[Bards] Bardic college Events

[Brian O'hUilliam]

My friends,
  To this I must add my words.  I am a bard.  The Loch/Stargate area knows
me fairly well and knows that I'm always up for a performance at a circle or
at feast.  I do compete in local competitions every chance I get, but I do
not have near the catalog or experience that I feel I need to compete in
Eisteddfod.  Like Robert, being Kingdom bard is a goal of mine, just like
being Queen's Champion is a goal of mine as a rapier fighter, but I will not
compete in Eistedfodd until I feel I am ready and that means lots of
practice and expansion of repertoire on my part.  I suppose (as I speak for
no one other than myself) that many people feel the same way, or perhaps
they just don't want to compete, they only wish to perform.

   I am reminded of some conversations I've heard about Steppes Artisan
versus Kingdom Artisan and Steppes Artisan always having more entrants and
more prestige.  Same issue.  Now I am not suggesting that we make Steppes
limit entrants or stop having Artisan, that's ridiculous.  What needs to
happen is Kingdom A&S needs to be promoted more.  Same thing with
Eisteddfod.  We must promote Eisteddfod.

   I also feel that the competition needs to travel.  Why couldn't we piggy
back Eisteddfod onto another highly successful Kingdom event, like Queen's
or even Coronation?  There is always some dead time (provided the circles do
not take hours.)  It seems to me that this would THRUST our art onto the
Kingdom with out being "attack bards" and would allow all to view the bardic
arts in out Kingdom.  Or even tack onto a big Baronial or Shire event.

   Why couldn't we have a Bardic Event?  Have a Bardic Collegium with
Eisteddfod.  We could encourage fighters to come out and have fields for
practice (not a tourney) and an A&S display (not a competition).  This would
be a primarily Bardic event with classes on music & bardic and some
activities for the non-bards.  Also, if we could arrange a Laurel's Circle
there like Crown always has a Chiv Circle and Queen's always has a WS
Circle, I think that would greatly benefit the bardic community and make
some money for the Kingdom.

  I apologize for the length, but I feel very strongly about this, as I know
all of you do too.


Brian O' hUilliam,
Cadet to Don Brian MacCael
Bard of Graywood



On 10/27/06, Robert Fitzmorgan <fitzmorgan at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> On 10/27/06, Simone Ui'Dunlaingh
>
> > <SNIP>
> >
> > When participation at Canton shire and Barnial bardics are greater and
> > more prestigious than the Kindom Estinfodd. we might want to look ast
> > ourselves and not outside our selves. I have seen Local Bardic
> > competions sport 30+ participants regularly when we cant get that many
> > to show for kingdom..WHY? What is the diffrence? Why would a bard be
> > willing to compete at a local level and not kingdom? these I think are
> > the questions we  should ask.
> >
> >
> > Simone
> >
> > <SNIP>
>
>
>      I think it's a valid point.  I certainly can think of several local
> competitions that have more participation than Kingdom Eisteddfod.  So what
> do we do to make  Kingdom Bard something that  more people want to strive
> for?
>     For myself, I haven't entered in several years.  At this time in my
> life I couldn't be the Bard that I think Ansteorra deserves, and I don't
> believe that I should enter if I can't do justice to the position.  Being
> Kingdom Bard is still one of my unfulfilled goals, but I won't go for it
> until I feel I can do the job well.  I'm not entering local competitions
> either.
>
> Robert
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> "If you haven't found something strange during the day, it hasn't been
> much of a day."     John A. Wheeler
>
> Fitzmorgan at gmail.com
> Yahoo IM: robert_fitzmorgan
>
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>
>
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