Bards - newsletter??

[Mike C. Baker]

-- Original Message -- From: "kyleena of the rom"
<kyleena_of_the_rom at hotmail.com>
<SNIP>
>    I would like to ask the bards of this list:  What information they
would
> recommend to an incipient shire for indoctrinating new bards?

Study, practice, perform -- and listen always.  A Bard of the ancient
original
type was always a student, always a teacher -- and a whole heck of a lot
more.
Coming to Westgate Collegium? I'll be speaking more about general "real
world" history in the class I'm presenting on "What *IS* A Bard?"

The most critical point I would make to any beginning performer in the SCA
is that they should concentrate first upon what they already know how to do
reasonably well, be it song, poem, or story.  Starting from complete
scratch?
Reading poetry from a period source, and then moving into memorization,
usually goes over fairly well.  Begin composing your own works as the mood
strikes -- don't worry so much about the chosen style, get the concepts down
and tell it as prose if a period poetic form eludes your grasp...

>    Also, I would like to compile a series of articles about bardic styles.
> Since each nationality has certain tendencies and characteristics that
they
> follow in their story telling etc.  (They tend towards certain types of
> materials too.)  If anyone has spent a great deal of time learning
specifics
> for your particular nationality, and you would like to share them- as well
> as any documentation- I ,for one, would love to help pass it on.
>    If there is any interest on the list, I can contribute an article on
> Gypsy story styles/techniques.....

As far as "national" (better phrased as "cultural", IMHO) styles and
materials
for storytelling, there are some good resources out there which make for
good
study / reading material. Russian is fairly easy.  Borrowing a (paraphrased)
line
from a class once given by a certain senachie in our midst: every culture
has
their signature way of telling a story, particularly in the style of
introductions
and recurring lines or scene-setting conventions.  For example, the Brothers
Grimm
may have recorded it in words translated to English as "Once upon a
time...", but
nearly every story-telling style includes some semi-formal throwaway
introduction
to gain the attention of the rubes grubbing dirt out of their ears.

I'm still learning about styles.  I know what typically works for me, but I
fear that it
is an amalgam of many different sources that has been applied to the tales I
offer.
"I'll get better, I know I will."

>    You know,perhaps, our bardic newsletter is extraneous.  If articles are
> sent here, they can be down loaded and passed around anywhere at no
expense
> to a central agency.  Or better still, if your magazine creates nothing
more
> than a menu of articles donated and stored in your files, then they can be
> forwarded through email upon request.

But it's so _hard_ to snuggle up in bed with a VDT... <gryn>

>    People who do not have a computer can get access to email at their
local
> libraries. (I am barely computer literate,myself, but I have done this
until
> recently. The public libraries even have free classes on computer research
> techniques too....) Hard copy is usually $.10 a page, or individuals can
> link up with a friend and copy materials at their house.  OR articles can
be
> read and deleted or saved on their email....
>    If nothing else, it is something else to think about.....

Kyleena, the concept of having these materials available online
is a good one.  If you haven't tracked it down yet, I would recommend
"The Black Book of Locksley" in just such form.  The ability to search
text files is wondrous indeed. BUT: ya still need hardcopy for when the
power cord just won't reach, or for final editing for some of us who
can't trust our programs to put things where we told them to go.

Mike C. Baker
SCA: al-Sayyid Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri al-Amra
"Other": Reverend Kihe Blackeagle PULC
              (the DreamSinger Bard)
Opinions? I'm FULL of 'em



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