Category: songwriting

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bardic Competition SCA songwriting video

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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songwriting

Tam Lin website links to the Drake version!

Yesterday, the curator of Tam Lin Balladry, a wonderful website dedicated to tracking all the versions of the ballad (as well as retellings, parodies, and fanfiction) that can be found on the web, asked to include “Tam Lin of the Elves“. I was delighted to be asked, and the page with my retelling is now online here. Given the balladry site was one I scoured when I was researching the song, I feel oddly official now. 🙂

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mp3 recording SCA songwriting

My first anachronism assignment

I haven’t checked in around this in a while, but my studies with Maistre Lucien have been a source of constant joy throughout the year to this point. Lucien has been unfailingly supportive, even as he continues to hold me to high standards, with a gently probing Socratic approach.

This last session, Lucien presented me with an assignment to stretch and test my understanding of period music and language, which I enjoyed immensely. He has granted his kind permission for me to publish what I produced in response, and I share it here.

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bardic general songwriting

Updates–website and projects

Quick updates: I did the next thing on my to do list today, and submitted this year’s six new songs for copyright. I know I don’t really have to–or at least I could wait until I’ve written three more to finish the album. But having registered the copyrights, I’m much more comfortable letting my songs fly free.

Also, to submit my songs, I have to transcribe the sheet music (since now I can do the whole thing in 10 minutes and upload sheet music PDF’s online!), which means…

Yep. Sheet music to all the songs are now posted on the song pages. (Also, I re-posted the MP3 download links.) I’ve started posting chords.

And now, the serious recording process will begin. Starting with GarageBand demos of all the songs (some of which I’ll probably post).

‘Night.

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bardic Pennsic SCA songwriting teaching

Pennsic 42 as a Budding Bard

I started this post back on Monday of War Week, but Pennsic kept happening, and on our return home, mundane life (particularly my job) pulled me right back in.  Much as I wanted to do a detailed diary of Pennsic, and/or a lengthy gratitude list, I’m going to resist the impulse because:

  1. I’ve spent time thanking the people who deserved my thanks, and will continue to do so, and
  2. As my wife points out, I did enough navel-gazing during my downtime at Pennsic to last me the rest of the year.
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bardic Pennsic SCA songwriting

All New Songs from Pennsic Posted

I will post about my experiences at Pennsic when I get home. I will note that I did get several requests for lyrics and/or music to songs I performed during the war. (Bardic squee.)

As of now, all of my original pieces performed during Pennsic 42 have their lyrics posted, including “Lady of the Rose”. I will attempt to put up recordings or videos of performances the songs as soon as I can, for any who wish to perform them.

No one needs to ask my permission to perform one of my songs–there is no higher compliment a songwriter can be given. Please credit me as the author (as Drake Oranwood if you’re in the SCA)…and if you dropped me a note after you performed one for the first time, I would be delighted to hear about it (though that isn’t required).

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general songwriting technology

Mmmmmaybe I’ll blog a little more. (Technology and the bard)

So, I finally found the WordPress iPhone app. Given that I do most of my writing these days on my iPhone, that’s very cool.

I’ve been trying to manage my writing process better since I committed myself to bardic just about a year ago (a few months before I set up this site and the Facebook group). By “better”, I mean “make it more convenient to write, easier to find my stuff, easier to share my stuff, and less likely to lose my stuff”. And since I first got an iPhone in my hands last year, that has meant (as so many of you have probably already found) doing it on my iPhone.

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bardic Pennsic SCA songwriting teaching

Spring Update

I know–I don’t write, I don’t call… What have I been up to?

  • Getting ready for Wars of the Roses, where I plan to debut TWO new songs: my first adaptation of a period piece, “Tam Lin of the Elves” (Romantic! Epic!), and my first historical piece, the long-planned Richard III song “The Last Plantagenet” (in progress). As always, I will post the songs publicly after the event.
  • Listening to the work in progress cut of my first bardic single, “The Bastard’s Tale”, on repeat. I’m pleased to say I listen to this recording over and over and I keep liking it better. Will be finishing the vocals this weekend.
  • Getting ready for Pennsic, where I will be teaching my first class, “Songwriting to Tell a Story.” I’ve done as much research for this class as I have for the songs, and starting to put the notes together.
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album bardic mp3 Pennsic SCA songwriting teaching

Overdue updates – the site, performances, recording a CD (!!!), and looking forward

So I haven’t posted since December. Bad bard. Bad, bad bard. Well, busy bard. Which is good. (And it’s not like the handful of you out there aren’t catching all of this on Facebook anyway.)

Still, what’s the point of a “blog” about my “bardic career” if I don’t take the time to post about said “career” when I’m actually “doing things” in it? Probably because I have the grace to be at least uncomfortable with the implicit narcissism involved, but if I can deal with it, I trust you can too (or you’ll stop reading, and we’ll all just have to find a way to cope).

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mp3 songwriting

GarageBand recordings (including “House of Dancers”)

I’ve been playing with GarageBand a bit today, with a bit better understanding of how to get vocals mixed, and with the advantage of a USB microphone (thanks, love, for getting me “Beatles Rock Band” two years ago!). In addition to some actual Bardic work (to be shared when the time is right), I finally tackled the vocals for my hitherto-unrecorded epic rock song “House of Dancers”.

Now you can finally hear the song Spiny Norman was never ready to bring onstage, as best I can record it on my own.

MP3

Edit (2/3): Re-uploaded the file I’d apparently deleted when I was trying to improve the mix.  Don’t think I succeeded, but at least the s0ng is back on the site, and I corrected the links.