[Sca-cooks] I posed these questions to my kingdom....

[Judith Epstein]

On 7 Dec 2009, at 3:49 PM, Michael Gunter wrote:

>> 3. What would you like to see served more at feast?
> 
> Live musicians playing softly in the background.
> 
> Bards between courses. But not "hostage dinner theater" where you have 
> 
> to stop all conversation or eating while someone demands attention.

I'd like to add some emphasis here. "Live musicians playing SOFTLY in the BACKGROUND." I don't know how many times I've been at restaurants or homes in which the music is quite lovely indeed, but utterly precludes conversation. When I have to talk over music, my voice gets strained and it sounds like I'm angry and argumentative instead of pleasantly enjoying myself... which of course tends to actually make me angry, since I'm having to shout, not to be understood, but (as a consequence of the shouting) to be MISunderstood. Bardic circles, A&S music displays/competitions, or your own campfires are the perfect place to make music the focus of the evening. At a feast, the emphases (that's plural, that is) should be on conversation and dining instead. 

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D'vorah, mka Judith Epstein
Master Albrecht Waldfurster's Egg
Middle Kingdom, Midlands, Ayreton, Tree-Girt-Sea (Chicago, IL)
judith at ipstenu.org
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