[Bards] bardic styles and such

Jay Rudin rudin at ev1.net
Thu Oct 4 10:16:59 PDT 2007


Some interesting comments, followed by some really good questions, Alden. 
I'm finding them very interesting, because my answeres aren't really what 
anybody would have expected.


>I think the prevalence of multi-style competitions is that it's an easy
> way to add a challenging element to a bardic competition.

Actually, it's an easy way to add an element that challenges some of the 
competitors but not others.  That's why I recommend that we keep changing 
the challenging element.

> Other such challenges include requiring documentation, a
> piece to a specific theme, an original composition, or while
> juggling flaming geese.  There are many ways to challenge
> bards in competition (as others have mentioned).  Such
> challenges force bards to play outside of their comfort zone.
> The trick, for the performer, is to accept those challenges
> and still entertain the audience.  Such challenges serve to
> help the performer grow.

Exactly.  But it's worth remembering that each one only challenges *some* 
of the bards, and only forces some of them out of their comfort zone.

> My (somewhat rhetorical) questions for everyone are - Do you challenge
> yourself as a bard?

Actually, no, I never have -- at least, that has never been the goal.  I 
once decided to write a piece about a specific incident at war, and wound 
up challenging my metrical, story-telling, and rhetorical abilities.  That 
produced "Seamus and the Shield Wall", and improved my skills, but the only 
goal was to describe the incident in such a way as to support the point I 
wanted to make.  (Yes, it's a straightforward sermon, and I knew that when 
I wrote it.)

Once I wanted to write a piece in which the fighting could not be an SCA 
rattan fight, the social structure couldn't be an SCA kingdom, and the 
nobles and peasants were clearly nobles and peasants.  The project 
certainly challenged me, but that wasn't the goal.  (I'm not too worried 
though -- the result was "The Baron".)

> If so, how?  What things do you do to improve your craft?

I've never tried to "improve my craft".  I have often tried to make 
something I'd never made before, but the goal was the better poem or the 
improved performance, not the omphaloskeptic goal of "improving my craft".

I didn't try to compose a poem in the middle of the fight in order to 
improve myself; I did it to entertain the crowd and look cool.  The first 
time I did it on the heavy field was in Mahdi's King's Champion, and he was 
going to choose the semi-finalists.  With one fight to go, I realized that 
I'd done nothing to distinguish myself, so I wrote a triolet while fighting 
my next opponent.  Composing poetry while fighting Kein's squire was 
certainly a challenge for me, but the goal was to place into the semis, 
rather than merely to "challenge myself".

> Do you look ahead to the next level and ask yourself, "How do I
> get there?"

Most often I say, "That looks like fun.  Let's try it."   It's quite 
effective.

I own at present three rattan swords (all different), two axes, three 
maces, a bastard sword, a greatsword, two types of spear, two types of 
glaive, a dagger, shovel and hoe.  Also nine rapiers, five daggers for the 
rapier field, three cloaks, two bucklers, a sword cane, two batons, a beer 
mug. a parrying glove, a jester's baton, and I'm sure that this list isn't 
complete.  I *like* finding new stuff to do.

> Do you see a next level?

... *a* next level?  No.  I see *lots* of next levels.  Current writing 
projects in various states of procrastination include a war poem in 
alliterative verse, a history of Ansteorra in Herodotus's style, a medieval 
bastardization of a classical myth a la Sir Orfeo, and a rapier manual in 
the style of Capo Ferro or Agrippa, etc.  There's always way too much to 
do.

Having said that, the highest priority projects at present are grading a 
bunch of statistics homework, finding a full-time job and/or finding 
funding for a start-up company (anybody got a couple of million dollars 
they aren't using right now?), and completing "The layering method for the 
online scheduling problem".

> Who do you look to as a measuring stick?

Why would *I* measure Robin as a bard?  I'm the only one in the kingdom who 
never gets to hear him perform.

Having said that, the measurements I use are the number of people in the 
audience laughing, or crying, based on the poem.  (If they're crying when 
you intend them to laugh, or vice versa, this is an important measurement. 
Pay attention.)

> Do you have a teacher guiding you?

Nope -- never have.  I am a Laurel who was never an apprentice, a Pelican 
who was never a protege, a Centurion who is not and never was a squire, and 
a Don who was a cadet, but whose Don was never active.  This was both a 
major disadvantage and a major advantage.

>  Do you teach others?

Well, actually, I was hoping that that's what I was doing with these 
threads.  But the real answer is this: I try, but the others should decide 
if I actually succeed in teaching them.  After each class in statistics and 
project management, my students get to evaluate me, and it appears at 
present that I do in fact teach them.  But the SCA provides no such form.

Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin 




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