oak leaf

Mid-Realm Bardic Madness XII Challenges

 oak leaf


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.

Please remember, in order to make sure as many gentles get a chance to perform as possible, we ask that you limit your performances so that they run less than five minutes.


Fyt the First:
Pass the Tale All those who wish to participate get up together, and tell a tale from beginning to end. The challenge's patron will 'conduct' by pointing to the person whose turn it is to continue the tale, and deciding when it is time to end.
Fortune's Fool Many tales revolve around a prophecy, divination or lucky charm. Tell us of one such adventure.
Deja Vu What if "It's Been A Hard Day's Night" had been written by O'Carolan instead of the Beatles? If John Henry was a blacksmith instead of a steel drivin' man? Mighty Casey at Crown List? Take a modern piece, but crank the dial on the way-back machine to make it SCA compatible. For example:

Now, gentles, sit! And yes shall hear a tale,
The story of a voyage marr'd by fate,
Commencing from a port of tropic clime
Aboard a vessel minuscule, the mate
A sailor full of puissance, yet not more
Than was his captain. That idyllic shore
Sent forth five passengers upon a tour
Of but three hours' time; the weather played
The strumpet with the ship, her serenade
 Turned hurricano, and not small at all,
Her crew's exertions nurs'd her to the lee
Of a long-forgotten atoll. There lamed,
Brave Gilligan and his captain dwell beside
A merchant rich as Croesus and his bride,
A wanton actress, a most learned man,
And Mary Ann,
Upon the isle for which our play is named!
-- (unattributed, found at http://www.thalia.org/medieval.html)

Fyt the Second:
Sibyl Says The sibyls were female prophets of Greek and Roman mythology. Their prophecies, which emerged as riddles to be interpreted by priests, were inspired by Apollo or other dieties. (mythencyclopedia.com). Tell us a riddle, prophetic or not!
Mourning Becomes Cassandra Cassandra was a prophetess cursed by Apollo to always foretell true, but never to be believed. She witnessed many tragedies and died in the fall of Troy. Pull out the hankies and give us a good lament.
Period Piece Perform a documentably period piece of music, story, or song (poetry, prose, and so forth are good too). Dig out those reference books, blow off the dust (try not to sneeze), and see what wonderful and magical treasures you can find in them. There is a staggering amount of fantastic material out there. Find something, be it silly or sublime, and amaze us with it.

Fyt the Third:
Fortune Cookie We're leaving this one up to the fatesx and sugar. Grab a fortune cookie or the Italian analog, Baci (provided by the Provost), and write two verses and a chorus inspired by the wisdom within.
Anglo Saxon Verse My magic 8 ball predicts there will be a mighty event in the East, where the lines of Beowulf will once again echo in the hall ( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BeowulfEvent). Start warming up now with a piece in Anglo Saxon verse. The rules for constructing it are as follows:
  1. Each line is made up of two half lines or distiches.
  2. When spoken aloud, there will be a natural pause between them. This is the caesura.
  3. Each half line consists of two strongly stressed syllables and an indefinite number of weaker ones.
  4. Stressed syllables rhyme with each other by alliteration.
  5. The first stress of the second half line will rhyme with either of the stresses in the first half line.
  6. The second stress of the second half line does not usually rhyme with either of the stresses in the first half line.
In the following example, the stressed syllables have been underlined to make them easier to find.

Harken and hear         heed my example.
Verse form I give you view it and learn.
Two are the stresses told in each half-line,
Varied the unstressed uttered as well.
The first or the second fit with the third beat;
The fourth, at the end, follows no rule.
When spoken aloud, ears spot the caesura -
The silence between both halves of the line.

Further information on the basic rules for Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse can be found here. For all the gory details, take a look at The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics.

Beware the Ides of March Ceasar might've lived longer if he'd paid attention! Give us your own ominous foretelling.

Fyt the Fourth:
Bard Scribe Illuminator Given a subject in the morning, compose, calligraph, and illuminate a text on that subject. This may be done individually or as a team.
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.
Tastier than Tea Leaves Food is often involved in divination, from reading of tea leaves or entrails to tossing apple peelings. But we've got much better things to do with food - a glorious feast! Give us a piece about food or feasting; bonus points if you can work in praise for our cooks


Challenge General Rules


General Info | Directions | Schedule | Challenges | Classes | Concert | Patrons | Lunch & Feast | Lodging | Merchants | Post Rev | Staff

Narrental Home
This page maintained by Cerian Cantwr, cerian@minstrel.com.

Last updated: 2016-05-07