Storytelling at folk clubs

Subject: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: GUEST,Northerner
Date: 22 Feb 07 - 11:23 AM

Does anyone have advice on telling in folk clubs (apart from Don't!)? I'm a learner storyteller who has been actively telling for 18 months. I'm being supported by a traditional Scottish storyteller and also hope to be mentored by a leading English one. I attend festivals regularly, go to as many events as I can get to and go to workshops. Have recently been to two masterclasses and the appraisal from the leaders was all positive. I do occasional voluntary work with more on the way. Currently amateur but hope to work professionally eventually.

My big problem is the lack of a storytelling circle in my area - I do hope to start one eventually when I feel there is sufficient interest locally. So I tell stories at local folk clubs occasionally. Difficulty is that some of the audience are not very story-oriented. One gentleman recently told me that he had difficulty "getting into stories". Stories do in general seem to be regarded by folk club audiences as something people do if they can't sing or play an instrument. They are certainly regarded as inferior.

I am a learner storyteller, but a promising one, not a poor one. I am also a singer and do sing occasionally. My singing voice may well be why I am accepted. I am actually at the stage of integrating my singing into my stories now.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I may improve the acceptance of my material?

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: Alec
Date: 22 Feb 07 - 11:36 AM

I think their are dedicated Storyteller sessions at the SAGE from time to time Northener.
Also I think the Lit. & Phil. in Newcastle might be interested.
Would you like me to find out for you?
(I have a good contact at the latter.)

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Feb 07 - 11:46 AM

Hello Alec. Thank you. However, I already go up to Newcastle occasionally and go to the storytelling circle that the A Bit Crack team leads. However, it is expensive for me (I am unemployed), awkward to travel to (I use public transport) and the Open Mic sessions are only occasional (and sometimes clash with other events as is the case with the one next month).

So, what I am really looking for is a way to promote my experience in my own area (Middlesbrough/Stockton-on-Tees).

Thank you for the offer, but I am not sure how helpful it would be for me at this stage, given the travelling distance involved.

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: Bernard
Date: 22 Feb 07 - 11:48 AM

Please don't take this the wrong way...!!

Some storytellers I've seen at folk clubs treated the audience as if they were five-year-olds, and kept the story going for around fifteen minutes - oblivious of the fact the audience had already switched off early on.

The really good ones are quite rare - and a pleasure to hear.

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: wysiwyg
Date: 22 Feb 07 - 11:52 AM

Hi Northerner,

What has been your experience and learning curve since the last time this was under discussion? There were a lot of good ideas offered; how did it go after that-- what worked/didn't work, what would you advise someone else just atarting out?

~Susan

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: katlaughing
Date: 22 Feb 07 - 11:52 AM

Mudcat's own Art Thieme is a Master at intertwining short, short *fables* amongst the music he did. He's got several CDs available, all well worth the price. I'll give him a heads-up about this thread.

kat

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: Mr Red
Date: 22 Feb 07 - 12:27 PM

Keep e'em short and know them off by heart. With stories they have salient points and that you need to have without referring to notes.

Just like songs - they need to have relevance, a really good pay-off - and reading from the page kills the emphasis, artistry, affectation so work on that with the confidence of having enough of the story committed to memory. But keep it short. A 3 minute song is about right. A 3 minute story is only OK if you have enough confidence to add theatricallity. Try two shorter stories before venturing further. Don't feel you have to spell it all out - let the story flow rather than be totally explained.

humour is easier to start with. Have plenty of interrim whimsies puns, asides etc to hand - personalise it to an event or person in the audience if need be - someone who can take a joke.

Best of luck and tell us how you did.

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: Bee
Date: 22 Feb 07 - 12:54 PM

My experience is as an untrained (except for a few workshops, one with the fabulous Robert Munsch, who can keep a roomful of adults hanging on his every word while telling a kids' story they already know), but with many years of practice, storyteller for children, and informally for adults. Children aren't so much different than adults, in my opinion.

You likely know the following, but for others' benefit, here's what little I know. Keep the stories short, lively, rhythmic. Don't hesitate - you must, must, must know the story really well. If you need notes, you shouldn't tell that story. Vary your tone to suit the action. If it's your first telling with a specific audience, tell your best story first, to get their attention. My personal favourite story to tell adults is The King of the Cats, of which there are several versions, some suitable for children, others only for adults. I've always had good audience reaction to this one, but perhaps that reflects on my own enthusiasm for the tale.

