Challenges
Because most of the challenges this year are on the theme of Brevity, many entries will be very short.
As a result, for this edition of Bardic Madness, we are expanding the number of challenges and encouraging people to sign up for as many as they wish. A special token will be given for those who participate in The Decathlon (10 challenges).
Take note of the brand new challenge suggested and created by Andrew Blackwood!
Also, see below for the Instrumental Music Drop-in.
As a result, for this edition of Bardic Madness, we are expanding the number of challenges and encouraging people to sign up for as many as they wish. A special token will be given for those who participate in The Decathlon (10 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.4x4x4x... (aka "Speed Barding")
A team of four will be given a topic (or first line) and four keywords; they will have four minutes to compose four quatrains (using the four keywords).Six Words
Hemingway was challenged to come up with a short story in six words or less (his response: "For Sale: Baby shoes, never used"). We won't be so restrictive. Come up with a tale of 6 sentences, each sentence containing 6 words; or a poem or song of 6 lines, each line containing 6 words or metric units. Need a subject? Select one of our three honorees this day.Period Piece
Perform a documentably period piece of music, verse, story, or song. 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.Fyt the Second
The Odyssey (Reader's Digest Version)
On a strict 5-minute limit, tell a compelling version of a great epic.Six Words, Really
Take up Hemingway's challenge: tell us a story in six words.Poyntes of Pow'r
Each participant will draw a topic out of a hat, choose a side, and must present a convincing argument for this position (in about 3 minutes).The Magic Token
(or, "The Horrible Bargain") In a fabled land to the east it is said that those who have been given a glimpse of A Certain Laurel's "magic token" are themselves destined to be elevated to the order of the Laurel. Is this a case of "you get to be a Laurel, but you have to look at A Certain Laurel's Magic Token", or "you *have* to become a Laurel, but at least you get to see A Certain Laurel's Magic Token"? Tell us of such a dire covenant.Special Event - Instrumental Music Drop-In (12:30-3:30)
Curious - or passionate - about Period instrumental music? Want to do something musical while giving your voice a break? Stop by the drop-in jam session! We'll read and play through ensemble arrangements of various Period (and maybe slightly post-Period) pieces.
Come and go as you please (you don't need to stay for the entire 3 hours unless you want to). ALL SKILL LEVELS WELCOME.
Fyt the Third
Brevity
In the morning, participants will be given a word or phrase that is the seed of an acrostic - both the topic and the initial letters of a poem (or song). For example, given the word BREVITY:
Bitter herbs in savory dish,
Rich broth turns ashen on the tongue.
Every breath makes every wish
Vie to be a prayer sung.
It is no riddle - life is brief:
There is no hiding from that thief.
Yet now's no time to utter grief.(The words and phrases given out on the day will be longer.)
Form Challenge: Glose
Popular in Spanish-speaking countries, the glose (Spanish: "glosa") is in reality a challenge. Given four lines (the "texte"), you must compose a poem (or song) of four stanzas explaining, expanding on, or subverting the texte, each quatrain ending with one of the lines (in order). Here's an example fromhttp://www.volecentral.co.uk/vf/glose.htm
called "Another blow for press freedom"
The Texte (from Shakespeare's Sonnet 25)
The painful warrior famoused for fight
After a thousand victories once foiled
Is from the book of honour razèd quite
And all the rest forgot for which he toiled.The Glose:
A thug, about him something of the night,
But our thug, who took up arms and stood firm,
Brave, strong and tall for what he thought was right.
A hero, though he’d blush to hear the term,
The painful warrior famoused for fight.A realist, this craggy hunk; hard-boiled,
But never thought to find a single blot
On his once proud escutcheon. Now it’s soiled
Beyond recall. His reputation’s shot,
After a thousand victories once foiled.He rails against his fate, the sudden blight
That chills him. Life will never be the same.
The days drag by. He lies awake at night,
Cold, haunted by the knowledge that his name
Is from the book of honour razèd quite.His future, once so bright, has now been spoiled;
His past’s no longer what it used to be.
Admirers he once had have all recoiled,
Wiped tapes, burnt photos, pulped biography,
And all the rest forgot for which he toiled.You may give a different take on the Texte above, or use this one:
Then gin I think on that which Nature said.
