Editing Filk music (section)

==Etymology and definitions==
The term "filk" (originally a [[typographical error]]) predates 1955.<ref name = "Coppa in Hellekson and Busse">{{Cite book
  | first = Francesca | last = Coppa |author-link=Francesca Coppa
  | editor-last = Hellekson | editor-first = Karen |editor-link1=Karen Hellekson
  | editor2-last = Busse | editor2-first = Kristina |editor-link2=Kristina Busse
  | contribution = A Brief History of Media Fandom
  | title = Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet
  | year = 2006 | pages = 41–59 | place = Jefferson, North Carolina
  | publisher = [[McFarland & Company]] | isbn = 978-0-7864-2640-9
  }}
</ref> (See also [[Filk music#History|below]].)

Interfilk, a charity registered in California to "[promote] cultural exchange through filk music",<ref name="Interfilk, about">{{cite web |title=About Interfilk |url=https://interfilk.org/?page_id=10 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170721024744/https://interfilk.org/?page_id=10 |archive-date=21 July 2017 |website=Interfilk |access-date=28 January 2023}}</ref> offered multiple sources of definitions, without summary, for filk music {{circa|2002|2012}},<ref name="Interfilk, 2002">{{cite web |title=What is filk? |url=http://www.interfilk.org:80/interfilk/filk.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020811062846/http://www.interfilk.org:80/interfilk/filk.htm |archive-date=11 August 2002 |website=Interfilk |access-date=28 January 2023}}</ref> but since relies almost entirely on an article by [[Jordin Kare]] titled "Filk Music", originally published by ''[[Sing Out!]]'' magazine, for their definition. Kare quotes Nick Smith of the Los Angeles Filkharmonics as stating:<ref name="interfilk, 2018">{{cite web |title=What is filk? |url=https://interfilk.org/?page_id=478 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831193723/https://interfilk.org/?page_id=478 |archive-date=31 August 2018 |website=Interfilk |first=Jordin |last=Kare |author-link=Jordin Kare |access-date=28 January 2023}}</ref><blockquote>It is a mixture of song parodies and original music, humorous and serious, about subjects like science fiction, fantasy, computers, cats, politics, the space program, books, movies, TV shows, love, war, death...</blockquote> and summarizes that "almost anything goes at a filksing".<ref name="interfilk, 2018"/>

Filk has been defined as what is sung or performed by the network of people who originally gathered to sing at [[science fiction conventions|science fiction or fantasy conventions]].<ref>"The Definition of Filk"  [song title], Mark Mandel, ''Consonance 2003 Songbook'', p. 9</ref>

Another definition focuses on filking as a community of those who are interested in filk music and who form part of the social network self-identified with filking. As described later in this article, the origins of filk in science fiction conventions and its current organization emphasizes the social-network aspect of filking. The social aspect of filk as contrasted with the "performer vs. audience" dichotomy of much of modern music was described in a speech by [[ethnomusicology |ethnomusicologist]] [[Barry and Sally Childs-Helton|Sally Childs-Helton]].<ref>{{cite web| url= https://filkontario.ca/filkhalloffame/fhof-this-is-my-tribe/| title= Filk Hall of Fame: This Is My Tribe| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110416044503/http://www.filkontario.ca/hof/hoftribe.html| archive-date= 16 April 2011}}</ref>