Drake OranwoodPre-order Sing for the East here:
Announcing the Bardic competition for the Wars of the Roses!
The Wars of the Roses were a 30 year conflict fought over who had the legitimate claim to the throne of England.
In the Medieval period, no less than our present day, the people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ruler was crucial to maintaining peace and prosperity.
Your challenge is to bring to the competition a piece on the topic of legitimacy: how it is conveyed, earned, created, or projected (or not), and why that matters (or doesn’t) in the outcome of the story you are telling.
In service,
Drake Oranwood, Baronial Bard, Concordia of the Snows
The SCA Bardic Arts group on Facebook has been a hive of recent activity, to my great delight. Maybe it’s the late arrival of Spring, I don’t know. But when a bold and eager young bard introduced herself as Charlotte Stark of Æthelmearc, I immediately commented:
(By the way, I am SO going to challenge you to write an amusing song or poem with the refrain “I’m Charlotte Stark of Æthelmearc!” Because you need to have repeated opportunities to say that. It’s delightful.)
I was being tongue-in-cheek, but also serious. And in that spirit, Charlotte answered my morning’s challenge with a full set of lyrics that very evening. I’m sharing them with her permission, and great delight, because in not quite four weeks, but she has composed a tune, recorded it with a lovely sure voice, and posted it on SoundCloud. I’m thrilled to see someone fall in love with bardic like this (she has written at least three songs already that I know of), and if I’m not mistaken we will get at least a taste of her talent at Pennsic this year.
I recently added a song page for my Thomas Campion contrafact “The Binding of Isaac”, which I perform with my son Spencer. Now that it is part of my repertoire (and indeed, one of a handful of songs for which I can actually play the lute part when I perform it, and one of these days hopefully we’ll record that), it deserves a page of its own, independent of the blog post about the assignment from which it originated.
The song page for my first original Elizabethan-style composition, “I asked of thee a boon”, is now available.
I have been a performer in my blood for as far back as I can remember, to childhood. I have never really not enjoyed performing. The last several years have blessed me with opportunities to perform for loving, supportive, appreciative audiences, and more and more, alongside talented people I admire and adore. It is, really, always a thrill. (No, I’m not saying I’ve never tanked. Different kind of thrill.)
And yet, sprinkled through the joyous memories, including some extremely special ones, there are a small handful of moments that stand out, that were extraordinary. Days or nights where I felt a performance, and the audience, vibrating together in my chest, an electric excitement, when I felt something truly glorious was happening, and I was privileged to be in the eye of a storm, somehow miraculously safe and well.
Yesterday was one of those days. (Video courtesy of Baroness Arlyana van Wyck.)
That is all.
Had a wonderful day at K&Q Bardic and A&S Champions. It was really delightful to just be there, not competing and not having to judge. So overjoyed to see Countess Chatrikam Meghanta and Mistress Sabine de Kerbriant chosen as the new King’s and Queen’s bards (respectively). Hard-earned victories in as ferocious a field of competitors as I’ve seen. So proud of my beloved Eastern bards, who fight as fiercely and valiantly as anyone ever could with a blade!
Got to spend time with some of the people I love best in the world and don’t get to see often. Got to scheme about shenanigans, and have a new treasure in my hot little hands. And my son blew us all away performing with me (even as I accompanied us and got through it without serious fumbling! It really helps if I look at my hands when I’m playing!).Oh…and “Get grabbed by the elbow and asked to entertain a Coronation-sized audience with 10 seconds’ notice, because Court is held up”? Check one more off the bucket list. 😁
I’m not much of one for resolutions. But I do like to make commitments and plans. This year I plan to:
There are other things, but it’s too early to commit to those.
Let’s make this year count.
“Go big or go home” represents a legitimate choice about how to approach a performance. When striving for intimacy rather than flash, “home” might be exactly where you want to take the audience.
Drake Oranwood