I'm a fan of good storytelling, and think it should be encouraged, so good luck to you, Northerner. ;-)

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: Rasener
Date: 22 Feb 07 - 01:32 PM

One of my favourites is Rindercella and her sugly isters

Seen this done at Gainsborough Folk Club without sheets of paper. IOt was hilarious.

Casper Jarrot and Cilly Bonolly spring to mind :-)

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: r.padgett
Date: 22 Feb 07 - 01:37 PM

Hello Northerner

Good to hear that you are still active and singing as well as you were in the Tap and Spile and at Saltburn!

as far as storytelling is concerned simply go for it and it will come out ok!

Use your mentors well and listen to sound advice

Ray

Subject: ADD: Rindercella (story)
From: Rasener
Date: 22 Feb 07 - 01:42 PM

Found it. Hope it doesn't offend

Rindercella and her sugly isters lived in a marge lansion.

Rindercella worked very hard - frubbing scloors, emptying poss pits, and
shivelling shot. At the end of the day she was nucking fackered.

The sugly isters were right bugly astards. One was called Mary Hinge, and
the other was called Betty Swollocks. They were really forrible huckers,
and had fetty sweet and fetty swannies.

The sugly isters had tickets to go to the ball, but the cotton runts
wouldn't let Rindercella go. Suddenly there was a bucking fang and her
gairy fodmother appeared. Her name was Shairy Hithole, and she was a
light rucking fesbian. She turned a pumpkin and six mite whice into a
hucking cuge farriage with six dandy ronkeys who had buge hollocks and
dig bicks.

The gairy fodmother told Rindercella to be back by dimnight otherwise
there would be a cucking falamity.

At the ball Rindercella was dancing with the prandsome hince when
suddenly the clock struck twelve. "Miste all chucking frighty!" said
Rindercella, and she ran out tripping barse over ollocks, so dropping her
slass glipper.

Next day the prandsome hince knocked on Rindercella's door and the sugly
isters let him in. Suddenly Betty Swollocks lifted her leg and let off a
fig bart. "Who's fust jarted?" asked the prandsome hince. "Blame that
fugly ucker over there" said Mary Hinge. When the stinking brown cloud
had lifted, the prandsome hince tried the slass glipper on both the sugly
isters without success. Their feet stucking funk.

Betty Swollocks was ducking fisgusted and gave the prandsome hince a nack
in the kickers. This was not difficult as he had bucking fuge halls and a
hig bard on.

He tried the slass glipper on Rindercella and it fitted pucking
ferfectly.

Rindercella and the prandsome hince were married. The hince lived his
life in lucking fuxury, and Rindercella lived hers with a follen swanny.

And they all lived happily ever after.

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: bubblyrat
Date: 22 Feb 07 - 01:52 PM

Your best plan of action, as well as learning the above masterpiece,is to attend this year"s Sidmouth Festival, & learn from the Master, Taffy Thomas. Then, stand for parliament at the next election and put all your newly-acquired skills into practise. You will have a vast,captive & gullible audience !!

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 22 Feb 07 - 02:05 PM

I used to love the stories told by people like Alex Campbell and Tony Capstick. Story, song, story ,song and so on. I always enjoyed the "Albert" stories. I recently saw somebody new to storytelling reading a story at a club and it wasn't the best so they definitely do need to be learned but how anybody has managed to learn the cinderella one goodness only knows - I had a job just reading it!

Subject: ADD: King of Cats (story)
From: Bee
Date: 22 Feb 07 - 02:55 PM

The King of the Cats (one of many versions)

