[Bards] What can we do to make things better

[Gerald Norris]

Weally, Wobin!  That's wude!

I have a hard time picturing you as a bad example.  I have an easy time
picturing you as stubborn.  ;-)

This is the problem I have with the whole good bard / bad bard (no cookie!)
thing, and even with the label bard in or kingdom.  I put "a bard of
Stargate" in my signature, but truth to be told I've only written a few
songs that have anything to do with the history of our kingdom, my barony,
or my patron when I act as champion for a barony/shire/canton/party-of-one.
But there's a lot of people who point at me and say "He's a bard," (which I
used to think was code in the kingdom for "He'll drink all your beer").  We
have bardic circles, but when I take a look at their frequency and activity,
I can more easily compare them to Victorian parties than 13th century
gatherings around a fire.

So.  The question isn't one of supression, but re-direction.  In this forum,
there are a number of people who have been playing this portion of the game
a lot longer than I.  I'm still at the stage of struggling with the idea
that I might have some - thing that other people might want to learn.  Some
of you might raise your hand in agreement.  How do you suggest to the crow
that perhaps story-telling might be a venue they should try?  How do you
persuade the stutter to try an instrument, or song?  How often is it done?

In service to the dream with a song in my heart, I am,
HL Gerald of Leesville
A bard of Stargate 

-----Original Message-----
From: bards-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org
[mailto:bards-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org] On Behalf Of Jay Rudin
Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2007 8:52 AM
To: Ansteorran Bardic list
Subject: Re: [Bards] What can we do to make things better

Gerald asked:

> Our community likes to think of itself as a nurturing community that 
> encourages new talent to grow.  We do a fair job of it, but from time 
> to time we go too far and try to nurture that which just ain't there.  
> A silk purse / sow's ear dilemma.  And who, among us, wants to be the 
> one to go tell the gentle that they really should consider accordion 
> lessons?  I promise you, I'm not struggling to be first in line.
>
> That having been said, how do you tell a person who wants to be a 
> nightingale that they're a crow?  How do you handle someone who wants 
> to be a skald that a stutter of that magnitude is just REALLY hard to 
> get around?

I dunno.  In early Ansteorra we had a particularly bad example.  Somebody
wanted to become a bard even though he had a clear, recognizable,
distracting speech impediment.  It was so bad that he couldn't even
correctly pronounce his own name.

Furthermore, he was a stubborn, egotistical person who could not be
persuaded, so we were forced to listen to his works.  Nobody was able to rid
the kingdom of this irredeemable would-be bard.  What a shame that he wasn't
gently persuaded to sit down so we could hear the good performers instead.

Wobin of Gilwell / Jay Wudin 

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