[Bards] An interesting bardic idea...
Alden Drake
alden_drake at sbcglobal.net
Wed Jun 11 12:38:26 PDT 2008
Note - this reply is purely from my own perspective. I make no claim
that the views expressed are the right views, nor that they will agree
with any of y'all's views. :)
One of my favorite formats is elimination bardic, where the competition
pits two individuals together in a round and judges between them. With
a double elimination format, bards get to perform at least twice, and
better bards can perform enough times that it starts to challenge their
repertoire. Plus, I like the element of juggling your pieces against
your opponents, keeping the "big guns" in reserve, or calling them up
because you suspect John Doe is going to go with a certain piece that
blows people away. We don't do as much elimination bardic, instead (I
suspect) favoring equal stage time for all entrants. I also liked
seeing Eisteddfod as a "top half of the list moves to the next round"
approach too.
Competitions that require certain things - I'm mixed on this. I like
competitions that require different styles (poetry, story, song,
interpretive dance, etc.), and I like requiring original pieces (as a
demonstration of composition skills). Write on demand can be fun and
interesting, and I've asked for that in a competition before. It works
because everyone is in the same boat. Requiring period (style) (pieces
with documentation) is good because it helps promote education and
research (something I heard the SCA was about- hehe)
I'm not very keen on requirements of themed pieces though. Especially
ones that are rather specific. I think it's a bit unbalanced towards
people who specialize or are closely associated with the theme, and
leaves people who aren't a limited amount of time to prepare/find/write
something to fit. Sometimes notices of the requirements aren't sent out
early enough to give people time to come up with something. I also
don't like learning a new piece purposefully for a competition. I like
learning a new piece because I like the piece. I don't need to fill my
head with a piece that I need for a competition that I'll likely never
perform again. I also don't like performing a piece for the first time
in a competition. I like giving it some air time in casual venues first
to see how it plays against an audience.
I think putting *requirements* into a bardic competition will (to some
degree) eliminate people who might have otherwise participated. A
better approach might be to have *requests* for which the performer may
chose to adhere to, or not. If I read that a competition *requires* a
piece about the "Pope's new hat", odds are good I'm not going to enter
the competition at all. I have nothing in my repertoire on that
subject, nor do I want to add a piece on that subject. However, if the
judges request a piece on that subject, I may still enter, but not
perform to that request. I may loose points because of it, but I'll
still participate with the penalty. When I'm coordinating a bardic
championship, I'll often have "documentation requested, but not
required" in one round - meaning points will be added if you submit
documentation, but if you don't, you're still welcome to perform.
Just my thoughts,
Alden
Genie Barrett wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> Found this and thought it had merit.
>
> http://sandradodd.com/ideas/artsci2.html
>
> What do you think? And, which formats for bardic competitions
> interest you all most?
>
> Also, I'm curious, what are your feelings about competitions that
> require... period pieces, original pieces, different styles, written
> on demand pieces, etc.?
>
> Maggie
>
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