Old Dan and his wife Maggie lived in a small cottage pretty deep in the woods, and a few miles from the village. Now Dan had occasion to walk into the village one pleasant fall day, and as luck would have it, his errands kept him longer than expected, or maybe it was the stop at the pub for a pint and a bit of gossip. So it was near dark when he set out for home, and Maggie was almost anxious by the time he set foot in the door. And when she saw his face! For Dan was pale and his eyes were wide, and he looked ghastly frightened, to say the least!
"Why, Danny boy, what's the matter?" Maggie cried, and she shoved their old cat aside from the hearth rug to make room for Dan nearer the fire. Dan sidestepped the cat and sank into his favourite chair.
"Maggie, I've had a shock, and that's the truth."
"But what has happened?"
"Well, Maggie, I left the village and started home along the path, and after a time I began to hear sounds ahead of me, sounds of wailing and howling. It got my nerves up, it did, but I kept on going."
Now this statement raised the hairs on Maggie's neck, and it seemed the old cat caught her mood, for his fur looked a mite fluffed up and he stared at Dan as hard as Maggie herself.
"Soon I saw lights nearby in the trees, travelling along o'me, as if it were torches in procession."
"Ghost lights! Saints preserve us!" says Maggie, but Dan held up a hand. The cat had risen to his feet, and his back was arched a bit.
"At last" he said, "I reached the clearing, just as the torchlights did too. And there I saw - Oh, Maggie, you'll never believe it! There I saw more cats than have ever been seen in one place, and all howling and yowling and mewing and meowing!"
Dan shot a glance at their own cat, whose eyes were glowing yellow with the firelight.
"And Maggie, there were fifty cats carrying little torches, and standing on their hind legs like a person. And there were twelve enormous cats at the front of the torchlight procession, all of 'em black as our Tom here, and on their shoulders they carried a coffin, and atop the coffin there was a little golden crown."
"Oh Dan!" Maggie cried, "Was it a forerunner do you think? Was it an evil sign?"
"I don't know", said Dan weakly, "but then the biggest cat, walking in front of the coffin, turns its eyes on me and opens its mouth. 'Dan MacBean' it says, and I near dropped when it says my name..." Dan cast another uneasy glance at the cat by the hearth, which seemed twice its normal size. "'Dan MacBean', it says, 'Tell Tom Tidwell that Tim Todwell is dead'. And then, Maggie, I found my strength and took to my heels."
"What could it mean?" says Maggie, but then both of them found their eyes riveted by the sight of their old Tom, now three times as big as normal, with eyes like shining gold pieces and claws an inch long.
"Tim Todwell's dead?" says old Tom in a yowly screechy voive, "Then I'm the King of the Cats!!"
And with that he was out the door and gone.

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: wysiwyg
Date: 22 Feb 07 - 03:10 PM

Something odd is going on with Northerner's posting history-- the previous threads are hard to find. I found these two, though, where there was a fair bit of good input:

Storytelling in a school

Story selection - storytelling to adults

~Susan

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: RoyH (Burl)
Date: 22 Feb 07 - 04:04 PM

There is plenty of info in the 'Facts & Fiction' magazine,edited by Pete Castle. It's a great read for story tellers or fans. www.factsandfiction.co.uk

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 22 Feb 07 - 07:11 PM

I'm not fond of them myself and don't like them mixed with music, no offense. But I think it would be great if you had a separate night, or perhaps part of another event, to gather other like-minded people. The problem with stories is they have no tunes to them, and people who want to hear tunes might not want to hear a story. An occasional one is OK but I think it calls to separate audiences....mg

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Feb 07 - 12:24 AM

Villan and Bee, thanks for adding those. Brill!

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: Jim Lad
Date: 23 Feb 07 - 12:34 AM

Two words, Northerner;    Libraries.
I think there's a market there. Come up with a plan (push an Author or marketing your own stuff). If I was a writer of say, short stories or children's books or even poetry and was for some reason, unavailable to do such a thing then I would be looking for someone just like you. No?

