Tag: Bardic

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Birka # 10

This is my first of double digit events for me. This is starting my 9th year in the society and I am still so very fond of my first event. This was also my partner’s first Birka. I chose not to fence this year as I wanted to focus on him and make sure he got to do everything he wanted at his first Birka.

Our main concerns today were making several deliveries as well as seeing friends of ours receive awards. Also… Fashion show.

Aegir had provided 3 tree of life necklaces to the auction for the incoming reign. I made the matching earrings for them as he wasn’t comfortable to making them. I happily obliged. After finding his 3 delivery recipients and receiving his auction purchase, I had to make my deliveries and receipt. I had donated a 30 minute private performance for the auction, however, this delivery was of another nature.

Last year, I was inducted into the prestigious order of the Silver Brooch. This is the award of arms level of Arts and Sciences awards in the East Kingdom. We decided to do an artisans gift exchange. My recipient wasn’t there, but I delivered hand made trim to her. I finally met up with my gift creator and I was in TEARS with the gift she presented me.

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Music is the only thing that truly keeps me alive. Someone made music for -Me-. After I cried over this masterpiece, I spoke with the artist, Shoshanna Gryffyth, and asked her if we could collaborate. She happily agreed. Not only did this project yield new beautiful art that may not have been created (It inspired art) but it helped me connect with someone I would never had met before.

Next was shopping! I didn’t purchase too much, but I am excited for the newest member of the family.

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Next, the fashion show! This year, at the coronation of Willhelm and Vienna, there was a challenge issued that we would incorporate Marvel and DC heroes and villains. I’m not much of a seamstress, but I wanted to improve my skills. I am a huge fan of Wonder Woman and German garb, so why not.

I just learned how to embroider. This is my 3rd project for embroidery.  Here are a few pictures of the in progress of the embroidery and then the final project.

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This is Aegir and I in our pieces:

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After the fashion show was over, Baronial court was happening. This was the last court of her Excellency Jocelyn Del Espada. I went to support her and my friends who were to be the incoming Baron and Baroness. After the court was over, I went to thank her for all she had done for me personally. What I didn’t expect was the flood of tears that came from me. She touched me a way that few have ever. She was/is a huge advocate of music. She inspired me to compete. She inspired me to be -HER- Bard/champion. Despite everything she experienced in the past 5 years, between the SCA and Mundane, SHE was my Baronessa.

Kingdom court came and it was time to see my friends receive much appreciated awards. This is always an exciting time for me. However, just before court, my friend, Master Lucien approached me. He was supposed to Herald the Boast for now, Master Scamus. However, he had fallen ill and requested that I do this. I was excited and honored to be able to herald in my friend, fencing teacher and mentor. I had only done this once before, but never for a crowd this large. Luckily, Lucien had written up the boast, so all I had to do was be loud.

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My friends Kenneric and Cat received their silver wheels, which I had crafted for the (see previous blog post) and our company escorted them into court. Additionally during court I retained for the princess.

After court was over, my favorite part of Birka was about to begin. I was once again honored to run bardic at Birka for the 4th year in a row. We had about 25-30 folks show. We had everyone from ages 13-??? (old). We heard song, story, poem. We had folks who this was their first event, 90th event and those in between. Everyone performed well. I learned a new story which I can’t wait to try out at winter nights (If Aegir doesn’t steal it from me first). Also, at the end of the night, a new and exciting voice arose. I quickly ran to him to present him with my token and encouraged him to get involved. I filled him in on allll the bardic stuff going on and gave him my information as the EKCoP Deputy Chatelaine.

All in all, this was an amazing Birka. So many emotions.. not a single one bad.

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Harper’s Retreat 2018!

Time after time this proves to be my favorite event. This year was no different. I brought my S.O. Aegir with me. He got to experience his first “small” event since his first event was the Great North Eastern War. Little bit of a size difference. Fencing was first on the docket for the day. Stab stab all my friends. Nothing gets me in the mood to sing besides dancing (aka, fencing) with my friends. I didn’t come close to winning but boy did I have fun!

