[Bards] Bardic college Events

[Michael Silverhands]

On Oct 29, 2006, at 5:51 PM, Robert Fitzmorgan wrote:

>
>
> On 10/29/06, Darlene Vandever <annescvb at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> One might wonder then how the "period" bards did it. I'm not sure  
> there was "professional voice training" available in the 11th century.
>
> I expect that "period" bards probably got more respect and  
> attention when performing for a hall than we do.  ...

... in that hall.

Consider: suppose that Gerald and Ihon and a few others and I sat  
down someplace quiet, got out quiet Period instruments (recorders,  
lutes, etc.) and began to play quiet music... suppose that our quiet  
music was the focal point of a Kingdom event, for the pleasure of the  
Crown... and now suppose that a crowd of loud, boisterous people set  
up a picnic right next to us.

Now tell me how that's different from the current circumstance in  
Sokol Hall.

And please tell me what we can do about that. ;-)

To be clear: I'm not suggesting banishing the festive environment --  
the "picnic" -- that is Twelfth Night (or Stargate Yule, or...)  
during the day. That's part and parcel of the event. I'm just looking  
for suggestions for how to improve the Eisteddfod. [1]

Some have mentioned setting up a tent or tents outside, such as we  
might do for a hafla. Is that feasible? It would get the Esteddfod  
"far from the madding crowd", and would solve the problem of people  
with mobility disabilities being able to reach the competition. On  
the other hand, it can be cold outside that time of year, so that  
would have to be addressed... and of course, this is all up to the  
event organizers, not us (but maybe some of us -- Robin? -- could put  
a kind word in their ear).

Michael

[1] <rant> I would like to remind the good folks of Steppes that the  
*primary* function of the day *is* the Eisteddfod. I've "read between  
the lines" in some of the posts that there's a certain resentment in  
Steppes that the Kingdom "takes their tax" for the Kingdom event, out  
of proportion to the number of folks who come for Eisteddfod. Fine:  
choose one of the other ways to hold Twelfth Night. Hold it off- 
calendar (no "tax" to Kingdom; but also no court, awards or  
Peerages). Hold it jointly with a neighboring canton or shire (no  
"tax" to Kingdom, get to have court, but divide the proceeds between  
multiple groups). Or just be happy with the current arrangement and  
don't begrudge the donation to Kingdom. But don't a) take advantage  
of hosting a Kingdom event, then b) squash said Kingdom event into  
oblivion, and then complain about the "tax". </rant>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ansteorra.org/pipermail/bards-ansteorra.org/attachments/20061030/6bf3960f/attachment-0002.htm>