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Feb 07 - 03:22 AM

I became interested in storytelling after hearing the Stewarts of Blair tell stories at the Singers Club. All of them were good storytellers, but Alec was magnificent. He could tell a story of any length and hold the audience spellbound. His style was somewhat laconic and understated, no histrionics, no funny voices, just a straight tellng of the tale.
Since then, we have recorded stories from the handful of traditional storytellers left, mainly in Ireland; none of them ever attempted to act out their stories or (as Bernard said) treated us as if we were five-year-olds.
As far as I am concerned there is no rule of how long a story should be-this depends entirely on the audience, the club and the situation.
If a long story would be an imposition on the way the club is run - keep them short, but audience and organisers willing, I don't believe there is any need to limit them particularly. The ballad, 'Tam Lin' lasts around fifteen minutes - the song 'The True Lover's Discussion' is around the same. If these are well sung an audience will lap them up - if they are badly sung, they are interminable - the same is true of stories.
The last big storyteller we recorded (now dead) had stories that lasted two-and-a-half hours, and around here in West Clare, a local man 50 years ago would start his story on Monday night and tell part of it (to an attentive audience) every night until he finished it on Friday.
Storytelling in the British Isles lasted best in Scotland and Ireland, particularly among the Travellers.
There are a few commercially available albums of storytelling. The School of Scottish Studies issued a good double CD of Travellers stories a couple of years ago. Mike Yates compiled a couple which are available through Musical Traditions web magazine. Pavee Point in Dublin released one last year of the Cassidy family of Travellers - well worth a listen. Two American albums, of Ray Hicks and Richard Chase telling 'Jack Tales' are worth searching out.
In the eighties we compiled a cassette for the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library entitled '....And That's My Story' consisting of Traditional stories from field recordings from England Ireland Scotland and Wales. The English ones tended to be short local yarns and the Welsh were trade tales from the miners, but all the British tales are transferable, wherever you are from (Northerener - I assume that's the North of England?). There's a great tale on the cassette from a Lancashire man, Jack Oakes, about a kicking match.
I suggest that you get hold of as many recordings of traditional storytellers as you can and listen to how they did it - they spent a lifetime at it. Don't be committed to their - or anybody's style but your own, but at least give them all a listen.
Please try to avoid the twee, 'are you sitting comfortably' technique of talking down to an audience that was adopted by the storytelling revival in Britain - storytelling was very much an adult pastime.
Good luck,
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: GUEST,Northerner
Date: 23 Feb 07 - 11:21 AM

Hi all!!

Thank you for all of your comments!!!

I feel more comfortable about my storytelling following my floor spot last night. I opted for just one song instead of a story as there was a hot spot later in the evening so I thought short material was better. MC introduced me as the storyteller, whereupon I duly explained that I wasn't doing a story that night. There was a big AW! from the crowd, disappointed. Said I was going to do a chorus song instead and they all went AH! So, it's only some individuals who aren't keen on stories. Had a word with the club organiser and he said to continue wth the stories - he's very keen on my doing them - and to just ignore the gentleman's comments.

I'll try and reply to some of the comments - apologies if I don't reply to everyone individually.

Bernard - I try to get the age thing right, but am probably not perfect at it yet. I do try to get the length right but probably do sound too long sometimes - mainly because audiences aren't used to stories I think. I aim for 5-10 minutes so that I will fit into a floor spot. Am probably nearer 10 minutes with many of the stories now. I do try to time them so that I don't run over a slot.

WYSIWYG - I have done several sessions as volunteer at a local school, and the children loved them!! I have more voluntary work waiting for me to do. I haven't really done a bad session anywhere - it's just a case of a few individuals finding stories hard to get into
. This is still something that I need to resolve but everything else is very encouraging. I had really got feedback from the workshops that I've just done.

Thank you katlaughing. Mixing genres really interests me. One of the masterclasses I've just attended was specifically on intertwining song and story.

Hi Mr Red!! I don't use paper at all. I make a point of including humour and try to make them entertaining. I have personalised a story on occasion. I try to keep to 5-10 minutes.

Thank you Bee. Yes, most of that is pretty much what I would go along with. Thank you for the story.

Hi Ray!!! Not sure if I'll get to all of Saltburn this year as there is a workshop that interests me. Hope to make it for Sunday though. Am already booked into my B & B for Whitby though - hope to see you there!!

Hi The Villan! Thanks for the story!

Hi bubblyrat!! Not sure if I'll manage Sidmouth. I know Taffy though - I am hoping that he will be mentoring me.

Hi eanjay!! I never, ever read a story. At a local event recently an actor was reading two stories to the children. It was a complete switch-off.

Jim Lad - libraries won't use me as a volunteer - in spite of my being professionally trained as a librarian. However, I do intend to approach them for paid work eventually.

Thank you Jim Carroll. I make a point of going to see good storytellers at various festivals. I am being supported by Stanley Robertson.

