Classes Taught

These pages are for classes I have taught in the SCA.

• Songwriting to Tell a Story: Principles and guidelines for constructing tight, compelling, original SCA-appropriate songs that capture and hold an audience.
• The New Bard’s Road Map: A how-to primer for new/aspiring bards. Developing repertoire, finding performance opportunities, seeking mentors and patrons, joining the community.
• Thy Name Is Woman (Elizabethan Women, Mansplained): We explore, via period songs and plays written by men, the complex and conflicted attitudes held around women and their role in Elizabethan England.
• My Guitar’s Persona Is a Lute: Learn how to tune and play your guitar as if it were a lute, how to find and read lute tablature. Guitar not required; all experience levels.
• The Pleasures & Perils of Making Filk: Exploration of writing and sharing “filks” (new lyrics to an existing, often modern, tune). This is a subset of songwriting skills that can bring laughter and smiles, but it is not appropriate for every venue or situation.
• Developing Stage Presence: Is “stage presence” just something innate, like “talent”? Or is it something bards can develop and expand through thoughtful planning and preparation? (Hint: It’s option 2.)