Song pages are listed below in descending order of composition or performance (most recent first). Abbreviations next to the date provide a link to the page for the album on which the piece is recorded. Links are included, where available, to vocal sheet music, and instrumental arrangements by Arden of Icomb (aka Paul Butler). Note: Even when not listed on the arrangements, all song copyrights still apply.
- Timeline (2024, 2017, 2015, 2012)
- View by title: A-H, I-N, O-Z
- See also: Music, Filks, Non-Bardic Work, Specialty Pieces
Timeline
2024: Planned release of Hold the Door Open (HTDO)
- Homecoming (2022) (HTDO) Sheet music A song of hurt and healing as we return to Pennsic after years away.
- Her Garden Grows (2020) Sheet music A tribute to Margarita De’ Siena, composed on the eve of her stepping down from a reign of unprecedented challenge, strength, and courage. With love from her bard.
- Hold the Door Open (2020) (HTDO) Sheet music A parable of inclusion, in the tales of several seemingly marginal characters from the Arthurian legend intertwine–but the very fate of Camelot will hang in the balance.
- Ode to Birka (2020) A tribute to the delights of the East Kingdom’s renowned Market Day event, to a tune by Thomas Campion.
- Clear or cloudy (performed 2020) John Dowland shows his more playful side, showing he can be as quirky and unpredictable as, well, the weather.
- Masters of the Game (The Hartshorn-dale Hunting Song) (2019) Sheet music A song commissioned for the shire of Hartshorn-dale, and its hunt for SCA fun.
- I Must Be Silent (Thomas the Rhymer) (HTDO) (2019) Sheet music A retelling of “Thomas the Rhymer”, drawing on the 14th century romance poem, the Child ballads, and Ellen Kushner’s novel-length retelling (with permission).
- Pack Out Day (2018) (HTDO) Sheet music A song looking back on a great Pennsic War…composed in near real time as we were leaving.
- Shine, Child (2018) (HTDO) Sheet music Commissioned by Lady Angela Mori to honor her daughter Thora, this piece speaks to the complex joys of raising a neurodivergent child.
- Plant Your Feet (2018) (HTDO) Sheet music My response to the question of what a bard “should” do.
- What if a day? (HTDO) (performed 2018) This anonymous Elizabethan piece is my first attempt to play and sing a lute song with complex ornamentation.
- Come again, sweet love doth now invite (performed 2017) A John Dowland air for voice and lute.
2017: Release of Sing for the East (SFTE)
- Concordian Soil (2017) (HTDO) Sheet music A tribute to the Barony of Concordia of the Snows, composed as their Bardic Champion.
- I asked of thee a boon (2017) (HTDO) Documentation Sheet music (w/ instruments) An original Elizabethan “air” for four voices and the lute, reflecting on the wondrous gifts we give one another when we ask for help. (It’s a little meta that way.)
- We Are the East (2016) (SFTE, HTDO) Sheet music Created as an anthem for the populace of the East Kingdom. From what thread is this tapestry woven?…
- I care not for these ladies (2016) A slightly risqué Thomas Campion piece for voice and lute.
2015: Release of Hidden Gold (HG)
- Hidden Gold (2015) (HG) Sheet music (Instruments) This song was inspired by, and dedicated to, several mentors I’ve had in my life in the last few years, and speaks to the challenging but valuable nature of the teacher-student relationship.
- Can she excuse my wrongs? (recorded 2015) (HG) This lament by John Dowland was the first authentic period song I recorded, and later, sang and played in the SCA.
- The Binding of Isaac (2014) (HTDO) A contrafact of Thomas Campion’s “My Love Hath Vowed”, this is the first piece I have performed with my son.
- Mug Your Gate (2013) (HG) Sheet music (Instruments) (To the tune of the “Watkins Ale”, Elizabethan broadside) An SCA bard is nothing without an audience. An SCA encampment is often wanting for entertainment and diversion. We complete each other. If only the campers knew how to hang out a “Fun Wanted Here” shingle to draw performers in! Well, as it happens…
- Lady of the Rose (2013) (HG) Sheet music (Instruments) In the SCA, a Queen who has reigned well is inducted into the Order of the Ladies of the Rose. Imagine for a moment that you had the chance to be one such Lady. What would that be like, do you suppose?…
- The Last Plantagenet (2013) (HG) Sheet music (Instruments) An elegy for Richard III, last of the Plantagenet line of kings, whose history was written by the winning side.
- Tam Lin of the Elves (2013) (HG) Sheet music (Instruments) An original retelling of the beloved ballad “Tam Lin”, brought to life with the help of the incomparable Heather Dale.
- Changeling (2012) (HG) Sheet music (Instruments) Stories are told of children stolen by the Fair Folk and replaced with a “changeling”–something that looks like the child but clearly isn’t. I’ve wondered where such stories come from…
- The Name of the King (2012) (HG) Sheet music (Instruments) Many songs are sung in praise of kings who triumph on the field of battle and bring glory to their kingdoms. This might have been such a song…
- Call Me Will (2012) (HG) Sheet music (Instruments) Whose is that haunting voice, beckoning you to follow him? (What’s the worst that could happen?)
2012: Decision to actively pursue Bardic
- My Thirst (2011) (HG) Sheet music (Instruments) “They talk of my drinking but never my thirst.” –Scottish proverb. What is a drinking song without a pub full of singers to join in?
- The Bastard’s Tale (2004) (HG) Sheet music (Instruments) A tale of vengeance, from the point of view of one of Shakespeare’s favorite stock villains… He goes all-in.
- The Seed (1995) (HG) An original double sonnet about…well, it’s a sonnet. What do you imagine it’s about?
Drake Oranwood 