[Bards] Situations That Ruin Bardic Circles

[Ken Theriot]

Esther,

 

I hear you, but the period story tellers you mention were performers BY
TRADE, performing at the command of their lord, or employer for pay, for
other interested parties who were not all hoping to "get a turn" to do
performances themselves.  There are venues for long stories in the SCA
(bardic showcases, feast, camps with few or no other bards, etc.).  But
bardic circles are usually made up of many performers who want to share.
I'm not saying to NOT come to the circle.  But I have seen the serialization
of stories over 10 minutes done successfully.  Also, period story telling
was typically done in verse.  We have been trying to find evidence of
"no-kidding-there-I-was" stories in period but have failed to do so.

 

I don't want to banish story tellers!  I know many tellers of stories who
keep a majority of their tales under 10 minutes.  The longer pieces should
either be kept for other venues, or serialized.  Again, my opinion.

 

Kenneth   

 

  _____  

From: bards-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org
[mailto:bards-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org] On Behalf Of Esther
Sent: Sunday, April 29, 2007 11:30 PM
To: Ansteorran Bardic list
Subject: Re: [Bards] Situations That Ruin Bardic Circles

 

You know, I'm a story teller, not a singer or a musician. Most of my stories
run over ten minutes. 

 

So I guess bardic circles are out for me. See you at the Hafla!

 

Might I suggest, it's not the length of the story, it's the skill of the
story teller. Perhaps short pieces are better for bardic circles, but I ask
you, when are the long pieces "acceptable"? The long pieces are more period
for most of us, after all. A bard/skald/minstrel was supposed to be able to
hold the attention of his audience for longer than ten minutes, a feat
stand-up comics and story tellers seem to have no problem with in the modern
world.

 

Well, what the heck. To each their own, better to have short pieces and a
popular bardic than a dead bardic. They can always go to the movies to see
Beowulf.

 

Esther

 


> 2. Problem: Stories that are 20+ minutes long!!!! Reason: Hogging airtime.
> Solution: If you have a 20 minute story, serialize it into 10-minute
> increments and do one increment per turn. Circle leader must state a
> 10-minute (or some other agreed-upon time) rule up front, and periodically
> thereafter. 
> 
anything over 10 minutes will kill an audience. If they don't get up 
now, they likley just wont even come back next time.

  

  _____  

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