[Ansteorra] why bardic at feast?
Ld.blackmoon
ld.blackmoon at cox.net
Thu Mar 24 16:11:00 PDT 2011
greetings
I see the issue as part of a cycle, when I started in the early 80s you had
bards going from camp to camp, wolfstar blowing horns all night, and rolling
thunder drumming all night,then the wolves had pups and turned grey ,the
bards concentrated on competitions,and the drummers drifted into middle
eastern drumming .
and a lot of the older bards that used to do camp rounds at night , before
stumbling to bed, now " camp " at the nearest hotel / motel, and leave right
after court .
so in the recent past I've heard a few howls from the younger wolves,bardic
at competitions, and haflas every where you look.
will bardic circles, and touring bards going camp to camp come around again?
only if the bards " make it so " I know uriah still makes bardic camp
rounds when he's up to it, do others ? if health prevents touring camp to
camp are bards making their own camps a bardic friendly area ? and making it
known to others ?
it's been over a year since I saw a bardic camp site, with bards and
populace drifting in and out as well as just sitting telling stories, and
singing songs.
( thanx papa bear: ), and chemin noir had a wonderful , perform around the
bonfire bardic that lasted until almost daylight ( that was a blast ; )
is this some evil plot ? no, just a normal cycle of change, only the bards
can , if they choose to do so, bring back camp bardic, and the traveling
minstrel.
on bardic at feast , aside from the many stories , of not being able to
hear, being told to shut up,etc.
I overheard someone saying that while court was for recognizing others fine
works, feast was more of a " me " time, after working or competing all day
long , I finally get a chance to sit among friends ( both old and new ) that
I haven't gotten to see in a long time, or before, relax, chat ,enjoy a good
meal ,good friends,and contemplate the day , before starting again to work
to make the event great, or going to court to see who the crown may favor
with what award for their good works, and the parties that follow.
so to have a bard stand up in the middle of feast and start a performance
that I cant hear,appreciate,or really want to hear at that time, makes many
people feel as if the bard is feeling insecure and grandstanding to a
captive audience, to make themselves feel better .while I don't believe this
is always the case,enough of the populace may .
the quality and quantity of the food, as well as the servers, and the
populace are always what make a feast,and sometimes an event memorable and
defining.
for either good or ill : (
the best method I have ever seen for teaching novices, is to live the
lesson, how can I expect those that look up to me to be chivalrous,hard
working, honest,etc. if I am not showing those very virtues?
if I do as I please, and ignore the crowns, or their chosen landeds, then
that is what I teach those that look up to me , is the proper attitude to
have.
if I bow to the thrones whether or not they are occupied, fulfill the duties
and obligations of the awards I already have, and keep trying to make the
sca a better place,and fulfill offices , because it needs done, then I am
teaching those that look up to me , that no matter what my " rank ",
I am still duty and honor bound to behave in a certain way.
so history is rarely lost,but often changed .
just my opinion, your mileage may vary
Be Safe , Be Happy, Have Fun .
Arthur
----- Original Message -----
From: <willowdewisp at juno.com>
To: <ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2011 3:27 PM
Subject: [Ansteorra] why bardic at feast?
Here is something to talk about it. As you know over the years i have thrown
out ideas just to start conversation. This is something I think is real.
Over the years I have watch the essence of Ansteorra be smothered by the SCA
the club and the sca the life style and I believe that this is a great lost.
I want to believe in Ansteorra the Kingdom but to do so we need to remember
our history and the ancient history that we are based on. I think the
destruction of the Queen's Bards and the general move from the values of the
Bards to simple performances and performing only for contests broken the
lines to our old history. If my heart gives out or a train runs over some of
our older storytellers you will loose all your history.
I saw a special were the "last" true senchie of Ireland was interviewed and
toward the end the man, speaking in Gaelic, started to cry and said "when I
die the old Heroes will truly be dead because they only live in the spoken
word."
OK, here is my points. Please talk about it pro and con. I am willing to be
told that you don't like the concept, but please explain..I obviously don't
understand some people's stand.
willow
Why Bardic at Feast? by Duchess Willow de Wisp<?xml:namespace prefix = o
ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
The oblivious reason to have Performances at feast is for entertainment. If
you are recreating the atmosphere of the Medieval or Renaissance world and
you are having any kind of special meal or festival some kind of
entertainment was there.
For a long time I have been arguing that we needed entertainment at feast
for that reason, but I just realized that my real reason is not
entertainment. It is something else.
As a senachie we have the duty of telling history tales and praise the
Heroes. We are supposed to keep the old Heroes and the New Heroes alive in
the minds of the community and we are supposed to tell tales that stress the
values of the community. The Bard is also supposed to do this, but they are
doing it with the nobler art forms like Poetry and they do it for the great
lords. The storyteller is supposed to travel to the little fires and engage
people in the history and values of the group.
As a senachie I would wander and tell my stories at camps and little revels
and other get togethers, but with changes of life style we are not having
the little period revels or the kind of campsites that care about welcoming
a storyteller. In fact, the only time the whole community of some groups
gets to together is at Court and Feast.
While some kind of “theater” is good at court, like a messenger coming in
and announcing a force coming over the border or a well done peerage
ceremony; most of the time the people just want it to be over and truly
resent any kind of entertainment.
That leaves us Feast. This is the only time the whole community is together
and it very important that our current “Heroes “be rewarded in a social
situation. One of the main differences of our group and role-playing games
is that we do real things and we get a chance to interact with real people
and we can shine in their eyes.
You can get a piece of paper in court and that is great, but to hear a Bard
do a poem about you or someone sing a sing about your adventures that really
goes to the heart. Our new people hear these things and are inspired to be
like that person and our longer tenure members are energized to do feats of
their own.
Also it is at gatherings of all or most of our members that we rekindled the
magic of being in our group, our Barony and our Kingdom. A good praise piece
or rousing song honoring us is needed to keep the Dream alive. If the piece
is good people feel that our kingdom and our groups are real and get that
special magically tingle. It is this magic that makes all our work
worthwhile and binds us together into a community.
The third serious reason we should promote pieces at Feast is the need to
educate. Learning about the medieval times is a common thread that binds us
together and is often the start of conversations and friendships in the
SCA.. Many of us have gone to classes most of our lives and find them
boring. Many of our new people just don’t know how to start. When we hear a
song or a performance that gives a little piece of history or legend it
often gives us a place to start our research. Educational pieces expand
people’s knowledge and start people talking and that unite our communities
even more because it mixes the older and newer people in sharing
information.
As you I am talking about prepared pieces for a Feast. I am not in favor in
open performances. I believe the Crown, the B&B and the Autocrats of the
Event should seek out people who can provide one of these three things.
These performers should be as good as you can find. One to three pieces of
not being more than 4 minute in length and they should be during the first
two coerces or just before the meal is served. They will define the feast as
a period activity and if chosen correctly bring the community together,
defined our values by giving word fame to people who live to our values, and
give people insights into the history and cultures we are studying.
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