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Bardic for the
Bardically Challenged 101, subsection g-187
a brief talk by
Lord Dunstan
LeHeryngmongere (Keith Nealson)
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to ‘Bardic for the Bardically Challenged.’ This presentation is
designed with lots of people in mind. If you have never been to a bardic
circle, this might help you. If you have been to bardic circles and did
not perform because you were nervous or unprepared, this class might
help you. If you are a performer who is new to the SCA or if you are an
old SCAdian from way back who suddenly desires to perform, this
presentation might help you. If you are a person who can not carry a
tune in a bucket and you know not a single story, this class might still
help you find a place in the Bardic circle.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
By the end of this lesson, the learner will be able to accomplish the
following lesson objectives:
1. define ‘bardic’ somewhat properly
2. list three helpful tips in getting started in that crazy universe
known as the Bardic Circle
3. List word-for-word and with 100% accuracy no less than three tips for
preparing to perform.
WHAT IS ‘BARDIC’
Different people define bards and bardic arts differently. Depending on
their period and performance styles, they may also use the word skalds,
troubadours, trouvieres, jesters, jongleurs, or any one of 854 or so
other terms. (see the masterful work, 859 Other Names For a Bard,
by Lords Anon and Trad.) Depending upon the time and place in history,
the ‘Bard’, by whatever name he is called, may have been an entertainer,
public speaker, advisor or historian. In the SCA, the term is most often
used to talk about a musician or vocalist or poet who performs in front
of an audience. In general, however, the Bard is simply a performer who
does something in an attempt to educate or entertain other people. Not
all Bards are musicians, nor are they all poets, nor do all of them
write original works, nor do all of them do strictly period pieces
(though many do some or all of these things) Some of the things you can
do that are definitely bardic that do not involve poetry/singing/playing
a musical instrument include telling stories, juggling, dancing, telling
a joke, mime (no really, I’ve seen it. It works!), demonstrating a very
short period skill, putting on plays/dramas/short skits, and even really
bad movie re-enactments (thank you Holy Grail).
GENERAL TIPS for getting started with performing arts:
1. Go to Bardic circles/other performance venues. Watch other people
perform. Pick and
choose what you like and discard what you do not like.
2. Start small (1 verse of a poem or song. Short stories. It takes a
very good storyteller
to engage an audience more than 2-3 minutes)(1)
3. Start with subject matter you are reasonably comfortable with. (if
what you know are
Grateful Dead tunes, sing one. Walt Whitman poems? Recite one. Just bear
in
mind that some bardic circles are period only, and don’t perform those
pieces at
period only circles.) If you are a graceful dancer, then dance. Jugglers
are
welcome . . . but beginner jugglers need to use only soft juggling
things. Do NOT
be afraid of the ‘no s*&t there I was story- some of the best stories
are going to
be ones connected to you personally.
4. If you are singing and nervous about it, perform local standards
(pieces that others are
very familiar with). (let’s name a few now) They will then sing along
with you,
and this tends to reduce nervousness ‘cuz you are not the only one
performing.
5. Don’t take it too seriously. Remember you are doing this to have fun.
6. Ignore the audience if you are really nervous.
7. Pay close attention to the audience if you are not. The audience lets
you know how
you are doing and if you need to spice things up or tone things down.
8. Don’t sweat the small stuff until you get the big stuff down. (Hands
in pockets,
nervous pacing, lack of complete familiarity with subject matter and
verbal fillers can be worked on AFTER you start performing.)
9. Work with other people. The more people singing with me, the better I
sound!
Practice songs with other people (1 or 2 or 10 . . . doesn’t matter).
This can be
especially handy with drama. Some of the best entertainment I have seen
in the
sca could be classified as dinner theatre.
10. EVEN IF you are not performing, contribute to the bardic arts by
encouraging other
people. Give out tokens to good performers, say thanks, attend bardics,
host bardics, and buy bardic recordings.
