My dear friend, Kiaya, was being elevated to the Order of the Laurel. She has been a peer to me in so many ways since I met her and her family. I was asked to boast her in. I asked her what type of boast she wanted. Her prompt was “Channel Ryou”. Challenge accepted. My original creation was 350 words… which… was a bit lengthy. This is what I was able to shorten it to and still have it capture their essence.
Good gentles, peers and nobles all …Behold the illustrious Keziah Planchette, Baron of Stonemarche, Member of the order of the Maunche, Member of the order of the Silver Crescent, Tygers cub, Recipient of the Consorts order of Courtesy, whose valor echoes through the annals of history! Who stands as a beacon of hope in the darkest of times!
With quill in hand, she is swift as lightning, eye as sharp as the keenest blade.
With brush, conjures visions of unparalleled beauty, capturing the essence of life itself!
Keziah fearlessly defends the innocent and upholds justice in the face of adversity. Her valor knows no bounds.Therein beats a heart, overflowing with kindness and empathy. Known far and wide as a champion of the unseen. From the newest babe to the highest crown, all find solace in the benevolence of Baron Keziah.
let it be known throughout the land that Keziah Planchette is not merely a Baron, but a paragon of virtue. inspiring generations yet to come to strive for greatness and embody the virtues of bravery, kindness, and creativity. Long may her legend endure!
I often stray away from arts and sciences competitions. It’s hard enough as a vocalist to show prowess in an ephemeral art. It is also difficult to convey information to this art as it simply is it’s own language. Music is a refined language, spoken by many, but felt by all.
How do you judge something that cannot be touched or smelled or tasted? How can you judge a feeling? How do you judge something that you cannot describe? Did you miss something? Why was this good or bad?
“I don’t like this because (Insert genre here) is boring”. “Gross it’s in ( insert foreign language)”. “No one likes vibrato” “I hate straight tone” “Too many notes for the royale ear!” (Bonus points if you can name that movie).
Taste plays a lot into performance. To break out objectivity into a performance is completely impossible. How could we add objectivity to it? That was my goal with this grouped up project. I wanted to show my research and why my performance choices were period, while explaining my aesthetic choices and provide examples of each objectively to prove a point.
The first linked paper below is regarding the overall performance of Downland’s, “Flow My Tears”. However, there is a controversial discussion regarding one specific performance technique. So, I decided to research it and show why -I believe- that, although the word “Vibrato” did not exist until the 17th century, it was likely an active performance technique, used as an ornament as opposed to being completely expunged.
Points to anyone who reads my paper and understands why “The GOAT”.
I didn’t expect to win as my project didn’t meet the rubric at all but there was a challenge. I entered as a chance to receive some feedback to see where I was on my A and S journey. Out of 25 points I scored a 21 and a 22. I will take it.
The other proud moment for me was I -almost- won populace choice…. WITH A RESEARCH PAPER. Not many thoughts on this but I figured this was a good start. More research to come.
You never know where a spark of inspiration will come from. A funny story about the humble beginnings of this song. When Wilhelm and Vienna were on the throne, I had been thumbing through some awards, writing some folks in. I had seen this one award, called the “Gold Lyre” and from that moment I decided I wanted it more than anything. I had this grand plan to compose a song about inspiration and then corner Vienna and sing it for her. This would hopefully spark her to grant me the golden lyre award. Fast forward, I chickened out. However, I still had the humble beginnings of the song.
Fast forward a few years later, I had completely forgotten about this song and it was sitting in the depths of my google drive, never to see the light of day. A friend of mine, Roiberd Mac Neil had just received his writ to join the Order of the Laurel. As part of his “In Case Of Peerage” was to have me make music. He requested that I write a song for the Laurels. He spoke about the knights having “Weight of the Chain” by Aneleda Falconbridge but he wanted something for the artists. Who was I to compose for the peers? I myself simply have AOA level awards. Aneleda is an incredible composer of whom I respect her work immensely. I couldn’t see my work standing up to hers. I, however, would do anything for Roiberd, so I agreed.
