Message-Id: <3.0.3.32.19981004120111.00ae18a8@mail.swbell.net>
Date: Sun, 04 Oct 1998 12:01:11 -0500
To: "Greg Lindahl" <lindahl@pbm.com>
From: Rex Deaver <rdeaver@swbell.net>
Subject: Re: minstrel: Bardic, Period, and assorted rantings...
Cc: minstrel@pbm.com
In-Reply-To: <199810041518.LAA15082@xkey.com>
References: <3.0.3.32.19981003102307.006da290@mail.swbell.net>
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I wrote

>> Because a full-grown bard/skald/minstrel is a poet & a composer.

And Greg responded

>You shouldn't be surprised that a few people disagree strongly with
>your definition. 

I am not.

>Historically, there were many minstrels who were
>neither poets nor composers. 

But none of note.  Creativity has always been the mark of, and often
reserved to, the mastery of an art.

>There were some times and places in which
>"bards" were all poets and composers, but that was only a fraction of
>the times and places that the SCA covers.

Each aspect -- the bards, the skalds, the troubadours, etc. -- had it's
time and place, and each rose and fell.  And each covered but a fraction of
Period, this is true.  But collectively they represent a *major* fraction,
not a minor one as you seem to imply.

>A work that has period theme, style, musical style,
>etc. is just as good as a real authentic song. I save "period-oid" for
>something that has some period aspects about it but other aspects
>which are screamingly non-authentic. We, as a community, should
>encourage authentic original work, not lump it with the non-authentic.

This is a welcome statement, and has not been apparent from your earlier
postings.  Glad we have found at least one point of commonality. :-)

>> Do nothing original, ever, and you gain no growth rings
>
>I disagree. Performing an authentic piece requires ornamentation, and
>that requires innovation and originality. So even though I have not
>composed, I have done much original work. 

I see your point.  Let us then add "arrangement" to the previous list, and
apply all statements to this aspect equally.

>I hope
>you don't want to apply that to everyone else.

I apply these standards to no one.  I apply them to the art.

>And, historically speaking, there was lots of background
>music and it was highly valued.

Yes it was, but I don't think many, then or now, would confuse it with
"performance" in the sense we have been using the word.  It is a good and
noble thing in its own right, but trying to compare it to the other
"perfomances" we have been discussing is apples vs. oranges.

>I have not been wounded nor defensive. Nor do I think that I know the
>one true way for everyone else. So I hope you weren't talking about me
>in these 3 paragraphs, although it's fairly clear that you are. 

Actually, I was speaking to the general tenor in this discussion.  One to
which we have all, in some degree, contributed.

Mathurin

--
"Alas! all music jars when the soul's out of tune."
	 -- Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616)


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