3 nights each week on the phone organising.

If that's no problem, and you can keep up the standard of performer on a weekly basis, go for weekly.


CHeers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: Folk Clubs: Once a week or once a month
From: GUEST,Arnie
Date: 25 Mar 07 - 01:06 AM

Our folk club, like most others, uses a room in a pub. If we didn't use it weekly, then I suspect that the landlord would sling us out and take in some other group that would use the room weekly - every night of the week the room is in use by some group or other. The landlord expects us to be there and put money behind his bar every week, so weekly meets are more or less obligatory. I suspect a lot of clubs are in this position - use it or lose it! Personally I like a weekly meet but it's only possible because we have a very dedicated MC who gets there early each Friday and sets everything out.

Arnie at work

Subject: RE: Folk Clubs: Once a week or once a month
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 25 Mar 07 - 06:53 AM

I tend to think that weekly is best for singarounds, monthly for clubs that book guests.

In my experience the weekly singaround format encourages singers to learn more songs - and learning more songs stretches you as a singer.

Subject: RE: Folk Clubs: Once a week or once a month
From: guitar
Date: 25 Mar 07 - 07:04 AM

the folk club that I go to runs every fortnight (ecery second wed)irvine folk club Golf Hotel

Subject: RE: Folk Clubs: Once a week or once a month
From: Nick
Date: 25 Mar 07 - 08:02 AM

Weekly for a singaround/session works for us. It was described by an Irish friend of mine as being something like a cross between playing in someone's front room and a session in a pub.

As long as you have a core of people who will turn up and who will enjoy themselves regardless of whether anyone else turns up or not then it will work. We have a basic core of about 7 people who turn up pretty much every week (6 of whom sing; 1 fiddle player; 1 guitarist) - and then a further 6-10 who come frequently and a further 10-20 who come less frequently.

With people who come out for the evening to have a drink and a listen we currently get 20-40 people come every week and it seems to be growing. People seem to enjoy it and come back and travel from some distance in some cases.

We do no publicity and it takes no organisation purely relying on word of mouth. We turn up each week not knowing (or caring) who will turn up as whoever does turn up will have a play.

The advantage of weekly is that people who come once always know it will be on so can turn up with certainty; it has a set format so you can turn up knowing that you will get a go if you want one and won't pick a guest night having travelled.

Subject: RE: Folk Clubs: Once a week or once a month
From: GUEST,Dartford Warbler
Date: 25 Mar 07 - 08:32 AM

Our local folk club has run every week with a guest for coming up to 34 years. (It is closed for the four weeks of August.)

So in our case the weekly format appears to work. The organisers have enough difficulty fitting in everyone who wants to play here so changing to monthly would be an organisational nightmare!