Bardic Madness South II
Greetings,
This is a general announcement for Bardic Madness South II. We're
hoping to spread the word about this event to as many bardic performers
as possible. If you've ever attended the original Bardic Madness up in
Northshield, you'll find this event to be similar. The event will take
place in St Carol on the Moor (Charleston, IL) on December 2nd, 2000.
If you have a question about the challenges, contact Cerian Cantwr
at cerian@minstrel.com
If you would like to teach a class contact, Amelie d'Anjou at
emilysue@earthlink.net
If you would like to be a patron for one of the challenges,
contact John Inchingham at inchingham@hotmail.com
If you are interested in merchanting, contact the autocrat
Myrra de Blackwood, at jmhughes@advant.net
For further information, see the evolving website at
http://www.eiuspeech.net/SCA/Bardic/
Bardic Madness South II - The Challenges
Greetings and welcome are bid to all Bards, Troubadors, Trouveres,
Minstrels, Minnesingers, Jongleurs, Singers, Storytellers, Poets, Scops,
Skalds, Fillids, Olaves, Griots, Wordsmiths, and Friends of these arts.
Today, Dec 2nd, is the feast of St Chromatius. St Chromatius lived
during the 4th century and ultimately went on to become bishop of
Aquileia and one of the most celebrated prelates of his time.
Throughout his lifetime he often acted as a peacemaker, mediating
disputes between warring factions. He served as a balancing force
throughout much of what is today north-eastern Italy. He was also,
appropriately enough for our purposes, both a scholar and patron of the
arts.
The purpose of today's challenges is to encourage the participants'
creativity and artistic growth. They are not meant to be competitions -
everyone who takes part can consider themselves a winner.
Your response to the various challenges may be in many different forms.
Song or story are the most obvious choices; however juggling, magic,
instrumental, or dance can also express an idea or tell a tale. All of
these could be used to answer a given challenge (though perhaps not all
at the same time :-). Our desire here is to be inclusive rather than
exclusive. If you have something to share that doesn't quite fit or
that stretches the definitions a little, then fire away.
It is our wish to create a "bardic safe zone" - a friendly place where
you may feel free to experiment and try new things. If you've never
performed before, now's your chance. You'll be hard pressed to find a
friendlier and more supportive audience. We would be delighted to see
lots of first time performers.
In order to make certain that as many gentles get a chance to
participate as possible, we ask that you only perform in one challenge
per fyt. If time allows, additional performances will be more than
welcome. Also along these lines, we ask that you limit your
performances so that they run less than five minutes.
Fyt the First:
Quod Libet - Given a list of three topics and two tunes, use two topics
and one tune to compose at least two verses and a chorus.
Pilgrimage - We've all traveled long distances to reach an event before,
often encountering strange adventures along the way. Let's
face it, whoever said that getting there was half the fun
must have been something of a masochist. Nonetheless, tell
us of a journey - either in the SCA or in period, real or
imagined, and the trials and tribulations encountered along
the way.
Military Life - Tell us about life in the army - of camaraderie, of
fighting side by side with your brothers, of victory
against overwhelming odds, of grief over the loss of one
of your own, or that blankety-blank sergeant that
ordered you about. This can be real or imagined;
historical, of the current middle ages.
Fyt the Second:
Tangle Box - Given a list of 20 words and a list of tunes, compose a
song to one of the tunes.
Peacemaker - St Chromatius spent a significant portion of his life
mediating between hostile parties and remaining friendly to
all. With his example in mind; tell us of the non-violent
resolution to a conflict, how a war can be settled with
words rather than blood, how guile can make a battle
unnecessary, and how the pen can be mightier than the
sword.
Wait Five Minutes - We've all been to camping events where the weather
got… interesting. These challenges are being
written at Lilies, and the various storms, both
past and impending, are major topics of
conversation. Tell us of an encounter with the
weather; either historical or in the current middle
ages (real or imagined), and what happened before,
during, or after the event.
Fyt the Third:
Stir Fry - Given a list of words, do something artistic with them.
The Town of Aquileia - Tell us of the town of Aquileia or of the
countryside around it (NE Italy, that includes
Venice folks). Tell us of its people, its
history, or its scenery. Tell us of temples or
taverns, ports or palaces, basilicas or brothels.
If nothing else, take a look at
http://www.aquileia.it/ for an interesting
historical and archeological site.
Crazy Like a Fox - Tell a tale of a trickster, famous or otherwise,
their adventures and achievements (and if warranted,
retribution for same).
Fyt the Fourth:
Mazacroca - Given several texts to choose from in foreign languages,
"translate" one of them and explain what it "really" means.
Instant Miracle - Just add bard. There are no well known miracles
associated with St Chromatius, let's fix this. Spin
for us a miracle made of moonbeams - an event that
seems miraculous to you (ie: the tourney began on
time). It need not be in any way religious,
historical, or even particularly likely.
At First Sight - We've all heard of love at first sight. While it may
be more fable than fact, it's one all of us tend to
cherish and treasure. So tell us of that magical
moment, of when two lovers first looked into each
others eyes and knew they were destined to be together.
How did they feel? What thoughts did they think? What
happened to them in that instant and why?
Fyt the Fifth:
Toasting - Feast time is traditionally when we raise our glasses on high
to honor the crown and other deserving individuals. Given a
topic or person at random, create an appropriate toast for
them.
Food for Thought - "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach."
Most would agree that there was some truth to this.
Sharing a meal is one of our most basic social
customs. A great many of the tales heard today have
probably wound up mentioning food at some point -
even if only in passing. So serve us up a song
(story, instrumental, dance) wherein food, either
actual or allegorical, plays an important role (or
should that be roll :-)
Lake Not So Gone - Tell us of a lake, of its' currents, of its' eddies,
of its' shores. Tell us of the secrets it hides
beneath its' waters or of the aquatic life that it
enfolds. Tell us of the people who live around it
and how the lake effects them. Tell us of the
pebbles that have fallen and the ripples that have
spread. (Hint to instrumentalists and dancers: this
is probably a good one for you to try).