Thank you mg. That's an interesting viewpoint and it may be behind some resistance that I meet. Personally I'm all for diversity in an evening's entertainment. I do sing so it's only a lack of time in floor spots that prevents me from doing both in the same evening. I do hope to start a storytelling circle in the area eventually. I generally only tell a story once a month at a club so I don't think that's excessive. I also had a time at a club where it was normal to have stories told occasionally - I used to live in Aberdeen and hear Stanley Robertson performing there. I'm actually quite passionate about integrating genres.

Hi burl!! Thanks for the info on the magazine.

Thank you all. I have some food for thought!! I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: Bert
Date: 23 Feb 07 - 11:47 AM

Here's the Mudcat Story page.

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 23 Feb 07 - 02:26 PM

The most amazing story teller I ever heard was Bert Lloyd. His stories were long, rambling and discursive - but never boring (in fact he had you hanging on every word). They were also slyly humorous - just teetering on the edge of being dirty jokes but never quite getting there. They also had a mysterious edge, hinting at things which were never really made explicit. Above all he never spoke down to his audience.

I have heard some private recordings of Bert's stories, made in folk clubs, but, sadly, I'm fairly certain that no commercial recordings exist.

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: GUEST,Northerner
Date: 24 Feb 07 - 06:47 AM

Thank you both. Bert, I'll have a potter through that page. Shimrod, I've seen Bert Lloyd perform but can't remember him telling a story. I expect he did tell though. It's such a shame that stories have died out so much in many places.

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 24 Feb 07 - 06:54 AM

You are right - it is a shame that stories have died out so much in many places. It isn't easy to be a good storyteller but when you do get a good one you are mesmerized by what they are saying and it's like a good song you can listen to a good story, properly told, time and again and still enjoy it.

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: GUEST,me
Date: 03 May 07 - 05:36 AM

this this e story habout im!!!!!!


the big fothermucker is in he thouse

!

e thend

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: Crowdercref
Date: 03 May 07 - 06:27 PM

Dear Northerner, I recommend you join the Society for Storytelling. They provide a good directory of venues, contact with like minded souls, and a good message board/forum.

I live in a part of the world with no story circle or club. I average a storytelling performace every week, but usually to a non folk-arts audience.

Folk music clubs have different characters and different reactions to storytelling. My own experience is that they are less tolerant of inexperienced tellers than of inexperienced singers or instrumentalists. Also I have met club members that would not tolerate telling on principle and are quite rude. You usually have to stick to short and unsubtle tales, which doesn't really help expand the repertoire or technique.

The reason Storytelling Festivals such as FATE and Beyond the Border flourish is because of the slow and limited acceptance of storytelling at folk festivals and clubs. Don't expect logic. Storytelling at Sidmouth has made money in recent years and the net result has been a steady erosion of that element of the festival.

Taffy is a fine person to learn from. But he is one of many good tellers around now. Try Hugh Lupton, Ben Haggerty, Daniel Morden, Nick Hennessey, Jamie Crawford, even yours truly. We are all different, so are you.

Best Wishes

Crowdercref

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: Jack Campin
Date: 03 May 07 - 07:01 PM

Northerner occasionally makes it up to Edinburgh, so she ought to look up what's on at the Scottish Storytelling Centre and the Guid Crack Club.

The Scottish Storytelling Centre has got a *phenomenal* amount of money from somewhere. As a friend of mine put it, "I'm working on a story which will begin

- Once upon a time there were a lot of little Scottish Arts Council grants..."

I have fairly limited tolerance for people in funny clothes talking pseudo-mediaeval cliches in squeaky slowed-down voices. I have worked out how to find the good stuff by now, but the storytelling scene has no more quality control than the folk singaround culture.

Ewan MacVicar is well worth a listen any time.

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: vectis
Date: 03 May 07 - 07:34 PM

There is a wonderful storyteller in the Reading area who tells at folk clubs and at singarounds in festivals.
She knows them all off by heart and has got them down to, at most, the time of two not-too-long songs.
Sadly there are too many poor storytellers in the folk world and they don't seem to realise just how much of a turn off they are.

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: GUEST,Mark Gregory
Date: 17 Dec 07 - 11:19 PM

I recorded one of Bert Lloyd's stories at a concert in the Singers Club in London and have now put that online on the Australian Folk Songs website as a part of a Bert Lloyd centenary celebration.

