[Bards] Ansteorran Bardic Songbook?

[Rick Massey]

Many moons ago Lord Stephen of the Grove (often known as Stephen the
Juggler) put together a book of lyrics only that covered a wide range of
stuff, both in common Ansteorran practice and just tunes he found in
different locations. (Some of my stuff was in it) This covered both period
songs and "piggyback" songs on various melodies along with some original
work. It's out there on the web, though I don't have the exact url in front
of me. And of course there's the problem that most of the songs don't have
chord symbols and none have melody lines.
As I have finally managed to get myself in a situation where I can do
composition and arranging again, I would be willing to put some effort into
such a project in terms of creating lead sheets of tunes. Someone would have
to take what I output and at worst import it into Finale or Sibelius, or at
best check a Sibelius file for collisions of notes and symbols -- I'm blind,
so I can't perform that check myself.
This is also something I could intersperse with my current projects, as I
deal with creative blocks by switching modes to let the muse take a break.
(The re-working of the Kingdom Dance Workshop Tape I did back in A.S. XXIV
and the publication of an old school gaming magazine along with other
creative projects)
What would be needed for this project is a list of songs first and foremost,
followed by sources for melodies for the lyric lines. And of course it would
take a decent number of tunes so judges at bardic competitions didn't have
to listen to the same 25 or 30 songs every competition.
Let me know folks if this is a project that you'd like to undertake. I can
see value in it, especially if it helps to archive some of the original work
done in Kingdom.
As for period resources, the songs of John Dowland are a great place to
start, as he pretty much single-handedly introduced the concept of a solo
voice with instrumental accompaniment instead of multiple voices performed
with instrumental support of the lines or "A Capella Sistina" without any
instruments. For Italian songs Francesco Landini is our best source for
music, all of it secular and representing about 75% of what we have extant
from the early renaissance in the Italian city states. Resources from the
rest of the continent are more sparse, though looking into troubadour and
trouvere songs will provide some good options in French and its early
precursors.
Though not exclusively period in toto, Cecil Sharp's book of English folk
songs is also a useful resource. In Nonesuch we did a couple of tunes from
it, (The Keeper and The Beggar) and they were fun to sing, especially with
the ability to trade parts.
I can provide a lot more ideas for period song practice if anyone is
interested.

Herr Marcus Il Volpé


-----Original Message-----
From: bards-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org
[mailto:bards-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org] On Behalf Of kerowench at aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2012 10:41 AM
To: bards at lists.ansteorra.org
Subject: [Bards] Ansteorran Bardic Songbook?

Greetings all!

I was wondering if there was a common song/book put together for Ansteorra
specifically. Songs that everyone knows and are commonly sung around the
fire. Something for new bards to get started with perhaps....

Many thanks,
Lady Sorcha McCullogh
Title Bard, Dragonsfire Tor
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