[Bards] Year-Long Challenge for all Ansteorran Bards

[Lisa Theriot]

[The person formerly known as Herr Marcus Il Volpé wrote:
A couple of comments.]
	Comments on your comments.

[First, some of your criteria aren't mutually exclusive, so someone could
get four marks for entertaining a countess in the spring with a period style
original tune. ]

	Yeah.   Score!

[(Does countess include duchesses too, as they are sort of
post-countesses?)]

	It sounded like he had a particular countess in mind.

[Some folks don't do original works, and in some cases that's not really
appropriate to the persona.]

	I'm having real trouble coming up with any persona of a performer
that might otherwise be involved in a bardic challenge for whom it would be
inappropriate to create. From the earliest recorded music through the end of
our period, every piece of music was created by somebody, and it is in fact
far easier to find composers for whom we have no record of performance than
performers whom we can safely assert never wrote a piece of music.  And the
more a solo performer that person is, the MORE likely they also wrote (John
Dowland is in my head, but there are lots).

[ Other folks are reluctant to perform anything they didn't write, as
they're focusing on original composition in their works.]

	Well, fine; I perform mainly my own work, but I appreciate good work
from other people and have no reluctance to perform someone else's song.  My
criticism of this requirement was that it specified the piece be written by
another Ansteorran; my work (and my husband's) is out there freely available
on our website, but I know there are performers doing original work whose
work is not quite so available as mine.  I would also wonder whether this
need be an original work by another Ansteorran, or possibly a piece that
their performance brought to my attention?

[ And it seems that original composition is far more respected in poetry and
storytelling than in song. ]

	I would say that would depend on the story, the poem, and the song.
Personally, my persona considers an "story" not told in verse and identical
at each telling to be the ramblings of a drunk in a tavern, but people with
Norse personas would disagree.  If your song passes muster as both a poem
AND a piece of composed music, I would think it would garner more respect,
not less.

[(And far worse for non-vocal music, which is my main point of interest in
period music) In fact, this has been a major impediment for me in performing
in the SCA.]

	Not at all.  I would love to see more instrumental music at bardic
circles, and I would love to see a piece entered in a static competition.
If you'd like ideas on how to outline your documentation, contact me
privately.


> -----Original Message-----
> Robin wrote:

> During my time as Premier Bard, I will hold a nearly year-long 
> competition. It will start on February 1st, to give me time to get the 
> rules down.
> 
> Here is my initial idea:

	Cool.
> 
Please offer suggestion for how many qualifications should be needed, ]

	Well, it's crying out to be a decathlon, isn't it?

[what ideas  I've left off,]

	Teach a class.
	Perform at least one each: song, story, poem
	Perform at least one "other", i.e., not a song, story, or poem.

[which ones are too hard, or too easy.]

It's okay to have some easy ones; more people will be interested if they
think they can knock a few off without much trouble.
> 
> 1. Perform in three of Ansteorra's regions, or two regions and out of
kingdom.
> 2. Perform a piece you've written yourself.
> 3. Perform a piece about Ansteorra or Ansteorrans.
> 4. Perform a piece written by some other Ansteorran bard.

	As I commented above, most of our stuff is readily available here:
http://www.ravenboymusic.com/all-raven-boy-music-albums-and-song-clips-from-
single-page/ or on our YouTube page.  If we're going to have to perform
original work by Ansteorran performers, we're going to have to know where to
find it.  For performers who do mostly period material, I suggest it be
allowed to count if you learned a piece because you saw/heard it performed
by someone else; this also allows greater scope for people who are not
predominantly writers to serve as inspiration.

> 5. Perform a period or period-style piece.
> 6. Perform in winter, spring, summer, and fall.
> 7. Entertain a countess. (I'm not judging it; she has to sign that she 
> found you entertaining.)
> 
Does this look like a fun challenge?

Yes!

Adelaide