Message-Id: <199810021237.FAA15556@xkey.com>
From: "Mike C. Baker" <kihe@ticnet.com>
To: "Russell Gilman-Hunt" <conchobar@rocketmail.com>, <minstrel@rt.com>
Subject: Re: minstrel: "sleepy" list?
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1998 07:37:08 -0500
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> From: Russell Gilman-Hunt <conchobar@rocketmail.com>
> Ok, so how do y'all feel about a storytelling apprentice type (me)
> *reading* his original poem, rather than reciting it?
> 
> I mean, uh, "poetical apprentice type" as you may have guessed.
> 
> Conchobar

As I told audiences last weekend while presenting a 
seminar session on the history and background of
bards (particularly in the religious context), I am a modern
individual and so are they. I _can't_ afford the fourteen
years to memorize 20,000 lines of poetry letter-perfect
without writing them down that was required of the .

I certainly have no qualms about reading from prepared
text, working from sheet music, or reciting with a
manuscript in hand. I have a great deal of respect for
those who have superior memories to mine -- and 
necessarily crave their indulgence when I am reduced
to using such conveniences.  I have also been known to
inwardly cringe as someone who has chosen to beat 
themselves into memory-only presentation stumbles
and stammers through a piece they don't have completely
letter-perfect... and that someone has admittedly sometimes
been myself.

I've even been known to draw attention to the fact deliberately.

Now, understand that I also deal extensively in extemporaneous
and rather more free-form versions of stories, songs, AND
original poetry.  Some of the best stuff I've ever done, I can't
repeat verbatim because it just "flowed" at the time. (I really
should start carrying a microrecorder tape, really I should.)
I can typically repeat the theme, reuse the same catch-phrases
and outlines, reconstruct the best sequences.

Just like a hedge-bard or common wandering entertainer, at least
as I understand the surviving historical records and oral traditions.

Mike C. Baker
SCA: Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri al-Amra
"Other": Kihe Blackeagle (the Dreamsinger Bard)
My opinions are my own -- who else would want them?
e-mail: kihe@ticnet.com OR kihe@rocketmail.com


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