RESOURCES:
1. Library - Children’s Books, history books, mythology section,
religious section, joke books (2)
2. Popular/classical music - While the big music stores rarely carry
large quantities of period music, they may often carry folk music
appropriate to the SCA in their classical or international or folk
sections. There are always internet music stores and SCA merchants to
acquire music from. (3)
3. Strange everyday household items (4)
4. Local Bards- but ALWAYS make sure you attribute their work back to
them directly. Also, when you ask James of Middle Aston if you can
borrow his songbook, bring a forklift. (5)
5. Internet- always a bonus. See the below for a handful of good
websites to start searching for music. For anything other than music,
try something called a BROWSER. They work. Joining an SCA minstrel
mailing list or bardic mailing list may help you ask questions of
knowledgeable people. It may also drive you slowly insane, so beware.
PREPARING
1. Practice the material.
2. Practice your delivery (PROJECT. Speak in many tones. Make eye
contact with your audience, but don’t get into staring contests). (6)
3. Practice the material some more.
4. Have a hard copy back-up (you can make this look period)
5. Know your audience (be aware of age appropriateness and level of
‘periodicity’
in group).
6. Ask for help if you need it.
7. Work on period after you are comfortable with performing. (7)
8. Work on persona period after you are comfortable with period.
9. Don’t be afraid to start with Filk (but move past it eventually, if
only for brief
moments!) (8)
10. Practice the material some more.
11. Do a little research and know a little something about the piece you
are
performing.
EVALUATION
1. Record yourself and listen.
2. More importantly, record yourself and have other people listen.
3.Ask specific questions about your performance (do not ask ‘how did I
do?’. Ask ‘Was I loud enough? Did you understand the whole story? Did my
hand movements contribute to or distract from the performance? Was there
anything you would have done differently? When my hair caught on fire,
was I sufficiently startled looking?
TYPES OF BARDIC CIRCLES
- Jump in whenever
- Pick, pass or play
- Individual led
- Casual Schmoozing (the bard as background music)
- Competition style- if you are planning to compete in local or kingdom
level bardic competitions, follow all the above advice and in addition
begin developing a repertoire which consists of 2-3 period pieces, 2-3
original pieces (or personal adaptations of non-originals) and 2-3 ‘SCA
standards’. These should all be pieces you are very comfortable with and
should include at least 2 different types of performances.
A handful of music websites I like:
http://www.contemplator.com/folk.html
(Folk music of England, Scotland and Wales. Includes midi’s and some
song histories)
http://www.chivalry.com/cantaria/index.html (Put together by
SCAdians, this includes words and tunes to many period and non period
tunes alike.)
http://www.albany.net/~dowland/sound.html (This site is specifically
guitar and lute midis that cover late period tunes)
http://www.childballads.com/
(Excellent collection of all the Child ballads)
http://www.dnaco.net/~mobrien/filk/scalink.html (A really big
collection of links to SCA filks, SCA songbooks and other song
collections. A good starting point if looking for a specific song)
And a few storytelling websites:
http://vasa.communitypoint.org/articles/elizabethan_storytelling/finding_period_stories.html
(Has some excellent links for several different period sources of
stories)
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/period_sources_for_story_telling.html
(Again, some excellent links for period storytelling.)
http://www.stsc.hill.af.mil/crosstalk/2000/03/mar00.pdf
(A PDF format paper on the history of Æsop.)
http://www.florilegium.org/files/STORIES/idxstories.html
(A really useful series of links for kingdom histories and SCA stories.)
And a few miscellaneous websites:
http://www.foolsforhire.com/info/history.html (An interesting
history of ‘the fool’)
http://www.thenoodlebowl.com/jesters (A healthy smattering of
images and commentary on being a fool.)
http://moas.atlantia.sca.org/wsnlinks/ (This is the MoAS website for
Atlantia. Skip straight down to Performing Arts and have some fun
browsing through it. I actually learned some new words last time I went
there! There’s also a considerable amount of period stuff to be found
there if one rummages)
http://www.toastmasters.org/tips.asp (This is 10 tips on
public speaking as presented by Toastmasters, a worldwide organization
that teaches people how to speak in public)
STUFF TO TRY
The following is from Shakespeare’s a Comedy of Errors, Act III,
Scene II, wherein Dromio discusses his newfound love, a kitchen maid
named Nell, who has already been established to be . . . not so petite.
ANTIPHOLUS: Then she bears some breadth?