Of that same time when no more Change shall be,
But steadfast rest of all things firmly stayed
Upon the pillars of Eternity,
(from Mutability, Edmund Spenser)That's Not Funny
The famously brief verse form, the limerick, is always funny ... or is it? Compose a limerick (or series of them) on a serious topic.Haiku? No, Renga!
The form we call haiku (a three-line poem with syllable counts of 5, 7, and 5, no rhyme and no particular metre; a season of the year is normally referenced) is not strictly period, but its precursor, haikai no renga, is.
http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/poetic-form-renga
For example (from https://www.youngwriters.co.uk/terms-renga):
The final leaf falls (5)
The tree branches are so bare (7)
Autumn has arrived (5)Remember Summer's warm kiss (7)
So gentle, it will be missed. (7)Participant A will be given a topic and a short time to compose the first stanza (in the form we call haiku); particpant B must respond (in an even shorter time) with two lines of seven syllables each; participants C, D, etc., may continue the chain.
Concert
The concert is your opportunity to perform pieces which may not "fyt" into any of the challenges.
Fyt the Fourth
Off a Klif
Proposed and conducted by Andrew Blackwood: Normally we "filk" by providing new lyrics to existing tunes. Andrew provides you with the lyrics below (either the modernized or original version) and invites you to create a wholly new tune for them. A "klif", get it?Because it will be difficult to remember your new tune when others are singing theirs, this challenge will be pre-recorded and played back during the fourth Fyt. You may record your entry in advance and send it to Andrew,
drewishdrewid (at) gmail (dot) com
or he will have recording equipment on site to record it during the day.
Here are your lyrics (or download from a Google Doc)
Modernized version first
Now Blossoms The Spray (c1300, by Anon)
On horseback as I rode one day
Adventuring
I chanced to hear while on my way
A maiden sing:
“Clod to him cling!”
Alas to love is suffering
My life away!”Chorus
“Now blossoms the spray:
All for love I am so sick,
My sleep has gone away.”And hearing that delightful tune,
I went to see;
And in a glade I found her soon
In ecstasy
Beneath a tree.
I asked, “Why sing so ceaselessly,
O maiden gay?”Chorus
And then replied that lovely she,
(Her words were few)
“My lover swore and oath to me
His love was true:
He’s changed for new.
May it bring him grief and rue
This very dayChorus
(Penguin Classics Medieval English Verse, copyright 1971, page 100)
Now Springes The Spray (c1300, by Anon)
Als I me rode this endre day
O my pleyinge,
Seih I what a litel may
Bigan to singe:
“The clot him clinge (1)
Wai is him I louve-linginge
Shall libben ay”Now springes the spray
All for Love ich am so seeke
That slepen I ne may.Son ich herde that mirie note,
Thider I drogh;
I fonde hire in an herber swot
Under a bogh
With joye inogh.
Son I asked: “Though mirie may,
Why singes thou ay?”Now springes the spray
All for Love ich am so seeke
That slepen I ne may.Than answerde that maiden swote
Midde words fewe:
“My lemman me haves bihot
Of louve trewe;
He changes anewe.
If I may, it shalle him rewe (2)
By this day.”Now springes the spray
All for Love ich am so seeke
That slepen I ne may.(Norton Critical Edition Middle English Lyrics copyright 1941, page 16)
(1) “May the earth cling to him.”
(2) “If it is in my power, he will regret it.”Toasting
Feast time is traditionally when we raise our glasses on high to honor the crown and other deserving individuals. We'll assign the topic or person, you create an appropriate toast for them on the spot.In Praise of ...
We often have challenges which need to be prepared "on the day", but normally we at least warn you of the nature of the challenge. This one is a total mystery, even to the Provost. The patron (Viscountess Shava) will ... umm, arrrive at the event and announce ... well, the terms of this challenge when ... let's say, when it suits her.Fabled Fundamentals
Another famously compressed form is the fable, a story in prose or verse that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature which are given human qualities such as verbal communication, and that concludes in a moral. Choose any topic, but those whose moral is "Brevity is the soul of wit", will get extra appreciation from the Provost.
- Sign-up for the challenges will be on the day of the event.
- 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. Trying to follow them as closely as you can is good, but sometimes stretching them in unexpected directions is even better.
- 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 should be limited to five minutes or less (that includes the introduction). Each person may enter only one piece per challenge
- The "maximum of five challenges" rule is waived for this edition.