Later in the day I taught a class on stage presence and how to make your piece more interesting to the audience. I had 2 students show up and I was perfectly ok with this. They were two very different performers, but were able to utilize the same skills. The first young woman was a puppeteer and storyteller. She exclaimed her issues were volume and some stage fright. I proposed we use a counting up excersize where we would identify different volumes and then use different shapes of our mouth and words to bring her resonance forward. We also fixed different focal points by adjusting where here body and puppet were facing and worked on a few topics of tempo.

My second student had never been on stage before and had never performed in front of anyone before. We worked through a song he had prepared. We again talked about volume. In addition, we added movement to his body, keeping his eyes open and stage movement in general.

When the class was over, both advised they felt more confident in their skills and would add these into practice. The young woman put it into practice for the Warrior Bard competition that evening.

Feast was next! Probably one of the best feasts to date. The current Baronial Bard and Nexcellency, Keziah Planchette had requested some of the prior and present bards to come perform during the feast. Here is a clip of my performance. I think the liquid courage also made an appearance.

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That evening it was time to compete for Warrior and Baronial Bard. The guidelines for Baronial Bard were Courtly love and Virtues. In addition, due to the recent loss of our Baron (who passed away about a month prior) it was requested that we not sing anything sad.

For Warrior Bard I whipped out a quick one of my favorites, Laciate Morire (which, is not exactly not a sad song… but it was in Italian so I fudged the poetric translation).

For Baronial Bard I sang a Ladino piece, La Prima Vez and We are the East (By Drake Oranwood). I may not have won Baronial Bard, but I did truly win because there were very few dry eyes at the end of We are the East. #lifetimegoalsachieved.

The next day in court, I assisted with Heralding because hey, i’m loud! I can haz shouty voice! However, not too long after I had sat down, I heard my name requested in court. I was asked to join the order of the Lamp of Apollo. This is a Baronial Arts and Science award especially for encouraging others to do their art as well. The scroll was done by Keziah Planchett and the words lovingly composed by Amalie von Hohensee and Gerhardt von Hohensee. I was in tears as there was no better gift. (If you remember back to Birka, I had done the words for their scrolls)

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Words for Simona Bat Leon, Silver Crescent

Words by Lady Solveig Bjarnardottir (Based on Psalm 31)

A woman of noble character has been found!
She is worth far more than rubies, she is the diamond of our kingdom.
She lacks nothing of value.
She brings good all the days of her life.
She works with eager hands and brings service to all.
She is like the merchant ships, bringing her company and good deeds.
She gets up while it is still night;
she provides for the kingdom
She considers a task and performs it;
She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.
She sees that the Barony lamps do not go out at night.
She opens her arms to the poor of spirit
and extends her hands to the needy.
When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in black and hold.
She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
She does not eat the bread of idleness.
Many women do noble things,
but she surpasses them all
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but this woman is to be praised.
Honor her for all that her hands have done,
and let her works bring her praise at the East Kingdom Gates

And so, by our hands, do we, Emperor Brennan and Empress Caoilfhionn , see fit to induct, Simona Bat Leon , into the order of the silver crescent. In Addition we grant her arms Per pale azure and argent vetu, a mullet of six points between three bees, all counterchanged, at Falling Leaves, in the Barony of Carolingia, As 53.

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Mimir’s Well — The Quest for More Knowledge

I gave up an arm and a leg — or should I say an eye — to obtain more knowledge, or at least the pursuit there of. The Shire of Mountain Freehold, though small, is mighty. Especially with quenching their thirst for knowledge. This is the second year this event has been running, after many years of hiatus.

The previous year, from what I have been told, had an attendance of 30-40. This year had 87 if I remember correctly. This beautiful church was filled with banners, arts and science projects, a scrumptious day board, and duh, classes. I decided that I would enter an A&S project that was not bardic related. My secondary pastime in the SCA is fencing. Under the tutelage of Don Connor Scamus O’Neil, I was able to craft my own rapier, sans the blade.

This sword is affectionately named Stevie Nicks, because of how many times I nicked her on the belt sander. I left my baby in the anachronistic category, to be judged — I had separation anxiety all day. It was like my baby was in another nest.

I was teaching two classes today: the first would be campfire rounds and the second would be on improving storytelling, a master class.

