[Ansteorra] Court suggestion

Reihla at aol.com Reihla at aol.com
Thu Jul 3 20:53:28 PDT 2003


> Susan said:
> Have more courts.  The only hang up is that your friends get an 
> award you wanted to be there for and they got it in the morning and 
> you expected it in the evening, but spreading the awards out through 
> the day keeps each court to a shorter time frame.

I agree with this for the most part.  Court is court, wherever and whenever 
it is called.  The King's business can happen at any time of the night or day.  
I think giving awards in the morning is a good thing, especially to folk who 
typically only day-trip to events.  As you said, though, there are drawbacks.  
It is amazing how many people you can offend by giving an award at the wrong 
time or at the wrong event.  

You wouldn't think you could offend someone or hurt their feelings by giving 
them recognition, but I remember at least a dozen times a morning court 
recipient claimed to feel "cheated because their award didn't rate a slot in evening 
court."  I'll never forget the fuss that was raised by a "drive-by" court.  
The nobility made a special pilgrimage to that person's camp to award them 
their AoA (the current Crown had already set the precedent for this).  They were 
completely surprised to be dressed down by the individual's spouse for treating 
that person's award as sub-standard to those who were recognized in evening 
court.  I remembered that scene well and how much it hurt all involved.  Though 
I don't believe the response was typical, drive-by courts were rare during my 
stint as a noble.

The bottom line is, there is no way to please everyone.  Without fail, the 
decision about who to recognize in morning vs. evening court continues to be 
made by a last minute look around to see "who is here that we have recognition 
for."  I've never seen it be a personal issue, or based on whose recognition was 
more important.    

As for the whole sound issue, I'm afraid I've always been a very soft spoken 
person and that trait probably spilled over into my courts.  I think, though, 
that there are lots of drawbacks to trying to run a full sound system.  Maybe 
the exception could be made for huge halls like Canton and Ennis, but the 
truth is most court areas are sufficiently small that a few theater tricks and a 
polite, attentive populace can solve the hearing problem.  For the nobility and 
Crown, remember to breathe often and speak loudly.  Try to make your voice 
reach the person sitting at the very back of the court area.  It works extremely 
well for amateur theater;  I have to think it would at least help in the SCA. 
 If not, then perhaps the court herald (who should be trained in how to 
project) could repeat the specifics of the item of business being done for the 
benefit of the back row.   

The populace talking during court?  I'd like to offer a suggestion to solve 
this, but the truth is nothing I've ever seen tried has worked with any degree 
of consistency.  People will be rude and that's all there is to it.  And yes, 
I realize I've probably been guilty of it a time or three.

I'm a lighting person, BTW.  I'd like theatrical lighting for court and lots 
of it - I'd even run a carbon-arc spotlight if the opportunity presents.  The 
mundanity, heat and cost are serious drawbacks, though, so I'm willing to 
settle for torches or unobtrusive ceiling lights. 

Kat  >^.,.^<
(currently enjoying retirement with frequent lounges in my hammock and a pina 
colada for each hand :-) 



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