It's a twelve and half minute story called 'Hold On Hamilton" and you can listen online at

http://folkstream.com/reviews/lloyd/centenary.html

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: the lemonade lady
Date: 18 Dec 07 - 10:53 AM

You'll have to be in very good contact with your audience to keep their attention away from the bar/loo!

Sal

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: Dan Keding
Date: 18 Dec 07 - 12:38 PM

Neighbors,

If you are trying to tell stories in folk clubs then my advice is to start with short, humorous material. This will introduce the audience to both you as a performer and storytelling as a performance art. After you have told at a particular club for a while you will have built up an audience that will want to hear stories as well as you telling them. Then you can begin to introduce longer more serious or thoughtful tales.

There are two books that come to mind by Margaret Read MacDonald called "Three Minute Tales" and "Five Minute Tales." Forty or more stories per book and all time tested and true.

As you learn your art expand and challenge both yourself and your audience. If you always give them short and funny eventually they'll tire of it. If you treat an audience like five year olds they'll respond like five year olds - I know I do!!

Gain your local audiences confidence and then begin to introduce them to the beauty of longer more intricate stories. Learn tales from your own area - folks like to hear about the ghost that haunts a house down the street more than the one in London.

Attend as many storytelling events as you can and listen to other tellers - Hugh Lupton, Taffy Thomas, Amy Douglas, Helen East, Shonaleigh, Ben Haggerty, Mike Rust, etc. Study their styles and watch as they work with the audience to create the story in each person's imagination. Go to festivals and sign up for the open mike session. Tell at every opportunity. Volunteer at a local school to tell stories two or three times a year for a particular class - this way you can try out your new stories and the children can give you feed back.

Listen as people talk and hear their words, their inflections, their accents, their rhythm, their vocabulary. Don't copy but integrate.

Once you get it all together you can hold any audience of any size in any venue with a story.

Take care,

Dan

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: Northerner
Date: 20 Dec 07 - 11:02 AM

Thank you Dan. That sounds like pretty good advice. My local clubs are gradually getting more used to me, and the last story I told at a local club went down very well indeed. It was more adult and more thoughtful in tone.

During the last year I have been on a number of workshops, and attended a number of festivals to learn from top performers. Also busied myself getting up at as many open mike sessions as I could find. Was always very well received.

Good news is that I now have got a booking! I will be a guest peformer next year at Whitby Folk Week, where I saw Dan perform a few years ago.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: Mo the caller
Date: 20 Dec 07 - 04:50 PM

Well done, let us know when and where we can hear you (mind you it will clash, or be 20mins walk away from something that finishes 5mins earlier - ot always is at Whitby)

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: Dan Keding
Date: 21 Dec 07 - 10:12 AM

Great news - I wish I could be there to see you at Whitby.
I have many great memories of listening to incredible stories in the sessions at Whitby.

I'm hoping to get over in the next year or so and visit all my friends in England and maybe tell a tale or two. Its been a year since I've been over and it already feels too long.

Take care and good luck with your storytelling,

Dan

Subject: RE: Storytelling at folk clubs
From: Northerner
Date: 21 Dec 07 - 10:44 AM

Thank you both.   Nearer the time I'll try and post details of where I will be telling.

I'm vexed you never got a chance to hear me tell Dan. I went to your storyround in Whitby in 2005, Dan, but I had only just started telling. My repertoire consisted of just one story!!! I told it in Stanley's storyround on the Monday but felt totally exhausted by my telling. It was only the second time I'd told a story! I was too tired, stressed and nervous to tell it in your storyround. I told the story again in Taffy's storyround at the end of the week. I was fine telling my story to Stanley because I already knew him, having lived in Aberdeen earlier in my life. Telling my story to Taffy was a different matter. I was totally in awe of him; when I looked down I could see my knees were knocking together!!! I would say this was the hardest telling I have ever done or am likely to ever do. I've been to some of Taffy's festivals in the Lake Dsitrict now and have got to know him a little. He and his wife are very supportive of my storytelling. As for Stanley, he is now teaching me some of his stories.

I hope I will have the opportunity of telling you a story some time in the future, when you make a return visit here, Dan. I enjoyed your stories and look forward to seeing you again. Thank you for your interest.