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recording

Album’s Title Track is Written

A brief check in (and a bit of a tease)…

In the year and a half I’ve been working on this album (which should be ready to drop next summer at Pennsic 44), I’ve spent some time pondering a title. Early this year, I realized I had a song that would serve as the perfect title track for the overall work, and bring the number of tracks to the 12 I want to include on it.

Only one niggling detail: I hadn’t actually written the song yet. I had a title, a theme, a tune, and even a chorus, but I hadn’t broken the story, so I had no idea what to do for the verses.

I broke the story a week ago, and today, I reached out to put words on a page and they finally came. I have a complete first draft.

I boldly leap now, and announce that my first album will officially be titled: Hidden Gold.

You know, unless something changes.

Categories
recording

Studio Day: Special Guest Vocalist(!!!)

Photo after the jump (wait for it):

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Uncategorized

Heather Dale house concert

We’re counting the minutes until Heather Dale and her band mate Ben Deschamps arrive for a house concert! I’ve written about Heather regularly on this blog. My family is very proud to be hosting her as part of her final planned house concert series. (Squee.)

Categories
Pennsic

First Pennsic Solo Concert

Okay, it’s official. My first solo stint on the Performing Arts stage at Pennsic will be 6:30-7:00 pm on Sunday of War Week (August 3). I get to lead off an evening of serious (and probably not-so-serious) minstrelsy.

Hope to see you there!

Categories
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 Collegium at Pennsic 43

This year, I will be joining the Pennsic War staff as co-provost (along with my friend Widow Kate of Ealdormeare) of the Bardic Collegium. This is one of the hidden gems of the ultimate SCA event for bards: a series of 5 daily panel sessions during War Week. It is an honor and a privilege to take over planning and hosting these sessions, which were my first true connection to the bardic community back on 2012.

This year, all sessions will be from 3 to 5 pm. Here is the agenda (we are skipping Monday to avoid conflicting with the Bardic Exposition that day):

Continue reading “Bardic Collegium at Pennsic 43”

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Uncategorized

Updates

Checking in with some small things.  For one, my wife posted my private performance of “Silverhair” to Ose from her vigil, with Ose’s permission:

And just to note, I finally spent a few minutes figuring out how to format the images and videos on this blog so they look less egregious.  I’ve updated the existing pages (I know, I’m almost as bad as George Lucas) so they all look a bit better.

And now, some mixing and editing work on the “Tam Lin” recording.

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Uncategorized

New Videos from KQ Bardic

Maestra Sol la Cantor took video of the performances at King’s and Queen’s Bardic Championships last weekend, and has posted most of them to YouTube, including my two performances during the competition:

Round Two:

(Updated 3/16 to use less obnoxious embed sizes.)

Categories
bardic Laurels SCA

New Song: “Silverhair” (Ose’s Elevation)

As I indicated in my previous post, I had two performance opportunities at yesterday’s EK Bardic Championships (which were held alongside Novice Schola, a free event for to introduce newcomers to the SCA, its culture, and the sorts of classes that are offered at events). The second one involved an elevation (or induction) into the Order of the Laurel for Ose Silverhair, a part of our extended SCA “family”.

Drake Vigil

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Categories
bardic SCA

EK Bardic Championships

Drake EK BardicI had a fantastic day at EK Bardic Championships. Paradoxically, I did and did not achieve my goals. I did not make it to the third round, but I gave exactly the performances I was aiming for. I dialed back the overt theatricality I’ve relied on, in favor of something more authentic and allowing connection with the audience. I came here to deliver something richer than they’d seen from me before, choosing to omit swagger and bravado as much as possible, keeping my introductions short and simple.

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