[Bards] A small bardic survey...

Peter Schorn peterschorn at pdq.net
Sat May 12 13:24:28 PDT 2007


A Groat's Worth of Wisdom, Bought With etc. etc....

When you're up in front of a crowd, hew to the chef's old rule: "Never
apologize, never explain."  Which, for a bard, means: don't document or
justify your piece to your audience.  That makes it sound more like a
dissertation than a performance.  Also, don't apologize for your supposed
weak voice, poor memory or inability to sing on key.  If you're so conscious
of these faults, why are you up there?  It's also possible that your other
strengths or the piece itself will overwhelm your failings--provided you
don't draw attention to them beforehand.

(An exception: if your persona would have made such apologies or
explanations beforehand, and if you can work them gracefully and
entertainingly into your schtick, then go for it.)

Which doesn't mean you shouldn't work on research, documentation and
authenticity behind the scenes, or that you shouldn't strive to strengthen
your weaknesses and more cleverly deploy your strengths.  But that's all to
be done before and after the fact.  When it comes time to take the floor,
all the preparation in the world won't do you any good without some bluff
and bluster to get it across.  I know.  I got two-thirds of the way to a
peerage on it.

And there's my epistle on the subject.

--Cadfan





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