minstrel: neural programming

[Lisa and Ken Theriot]

Excellent points.  Tangent to this philosophy is the sensory overload 
method.  One of the coolest things in the Yorvik Viking Center is that the 
displays come complete with not only interesting things to look at, but 
interesting sounds and smells as well (okay, "interesting" is overly 
charitable for some of the smells).  This is something the medieval church 
did really well. You stepped inside and the light was changed by the 
stained glass, the sounds echoed up impossibly high ceilings, and incense 
assailed your nostrils (and made a nice change from the usual smells). 
 There was cool marble or stone under your feet instead of dirt; indeed, 
all your senses told you that you weren't in Kansas anymore.

Several of your examples combined sensory experiences; the extension to the 
bardic arts is, I guess, tying emotional events and/or period ambience into 
our efforts.  The examples given of people singing while going into battle, 
or processing in at a Coronation,  (I think) lends the music that extra 
impact on the psyche.  I've noticed that it's much harder to keep people 
from doing really inappropriate material at a bardic circle held in a 
fluorescent-lit room with acoustic tile ceilings than it is around a fire, 
or in a candle-lit hall.  Sometimes we can't help the site, but maybe if we 
can change the light, or the smells (why not incense at a bardic circle?), 
maybe more medieval sounds will follow.  Some will, certainly, and the 
extra oomph they get from the ambiance will help make that neural 
connection.

Adelaide


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