I knew what I wanted the subject matter to be, but the words just wouldn’t come out. I sat on this for months before creativity struck. I was digging through my google drive and stumbled upon the above musings. I started to write and rewrite. This went through atleast 9 revisions before I was somewhat happy. Then, the music…. the music just wasn’t flourishing as it should. I spent the next few weeks listening to some of my favorite symphonic metal, folk metal and general Euro metals bands until the melody hit me.
As the melody sank into my soul, it was time to rewrite the words yet again. Below, is the final text:
The Spark– By Solveig Bjarnardottir (MKA Ren Haywood)
All our senses spark the drive Of A kinship for all to see A new life blooms, breeds skill to thrive Which ignite the flames with ease
Passing knowledge, hope all will hear We press forward, now back to see The growing paths becoming clearer All our dreams run wild and free
Each has a muse, a burning fire Our labors ne’er seems to cease A moment more drives our desire The spark that lights the East
We made a path, dragged more along Surpassing all our wildest dreams The journey’s harsh, but you’ll grow strong Your treasured art shines as it gleams
Spent countless hours, late at night Just to watch each pass our skill Climbing mountains, reach new heights A sense of pride, is deep instilled
Each has a muse, a burning fire Our labors ne’er seems to cease A moment more drives our desire The spark that lights the East
Each has a muse, a burning fire Our labors ne’er seems to cease A moment more drives our desire The spark that lights the East The spark that lights the East The spark that lights the East
I have quickly discovered that driving to DC from NH the week before pennsic is perhaps not the best thing I could have planned. To be fair, I didn’t think Pennsic was in the cards this summer. Oh, what a fool I am.
After already being exhausted from the 9.5 hour drive each way + additional tops and working a convention for 4 days, I came back to speed pack and finish up procrastination projects that needed to be done for pennsic. I know this is a new concept, but hey. #speedfinishgarb, #finishgarbforking, #learnnewmusic, #finishtokens.
Friday am, Husband and Consorts Bard hit the road at 6 am and drove straight to Slippery Rock. Ahhhhh, more poor choices. We got on site just in time to set up the rain fly on our tent and the heavens opened up. I am lucky husband was with me, even though this was his first pennsic, he is no stranger to setting up camp effectively. As the skies opened, I shrugged, closed the trunk of my SUV and took a nap. It was a glorious couple hours. I have learned that in a pinch, my car can be comfy enough to stay in for a couple days.
Around 10 pm, Collette the Bard graced Mermaid’s Song with their presence and we did a quick run through so not everything was fresh on Sunday. Not my best, but it had been over 3 years since I’ve sang harmonies with another human.
Saturday was fairly open and the only thing on my agenda was Opening ceremonies. This will probably be the only time I get to head up the line, but it was fun! Pomp and circumstance-y. Walking with my friends, fancy-ish garb and feeling important in our game.
Sunday was probably the biggest highlight for me. We met around 3pm to rehearse for our 6 pm concert. There were multiple reasons. First and foremost, I have been dreaming of singing with my very skilled friend since I met them. Also, typically, I am running the choirs or singing solo. Getting to not be the center of attention for once was super nice. I love being the supportive role. Many go “But Solveig, don’t you have a soloist voice?” Ah ha! If you are a skilled singer, you know how to blend with other singers, change vowels and vibrato density and be a unit, not just a soloist. Below are some of the tracks I was honored to be able to sing in.
Vocalists were Collette the Bard(Collette le Trouvere), Bird the Bard (Julianna Bird) and Aibhilin inghean Daibhidh.
