minstrel: Bardic Madness South V: The Feast of St Cecilia

[Cerian Cantwr]

Greetings,

Below is the e-flier for this year's Bardic Madness South.  The event
will be taking place on November 22nd, 2003 at Cathedral of Christ the
King - 2600 Vincent Ave, Kalamazoo, MI, 49008.  Please feel free to
spread this news far and wide (apologies for all the cross-posts, don't
want to miss anybody).  We had bards from four different kingdoms in
attendance last year (Mid-Realm, Calontir, Ealdormere, and AEthelmearc),
I wonder if we can top that.

Cerian Cantwr
Provost - Bardic Madness South
cerian at minstrel.com


Greetings and welcome are bid to all Bards, Troubadours, Trouveres, 
Minstrels, Minnesingers, Jongleurs, Singers, Storytellers, Poets, Scops, 
Skalds, Fillids, Olaves, Griots, Wordsmiths, and Friends of these arts.

November 22nd, is the feast of St Cecilia – patroness of music and 
musicians. Cecilia lived during the 3rd, 4th, or 5th century (take your 
pick), and almost everything supposedly “known” about her is a handful 
of apocryphal moonbeams.  No one knows how many hands over the centuries 
have done some embroidery on the whole cloth that is Cecilia’s legend. 
Today, it’s our turn.

The purpose of today's challenges is to encourage the participants' 
creativity and artistic growth.  They are not meant to be competitions - 
everyone who takes part can consider themselves a winner.

Your response to the various challenges may be in many different forms. 
Song or story are the most obvious choices; however juggling, magic, 
instrumental, or dance can also express an idea or tell a tale.  All of 
these could be used to answer a given challenge (though perhaps not all 
at the same time :-) .  Our desire here is to be inclusive rather than 
exclusive.  If you have something to share that doesn't quite fit or 
that stretches the definitions a little, then fire away.

It is our wish to create a "bardic safe zone" - a friendly place where 
you may feel free to experiment and try new things.  If you've never 
performed before, now's your chance.  You'll be hard pressed to find a 
friendlier and more supportive audience.  We would be delighted to see 
lots of first time performers.

Please remember, in order to make sure as many gentles get a chance to 
perform as possible, we ask that you limit your performances so that 
they run less than five minutes.

The event takes is hosted by the  Canton of Three Hills in the Barony of 
Andelcrag (mundanely Kalamazoo Michigan) on November 22nd, 2003.

For more event information, see the website at 
http://tilted-windmill.com/bms5/  [NOTE: The server the website lives
on is down this week (8/1/03).  It should hopefully be back up sometime
next week.]  Additional information will be posted there as it becomes
available.

For questions about the days bardic activities (challenges, teaching a 
class, participating in the concert, or serving as a patron), please 
contact the provost (or talk to me at Pennsic - camped with The
Midlands in N21):
    Cerian Cantwr
    630-887-8514
    cerian at minstrel.com

For questions about the site and logistics, please contact the autocrat:
    Mistress Siobhan O'Neill
    269-385-4717
    judith.a.kirk at wmich.edu

The Challenges


Fyt the First:

Pass the Tale:
    All those who wish to participate get up together, and tell a tale
    from beginning to end.  The challenge’s patron will 'conduct' by
    pointing to the person whose turn it is to continue the tale, and
    deciding when it is time to end.

The Lily and the Rose:
    At one point in her fable, Cecilia and her husband are presented with
    ever blooming roses and lilies.  Give us a sniff of this bouquet by
    arranging some anecdote involving these two flowers.

Now You Don’t See Him:
    Another aspect of Cecilia’s myth involves an invisible angel.
    Transparently inspire us with a song or story that benefits from the
    assistance of some unseen agency.


Fyt the Second:

Mazacroca:
    Given several texts to choose from in foreign languages, "translate"
    one of them and explain what it "really" means.

Triolets Are Blue:
    The triolet is a period French verse form dating back to the
    thirteenth century.  It consists of an eight line stanza with 2
    repeated lines (the rhyme scheme is shown below), and can be used
    singly or as part of a cycle.  Try your hand at writing one.

    a – line 1
    b – line 2
    a – rhymes with line 1
    A – identical to line 1
    a – rhymes with line 1
    b – rhymes with line 2
    A – identical to line 1
    B – identical to line 2

Plot it Yourself:
    How did Cecilia become the patroness of music?  Most accounts
    disagree.  Not surprising really - this aspect of her legend didn’t
    get up to full steam until 1584, over a millennium after she lived.
    Since the whole fable is apocryphal anyway, give us your version of
    it.  Don’t feel constrained by “the facts”, there aren’t any.


Fyt the Third:

Stir Fry:
    Given a list of words, do something artistic with them.

Play Something:
    It is the patroness of music we’re celebrating.  Get out your
    instruments and play something.  If the piece also tells a story of
    some kind, so much the better.

Two Nuns Walk Into a Bar:
    Cecilia’s legend has served as inspiration for many, Chaucer among
    them.  The Canterbury Tale’s second nun tells us all about her.  With
    this in mind, give us a song or story that in some way involves a
    pair of nuns.  The bar is optional :-)


Fyt the Fourth:

Bard Scribe Illuminator:
    Given a subject in the morning, compose, calligraph, and illuminate a
    text on that subject. This may be done individually or as a team.

Jupiter Forbid:
    The Romans ordered Cecilia to make a sacrifice to Jupiter.  In the
    interest of ecumenism, not to mention equal time, present us with a
    song or story that involves Jupiter.

Period Piece:
    Perform a documentably period piece of music, story, or song (poetry,
    prose, and so forth are good too). Dig out those reference books,
    blow off the dust (try not to sneeze), and see what wonderful and
    magical treasures you can find in them. There is a staggering amount
    of fantastic material out there. Find something, be it silly or
    sublime, and amaze us with it.


Challenge General Rules

- Challenges are not contests. You win by entering and striving to do
   the best you can.
- Challenges are designed to encourage you to try your hand at something
   new, to stretch yourself, to enjoy, and to celebrate the creative
   spirit.
- Read the guidelines for the challenges carefully, like most exercises,
   they are designed to help you develop in specific areas. Try to follow
   them as closely as you can, but stretching them in unexpected
   directions is good too.
- Individuals are welcome and encouraged to give recognition to those
   performers whom they especially enjoy.
- In order to allow the largest number of people to participate,
   challenge entries shall be limited to five minutes or less. Each
   person may enter a maximum of one piece in each challenge and a
   maximum of eight challenges.