[Bards] Bardic college Events

Fri Oct 27 21:30:31 PDT 2006

Thanks Gwyneth.  I absolute agree with you about the delicacy of outsiders 
making suggestions to a group who is going through all the time and effort 
it take to put on a major event.

However, I still think one of the reasons that Eisteddfod is broken is that 
dreadful room.  I remembering traveling 4+ hours (ok, admittedly reason #1 
was to see Truly/Tim) but also to attend Eisteddfod.   After some searching, 
I found the competition without much trouble, crammed into a tiny, hot, 
airless room with no place to sit.  I lasted less than 15 minutes up there.

Honestly, I can't see bothering to prepare for a competition that is too 
physically miserable to attend.  Ok, you that were there--tell me you 
weren't all sweating through all your pretty clothes to the point that icky 
bacterial-laden salt water was running in your eyes and glasses were 
fogging?  Surely there must be some room for improvement?

Melody

Gwyneth wrote:
>
>These are great suggestions but remember a couple of things:
>   Right now, Eistedfodd is being hosted by the Steppes, not by the bardic 
>community.  You can make suggestions to them about thier event, but I think 
>it is a delicate subject to offer advice w/o manpower.  I'm not saying 
>that's what you have in mind, just that I would think that to get the event 
>the way the community wants it, there would have to be LOTS of 
>communication with the people already in charge.
>   The other thing to remember is that any two groups can get together and 
>put a date on the calendar.  It's a multi regional event and it won't count 
>against anyone.
>   Your only limitation is how close you are to other events already 
>scheduled and of course, Crown and Coronation.
>   Just an FYI,
>   gwyneth
>
>Melody Soice <melodysoice at hotmail.com> wrote:
>   managed to make this a regional
>or kingdom event I think it would be both a great opportunity for small
>groups and a boon to the bardic, music, and dance communities. I know the
>bardic themed Westgate Winter Collegiums that we've held have been very
>successful.
>
>Ok, there's my brilliant (?) suggestions.
>
>Melody
> >
> >Many of my "moments" in the SCA include the bardic arts and I support you
> >coming together to add strength and vision to our Dream. I think in
> >general, games play better if they don't have too many rules. I think the
> >bardic community will find more acceptance if they work to find ways to
> >achieve thier goals within the framework we already have in place here in
> >Ansteorra for recognizing our best.
> > I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure
> >Eistedfedd is at Steppes because no one wanted to host it as a stand 
>alone
> >because they couldn't make thier money back. Inside venues are expensive
> >(at least, here in Austin they are). My recomendation is that people who
> >feel strongly about this get together, find a site and put in a bid. Just
> >my 2 cents, but I think the turnout would be better if you have a 
>colligium
> >with classes at the same event with the competition and perhaps even have 
>a
> >hosting group do thier bardic also. For example, we had the competition
> >for Bryn Gwlad Artisan at Candlmas and also chose Gulf War
> >competitors...when you signed in you made a note on your judging sheet 
>what
> >you wanted to be considered for. Steppes Twelfth Night is a big deal, but
> >if you were to piggy-back on a shire Yule, the Eistedfed would get more
> >attention.Another possibility is a multi-regional event such as the Lysts
> >at Castleton. I remember when this
> > competition was a big deal and all the top bards in Ansteorra turned out
> >to compete for the title...did that change just because we stopped having 
>a
> >Bardic College?
> > Just some thoughts,
> > gwyneth
> >
> >Alden Drake wrote:
> > To collegiate, or not to collegiate....
> >
> >While I'm a relatively new voice among bards, I think the root of the
> >problem among bards is that somewhere in the past, we lost sight of being 
>a
> >community, and instead became individual bards with no real connection to
> >eachother outside of our own local areas. I've seen discussions on this
> >list, and spoke to a few experienced bards about the fact that people 
>seem
> >to be passionate about either a) being a college, or b) not being a
> >college, but I think we can go a long way to being a strong bardic
