Tag: East Kingdom

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Words for Consorts Champion of Bardic 2023

Pray attend and heed the decree of the mighty Brehennis Corotica. For today, a cacophony of mighty words, movements, magic and song were put on display for all of the great eastern populace to behold. Various and a sundry of challenges were presented to the finest performers in our kingdom. Unrelentingly did each Bard compete to hold the sacred title of Champion to our most noble and cherished Consort. It shall be written in the tomes of time that _________  was awarded the title of Consorts Bardic Champion at the East Kingdom Bardic Championship, February 4, Anno Societatis 57. 

Words by Herrin Solveig Bjarnardottir 

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Etherial Court

I was approached by one of the coordinators to do a bardic piece of Ethereal court # 2. I was honored and floored.

I was only given 2 weeks leeway to get it recorded. Would my new mic be in? Would I have time around my new child to get this completed? Oh! Oh! Let’s add one more layer. It needs instruments.

Oh! A theme! Let’s make sure this is 100% period. 

I did some digging for my theme, which was mother’s and essential workers. What better than to use the Cantigas de Santa Maria. 

I have never performed any of the Cantigas prior to this. This involved me digging, finding correct pronunciation, performance style and accompaniment. The pronunciation of early Spanish is different from the modern Castilian I learned back in middle/high school. I Also, I haven’t done any musical mixing since 20XX…. long time ago. NEW FUN PROJECT!!!!

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Cantiga 357: Como tórç’ o dém’ os nembros do hóme per séus pecados

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1iDCVizeMsbw1I21yn7RaPe6iEhcUziGf

Vocalist: Solveig Bjarnardottir

Cellist: Kennereic Aubrey

Recorder: Bird the Bard

Translation:

A woman named Doña Sancha suffered an illness that twisted her face and clouded her eyes. Her mouth was so contorted that she could not eat.

She went to the Church of Santa Maria do Porto and prayed to the Virgin to cure her.

She placed candles in front of the altar and remained there for nine days.

After she had completed her novenas, the Virgin released her from her affliction.

She healed her face and made her features more beautiful than they had ever been before.

All the people there deemed the miracle the best one of all.

Website for lyrics, IPA translation and mensural notation:

http://www.cantigasdesantamaria.com/csm/357

You can also watch the beautiful video at 18:23 or watch the whole inspirational court

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khi88DE8W0c&ab_channel=SCAEastKingdom

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I Challenge you… to do this online

My Co-Autocrat and I had spend months and months planning the second iteration of the EKCoP Challenge assembly. This was my first time “running” it and I had found a super sweet location. Weeks before, COVID-19 really started to spread into the US and reared it’s ugly head. The plague doctor could truly not contain this one.

My Co-Autocrat and I made the difficult decision to cancel the even. This was not done lightly. However, not only is this spread via respiratory system, singing/vocal arts were known to be the fastest way to spread it.

I wasn’t willing to go down without a fight. I wasn’t willing to let the performing arts community take a blow to one of their only real chances to gather and perform in a low key environment. Then, it hit me! Why not do this online? What were the logistics?

I spoke to my co-autocrat who has been running monthly online practice to see if this was feasible.  It was!

From there we got everything sorted and up and promoted within 5 hours of this idea. Would this work? Would anyone come? Would the delay kill everything? Are we running it like it was run previously? Who knows! here we go!

We eventually settled on a formal of open meet for an hour, classes till 6 and open performances till 10.

Attendance rolled in, every class was attended and well respected.

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Teaching Online- Barriers and Successes

A few months ago I was asked by the resurgence of the East Kingdom College of Performers to teach a class online. As I have been serving as the Deputy Chatelaine, I feel very connected to this group and it’s successes. I agreed but had to think of what I could teach. Very much, like the iconic Taoist bear, Winnie, I sat and thought and I thought and I thought.  Then in struck me, like a a sack of bricks… or something more gentle I suppose, as my face and body are intact. As a modern medievalist, I spend a large amount of time attached to social media. I use it to make connections in our modern world and I use to to connect to better resources. Living in the more Northern Part of the East Kingdom and being separated from our vast populace, there are only so many places I can travel. The internet is for more than porn and kittens… and memes.  (By the way, my Partner has just given me a huge lecture on the actual teachings of Taoism)

One if the largest issues about being a performing artist is how to get your work out there and how to get noticed. Below is an outline of my class. If you’d like more in depth information regarding what I talked about, please feel free to contact me.

 

First and Foremost, your online appearance:

 

Good/Yes!                                                              

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Bad/No!!!

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Be neat, clean and groomed. It doesn’t matter your personal style, but no one wants to see you fresh out of bed.

