<div>My friends, </div>
<div> To this I must add my words. I am a bard. The Loch/Stargate area knows me fairly well and knows that I'm always up for a performance at a circle or at feast. I do compete in local competitions every chance I get, but I do not have near the catalog or experience that I feel I need to compete in Eisteddfod. Like Robert, being Kingdom bard is a goal of mine, just like being Queen's Champion is a goal of mine as a rapier fighter, but I will not compete in Eistedfodd until I feel I am ready and that means lots of practice and expansion of repertoire on my part. I suppose (as I speak for no one other than myself) that many people feel the same way, or perhaps they just don't want to compete, they only wish to perform.
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<div> </div>
<div> I am reminded of some conversations I've heard about Steppes Artisan versus Kingdom Artisan and Steppes Artisan always having more entrants and more prestige. Same issue. Now I am not suggesting that we make Steppes limit entrants or stop having Artisan, that's ridiculous. What needs to happen is Kingdom A&S needs to be promoted more. Same thing with Eisteddfod. We must promote Eisteddfod.
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<div> </div>
<div> I also feel that the competition needs to travel. Why couldn't we piggy back Eisteddfod onto another highly successful Kingdom event, like Queen's or even Coronation? There is always some dead time (provided the circles do not take hours.) It seems to me that this would THRUST our art onto the Kingdom with out being "attack bards" and would allow all to view the bardic arts in out Kingdom. Or even tack onto a big Baronial or Shire event.
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<div> </div>
<div> Why couldn't we have a Bardic Event? Have a Bardic Collegium with Eisteddfod. We could encourage fighters to come out and have fields for practice (not a tourney) and an A&S display (not a competition). This would be a primarily Bardic event with classes on music & bardic and some activities for the non-bards. Also, if we could arrange a Laurel's Circle there like Crown always has a Chiv Circle and Queen's always has a WS Circle, I think that would greatly benefit the bardic community and make some money for the Kingdom.
<br> </div>
<div> I apologize for the length, but I feel very strongly about this, as I know all of you do too.</div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Brian O' hUilliam,</div>
<div>Cadet to Don Brian MacCael</div>
<div>Bard of Graywood<br> </div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 10/27/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">Robert Fitzmorgan</b> <<a href="mailto:fitzmorgan@gmail.com">fitzmorgan@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid"><br><br>
<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 10/27/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">Simone Ui'Dunlaingh</b> <br></span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid"><SNIP><span class="q"><br><br>When participation at Canton shire and Barnial bardics are greater and
<br>more prestigious than the Kindom Estinfodd. we might want to look ast<br>ourselves and not outside our selves. I have seen Local Bardic <br>competions sport 30+ participants regularly when we cant get that many<br>to show for kingdom..WHY? What is the diffrence? Why would a bard be
<br>willing to compete at a local level and not kingdom? these I think are<br>the questions we should ask.<br><br><br></span>Simone<br><br><SNIP></blockquote>
<div><br> I think it's a valid point. I certainly can think of several local competitions that have more participation than Kingdom Eisteddfod. So what do we do to make Kingdom Bard something that more people want to strive for?
<br> For myself, I haven't entered in several years. At this time in my life I couldn't be the Bard that I think Ansteorra deserves, and I don't believe that I should enter if I can't do justice to the position. Being Kingdom Bard is still one of my unfulfilled goals, but I won't go for it until I feel I can do the job well. I'm not entering local competitions either.
<br><br>Robert<br> </div><br> </div>
<div><span class="e" id="q_10e8b25fe7e31781_3"><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>"If you haven't found something strange during the day, it hasn't been much of a day." John A. Wheeler<br><br><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:Fitzmorgan@gmail.com" target="_blank">
Fitzmorgan@gmail.com</a><br>Yahoo IM: robert_fitzmorgan </span></div><br>_______________________________________________<br>Bards mailing list<br><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:Bards@lists.ansteorra.org">
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