Category: Competition

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K&Q Bardic Champions: Wins, Learns, & Changes

What if a day, or a month, or a yeare
Crown thy delights with a thousand sweet contentings?
Cannot a chance of a night or an howre
Crosse thy desires with as many sad tormentings?
–Anonymous

King’s and Queen’s Bardic and A&S Champions was held yesterday. I’ve been running relatively quiet while I prepared for the last several months. While Bardic and A&S have become a combined event as of last year, and are likely to stay that way, for most of us who compete, they are essentially separate events, because there is little opportunity to focus on the other when we’re participating in the one. So I will speak only to the Bardic. And, as I tend to, I’m going to go heavy on process as I experienced it. (I won’t apologize for that…I’m learning that a number of other bards, including some I competed against yesterday, read my posts, and find value in what I share.)

But first, let’s not bury the lede. His Majesty Ivan selected my dear friend Juliana Bird (aka Bird the Bard) as his new King’s Champion, and Her Majesty Mathilde selected my new friend Geoffrey of Exeter, originally from Lochac (Australia), and an experienced bard in at least two other kingdoms, as her Queen’s Champion. I had the honor of competing in the final four against them, alongside Phelippe le Vigneron, who like Bird, is an incredibly talented bard from Bhakail, and relatively new to the SCA bardic scene (this was his first competition). [CORRECTION: Phelippe is from Settmour Swamp, and told me as much. I have a terrible habit of lumping people together who play in Bhakail, because I’m frankly jealous of their camaraderie and live too far away to participate regularly in it.]

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bardic Competition

Baronial Bardic championship at Bjorn’s Ceilidh

Announcing: at Bjorn’s Ceilidh (Saturday November 11), their Excellencies JP and Lylie will be selecting the next Bardic champion for the Barony of Concordia of the Snows.

The competition will be held in three rounds, with the following format:

  • Round one: perform the piece with which you are most comfortable. Show us what you do best.
  • Round two: perform a piece you have never before shared in competition. Stretch and surprise us.
  • Round three: perform a piece that is documented as having origins in the medieval period. Documentation should at most be half a page or fill an index card. The piece can be wholly from period, a contrafact if a period work, or composed in a period form or style.

To compete, you must either be a resident of Concordia, or willing to give your fealty to the Barony on being chosen. Please inform the current baronial bard, Drake Oranwood, of your intention to compete either privately or at Ceilidh.

Competitors should only enter if they are prepared to serve as Baronial bard if selected by their Excellencies, and have no duties or obligations which would prevent them from serving appropriately.

The responsibilities include:

  • Attend the majority of Concordian events and participate in any Baronial Court held at those events.
  • Attend the Baron and Baroness at some out of Barony events, including Pennsic if possible.
  • Wear the regalia of your position.
  • Supervise (or delegate) the Bardic competition and War Point at the Wars of the Roses.
  • Organize next year’s Baronial Champion competition to choose your successor.

In service,

Lord Drake Oranwood

Baronial Bard

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bardic Competition

Wars of the Roses: Bardic Competition

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

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bardic Competition

Baronial Bard of Concordia of the Snows

This past Saturday was the Bjorn’s Ceilidh event up in Concordia, and it was my family’s first SCA event together since Pennsic. Things were a bit subdued with everyone processing the results of the presidential election, but it was really good to get a day with so many of our friends once more.

The Baron and Baroness held a competition to select their new Bardic Champion, and I elected to compete. Last year I was keeping my powder dry while preparing for King’s and Queen’s, but that meant I had expanded my repertoire a bit, and had some pieces in my pocket that hadn’t been seen yet.

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Post-Game Analysis: EK Bardic Champions

Win or lose, they’ll remember this day…
(from “We Are the East”)

I promised I would do a deep dive (translation: long read) on my experiences preparing for, during, and after this year’s kingdom bardic championships, and this would be it. Of course, this would probably be a little more exciting if this were a breakdown of how I became a Royal Bard of the East…but as Zsof, Jess, and I all spent the last six months reminding me, I can’t control outcomes. So for that post I’ll refer you to Aethelflied’s fantastic recounting of the story behind her being selected as King’s Bard. (Mistress Alys’s blog has documentation for her round one piece, which was her first step to being selected as Queen’s Bard.)

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