[Bards] Bards in the SCA - Questions

[Jeffrey Clark]

The Anglo-Saxons had Scops. Scops were poet-musicians who recited epic
verse, using a combination of improvised song, chanting, and dramatic
recitation; often to the accompaniment of a harp (THE Anglo-Saxon
instrument). I, for one, am a big fan of the style used by the scops in
their verses.

-AS Zorzi






> On Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 12:47 PM, Fields Family Farm <fields at texas.net>wrote:
>
>> I can't sing.  When I try, it sounds more than anything like a tomcat
>> howling.
>>
>> The only instrument I play is the drum, and that not for a while.
>>
>> But, I enjoy verse.  I happily memorize ballads, and as long as they can
>> be
>> spoken or chanted, I can perform them.
>>
>> I also write a bit of original verse.  And I don't mean the 'free verse'
>> that many call poetry these days.  I mean with meter and/or rhyme, and I
>> enjoy learning and using the old forms.
>>
>> Actually, that's how I decided to join this list and ask about bards.  I
>> was
>> at the Bryn Gwlad fighter practice/populace-in-the-park (I live between
>> Bryn
>> Gwlad and Ffynnon-gath, and attend both), and was talking to the heralds
>> there about my name, Hrethric, and how it is taken from Beowulf, as my
>> persona is Anglo-Saxon (viking father, Scottish mother taken in a raid,
>> settled in Anglo-Saxon territory) from about the year 1000.  A gentle,
>> listening and also speaking with the heralds, showed interest at that and
>> started talking to me about Beowulf, and verse, and such.  Somewhere in
>> the
>> conversation he asked me if I'd ever considered being a bard.  I told him
>> that I hadn't really, that I wasn't sure what a bard was these days, in
>> the
>> SCA.
>>
>> We traded emails so that he could tell me more about it.  His name is
>> Thomas.  I don't think he gave me his last name, but I'm told that he was
>> a
>> previous baron of Bryn Gwlad.
>>
>> The next morning I sent him this:
>>
>> Vs.
>>
>> The background loud,
>> Two fellows clasp and smile.
>> Then seated they
>> Converse on verse a while.
>>
>> Both are well versed
>> In current tendency
>> Toward free verse'
>> Claim to being poetry
>>
>> But both, adverse
>> To lines that lack a rhyme -
>> That stumble through,
>> No meter keeping time,
>>
>> They trade email
>> Addresses and a vow,
>> To contact each
>> The other, starting now.
>>
>>
>> I have heard nothing back from him for a few weeks, and think perhaps my
>> email has gotten caught in his spam filter.  So I decided to join this
>> list
>> and find out more here.
>>
>> As far as I understand it, the Anglo-Saxons had no bards.  But, both the
>> vikings and Scottish did.  If working with verse but having no ability to
>> sing could lead to a bard-like pursuit, I'm willing to give it a try in
>> the
>> SCA.
>>
>>
>> Hrethric/Rick
>>
>