Bards - What the college can do

John Ruble ulfie at swbell.net
Thu Jan 27 21:08:15 PST 2000


Greetings to Lady Kyleena and the List in general.

The College of Bards, as Duchess Willow has already explained, is not a set,
ancient body of wise individuals guiding the kingdom through the dark ages
and preserving the history of the heroes and fools.  Instead, we are a bunch
of heroes and fools, making wisecracks about the dark ages, and getting
ancient in our individualism.

The term "college" should really be "collage", at least by the way we play
this: a mix-matched gathering of bards. We are not a teaching body, but we
have teachers.  We are not a political body, but we have politicians.  We
aren't even a body of good performers, but we have a few.  The Bardic
College is more a spirit thing than a structure thing.

So, no, we don't have a recommended set of procedures for a bardic
competition, or a list of recommended songs.  And I have to say it is for
the better.  I would *love* to have a body of bards that *were* political
manueverers, sending out the music of *my* choice and teaching people what
*I* wanted them taught.  But I would never trust such an organization in
anyone else's hands, and probably not even in my own.

Instead, we take the opposite position.  Bards have no power but what their
own words earn them, no respect but what the people grant them, and no songs
to sing but what their people ask for or they themselves discover.

But bards meet.  Bards exchange ideas and songs.  Bards create a mythos for
our Society to play within, and bards control part of its shaping and
growth.  Light a campfire and bards will come, because That's What We Do.

If you want a list of recommended songs, don't ask the Bardic College,
because it cannot tell you.  It is a sheltering framework, nothing more.
Instead, send your question to the bards of the College instead, such as
here on this list, or at that campfire, or wherever you see them.  Bards
love competition; it makes them look good. :) Most bards I know are willing
to share all but their newest pieces with anyone that asks.

And as for competitions, ask instead what the people want from their Bard
(if this is a titled competition), or at least what kind of bard are you
looking for?  Then gear the contest to select that kind of bard.

Yeah, I know.  The College is supposed to offer aid.  Well, the best aid we
can give you is our individual opinions and our voices at your events.  And
if you don't get those, then I go knock certain people on the back of the
head until they give you their opinions or other aid.  Kyleena, if you were
seriously wanting information for some incipient shire, please repost your
questions to this list and I'm sure you will get some answers.

We have toyed with the idea of a newletter.  This would give us a chance to
say the same things said here, but to say it to people without email.  It
also gives us a chance to let people know about good sources for material.
And one could put articles there, or even a piece of work.  If anyone is
interested or has something to contribute, please write Robert Fitzmorgan
mailto:fitzmorgan at cs.com   who is our newsletter editor to be.

If you want to coordinate your efforts with others or try to attract bards
to your doings, a good person to start with would be Lady Simone
mailto:margiejr at sprintmail.com  She is the college officer in charge of
keeping up on such things, as well as educational activies.

Finally, there is Her Grace, Duchess Willow, who is... well... the best way
to say it is our V.P. of P.R.  She is also a tappable source of information
bardic and Ansteorran.

Myself... I'm exhausted and have about fifty messages still to go, so...

Good Hunting,
Ulf







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