Message-Id: <199810071500.LAA08112@xkey.com>
Subject: Re: minstrel: Bardic, Period, and assorted rantings...
To: rdeaver@swbell.net (Rex Deaver)
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1998 11:00:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Greg Lindahl" <lindahl@pbm.com>
Cc: minstrel@pbm.com
In-Reply-To: <3.0.3.32.19981006201504.00b1b814@mail.swbell.net> from "Rex Deaver" at Oct 6, 98 08:15:04 pm
Content-Type: text
Content-Length: 1864      
Sender: owner-minstrel@rt.com
Precedence: bulk

> Minstrel/bard/skald/scop/etc. is an amalgamation created within the SCA,
> and perhaps earlier re-creation attempts like the pre-Raphaelites.  This is
> not just a laziness, as so many other of our amalgams are :-) but based on
> some commonalities.  Ulf Gunnarsson's list of what was respected more does
> not come out of thin air.  Common characteristics of the Ideal(tm) of all
> of them (these are how I think of them, don't get hung up on the shorthand
> :-):

Well, there you go. I am not interested in being a master of a
Victorian concept. I'm interested in re-creating historical minstrels,
troubadours, etc etc. [ I have no problem with you re-creating
whatever ideal you like, but you seem to be saying I should strive to
your ideal... ]

> But equally inarguable is that one who demonstrated mastery in *all* the se
> areas would be held in the highest esteem, and would personify the
> Ideal...the "full-grown" m/b/s/s

Prove it, historically.

Personally, I know a lot of good musicians, some better than others in
some areas. I know a guy who has a Laurel in performance, and
composes.  I know a guy who has a PhD in early music performance, and
doesn't compose. The first is a "master" in two areas; the second
blows the first out of the water in performance. I hold them both in
high esteem, and would never dream of trying to compare apples and
oranges to figure out which one has the highest esteem in my mind.

> Can you be a m/b/s/s by doing one to exclusion of the others?  Of course not.

Historically, you could.

I suspect Thomas Deloney is a good example of someone who got much
_less_ respect because he composed. He would have been a random
musician elsewise, instead of a reviled "ballad monger". Of course,
professional musicians in the Elizabethan era were mostly lower-middle
class, which doesn't fit the Victorian ideal.

-- gb


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
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