Before it was my time to teach, I got to attend a class on The Fools. I learned everything from Jongleurs, to the natural fool. I had never thought about the prospective of the fool as a bardic art until I attended this class. Lady Ailiniore shared her vast amounts of knowledge and had in depth discussion, inviting each of us to take part in the class.

Shortly after it was my turn to lead my own class. I did not know how many bodies to expect, because it had been explained to me that there were not many singers in the shire. However, to my gleeful surprise, we had 13 attendees! Holy smokes, Batman! Or, something bardlike.

We sang in English, French, Hebrew, and Cockney. That’s like English, right?

I had mixed levels of skill in the room, and those who I knew were stronger singers were sitting beside those who could use some assistance. We sang songs in two, three, four, and even five parts. I had even done my own individual creation of a combination of Rose, Rose, Hey Ho! and Ah! Poor Bird. See the video below. When the class had completed, I had a few of the Quebecois ask me to come teach this class at their event next January. It was delightful to be able to work with individuals who were not English as a first language speakers, and switching to their native language.

 

 

After dayboard, which was delicious, it was time for my master class. This is my first time teaching this class; my heart was racing as I am just beginning to find myself as a storyteller, and guiding others to do so was a new adventure for me. I once again prayed that no one would show up, but that was not to be the case.

I had four excited students of varying levels; I had one that went to school professionally for musical theater, one woman who was an experienced storyteller, one who was a viscount, and champion storyteller, and a young lady who was just getting her feet wet.

I went over four basic points of storytelling, and then went through each point, discussing each in depth and how they enhance your skills. Next I had each student tell me about a time they were excited about something. The story did not have to be true, but it was helpful.

The first student told a story in persona about how he got his dog. We worked on body language, vocal variances, and levels. Upon second performance, he agreed he felt more engaged with his piece and the audience was likewise more engaged. The audience and myself provided feedback both positive as well as areas of improvement.

My second student, the experienced storyteller, had a unique outtake on her story. When discussing her piece, she said that she felt stuck, so we talked about development of her piece and how to create that vision and how to make her journey more tangible. She felt that her story grew in leaps and bounds and had a greater crescendo and ending due to this experiment.

The young lady who was just getting her feet wet was excited to go, but I noticed that within her performance that she would fidget and have no place for her hands. I realized that this young lady had some sort of neurological, or a-typical behavior. I had to think of how I could gently broach the topic without making her feel uncomfortable in a public setting such as this. She disclosed that she had a form of autism, and what the basis of that fidgeting was. We gave her focus, and choreography to her storytelling dance. She now knew what to do with her hands, so she would no longer pull at her dress or fingers, and she would have intention in her movements and focus with her audience.

We talked about varying gaze, and how to stare at her audience without staring them down. I felt like a proud Mama Bird — from a different nest this time — watching this young lady go from a scared chicklet to a swan proud to show her work, who even preened a little bit under the praise from her audience.

The final student was the well-established viscount. She, without knowing it, had shown every point that I had discussed before she had walked into class just a wee bit late. We finally as a group discussed improvisation, and how imperative it is to be able to do in any storytelling situation. My viscount student was given three words to build a story around, and made up an entire story on the spot with those words given.

At that point the class was over, but I was greeted by the newer students asking for my contact information. Every member of the class said this was immensely helpful and the best version of this class they had attended, so I guess I did okay.

The event was coming to a close, and the autocrats would be announcing the winners of each category for the Arts and Sciences Competition. I am once again proud to say that Stevie Nicks had taken home the Anachronistic category. That’s my baby!

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Great-Great-Awesome-Granddaughter…

Karen’s back, back again!

Oh, sorry…

I’m my Own Grandma….

I cut myself open to bleed out the black demonic blood, to transgress into the Elizabethan Phoenix.

Why am I doing this?

Why would Solveig, after spending countless hours, dollars, and BLING, change her super awesome amazing sweet viking kit and go late period velvet and brocades? I hear that stuff itches, and boning isn’t that comfortable. But… never mind!

As you may have noticed, the title of my blog went from Steps of the Skald to Travels of the Troubadour. Throughout my bardic path, I have had much duality in my stage presence. What you’d see is tall, bold, shield maiden; however what you would hear was dulcet melodies of late Elizabethan songs.

