Bards - New Bard hazing...

[John Ruble]

Lady Kyleena asked:
>    I would like to ask the bards of this list:  What information they
would
> recommend to an incipient shire for indoctrinating new bards?

I assume you mean something more than hazing here. *grin*

Bards are like cheerios - they tend to clump together.  You can even force
one of them away from the group with a spoon, but he'll go right back to the
group as soon as your backs turned.  Rather than fight this, embrace it.
Take advantage of it.  Hold a bardic circle and trap them.

Seriously, a newer group could hold an impromptu circle in someone's
backyard, telling them they have to do pieces with a color in them
somewhere.  This is a pretty simple themed event, but they won't realize it.
You can even turn these into competitions by giving them a target: "Whoever
has the most colors in their song, wins!", and giving them the "Award of the
Large Rusty Washer Found in Your Driveway Moments Ago". It really doesn't
matter, as long as it is for fun.

For ongoing encouragement, give them a contest like "find a medieval song in
Latin that contains an otter."  Now they go off doing a bit of research and
learning a few new pieces. Or "write a sonnet like a Viking would have."

Most importantly, if someone creates a Really Good Piece, put your own P.R.
efforts behind it.  It encourages your bards, reflects well on your shire,
and entertains everyone.  They may clump together, but the whole clump will
fly off elsewhere if they do not have a comfy place to sit and something to
drink/nosh on.

And you can always get them to bring copies of music to exchange.  I
remember the first bard book I received, a copy of a copy of a copy.  And I
sang out of that thing for years.


>    Also, I would like to compile a series of articles about bardic styles.

I'll try to remember to post something about Norse skaldic style soon.  But
it's way past my bedtime and I am spending too much time hitting the
backspace key to fix my typos.

I hope this helps some.

Ulf Gunnarsson,
Premier Bard of Ansteorra,
Companion of the Sable Pepperoni on Namron,
Slayer of Very Small Snakes,
Opener of Tight Bottles


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