To: rdeaver@swbell.net
Cc: yarrowp@mscd.edu, minstrel@pbm.com
Subject: Re: minstrel: Nature of Bardic Competitions
Message-Id: <19981003.175127.4791.1.cley@juno.com>
References: <3.0.3.32.19981002222902.006da290@mail.swbell.net>
From: cley@juno.com (cynthia j ley)
Date: Sat, 03 Oct 1998 22:04:24 EDT
Sender: owner-minstrel@rt.com
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On Fri, 02 Oct 1998 22:29:02 -0500 Rex Deaver <rdeaver@swbell.net>
writes:
>At 05:00 PM 9/29/98 -0600, yarrowp@mscd.edu wrote:
>
>> I want to see some evidence that the entrant understands what he or
she is 
>doing, and what about it is period or not and why.
>
>Precisely.  It takes very little documentation to show that you have a 
>clue (or to demonstrate that you do not).  Anything more than that needs
to 
>be presented in some other forum.

My personal pet peeve as a bardic judge is when someone holds up a book,
and says, "I found out all about it in this." That's not research--that's
ONE book, which in itself does not serve as a comparision for study. It
also makes the unfortunate assumption that the judges know the source,
which they may not.

My favorite bardic competitions are those where the judges can spend some
Q&A time with the entrant(s) after the performance. It gives a chance to
show what the entrants know.

>When judging performing arts you are judging the ability to perform 
>and entertain in Period fashion.  Throw a thesis at the judges and they 
>can easily be forgiven for wondering what you are trying to compensate 
>for.

IMHO, competitors should offer proof of the subject--explain it a little,
do a brief findings paper on it in the course of a bardic competition.
However, there are venues for research papers in competitions at branch,
regional, and Kingdom levels, and this opportunity should be taken
advantage of if possible.

>And I must concur with Flieg in questioning the intent of competitions 
>or competitors who dig so deeply into esoteric corners that they *need* 
>50 pages to educate the judges enough to be able to judge them.  

Hear! hear! And even the less esoteric, such as explaining a particular
musical form.

>Would a working minstrel have dumped a research paper in his patron's  
>lap before a performance?

No. But a musician would be expected to understand what was going on. In
period, there were three levels of musician--those who listen and
appreciate, those who compose and imitate (we're talking philosophy
here--creation of human music as an imitatione Dei), and those who
understand the esoteric (philosophical, spiritual, and theoretical) angle
of music.


					Arlys


"It hath beene the opinion of the most wise Philosophers, that the world
is made of musicke, and the heavens in their moving make a melodie, and
our soul is framed after the verie same sort and therefore lifteth up it
self, and (as it were) reviveth the vertues and force of itself with
Musicke." (Castiglione, THE COURTIER)


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