It was time to stop confusing the audiences, and maybe even myself.

You would think, Solveig, what does it matter that your kit doesn’t match your performance?

And I would respond, The Bard is the whole package.

It made very little sense for a viking to be singing late Elizabethan songs unless it was a “costumed” performance. So I made the decision to become one with the performance.

My first gripe was garb. Because who doesn’t like to be uncomfortable and unable to breathe in 100+ degree weather with 99% humidity? What do I do with this thing on my head? I’m already tall enough! How do veils go? Why do I have three sets of sleeves? Why do I have NINE skirts? Does this corset go on the inside or the outside, and which way makes me a hussy? Where the heck do I put my sword? What do I do with my hair? Wait, I have to lace myself up? Do I need a handmaiden? Where the hell is Karen when I really need her? Oh yeah, helping with blogs…

My next concern is the second biggest: bling! You can take the viking out of the girl, but you can’t take away her bling. All these conquests, all these jewels and pearls, pearls, pearls! Okay, I guess I can make this work, I think I have pearls here and pearls there and pearl earrings and pearl brooches, and pearls are Elizabethan, right? Right?! I guess I’ve got this jewelry thing handled.

My final and most concerning concern: you guessed it, the booze! Wait, does proper late period mean no booze, or hidden and more flavorful? When did the prohibition start in England? I can’t be a proper bard without booze. You can’t spell bard without booze, right?

I mean there ARE some positive things to this whole late period mess, don’t get me wrong. This means I get to openly be a pervert. Look at Shakespeare. Willie S. is my spirit animal. And those codpieces! We also get to enjoy cross-dressing, fencing is period, and oh my god, Landschneckt! All the colors and poofy pants and Landshneckt! And big feathers! Because Landschneckt.

So I suppose this isn’t so bad after all. But it will be a process learning to walk like a late-period lady and not strapping my sword on everyday. But don’t worry Brunnhildr — I mean Solveig the Elder — will make an appearance from time to time.

Have faith my friends.

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Bardic Around the fire, Strikes again!

Winter is coming, my friends and it’s time for more Bardic!

 

With winter starting to show it’s face and the camping events slowing down, it’s time to keep our bodies and souls warm with the best thing I can think of. Bardic!

Once or twice a year for the last few years I have been running an unoffical gathering at the Inn of Bards Rest. There is a bonfire, potluck and of course, Bardic lubricant. The event is child friendly until 10pm and then the bawdy material may seep its way out.  I try to make this a safe place for all sorts of performers all all levels.

This particular time we have just shy of 30 folks showing up from Maine, Mass., NH and even Vermont. We had performers ranging from age 9 to 60. The fired roared and so many new pieces I have never seen or heard performed happened. One story even made its debut as it was completed being written while the story was being told!

The best part about this was there were folks who showed up only to listen and they grew brave enough with the encouragement of myself as well as those around the circle to perform themselves. It was a magic night especially since the rain held off.

Until next year, when I have a new witty title to name this.

 

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Winter Nights

Those suuuuummmerrr….NIGHTSSSSSSSS *singing to the tune of Grease*

 

Hello friends and welcome to another edition of Solveig needs to stop traveling and competing so much. I am your host, very sleep deprived and messy housed Solveig. This weeks edition is a special one. This episode has nothing but bards in it (ok, and a few viewers).

Back at the Feast of St. Nicholas in Queen Elizabeth’s Court, Drake Oranwood had described to me this as an all day/night bardic challenge called Winter Nights. He spoke of this sweet sweet armband he got to wear for a year and the circulating location of this event. It had started as a Concordia only event, but had grown larger. This event, however, was not typical to most bardic competition. This one would almost require you to have access to your coveted book of all things bardic. On top of that, you would be issued a challenge and would issue a challenge every round.  This would be a new way for me to meet new Bards as well as stretch myself.

Drake had reached out to me prior, asking if I could assist with gate, so I arrived early anticipating that I would be providing assistance. Luckily, when I arrived, that was all managed so I didn’t have to leave the secret not so secret bard lounge. The atmosphere was filled with Drake noodling on his new toy, chatting of new bards meeting one another and then anxiety of trying to figure out the sign up format and the grading system. We would all be judging. Hooray for rotating judges!