DROMIO: No longer from head to foot than from hip to hip:
she is spherical, like a globe; I could find out countries in her.
ANTIPHOLUS: In what part of her body stands Ireland?
DROMIO: Marry, in her buttocks: I found it out by the bogs.
ANTIPHOLUS Where Scotland?
DROMIO I found it by the barrenness; hard in the palm of the hand.
ANTIPHOLUS Where France?
DROMIO In her forehead; armed and reverted, making war against her heir.
ANTIPHOLUS Where England?
DROMIO I looked for the chalky cliffs, but I could find no
whiteness in them; but I guess it stood in her chin,
by the salt rheum that ran between France and it.
ANTIPHOLUS Where Spain?
DROMIO Faith, I saw it not; but I felt it hot in her breath.
ANTIPHOLUS Where America, the Indies?
DROMIO Oh, sir, upon her nose all o'er embellished with
rubies, carbuncles, sapphires, declining their rich
aspect to the hot breath of Spain; who sent whole
armadoes of caracks to be ballast at her nose.
ANTIPHOLUS Where stood Belgia, the Netherlands?
DROMIO Oh, sir, I did not look so low. . .
This from “The Taming of the Shrew”, Act II Scene I
PETRUCHIO Come, come, you wasp; i' faith, you are too angry.
KATHARINA If I be waspish, best beware my sting.
PETRUCHIO My remedy is then, to pluck it out.
KATHARINA Ay, if the fool could find it where it lies,
PETRUCHIO Who knows not where a wasp does wear his sting? In his tail.
KATHARINA In his tongue.
PETRUCHIO Whose tongue?
KATHARINA Yours, if you talk of tails: and so farewell.
PETRUCHIO What, with my tongue in your tail?
BALLAD OF THE GIBBET
[An epitaph in the form of a ballad that Francois Villon (1431-1463)
wrote of himself and his company, they expecting shortly to be hanged.]
Brothers and men that shall after us be,
Let not your hearts be hard to us:
For pitying this our misery
Ye shall find God the more piteous.
Look on us six that are hanging thus,
And for the flesh that so much we cherished
How it is eaten of birds and perished,
And ashes and dust fill our bones' place,
Mock not at us that so feeble be,
But pray God pardon us out of His grace.
Listen, we pray you, and look not in scorn,
Though justly, in sooth, we are cast to die;
Ye wot no man so wise is born
That keeps his wisdom constantly.
Be ye then merciful, and cry
To Mary's Son that is piteous,
That His mercy take no stain from us,
Saving us out of the fiery place.
We are but dead, let no soul deny
To pray God succour us of His grace.
The rain out of heaven has washed us clean,
The sun has scorched us black and bare,
Ravens and rooks have pecked at our eyne,
And feathered their nests with our beards and hair.
Round are we tossed, and here and there,
This way and that, at the wild wind's will,
Never a moment my body is still;
Birds they are busy about my face.
Live not as we, nor fare as we fare;
Pray God pardon us out of His grace.
Ballad of François
[This is a short translated piece written, according to my source,
by an anonymous author around 1680, who must have found Francois’ piece
a bit overwordy and so shortened it considerably! - Piece directly
stolen from Yonatan von Schwartzuberflek]
I am François, to my dismay . . .
Parisian born of Pontiou way
And through the lessons rope convey
My neck will learn what my arse may weigh.
Companho, Farau un Vers Qui•s Covinen
William IX, Duke of Aquitaine (see translation below)
Companho, faray un vers qui•s covinen:
et aura i mais de foudaz no•y a de sen,
et er totz mesclatz d'amor e de joy e de joven.
E tenguatz lo per vilan qui no l'enten
o dins son cor voluntiers qui non l'apren;
greu partir si fa d'amor qui la trob'a son talen.
Dos cavalhs ai a ma selha ben e gen;
bon son e adreg per armas e valen;
mas no•ls puesc amdos tener que l'us l'autre non cossen.
Si•ls pogues adomesjar a mon talen,
ja no volgra alhors mudar mon guarnimen,
que miels for' encavalguatz de nuill autr'ome viven.
