Fw: Re: Bards - history of college involvement in competitions

[kyleena of the rom]

Greetings Willow from Kyleena,

   Thankyou for the history.  It certainly does bring things up to date. As 
for my opinion...hmmm. Two things come to mind.
  The first is that the bardic arts are not recognized as being important to 
the society.  When shires start out, they rush about to learn fighting and 
costume and basic organizational skills.  There are requirements to be met 
for kingdom to promote and recognize them.  It is not until much,much later 
that people who entertain are usually acknowledged, much less trained. They 
fend for themselves by happenstance unless they come across someone who is 
experienced and dedicated to the art.
   At events, I have seen bardic competions completely deleted before-or 
cancelled during- an event for lack of interest or time.  How many quality 
fighters would we have if this was the field that they performed on? Our new 
bards are not sought out and nurtured by kingdom.
   The second is that there is no "bardic office" at local levels. To my 
knowledge, the titled bard of each group is nothing more than someone who 
has won a title for the year. He/she does not even have to be from that 
area. So often, aspiring bards from little places do not even have access to 
him/her. He/she is charged to hold the next competition (and has a year to 
figure that out--like you said).  I have seen some of them bring much honor 
to this title I respect them greatly for it.  But our society, more and more 
has not even been educated to give them the respect of silence when they 
perform.  I have even seen kings who "did not want to be held hostage" at 
feasts to a performance, and I have looked up from a conversation (I sit at 
the back of the rooms at court--easier to flee if I have to..) to realize 
that there are performers before the crown hard at it--no announcement to 
the audience--hense no respect or even acknowledgement.  Since this is 
acceptable to Crowns, it is a good example of how populace should behave.  
(And yes, I know how period this behavior is. I can document it, but I 
thought that the Camelot concept was what set us apart/above other 
organizations.)  --easy for me to say,I'm sure, but it is the only reason 
that I can't be driven away.
   So first we have no voice, and then no teeth, that we survive at all is a 
credit to the individuals themselves, because they provide us with our 
history, our dreams, and our values at local levels. Idle hands make for the 
devil's work. The same can be said for places without entertainment and 
inspiration....
  If the College wants to be a political go between between what we need or 
what the powers-that-be  envision us to be, then that could prove really 
helpful. Each kingdom's bards should be their homefront defense against the 
loss of ideals and values.  The opening of this website can help close up 
any other gaps.  (Hard copy can be made available through us for those who 
don't know it exists....)
   As for competitions, perhaps the college could provide all the Ministers 
of A&S with needed information for bardic 101. It is the duty of this 
officer to provide such things, but it is easier and more likely that they 
would do so if they have access to it.  Even the history of the bardic 
college can help a new bard to realize the complexity of the situation. That 
also works within the existing order of things, but I think that there 
should be a local bardic officer for these things though I doubt that will 
ever happen.
   So much for my thoughts on the subject. Now I will respectfully apologize 
if I've inadvertantly offended anyone....and I will,yet again, step down 
from the soapbox. Thankyou for asking my opinion, Dutchess, though I am sure 
that it is probably chocked full of redundancies-as better people than I 
have most likely addressed this subject many,many times.

         Til next time, may you travel safely and surely onwards,
                 L. Kyleena of the Rom


>From: jonwillowpel at juno.com
>Reply-To: bards at ansteorra.org
>To: bards at ansteorra.org
>Subject: Fw: Re: Bards - history of college involvement in competitions
>Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2000 17:22:58 -0800
>
>
>Dear Lady Kyleena
>
>I am going to answer this because I was in charge for part of this
>history.
>Willow
>
>The College of Bards has gone through many changes and many different
>names. The College under the name "Royal College of Bards" did not give
>any help to people having competitions except for the advice and aid of
>the premier bards. This wasn't too bad because the Premier Bards are a
>great source of knowledge and wisdom all by themselves. The some of the
>problems that led to the "Royal College of Bard" had a lot to do with
>competition so the "Royal College" was under orders not to get involved
>in completions.
>The "Old Queen's Bards" got started in the North while we were a
>principality and the northern version didn't do title competitions. In
>Lloyd's first reign the Queen's Bards and The Southern College of Bards
>got blended. The Southern College wanted to hold competitions for
>"chairs" and that is how the title bard competitions came into being.
>A lot of the bards at that time were upset at how bardic competitions
>were being held. Many of them believed that skill had no part in winning.
>The nobles were giving the prizes to their friends or to newcomers or
>they were giving them as " that a boys". It was decide at that time that
>we would start a system of contest all over the kingdom and run them the
>way we the bards wanted them. The "Old Queen's Bards" provided judging
>form and "How to " papers and would arranged for judges. In fact no title
>competition was considered "official" unless it was put on by the
>College. This started out OK but soon problems arose. The local nobles
>and officers complained that we were forcing them to had these
>competitions and we didn't have the right to control them. Many of the
>Bards thought that the competitions were detrimental and we shouldn't do
>them. The conflict rose to a peak and in the 20th year of the SCA the
>"Queen's College of Bards" went out of the competition business.  The
>local groups took over the control of their local competitions.  I
>stopped being the principal of the Bardic College at this time  and took
>a break in my involvement. I am not sure what the policies were then but
>I do know that the problems didn't stop. Whenever the local groups did
>something wrong with their competitions the people involved blamed the
>College. Whenever a performer behaved in a bad way or the contest caused
>problems people looked to the college to correct the situation. When the
>college didn't do anything they complained to the crown. No matter what
>the officials of the college did people still thought we were still
>running the competitions and thought we had control over them. The
>rewrite of the Charter and creation of the "Royal College of Bards"  was
>partly over the need to clear this problem up once and for all. We tried
>to tell people that we were not creating the problems but they wouldn't
>believe it. In the last period between Sutan's reign and Barn's the
>Bardic College officially became just the Premier Bard and during that
>time people have come to the understanding that the source of their
>problems is not the Bardic College.
>
>I do believe that there is a need for resources involving competitions.
>Many a performer wins a title competition and than finds himself running
>the next competition. They don't know what to do or how to get judges.
>They don't realize that there are different styles of competitions and
>what each promote. They need information. I think it would be a good idea
>to gather data and create some resources but I think we need to very
>careful not to fall into the old competition trap.
>
>What do you all think?
>
>Willow de Wisp
>
>
>
>
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