Although I had introduced myself to several new faces, ADOS (Attention Deficit OOH SHINY) over a fancy piece of weaving, I cuddled myself into familiar bare feet. I was second on the roster to perform my first piece (which was our choice). I pulled out a familiar favorite of mine as most of these folks had never heard me sing it. I sang it well and as per the challenge, described what kind of a Skald I was.  To date, I believe this was my best performance of this piece yet, despite the yellow liquid trickling down my leg and boy… was the air dry *cough cough* is it hot in here?

Each of the performers one by one displayed their array of interesting styles. I was quickly feeling intimidated. I was so used to being a big fish in a small pond. It was awe inspiring but it also kicked me down a few pegs.

The second round I was issued my first opposition challenge by a familiar face I had met at crown. Lorita spoke of how she had observed me constantly making the audience laugh. She asked me to make the audience cry. I gladly accepted that challenge. Her challenge from me was to perform a piece not using her own words.

For my challenge I chose the Irish folk piece of lover’s loss, “Turtledove”. It was somber, slow and beautiful. I wish I had chosen a better key to sing it in. Hindsight. Lorita did an incredible job of telling a story (which she informed me afterwords, was originally a song) of an angry woman cursing  the populace as they would make a pregnant woman run. Her emotions evocative, her timing, impeccable and her facial expressions were solid.

For my final challenge, I was paired with Grimm/Grym Skald. I panicked to think of a challenge for this story telling/poetic giant. His work was far surpassing of my own and I often wondered how I could challenge him. I though, very Winnie the Pooh style and contemplated how I could even put a small obstacle in his way. It then dawned on me that I had never heard him sing.  I asked my barefooted co-skald if that was a thing Grym could do and they affirmed as such. I asked Grym to sing and he asked me not to sing. I was prepared. I had not 1 but 2 stories I could pull out this time.  Which one? GYAH!

After deliberation, I pulled out the piece that had more refinement to it and played with the audience.  The timing was much better than the last time I performed it, better response times from the audience and much shorter.  This was some of the feedback I had received from the King’s previous bard (from K and Q) as well as a few peers. Still not perfect yet, but it’s a work in progress.

The end of the event, we had some open bardic before the winner was announced. I sang a contrafact/filk which I hadn’t performed for the public, as well as Drake’s “We are the East” (Which, to that date, he had never heard another human sing his piece for him). Peregrin the Illuminator was named the winner of the day and my god, his grapes were the best grapes. (he had been challenged to Illuminate the grapes and as well write a dirty/lusty/raunchy/sexy piece… which he took his first piece and wrote a new perspective on it).

The other two performances which truly stuck out to me were Cedar san Barefoot’s piece where they wrote themselves into a “Norse” piece where Loki had to get them to wear shoes and Douglas Doan’s constant use of staircase jokes and box myths. I will never look at staircases and boxes the same way again.

As we packed up for the evening, I was stopped by Toki (of whom I had never met prior to this day, but apparently had created this event many moons ago). He presented me with his token. I was humbled because as the day had progressed I had heard much about him.  I thanked him graciously and thanked him for his patronage.

A few days later I had connected with Toki on the Visage of Tomes and we had a several hour conversation. To me, I think a new mentoring relationship/friendship was born an I am deeply grateful for this opportunity.

 

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Harper’s Retreat

You must not under any pretense allow your mind (Harp).  To dwell on any thought that is not positive, constructive, optimistic, kind. -Emmet Fox

I think this should be the mantra I focus on. It’s always tough when you put your heart and soul into something and then have your spirit crushed by not obtaining that goal.  

This year was a new year to push myself . To try something new. This year I brought new repertoire. These pieces had never been performed by me for the public.  This year’s repertoire choices were very personal and close to my heart as well.  