La uns fo dels montanhiers lo plus corren;
mas aitan fer' estranhez' ha longuamen,
et es tan fers e salvatges que del bailar si defen.
L'autre fo noyritz sa jus, part Cofolen,
et anc no•n vis bellazor, mon escien;
aquest non er ja camjatz ni per aur ni per argen.
Qu'ie•l doney a son senhor polin payssen;
pero si•m retinc ieu tan de covenen
que s'el lo teni' un an qu'ieu lo tengues mais de cen.
Cavallier, datz mi cosselh d'un pessamen!
anc mais no fuy issarratz de cauzimen:
res non sai ab qual mi tengua de N'Agnes o de N'Arsen.
De Gimel ai lo castel el mandamen,
e per Niol fauc ergueil a tota gen,
c'ambedui me son jurat e plevit per sagramen.
I'm Planning, Friend, to Write a Decent Verse
(A translation of Companho, Farau un Vers Qui•s Covinen (see above),
by James H. Donalson (from Provençal)
I'm planning, friend, to write a decent verse
with lots of nonsense, very little sense,
with a mix of joy and youth and a lot of love besides.
Those who don't understand are Philistines
as also those who won't learn it by heart:
they can only understand when the love is to their taste.
I have two saddle-horses, and that's good;
and they are combat-ready and they're brave;
But I can't ride both at once - one can't bear the other's weight.
If I could only train them as I'd like
I wouldn't take my gear away from here,
for then I'd be better horsed than is any man alive.
The one was fastest of the mountain-bred,
but for a long time now he's gotten shy -
he is savage and so wild he will hide from curry-combs.
The other one was raised by Confolens -
a horse more handsome you have never seen,
and I wouldn't give him up, not for silver or for gold.
I gave him to his master while a colt,
but I retained a right to this effect:
if he stayed a year with him, I would get a hundred back.
In this dilemma, sirs, I need advice,
it never was so hard before to choose:
should I hold to Agnes then, sirs, or will it be Arsen?
I've Gimel castle and all its domain
and Nieul made me proudest of them all;
both have sworn fidelity by the strongest, binding oaths.
The Story of Rapunzel
Once upon a time there lived a man and his wife who were very unhappy
because they had no children. These good people had a window at the back
of their house which looked onto the most lovely garden. It was full of
all manners of beautiful flowers and vegetables, but the garden was
surrounded by a high wall. No one dared to enter the garden, as it
belonged to a witch of great power who was feared by the whole world.
One day the woman stood at the window overlooking the garden and saw a
bed full of Rampion. The leaves looked so very fresh and green and
delicious that she immediately was overcome with an intense desire to
eat them. The desire grew day by day, and was worsened with time by the
fact that she knew she could not have any. She began to grow thin and
pale and wretched. Her husband grew alarmed and asked her what was
ailing her.
“Oh,” the wife replied, “If I do not get some of the Rampion leaves from
the Garden next door I shall surely die!”
At first, the husband dismissed this as a silly notion, but sure enough
his wife grew thinner and thinner and more and more ill. Finally he
decided that he would have to get some of the leaves for her. At dusk he
climbed over the garden wall and fetched a handful of the leaves and
returned back home to give them to his wife. She made them into a salad
and she ate them ravenously. Her hunger was indeed satisfied by the
delicious leaves, but only for one day. After that day was over she
longed for the leaves even more than before. She continued to pine away,
and after another couple of days the Farmer climbed over the garden wall
at dusk to fetch more leaves.
This time he drew back in terror, for the old witch was standing near
the rampion waiting for him.
“How dare you climb into my garden and steal rampion like a common
thief?” she asked the man.
“Oh,” he implored, “Pardon my presumption, but necessity drove me to the
deed! My wife saw your rampion from a our window and conceived of such a
desire for it that she would have died had I not gotten some of it!”
The witch’s anger seemed little appeased, and she said to the man “If
it’s as you say, you may take as much rampion home with you as you wish,
but only on one condition- that you give me your firstborn child on the
day of it’s birth. I will take care of it like a mother would, and you
shall never see it again.”
