[Bards] Fw: Queen's College of Bards -- who's up for it?

[Jay Rudin]

> --Mea wrote: " Does it have to be the Queen's College? I know that our
> current king would probably LOVE this and support it heartily. Can it be 
> the
> Royal Bardic College? Or something of the sort? "
>
>             Silly question from a new person:

Speaking as a traditionalist, I'd much rather go back to the Ansteorran 
tradition, but this kind of question should be hashed out to find an answer 
we're all comfortable with.  (I did not say an answer that we all agree is 
best -- we are strongly opinionated people; we will never all agree.). 
Please understand that looking to the Queen for inspiration does *not* mean 
that the kings will ignore us, any more than the kings ignore the fencers or 
the queens ignore the chivalric fighters.  It merely gives us a specific 
patron.

Alesone wrote:

> Why not take it one step further - why limit it to Bards; why not a 
> College
> for Performance Arts?

Good question.  The original charter specifically included jongleurs, etc., 
not just bards.  But remember that, while "bardd" in Gaelic means a specific 
societal role, "bard" in English means a performer, playwright or poet.  I 
am not part of a Gaelic society, but I am certainly an Ansteorran bard.

It's a good -- and hard -- question who the College should include.  There 
is no sharp line dividing "us" from "them", and the College seems to define 
an arbitrary one.  We need to be very clear that wherever we draw the line, 
we are *not* opposed to people not in the College.
Jugglers?  Middle Eastern Dancers?  Renaissance Dancers?  People working in 
period fighting techniques?  Knife throwers?All fighters?  Heralds?  Ruling 
nobles?  All are doing "performance arts" in some sense, and if we opened 
the college up that far, then we will have lost our sense of collegiality, 
because we won't all be doing similar things.

My preference is to call it a college of bards, but with no specific 
entrance requirements.  You're one of us if you choose to join us.

But this is one of the issues that caused trouble for the first college, and 
I think it's important to consider the hard questions early.

One thing we all need to keep in mind is that the college won't be exactly 
what any of us wanted -- it will be an amalgam of what we all work toward 
together.  We can have a group of three people who agree on everything or a 
group of dozens or hundreds of people who get along and support each other 
without agreeing, in an imperfect but functioning college.

> As a relative newcomer to the SCA and a VERY new performer (instrumental 
> and
> bardic), I have been following the discussion with great interest.  I 
> would
> personally be in favor of, and willing to support to the best of my 
> ability,
> such an endeavor.  At this time, I know some of the bards and performers 
> in
> the greater Stargate area, but don't know all and certainly do not know 
> any
> outside of this area.  What a great way for to help newcomers and
> up-and-coming bards/performers get involved and meet with like-minded
> people.

Wonderful!  Welcome to Ansteorra.  I'd like to hear you perform.

Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin