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<DIV><SPAN class=873451312-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>Actually, I have several show-starters up my sleeve. It's one of my
charms.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=873451312-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=873451312-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>
<DIV><SPAN class=873451312-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>I'll
take this opportunity to make a shameless plug for King's College, where
Mistress Saundra will give a class on bardic circles and their general
maintenance (my description, not hers, hers is much more eloquent) as well as
other classes on the art of performing. June 8th - 10th in Stargate at
Camp Camwood. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=873451312-30042007></SPAN> </DIV>I think we, as a group,
need to understand that there are 5 basic types of bardic circles (and
having come up with a finite number, I'm certain that there are those of you out
there who are going to add your addendums, widgets, and protocols. It's
okay. I'm used to it ;-)):</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=873451312-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=873451312-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>The
First-Timer's Circle - give talent a chance to spring forth - I like to think of
this as a very relaxed circle, where everyone knows each other, there are a few
listeners, and new performers are encouraged to chime in. It is a coarser
circle, sometimes more coaxing and cajoling than others, but rewarding when
people finish and listen to huzzahs and applause for what they've done for the
first time. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=873451312-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=873451312-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>The
Performance Circle - this is the talent show - where everyone's come to listen
to bards bring forth their best. The bards have gathered to entertain and
maybe find something they can steal/borrow/use.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=873451312-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=873451312-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>The
Sing-Along Circle - the community circle - where we've all come together to talk
about the day's events on the outer circle(s), while there's entertainment and a
sprinkling of songs with choruses that are easy to learn in the inner
circle. You can call it a bardic circle, and it often goes by that name,
but the feeling is more relaxed, the ale flows a bit more (and amazingly, is
drunk a bit more), and some of the singers, bolstered by the liquid courage, are
of rawer talent. As long as you recognize you've stepped into something of
this nature and can go with it, a bard will do fine. These tend to be
bigger circles, overall, so there's less chance of multiple performances, but
they're good to have.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=873451312-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=873451312-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>The
Drummer Circle - an endless cycle of "Tum-de-dum-dum" - very little in the way
of bardic gets through this, but if you have the knack (and lack of shame), you
can rouse the drummers with a good song or instrumental piece that happens to
match whatever rhythmic tattoo they're trying to coordinate. Sea shanties
will work well with this, and may surprise the drummers out of their percussive
stupor.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=873451312-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=873451312-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Le
Cercle Grande - a big hooey of a circle - Usually at wars, usually 30 plus, and
usually populated with bards of different kingdoms. This is a larger
version of the Performance Circle, but the dynamic is thrown off by the number
of performers. In my scruffy little brain cell the LCG requires an emcee;
someone who is willing to act as if they're running the show. Pass the
candel doesn't really work as well on this scale. I've had the job a
couple of times, and what it comes down to is that the emcee needs to be less
concerned about performing and more concerned about bringing out the talent that
they know is there. The emcee, if they've done their homework, will have
other people helping them to make sure they didn't miss anyone that wants to
perform as well as make sure that they call on those who can perform but usually
feel lost/unworthy in the starlit presence of those other bards that have far
more pieces. Wow. That was a long sentence! If it's my
job, I'm interested in keeping the crowd that's gathered entertained, as well as
trying to get as many people of talent performing as possible. Sing-alongs
are dotted in this just to keep the crowd connected. It's not a popular
job, but it needs to be done. I've been fortunate in that I have friends
in other kingdoms who help to point out talent that I knew nothing of, as well
as friends in-kingdom who remind me of those I might have missed.
</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=873451312-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=873451312-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Still,
there will be those who don't get to perform, especially if the crowd gets
bigger. I think that numbers above 30 are no longer circles but throngs,
and get lost in their own biomass.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=873451312-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=873451312-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>I
think, to answer Kenneth's un-asked question, that we are the makers of our own
nightmare. As performers, we tend to migrate toward those places where
other performers are; to listen, to learn, to share, as well as general
cameraderie. More bards show up, more noise is made, and more people come,
and .... well, it's a cycle, and it eventually ends when the last bard no longer
has a voice or everyone else is asleep. Again, your mileage may vary
..... </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=873451312-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=873451312-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Should
we have, from time to time, bardic inviationals; a meeting of invited bards,
hosted for the intent of show-casing the talent in the performer's circle?
