Author: Drake Oranwood

Drake Oranwood (Eric Schrager) is a singer, songwriter, producer, lutenist, and medieval enthusiast who brings modern sensibilities to original songs set long ago and far away.

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Pennsic Uncategorized

Looking back at Pennsic 47

So, even by my sluggish standards, this Pennsic post is really late. We got home three weeks ago. There are a few reasons (excuses) why I didn’t jump on it right away:

  1. Between my job and rehearsals for The Mystery of Edwin Drood (which opens next weekend), I have been very busy and squeezed a bit hard on re-entry the last few weeks.
  2. I did do a few shares on this blog related to Pennsic, including two posts from war, a new song which recapped some of my experiences with a broad brush, and posting my full concert on YouTube.
  3. Because the Sing for the East project added songbooks to our offerings just in time for Pennsic, and we still had some inventory left when we got home, I felt like I was attending to unfinished Pennsic business for much of my first week back. (We did sell out quickly enough on Bandcamp, and have sent this year’s donation to the EK Royal Travel Fund.)

Nevertheless, it’s important to take time to reflect on a two-week event we only experience once a year, and I have lots of people to acknowledge (even if I have mentioned some of them previously).

Continue reading “Looking back at Pennsic 47”
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fundraising

Latest Donation Sent to Royal Travel Fund

All of our copies of the “Sing for the East” Companion Songbook have now SOLD OUT. Tallying up those sales, the limited run of Volume 1 songbooks, CDs, downloads, and streaming revenue, we have now mailed out a donation check for $900 to the East Kingdom Royal Travel Fund for this year, leaving us with a little operating capital in case we need to cover some production expenses for printing in the coming months.

This brings our total donation to the Travel Fund to $2,300 to date. Thank you all for your participation in this project!

Categories
bardic

Song page added: Plant Your Feet

I’ve added the song page for “Plant Your Feet” to the site. More to come.

Categories
teaching

Class Notes: My Guitar’s Persona Is a Lute

As I continue to ease back into post-Pennsic life, I will begin adding content that was introduced this past war. First up are the class notes to my new class, My Guitar’s Persona Is a Lute. This was a wonderfully fun class to teach (I believe I had upwards of 30 students between the two sessions), and I was really grateful for the enthusiastic feedback I received throughout the war, most of it second-hand through friends of the students who had attended (which has never happened to me before, was incredibly gratifying).

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bardic concert video

The complete Pennsic concert

This morning, I finished adding closed captions to the other performances from this year’s concert and published them. [EDIT: Rather than display the individual videos, here’s a link to the complete concert, in set list order.]

 

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bardic concert video

New song: “Shine, Child”

This is a new piece first performed at Pennsic. Lady Angela Mori won a commission from me in a fundraising auction last fall, and asked me to write a song of praise for her daughter Thora, who is brilliant, sweet, loving, and neurodivergent (very much like my son Spencer). I was honored by the opportunity to compose this piece, and consider it a rare privilege. The song page will be forthcoming in the next few days.

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bardic concert video

First videos from Pennsic concert

I’ve put up the first few videos from my Pennsic concert. I wanted to get the newer pieces out first (although the lute pieces came out really well, so I made sure to get those up also.) Enjoy!

Continue reading “First videos from Pennsic concert”
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bardic Pennsic recording

New Song: “Pack Out Day”

Hi everyone! We just got home from Pennsic yesterday, and to my surprise, as we began packing out, I felt a song coming on, and I went with it. So, as my way of thanking all of you for being part of my SCA experience, I’m breaking all my normal “rules” and sharing it with you right now. This is a quick a Capella vocal cut of the song, and it captures my experience of Pennsic this year, which involved my stretching a bit and doing more things that weren’t necessarily Bardic. (No, I still didn’t actually drink, but since the vast majority of adults I hung out with did, it’s still an indelible part of my experience of the War.)

I will set up a standard song page for this later (along with the other new songs I brought to the war, and class notes, and video from the concert–I promise I’ll get to it). But for now…enjoy!

Continue reading “New Song: “Pack Out Day””
Categories
concert

Thoughts on last night’s concert

I want to say something about my concert last night, but late Pennsic Brain is making that difficult. I will, however, thank those who made it possible, starting with Bird the Bard, Spencer Schrager, Efenwealt Wystle, Cedar the Barefoot, and Sólveig Bjarnardóttir. You put in a lot of time to prepare, and made me look and sound good, and I’ll never forget it.

Thanks to everyone who came out to watch and listen. It was a fantastic audience to play for.

Thanks to Scholastica Joycors for believing in me and offering me that incredible timeslot. And thanks to Jess and Melodia Beaupel for capturing video (and Patrick Woodruff for the loan of your camera). To Zsof’ for your constant encouragement, even if you couldn’t be there. To Mya Gosling of Good Tickle Brain for permission to perform her Hamilton filks. And to Angela Mori and Thora, for the privilege of creating “Shine, Child” for you.

The chance to create music and memories for this audience, this Society, is a blessing I cannot begin to repay. Thank you all.

Longer blog post after I get home will be forthcoming.

Categories
Pennsic

Greetings from Pennsic!

Thought for once I’d post live. Not a LOT to say, but still, I’m awake early enough to check in. Some notes as we leave Peace Week behind:

  • Last night I attended the Worst Bardic Circle, Like, Evarrrrr. (That was actually the title–Efenwealt’s brain child.) We were all urged to confess our Bardic sins. So I unveiled the very first Drake Oranwood song I ever wrote, from before my time in the SCA (back when I spelled it “Orinwood”). It was basically Ren Fair fanfic. It passed muster for this circle. (No, I’m not performing it for you now.)
  • First Bardic Monday night was lovely (if rainy). Thursday night’s Chocolate Bardic at McGuire’s Marauders was probably my second favorite ever. (My favorite, the first Chocolate Bardic I ever went to, is unlikely to be surpassed. That was the first time I ever performed “Tam Lin of the Elves” at Pennsic, Heather Dale was in the audience, and when she expressed her admiration of the song, I mentioned I could imagine her singing the Elf Queen, and she crowed with delight. I met a few of my dearest friends that night. It’s a pretty high bar. Nevertheless, this one was excellent.)
  • The first session of “My Guitar’s Persona Is a Lute” on Thursday went beautifully, with an impressive turnout of eager students. Clearly, there is a thirst for how to do lute repertoire on guitar, and the reveal of how ridonkulously simple it is to adapt a guitar for the purpose appeared not to disappoint anyone.
  • My concert (Wednesday night from 8 to 9) is shaping up to be a fun one. This year’s Hamilton filk, which will feature my music friends Bird the Bard and Cedar the Barefoot, will now also include my son Spencer, who basically said to me the other day, “I want to be in ‘The Tomb Where It Happens'”, so how could I possibly say no? His turn as Mercutio should be a hoot (especially since he will ALSO be playing the roles of Isaac AND God that evening).
  • Oh, and speaking of Cedar…if you’re willing to pause on your way to Opening Ceremonies to catch The Barefoot Bard from 6-6:30 on the PA Stage tonight, you won’t be disappointed. And speaking of Lin-Manuel filk, their Moana filk promises to be hilarious. (And if you accuse me of putting them up to that I will cut you. Because true.)

Look forward to see you as we move into War Week!