Message-Id: <199809301755.NAA25675@xkey.com>
Subject: Re: minstrel: Bardic, Period, Etc.
To: lilyrose@mail.sjcsf.edu (Lily Rose)
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 13:55:50 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Greg Lindahl" <lindahl@pbm.com>
Cc: minstrel@pbm.com
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.3.96.980930112212.8933C-100000@mail.sjcsf.edu> from "Lily Rose" at Sep 30, 98 11:28:18 am
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> I've seen a nice trained bear, done quite similarly.  Point was, we aren't
> always authentic.  This is the "Middle Ages as it should-have-been."

No one ever claimed that we are or should always be authentic. This is
known as a "straw man" argument; I call it "the myth of perfect
authenticity". We've seen several expressions of it in the past few
day. One expression of the myth is, "if we can't be perfect, we
shouldn't try at all."

> > Perhaps. But original music in an authentic style, theme, etc. is
> > definitely more period of a choice than original music in a 20th
> > century style, theme, etc.
> 
> Sure it is.  I have no problem with that.  But everyone has to begin
> somewhere, and for some of us, overcoming stage fright is the first step.

Great. I've got some cool rounds; you can sing along in a big group.
They're lots of fun, and are handy for getting people involved. They
even happen to date back to 1580, but I don't mention that much if
I'm just wandering around in the dark drinking and singing.

> I'm not gonna do research until I know whether I like the results

So why not learn some authentic songs that someone else has already
collected? In fact, I don't think that anyone should have to do any
research at all to play our game; if you just want to perform, I'm
happy to "spoon feed" you material. We both have fun, everyone enjoys
the result.

I do the same thing in clothes; other people spoon-feed me
instructions.

> > > Documentation and research papers belong firmly on the fringes. 
> > 
> > I just hope documentation is not being discouraged anywhere.
> 
> I doubt that it is.

Your statement quoted above discourages me, actually. "The fringe" has
a really bad connotation. Around here, the Tuchux and people wearing
chainmail bikinis are said to be on "the fringe", and it's an insult.

I'm sure you don't intend it to be discouragaing, just like I don't
intend my enjoyment of research to intimidate anyone else.

> Should documentation take priority over
> entertainment?

For you? I don't know. For me, I can do both at once, and enjoy it.
And the standards of documentation are very different for a
competition, a competition that asks for documentation, and general
entertainment.

> Do you prefer to hear an occasional OOP piece, or would you rather have
> all the potential bards too intimidated to try?

I'd enjoy it if everyone made an attempt at pre-1600 music, just like
they made an attempt at pre-1600 clothes. I don't believe I've ever
intimidated anyone; I certinaly haven't tried to do so. I will not
personally sing or play an OOP piece; that's my personal choice.

>  I've seen both, and I
> prefer to hear fifteen rousing choruses of the "Moose" song, thanks. 

You seem to think that those are the only 2 alternatives. They aren't.

I suspect we're talking past each other, for the most part. Returning
to the top of the message, there's a "straw man" that people argue
against; a mythical person who supposedly thinks that everything
should be authentic and who intimidates new people by insisting on
impossible things from them. I am not that person, and I've never met
anyone who was that person.

-- gb

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