[Ansteorra] Start/end of Period

[Michael Silverhands]

On Sep 21, 2006, at 2:57 PM, James Crouchet wrote:
> I think the big tent has served us well and made us the 800 lb gorilla
> of historical organizations. We do need a limit but I think our  
> focus on
> history (rather than fantasy, fiction or Sci Fi) is a good limit.
>
> Christian Doré

...even though that's a pretty "soft focus" more often than not. Many  
in academia would call us a "pseudo-historical" organization, with  
strong elements of fantasy, fiction, and "prove it isn't historical"[1].

Still, I agree with you: among most re-enactment groups, we are the  
largest -- probably *because* we don't stress perfectly authentic re- 
enactment as much as we stress having a good time, making at least a  
modest effort towards authenticity, and for the most part letting  
each other "live and let live".

Michael Silverhands

[1] That's the antithesis of academic thinking, since of course you  
can't prove a negative. That's like saying "Prove there isn't any  
such thing as Elves." (I had first typed Elvis, but that's pretty  
much the same problem. *grin*) You could do a pretty fair job of  
searching the world and cataloging everything you found, but if you  
found no Elves (or Elvis) it could be argued that you just didn't  
look thoroughly enough.

A more real and personal example: I could play modern jazz and defy  
anyone to prove me wrong. There's hardly any documentation of what  
music actually was or wasn't during our period of study. Most of what  
survives, comes from "stuffy" monks and a few "uptight" court  
musicians... certainly nothing from "hip" street musicians. So who  
knows?

But there *is* some evidence of music which has survived, and *none*  
of it includes *anything* even vaguely like modern jazz[2]. Instead,  
there's a logical progression and evolution of music from one age to  
another, until finally we arrive at the "jazz age" within the last  
century or so. If you want to be accepted as "historical", you'd have  
a much better chance staying with that progression than jumping  
outside of it just because you like the sound of it, and daring  
anyone to "prove" you wrong.

But I'm starting to sound like one of those stuffy Laurels, so I'll  
stop now. :-P

[2] Well, ok, there certainly *had* to be improvisation... most  
period musicians were probably illiterate and probably had to "make  
stuff up" on a regular basis... and that's "vaguely like modern  
jazz". But "improvisation within an Aolian mode and with no 'blue'  
notes" (for example) is *not* the same thing as "playing like Charlie  
Parker". At least, not most of the time. :-P