The man, in terror and anguish, agreed to the condition, feeling quite
sure that he and his wife would not be able to concieve a child, as they
had tried for many years. He took the rampion home and told his wife
what he had agreed to. She had her fill of Rampion and never again
desired it, but she also became pregnant with a child shortly
thereafter. On the day their daughter was born, the witch appeared
at their doorstep, named the child Rapunzel (which is another name for
Rampion), and took her away.
Rapunzel grew up to be the most beautiful child under the sun. When she
was twelve years old the witch shut her up in a tower in the middle of a
dense forest. The tower had neither stairs nor doors, just a balcony at
the top. When the old witch wanted to enter the tower she stood at it’s
base and said, ‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your golden hair.” And
Rapunzel would let down her beautiful hair and the witch would climb the
twenty yards up the hair to the window.
They lived like this for several years until it happened one day that a
handsome prince was riding by the tower. As he drew near he heard
someone singing so sweetly that he was spellbound. What he heard, of
course, was Rapunzel in her loneliness passing the time by singing. He
rode to the base of the tower but could find no door or opening of any
kind. He rode home, but he was so haunted by the song that he returned
to the tower each day thereafter to hear the voice again.
One day he was standing behind a tree near the tower when he saw the
witch ride up and call out “Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your golden
hair.” This Rapunzel did, and the witch climbed up.
The Prince came back the next day and decided to try his luck. He, too,
stood at the bottom of the tower and called up “Rapunzel, Rapunzel let
down your golden hair.” Rapunzel let down her hair and he climbed
up.
Rapunzel was at first very frightened, for she had never seen a man
before. The prince spoke kindly to her and told her that his heart had
been touched by her singing. Rapunzel forgot her fear and they began to
talk. Soon enough the Prince asked for Rapunzel’s hand in marriage.
Rapunzel said yes, but had a problem- how was she to get down the tower?
She told the prince to visit in the evenings when the witch was always
away. He was to bring a skein of silk every time he came to visit her
and she would make a ladder of it and climb down when the time was
right.
They stood by this plan for several days until one day Rapunzel, not
thinking of what she was saying, asked the witch “How is it good mother
that you are so much harder to pull up than the young prince . . . ooops.”
“Wicked child!” cried the witch, “What is this I hear? I thought I had
you hidden from the world, but here you are deceiving me!” and she
siezed hold of Rapunzel’s beautiful hair and snipped it all off. Then
she banished the now bald Rapunzel to the far side of a desert there to
live in loneliness and misery.
She nailed the hair to the windowsill and waitied for the prince to
arrive. When he came he called out, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your
golden hair.”
The witch let down the hair and the prince climbed up. The witch then
fixed him with a horrible stare. “Ah ha! You thought to find your lady
love, but your pretty bird has flown the coop! Rapunzel is lost to you
forever, and you shall never see her- or anything else- again!”
And she cast a most horrible spell at that point that caused the Prince
to go instantly blind. He stumbled out of the tower window, falling into
a bramble bush below and stumbling away into the total darkness.
The Prince wandered about for several years, wretched and unhappy and
blind to all around him. Eventually he desired to be in the loneliest
place on earth, as that seemed the only appropriate place to be for him,
and he asked some travelers to direct him there. This they did, and when
he arrived there he heard the familiar sound of Rapunzel singing.
Rapunzel recognized him and fell on him and wept. When her tears touched
his face, he could suddenly see again, and the two returned to the
Prince’s Kingdom where they lived happily ever after.
This is a Grimm’s fairy tale, but as many of Grimm’s tales did it
actually was first seen from Giambattista Basile’s work Pentamerone
(1637). Basile wrote about Petrosinella in his tale (derived from
petrosine, or parsley). There are many similarities between the two
tales, although in Basile’s tales the pair elopes before being
discovered and are never cursed by the witch.
Subnotes:
1.- The Barbarian Fight Song
2- A short Fable- Frog from Osaka
3- Turn, Turn, Turn
4- Firewater
5- Efenwealt CD and other CDs
6- Audience Participation: Shakespearean Samplers
7- We Be Soldiers Three, Cucu, Cucu, I Saw Upon the Pier One Day
8- Bow together
Bring - books, tapes, CDs, walking stick, old-looking book, a
Shakespeare clip (for people to perform). |