Others can come to watch, but they won't be invited to perform. And how do
you handle the surprise guest you didn't expect but would really like to get a
chance to hear/see? Would it be considered bard snobbery by the rest of
the populous, or a welcome relief to "Oh God! The candle's come to
me!"? </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=873451312-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=873451312-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=873451312-30042007>
<P><FONT size=2>In service to the dream with a song in my heart, I am,<BR>HL
Gerald of Leesville<BR>A bard of Stargate </FONT></P></SPAN></DIV><BR>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> bards-bounces@lists.ansteorra.org
[mailto:bards-bounces@lists.ansteorra.org] <B>On Behalf Of
</B>Esther<BR><B>Sent:</B> Monday, April 30, 2007 1:37 AM<BR><B>To:</B>
Ansteorran Bardic list<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Bards] Situations That Ruin
Bardic Circles<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV>Like I said, it's about skill. It's also about interest, courtesy, and
knowing your audience, matching the piece to the situation and mood of the
crowd.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>So, it's down to good bards and bad bards, and at the end of the day -- how
do you deal with that? Any length of story badly told is deadly, as deadly as me
trying to sing would be.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>And I agree with you, someone reading badly is a killer. BUT, reading aloud
is as period a bardic skill as any, and when done by someone who is
skilled at it, and who has practiced, is damned entertaining.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Bad bards and an uninterested audience will kill any bardic circle, no
matter HOW well organized. It's really, really hard to pick up an audience who
has just endured a bad performance, and almost impossible to do so after two in
a row. So unless you have a known show-starter up your sleeve....</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Yeah, I have a headache, I am being unduly pessimistic and old arthritis
auntie misery by the fire.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Esther</DIV>
<DIV><BR><BR><B><I>Gerald Norris <jerryn@houston.rr.com></I></B>
wrote:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16414" name=GENERATOR>
<DIV><SPAN class=295405004-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>See
my reply before your reply, Esther.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=295405004-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=295405004-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>It
oft depends upon the skill of the teller or poet. Finnagen had us
enthralled with his story of the guardian of the keep. There is a
merchant who does a wonderfully entertaining job of telling of a time he
taught latin to foreign troops. Both of these were at least ten minutes
long. Thomas and Cedric's piece was almost a half hour, but it flew by
due to the setting and the weather, which really made you feel as if you were
in a long hut, and the skald spoke with the tongue of the
elders.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=295405004-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=295405004-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>Longer pieces are period, but if their recited as one would hear from a
grade-schooler with Mary Had a Little Lamb, it's painful to watch.
Master Kief has no trouble with keeping an audience for a long story, but he
is masterful in his telling of a tale, and his use of voice and words to draw
his audience in. I have seen the opposite, where someone drags a book
and reads by halting firelight for fifteen minutes, and ready to go another
fifteen to the end of the pages if not for a quick interjection. These I
would avoid at all cost, and have only occasionally had to interrupt one
fellow and request that he finish his tale on the next round. He wasn't
happy, and left, but the energy level of the group was quick to rise back to a
level of cameradery rather than comisseration.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=295405004-30042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=295405004-30042007>
<DIV><FONT size=2>In service to the dream with a song in my heart, I am,<BR>HL
Gerald of Leesville<BR>A bard of Stargate </FONT></DIV></SPAN></DIV><BR>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> bards-bounces@lists.ansteorra.org
[mailto:bards-bounces@lists.ansteorra.org] <B>On Behalf Of
</B>Esther<BR><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, April 29, 2007 11:30 PM<BR><B>To:</B>
Ansteorran Bardic list<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Bards] Situations That Ruin
Bardic Circles<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">
<DIV>You know, I'm a story teller, not a singer or a musician. Most of my
stories run over ten minutes. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>So I guess bardic circles are out for me. See you at the Hafla!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Might I suggest, it's not the length of the story, it's the skill of
the story teller. Perhaps short pieces are better for bardic circles, but I
ask you, when are the long pieces "acceptable"? The long pieces are more
period for most of us, after all. A bard/skald/minstrel was supposed to be
able to hold the attention of his audience for longer than ten minutes, a
feat stand-up comics and story tellers seem to have no problem with in the
modern world.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Well, what the heck. To each their own, better to have short pieces and
a popular bardic than a dead bardic. They can always go to the movies to see
Beowulf.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Esther</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>> 2. Problem: Stories that are 20+ minutes long!!!! Reason:
Hogging airtime.<BR>> Solution: If you have a 20 minute story, serialize
it into 10-minute<BR>> increments and do one increment per turn. Circle
leader must state a<BR>> 10-minute (or some other agreed-upon time) rule
up front, and periodically<BR>> thereafter. <BR>> <BR>anything over 10
minutes will kill an audience. If they don't get up <BR>now, they likley
just wont even come back next time.<BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV>
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