1) Getting noticed

  • Bards/Performers are a 1 off performance (fleeting performance)
  • How do we get seen outside of competitions and bardic circles
  • We are not all composers (and don’t need to be)

2) Platforms for getting noticed

  • Competition
  • A and S
  • Word of mouth
  • Campfires/Events

But…. is this effective? Let’s talk digital!

Social Media Platforms

  • WordPress
    • Can maintain images/texts/videos
    • Simple to use
    • Easy cross platform posting
    • Free, but Can pay to upgrade for additional features
    • Maintenance heavy
    • Free
  • Livejournal
    • Text only
    • image/video embedding is not as simple
    • Older Platform
    • Not as well trafficked
    • Nominal customization
    • Free
  • Reddit
    • Home of trolls
    • Very well trafficked
    • Not well respected in documentation society
    • Simple to use
    • Easy Embedding
    • Easy search engine to use
    • Posts are easy to discovered if you are looking for them.
    • Minimal customization
    • Free
  • Facebook
    • Well Trafficked
    • Well integrated
    • Easy embedding
    • Videos can be downloaded and uploaded
    • Images are easy to upload/download
    • Algorithms are wonky
    • Missing data
    • Timeline only (Scrolling text and no customization)
    • Free

 

  • Myspace (LOL)
    • Houses Tracks
    • No space for Blogging
    • Basically a dead site
    • Free
  • Soundcloud
    • Tracks only
    • Free
  • Podcasts
    • Tracks only
    • Can have upkeep costs
    • Can have potential for income
  • Homemade websites
    • Fully customizable
    • May require coding knowledge
    • Generally have a cost
  • Youtube
    • Videos/Songs only
    • Cannot have copyrighted material
    • No limit but can take forever to upload material
  • Yahoo Groups
    • Text only
    • Dead source
  • Instagram
    • Images only/Videos/Vines
    • No text

Silliness ensues

  • Twitter
    • Short text only
    • Good for link sharing/Cross posting
  • EK Wiki
    • Good for short and basic info about your persona
    • Can link videos/Images
    • Not very versatile for blogging/Documentation

Blogging in general

Talk about WordPress in general and availability

 

https://solveigbjarnardottir.wordpress.com

 

https://wiki.eastkingdom.org/index.php?title=Solveig_Bjarnardottir

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIGXtcuwfZg

 

https://myspace.com/laurentreidel

 

EK Wiki:

  • Everyone should have one!
  • Easy to maintain. If you don’t have one or don’t know how, we can connect to make sure you have one
  • Should have who you are, awards, affiliations, interests and events you’ve staffed. If you have any other focuses, those can be listed as well. Should really be just short reference and quick so people writing you in, people reviewing you for the order and scribes and do you proud.

Word Press:

This is where you make the dream happen

Images!

Videos/Recordings

Blog entries

Compositions

All other social media can be linked to and from

 

What sort of things should I be blogging about?

  • What you are doing
  • Period pieces performing
  • Documentation
  • Videos and recordings of your performances
  • Stuff you have composed/wordsmith-ed (Images if they are avail) If there is documentation on that, include it too
  • Non musical stuff. People want to see that you are more rounded
  • Classes you are teaching and their documentation
  • Feedback and reflection

 

The major barrier of teaching online is engagement and response. Also, equipment levels from your audience.

Success!!! I got a bunch of information out from my house, I had a moderator and more people are blogging.

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Sing for the East- CD

Some funds, some funds, my Kingdom for some funds!

It had been 8 years since I had done my last professional recording. I was eager to get my feet wet again. The wish fairy came to my aid via the Tome of Visages carrier pigeon. I received a request from Drake Oranwood. Drake was organizing a fundraiser for the East Kingdom Travel Fund. If one is not familiar, it is very expensive to be King and Queen, and so, we, as loyal citizens, aim to increase the size of their coffers.

We would put together a CD/digital download of East Kingdom anthems.

I was sent a piece by Mistress Aife Ingen Chonchobair in Derthaige called The Eastern Tyger’s Roar. I gave the piece one listen and needed no additional motivation. I learned the piece over the next few days and traveled to the Barony of Endewerde to visit with Mistress Aneleda. She had a sweet, sweet setup (next to her washer, dryer, and ironing board).

Recording started promptly at 10:30 PM Eastern Standard Time, and concluded 11:30 PM. I think I may have done 9 takes in that time, some of which may or may not have been composed entirely of giggles. The finished product was sent via carrier pigeon to Lord Drake and were never heard from again until the time of final production. What can I say? I am my biggest critic. 

If you’d care for a listen, and to support the East Kingdom, please follow the link below.

www.singfortheeast.bandcamp.com