[Bards] Questions on Documentation from a bard trying to learn newtricks

[Darius of the Bells]

Bella Asked:
> So my
> question is where do you draw the line, how much is enough and what is too
> little or too much?
>
First let me preface my answer by saying that I am taking as a given that we
are discussing a competition where in written docs are required.

To little is Nothing at all. Something is always better than nothing.

To much is more than a page and a half at no smaller than an 11 point font
(preferably 12 or 14) not including bibliography.

Docs should include

Name of performer

Title of the piece and Author

2 to 3 paragraphs giving an overview of the piece itself. This would be time
and place where written and explanation of form for period pieces or a brief
explanation of style form and content for original pieces. information about
how the type of piece would have been performed in period or what purpose it
would have served is also useful.

An Explanation of what parts of the piece and/or performance varies from the
period model and why.

If you believe that a piece is likely period but was not written down until
the 1600's say so, Support your assertion  with information about the oral
tradition in Ireland (or wherever) and the style of the piece which will
likely be contemporary to pieces known to be period. One example of this is
the poems in the Carmina Burana. We don't know who the assorted authors were
or when exactly the poems where written or collected. We do know when they
were found in 1803 and that they are contemporary in style format and
content to the Goliard poets of the 8th and 9th centuries.

There were a couple sets of docs I saw this last weekend that were given to
the appearance of themes. They were put into report folders with ornate
coversheets and there where multiple copies of these folders for multiple
judges. Each folder contained the one to two pages documentation for several
pieces (Worm's had 4 or 5 pieces in it and Eleanor's also had 5). Over all
they gave a nice presentation of the work the two performers had done to
write the docs enclosed. In the end sometimes format and presentation
counts. Even if it has no effect on the actual documentation score, the
perception that you are proud of, and have confidence in the information you
are presenting and, therefore the piece you are performing, has been
established by how it looks.

If there were any there that were actually larger than a page or two I
missed em, but then I wasn't a judge just a nosey laurel trying to sneak
peeks.

In Service
Darius
(who actually hates writing documentation but knows how to do it pretty
well)