Received: from SOUTH-STATION-ANNEX.MIT.EDU by po8.MIT.EDU (5.61/4.7) id AA20469; Wed, 30 Sep 98 12:21:48 EDT Received: from xkey.com by MIT.EDU with SMTP id AA14167; Wed, 30 Sep 98 12:21:44 EDT Received: (from majordomo@localhost) by xkey.com id JAA17080 for minstrel-outgoing; Wed, 30 Sep 1998 09:08:37 -0700 Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 07:24:02 -0600 (MDT) From: Lily Rose Reply-To: Lily Rose To: minstrel@pbm.com Subject: minstrel: Bardic, Period, Etc. In-Reply-To: <199809290241.WAA17212@xkey.com> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-minstrel@rt.com Precedence: bulk Dragging out a soapbox of my own..... Period entertainment -- heh. You want period entertainment? How about a nice: -- bear baiting -- public hanging -- cockfight -- public burning -- hunt (to hell with the horses and dogs, let's kill us a boar!) -- war? I mean, if we're going to be REALLY period, let's do it all! Okay, seriously now. Last I checked, the objective of the SCA was to recreate the period, leaving out the bits that aren't palatable to modern eyes and/or stomachs, such as the above. Reproducing period life is a goal I've been interested in for a long time now. And if you want to have a period feast, a period event, a period experience -- why, period food, period music, and period clothing all enhance that experience. But the folks in period did not give a rat's ass about documentation, authenticity, whatever. They were too hungry, too cold, and too bored to care if the food, the clothing, or the song came with a five page research paper. This emphasis on documentation and authenticity is UTTERLY out of period. Sure, there's a contradiction there. And if you don't try to preserve the medieval ways of doing things, you end up with (surprise!) the modern era. Everyone who sews a garment, cooks a subtlety, sings a song, runs into this contradiction and MUST find a way to deal with it. But it seems to me that competitions which are primarily oriented towards documentation, *especially* bardic ones, are skating on very thin ice WRT period. And frankly, original music is perhaps the MOST period choice a bard can make. It's scary enough to expose yourself to criticism as a performer. I don't think we do nascent performers, OR THE SOCIETY, any service by being hyper-critical of the period-ness of their work. Nor do I think that "competitions" should be the primary venue for the performing arts. When Eleanor of Aquataine's grandfather (William?) brought home troubador songs from the Crusades, nobody asked or cared where he got them -- they just listened and enjoyed. Period people (if you'll excuse the expression) didn't have television, the internet, radios, CDs, or very many books. Anything entertaining was welcome. So, (since I see a group of folks approaching my soapbox with sharp pointy things), it's my not-very-humble opinion that anybody who tries to entertain should be judged PRIMARILY on how well they entertain. Sure, there are wonderful period songs and period stories around -- lots of them. And it enhances the experience to hear them. But we are recreating medieval LIFE here. Documentation and research papers belong firmly on the fringes. -- Lady Viviana Rowe lilyrose@mail.sjcsf.edu Barony of al-Barran, Kingdom of the Outlands Excelsior! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this list, send email to majordomo@pbm.com containing the words "unsubscribe minstrel". If you are subscribed to the digest version, say "unsubscribe minstrel-digest". To contact a human about problems, send mail to owner-minstrel@pbm.com