Saturday I spent the day fencing, teaching, reveling in good friends and company. What did you teach, Lady Solveig? I taught what’s called a “Master Class”. This class is a safe place workshop where you bring a piece you are polishing or a piece you want to improve on. The format is generally you perform your entire piece all the way through and then you do it again, section by section. Suggestions are made about your performance and how to improve it. This was my first time performing this outside of an academic setting and I was overwhelmed to have three students attend. All of them brought difference pieces and styles to the table. I say overwhelmed in a good way. I never know how performers feel about being critiqued. Not everyone takes criticism well and even when they ask for it, it can rub them the wrong way. This was a great exercise for me in providing feedback but also serving as a bardic mentor for those who were older, same and younger than I was. I monitored body language very closely to make sure what I was providing was well received. When the class was over, I was thanked by the students and was told by two of them that they were now going to compete with these pieces for Baronial Bard and the third was just going to get up and perform for the open mic section. I couldn’t be prouder. I felt like a mama bird, proud that her kiddos are getting kicked out of the nest…. her… viking nest. With spears and fire.

I had set up, ahead of time, for an accompanist to help me with a piece. A few weeks prior, for personal reasons, he had to decline. Luckily, I am surrounded by amazing musicians in my life and another rose from the mist. I went to go rehearse with her but found out she had broken her foot the night before. In addition, she may have injured her wrist (Insert a chain of explicates and rapid swearing/heart beat) Oh wait! Another friend… can you play a thing? Maybe? No. Crap. oh hey, other friend (#4) yeah, I can play violin and make this work if your guitarist can’t.  (Like watching the Bob Ross reruns on twitch where he throws a blob of paint on the painting and you think its ruined? Nope.… SAVED!). We made this work. Awesome.

After the class was over I rushed to get ready for feast and the bardic competition that night. “Ooooo girl, you so fancy!” I would jest with my friend, Ollala, that I was “Installing my weave”. I was quickly corrected that it was not a weave, because they were not sewn in and they were just extensions. I pushed that button a lot over the next few hours. After all, what is a Skald without harassing their good friends.

I made my way over to feast in my finest raizing garb, head weighing a few pounds more, thanks to the extensions and beads. I promise, my head was not full of hot air… that would have made this so much easier to walk. I followed up with a few of my friends whom I knew were competing, and I made sure to speak to them and encourage them. One, specifically said they weren’t even sure if they were going to complete. I did my best to encourage them and even walked over with them to sign up. The rest was all feast and a blur until the competition.   Feast was an immense success as it always ways. The food was amazing as was the company.  #Foodcoma #Wholeroastedpig #liquidcourage #bardjuice

Game face on. No… not vampires. You know, srsbsns.

I mentioned that my repertoire this year was important to me. Several years prior, I had discovered a performer named Owain Pfyfe. If you know me well enough, you know I do not really care for tenors. The bright timbre is not something iI inherently enjoy. However, there was something about his charisma and style that I couldn’t ignore. I was so intent on finding him. He had to be a SCAdian right? After about six months of searching and re-listening to all of his repertoire, I was DEVASTATED to find out that he had passed a few years prior. I then began spending my time learning his music, listening to his humor and trying to take it and internalize it, making it my own.  My first piece would be one of his repertoire and it was my own take on it. I spent time focusing on that.

This year, I started with a mummer like feeling. I sat in the back of the room, covered in a wool cloak and an Italian Renaissance style plague doctors mask. I sat, quietly listening to the other performers, trying not to disturb them, but enjoy myself as well. Then, a friend of mine and fellow Bard, Kara the Mischievous took the stage. She sang a song, in which I have already received from her to add to my own personal book (It was that awesome!). Then, she too, decided to tell a story. She had mentioned at dinner she was telling a Norse story. I listened intently as she started her story, to tell us about when “Thor wore a dress”. My heart hit the floor, eyes widened and all the blood rushed from my body. That was -my- story. What was I going to do? Should I leave? Should I quit? What should I do?!?!?!

I took a stiff upper lip when it was turn, re-centered and let my new “persona” take over. I would not back down. I took the stage from the back of the hall in my mummers kit and my awful mix of European accents. I would crack jokes, get my “unsuspecting” assistants to the stage to help me out and slowly remove each piece. First the cloak (Which was alllll wool) so i weighed more than the world did at the moment. Next, the mask. Facial expressions are very important with physical comedy and the shtick I had chosen at that time. The piece I performed was “Fuggi, Fuggi”. I had the audience sing with me, I sang the Italian and as I explained to the audience, they’d be singing the Latin… ( Falalalala). At the end, it was time to show off my classical training. I arpeggiated my way up to a F above treble clef (One full octave above the top F line) and then gliasando’d down (Slide). A few small mistakes here and there, but ultimately I am very happy with how that piece went down.