> >community without involving politics, heirarchy, hoopla, etc. that some
> >people associate with a bardic college.
> >
> >As far as signs of experience and heirarchy, we already have that in the
> >form of our kingdom awards. Laurels, Irises, and Thistles go a long way 
>in
> >our kingdom to indicate which individuals have been recognized for 
>specific
> >areas of interest. We should be encouraging those people to be our
> >teachers, and funnel newcomers to our community to those teachers who
> >specialize in areas of interest to the newcomers. Something I started
> >putting together for the website is a list of bards, what they are 
>willing
> >to teach, and what they want to learn, for the purpose of pairing people
> >together.
> >
> >Mentoring - the approach to mentoring and teaching is up to the 
>individual.
> >While I'm willing to teach anyone what I know, I have a bardic student 
>who
> >I pay particular attention to as a mentor. I encourage her to learn from
> >others besides just me, but I try to fill the role of being her academic
> >advisor and primary go-to person. I in turn have a mentor/primary 
>teacher.
> >Just because we become mentors doesn't mean we necessesarily stop having 
>a
> >mentor of our own. I suppose at a certain point, we replace a mentor with
> >peers (not capital P Peers, but peers being equals).
> >
> >I think we could do a lot just in the structure of being a guild if we 
>can
> >come up with ways of coming together as a community. We have recently 
>been
> >given our own Deputy A&S Minister, whose focus should be encouraging our
> >efforts in that direction. We have a Kingdom Bard who, in service to the
> >Crown, should be the epitome of what our guild has to offer in talent and
> >service to our community. It is our duty as performers to support them, 
>and
> >bring the bardic arts to the people of our kingdom.
> >
> >For starters, we should look at what we have kingdom-wide to bring us
> >together. We have Eisteddfod and the Ansteorran Bardic Collegium. These 
>are
> >*OUR* events. Do we make the most of them? What can we do to improve 
>them?
> >Looking at Eisteddfod, I found that Eisteddfod is a kingdom calendar 
>event.
> >Steppes Twelfth Night is not. Steppes typically hosts Eisteddfod and 
>tacks
> >their event onto it, which is fine, but it seems to me (by what I saw 
>last
> >year) that the Steppes event overshadows Eisteddfod. So what can we do to
> >make Eisteddfod bigger and better? What about combining Eisteddfod and 
>the
> >Bardic Collegium? Do classes in the morning and afternoon, and then
> >Eisteddfod in the evening? What can we do in addition to these two 
>things?
> >Have a bardic sponsored tournament to determine the "Bardic Defender"? 
>Have
> >an A&S competition of original bardic compositions? The archery community
> >had a Bard of the Archers competition some time ago, how cool is that!? 
>Can
> >we do it a
> >gain? C
> >an we do it in other martial venues? What about organizing a Bardic 
>Feast,
> >where the whole point *IS* dinner theater? Gulf Wars - HL Gerald of
> >Leesville hosted an outstanding bardic circle in front of the Ansteorran
> >Gate. What can we do to make it bigger and better? These are just some
> >ideas to get the ball rolling.
> >
> >I remember a quote that goes, "When all is said and done, more will be 
>said
> >than done." But let's get *something* done.
> >
> >In service,
> >HL Alden Drake
> >_______________________________________________
> >Bards mailing list
> >Bards at lists.ansteorra.org
> >http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/bards-ansteorra.org
> >
> >
> >
> >---------------------------------
> >Get your own web address for just $1.99/1st yr. We'll help. Yahoo! Small
> >Business.
>
>
> >_______________________________________________
> >Bards mailing list
> >Bards at lists.ansteorra.org
> >http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/bards-ansteorra.org
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Bards mailing list
>Bards at lists.ansteorra.org
>http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/bards-ansteorra.org
>
>
>
>---------------------------------
>  All-new Yahoo! Mail - Fire up a more powerful email and get things done 
>faster.

>_______________________________________________
>Bards mailing list
>Bards at lists.ansteorra.org
>http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/bards-ansteorra.org