That night, I had been invited to VDK Bardic by Caoilfhionn inghean Fhaoláin, 3 time past queen of the east, warrior and passionate performer. I was honored to be able to even join. It’s amazing what weird ideas humans can have about one another. Many years as we have been passing ships in the night, it was assumed that each of us hated one another. This could not have been any farther from the truth. I tried to put on my brave girl pants and chat with her further to see if I could find out why there was stress on our relationship, but instead, I treated her as if there was none. This was probably the best option I could have done. We commiserated over our children, life events and bonded. It was beautiful and I am so glad that we got to strengthen our friendship further. I decided to open up with my new song, “The Spark”, which I had been gushing to Caoilfhionn over, which is what pushed me over as she seemed excited about the concept. Caoilfhionn was also having a rough time with her voice due to exertion from melees… which is to be expected. Someone requested her to sing “We are the East”. She advised she couldn’t remember the words. I happened to be opened up to that very page in my bard book and offered to sing with her so she had the opportunity to perform. We may have sang in unison, but it made my heart happy to finally join voiced with this amazing human. Soon after my husband whisked me away for dinner since it had been 11 hours since my last meal. Woops.
Monday was shopping day with husband. He had been spending a good amount of the time at the range. We had lunch and a shopping date. Before we met up, I found a singular bass gemshorn which I snapped up quickly. This was my new precious. If you haven’t seen this instrument, it looks very much like a drinking horn. Keep this in mind for court the next day. At night, we hit Pirate Bardic and Chalkman. I don’t normally get to sing Sea Shanties/Maritime Songs or do belty chest voice. This is where I just let it loose. I still had to be careful with Wednesday coming and the A and S Warpoint.
I woke up super late on Tuesday, unsure why. Guess my body was angry. Still getting used to calorie intake and such. However it was EK Court time. It was exciting as always to see folks get recognized. There were a few well planned shenanigans and it made my heart swell with joy. I did, finally, get the nerve up to do my “job” in court. I brought my gemshorn to court and played when there was time between calling recipients. The best response I received was from those who had never seen a gemshorn before. I received such responses as “Did… did you just whip out and play a drinking horn?” followed by, “Didn’t you just buy that yesterday… and you already know how to play it?” That was the highlight of court for me.
Wednesday was the big day for me. I was asked by Sefa to serve as an A and S alternate for the war point. This was huge for several reasons. 1) I would be the first performance for the A and S warpoint in the History of the Pennsic War. 2) I have only competed in A and S twice and neither time did I have anything beyond 1 page of documentation. This time, I had 9 pages of documentation, a piece of music that is 100% period and I even dressed in garb that was appropriate for time time period, composer and world location. Although I did not actually get to compete for points, I was excited to be included this year. I was excited to meet performers from other kingdoms. I was excited to show that performance is not just “Learn a song and sing it pretty”. The best part was sharing my passion and knowledge of music with others and explain things in a way they could understand. Music can be scary and intangible for many. I had atleast 3 separate folx who told me that I taught them something that many others had tried and had not succeeded before. My heart gushed. Later that evening I had the pleasure of hosting the East/Mid Bardic Showcase. Every year the East and Mid alternate hosting it. This would be the first year back at Pennsic in 3 years, so it was weird. It was supposed to be hosted by the Mid, however, the mid has no current royal bard. Also, their stand in, Jolicia, happened to have other commitments that night, so I took it over. I made sure to introduce the circle, provide a warm space for all to perform, make sure every performer was gifted a token for their effort simply enjoy. All in all, I found this to go well.
After that was over and the temperatures had dropped, I dragged my husband to see Volgemut so he could understand the majesty and awesomeness that they are and then off to visit with the Kingdom of Acre. They are SCA adjacent. I made friends with the soon to be King of Acre, Nico several pennsics ago and promised I would stop by. I whipped out my ladino song because it makes my heart happy and I wanted to sing of my love for Nicco and husband. When I was done, I received several “Wow” and “Oh shit” and that made my heart glow.
Thursday I ran and facilitated the EKCOP Meeting. Lots of good stuff coming this year! Check the EKCOP page for minutes. After I ran to the 1 act short plays and got to play Hermes and the Greek Chorus. This gave me another idea for classes to bring back to the East for more classes for those who performance is new/scary and make it a safer place for them.
Friday… home….. the worst. We split up the drive and now I am le sad. So… here we are.
Meddlings of the Minnesinger 