Next, it was time for my story. I quickly thought of how I was going to fix this, the debacle, of two of us telling the same story. I opened with, “You may have already heard this story… tonight” and the audience seemed to appreciate that. Thank goodness for me, Kara and I have very different styles of telling stories so, although we told the same story, it was very different. This story was huge for me as I am not a storyteller, though, my friend’s say otherwise. I rely on my fast paced wit and vocal technique to entertain with. This was also important as this was my first true to persona piece I had done. Win or lose, this was my own victory.

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At court on Sunday, I was not announced at the victor and my heart sunk. I had several folks approach me, telling me how much they enjoyed my piece, how much they loved my voice, how excited that I was going to be their champion again. I think this was devastating to me only because this was told to me. Had I not had so much stake in this at this point I think it wouldn’t have been as much of a letdown. However, their new Baronial champion is a shining star. She is just starting to really get her feet wet into Bardic. She has such talent and skill. I cannot wait to watch her grow and support her. My job in Stonemarche is done.  Their community is growing strong and supportive. I will never stop supporting them, I will never stop being a part of their community, but they are not my focus any more. I need to find another group who needs my help just a tad more. You could say, “I’m a Wizard, Harry” and “A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.” And I will go precisely to where I am needed next.

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Pensic Pity Party

Pity me on my pilgrimage to Loch Derge!

As in the aforementioned post, I could not make the journey to the holy land this year. Next year in Jerusa—– Pennsic.A few folks had created a small circle in the middle of the lawn. Garb, fencing, thrown weapons, food and archery were all surrounding this (safely at distance… the marshalls all checked! I watched). Music started. I sat and listed to the dulcet tones of these strangers. There is nothing more comforting and home than music.  One gentleman asked me if I sang or played anything or if I was just there to listen. I responded “Both”. They asked me if I would share.  Who was I to say no. I was honestly there to just listen, but denying someone music is the worst crime of all.

I pulled out a tune I knew well and suddenly new friends were made. We jammed for what seemed like hours.  I harmonized with the other performers, I noodled on one of their guitars, sang by myself, had them harmonize with me. It was heaven. Now I just need to figure out how to make this happen in Malagentia. To the drawing board!

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A Walk Amongst the Pines

I pine for you!

Holy mother of rain, Batman. Was this a wet demo. It was raining cats and dogs off and on. Though, it did clear up for a couple of hours.  I was asked a few months prior, knowing that I wasn’t going to Pennsic, to perform for the attendees of the demo. The plans for this had not changed, but there was a hiccup. The individual who was supposed to marshall for this event had to step out last minute.

The Monday evening prior to the demo, I received a message from the autocrat asking if I knew any fencing marshalls who’d be willing to attend the event. I said I would ask around. The Northern Region Rapier Marshall attends my local fencing practices and I asked her as well as the local marshalls if they would be available or have any suggestions. I, myself, had been working on my fencing marshallate for the last year but was not a marshall yet. That evening, I had earned my fencing marshallate and was able to reply to the autocrat with good news. I would be MiC(Marshall in Charge) to make sure fencing could happen.

Fast forward to day of, paperwork was provided, everyone was safe, no one died and it was a good demo. I even heralded and announced the fencers as well. The heavy armored fighters were so thrilled to see this, they asked me to herald them in as well and speak to the audience. I think this went well.

Finally, the rain just overtook the whole event. We curled up inside of structure… Barn/garage thing… A small bardic circle formed. Ruadh was discussing that bardic can be for everyone and comes in all shapes and sizes. I sang for the group… pretty pieces and not so pretty pieces. I told stories and hammed it up (Kosher Ham, mom. I promise!). I gently nudged new performers to get up and do their thing. I sang with the new comers and I could feel the cold air turn warm. There is something magical about how bardic can make a garage with crockpots feel like an old tavern.

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