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I really should not reply to this because Master Robin has given a beautiful and wonderfully correct answer.<br><br>I have to admit, however, that despite his wonderful case, I personally HATE the artificial nature of these command performance competitions. Yes, Robin is right but I feel (feelings here folks) that a performance should entertain in a way that is neither offensive nor breaks away from the atmosphere that we try to create in our Society, with extra points given for original work done in a period manner, period pieces, or excellent documentation. . That was 'period' -- really, stop right there. That IS enough.<br><br>Selfish fool that I am, I WANT TO BE ENTERTAINED! I would far rather see someone perform 3 pieces in the same manner if it plays to their strength, rather than hear a single story teller singing off-pitch. That is torture, not entertainment.<br><br>Someone tell me again, why we have to be diverse for the sake of diversity? Why can we simply not do what we do well, what others enjoy hearing us do, and strive to constantly better the areas we CAN master instead of being forced into areas we will never be even decent in.<br><br><Sigh> I know. I should have kept my mouth shut.<br><br>Melody<br>(who is going back to lurking now)<br><br><blockquote><hr>From: rudin@ev1.net<br>To: bards@lists.ansteorra.org<br>Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2007 15:53:51 -0500<br>Subject: Re: [Bards] Differing Styles<br><br>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Brian asked:</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"><font size="2"><font face="Arial" size="2"></font></font></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">> Gwen's question about "differing styles" leads
me to ask: What</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">> are your opinions on requiring differing
styles? I personally like</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">> it because it shows diversity, but your
take on the matter may vary.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"><font size="2"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"></font></font></font></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Speaking as a performer who might be entering a
competition, I am neither for or against. People can set up any
competition they want, and if they want us to compose original haiku while
standing on a chair on one leg with a finger in our left ear, that's their
business. We will then each decide if we wish to enter.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"><font size="2"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"></font></font></font></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">But as a way to "show diversity", it is no more
successful than most diversity programs, and for the same reasons. It
assumes that diversity is a binary function, and cannot exist within these
classes. Song is different from poem, but one poem is not different from
another poem.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"><font size="2"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"></font></font></font></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Consider two performers: one sings a sappy
Provencal tragic love song, recites a sappy Provencal tragic love poem, and
tells a sappy Provencal tragic love story. Another recites stirring
battles scenes from Beowulf in Saxon alliterative verse, followed by
a comic bawdy verse of his own devising in ballad measure, and then his own
translation of a Petrarchan love sonnet in a correct iambic
pentameter.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"><font size="2"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"></font></font></font></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Which one has displayed the greater
diversity? More importantly, which one shows the greater ability to
perform for any audience in any mood?</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"><font size="2"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"></font></font></font></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Finally, as a judge, I am well aware that when
competitions require multiple styles, we spend more time listening to
poorly-paced stories, off-key songs, and droning poems.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"><font size="2"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"></font></font></font></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Besides, there are a lot of unused ways to
encourage actual diversity:</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">1. First piece judged by the ladies pavilion,
second piece judged by the fighters, third piece judged by the populace at the
late night drunken party. (A truly subtle bard might perform a great war
piece for the ladies, a comic piece for the fighters, and a stirring
praise of Ansteorra for the party)</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"><font size="2"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font face="Arial" size="2"></font></font></font></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">2. War, love and honor</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"><font size="2"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font face="Arial" size="2"></font></font></font></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">3. Pre-medieval, medieval, Renaissance</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"><font size="2"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"></font></font></font></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">4. Period work, original work, work by a different
Ansteorran bard.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"><font size="2"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font face="Arial" size="2"></font></font></font></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">5. Tragedy, comedy, adventure</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"><font size="2"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font face="Arial" size="2"></font></font></font></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">6. "Three pieces that show the breadth of your
abilities". (No set rules. Let the bards decide what the breadth of
their abilities really means.)</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">7. Your best piece, your personal favorite piece,
and your first good piece. (Mine would be three poems, bu they would be
very different.)</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">8. Individual performer, group performance,
audience participation piece</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">9. (This one was used for a kingdom Eisteddfodd in
the late 1990s) Must do pieces for three of the Muses:</font></div><font face="Arial" size="2"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></font><div><font face="Arial" size="2"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><font face="Arial" size="2">Calliope: heroic saga</font></font></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><font face="Arial" size="2">Clio: history</font></font></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Euterpe: song</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Erato: erotic or love song or verse</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Melpomene: tragedy</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Polyhymnia: sacred writings</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Tepsichore: narrative dance</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Thalia: bucolic or comic verse</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Urania (astronomy): tales of the Black Star
(stories about Ansteorrans)</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">One of the advantages of many of these is that they
leave open the possibility of an unexpected and creative approach to the
rules. When the muse format was used for kingdom Eisteddfod, HL Kat
impressed me most with her innovative approach. She opened with a piece
for Euterpe -- no surprise, since her forte is singing. But the piece
turned out to be a *poem* written in praise of the muse of
song.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">In short, once we have accepted diversity
as a goal, having diverse forms of competition clearly shows more diversity than
just the continued use of the story / song / poem trichotomy</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Robin of Gilwell / Jay
Rudin</font></div>
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