It really doesn't seem like I've been keeping this blog for two years. Time flies when you're having fun!
It continues to be the best thing I've ever done to motivate and document my SCA research. Last year's output was skewed hard to poetry - not surprising, as I spent most of that year as Poeta Atlantiae. I wrote "To Put the Devil Into Hell," which is quickly becoming a showpiece. Every time I recite it, someone wants to know where I got it and if they can learn it.
I still feel like I was spending most of my time unfocused, though. My first year, I focused on my Great Translation Project, which was/is awesome but not really a coherent study of any one period or style of performance. Last year, as Poeta, I certainly indulged my inner Anglo-Saxon but tried to offer competitions and examples in a variety of styles. Or, briefly but tellingly: Over a year after my voice-with-lyre disaster at Twelfth Night 2009, I still do not have a voice-with-lyre performance of "Wulf and Eadwacer" ready to go. Okay, the two kids have something to do with that, but so does a lack of focus.
So in the third year, I want:
- To continue to produce original pieces for performance
- With a focus on Anglo-Saxon appropriate genre and style
To this end, I will:
- Continue making translations and writing original pieces at my current level of knowledge
- Begin to learn more about chant, the earliest known Western musical tradition
- Listen to chant
- Read about, view and/or listen to oral performance styles alive in traditional cultures today
In housekeeping/tech issues:
- The Original Works page needs re-organized with the best stuff right up top
- I need to figure out if my computer's recording problems originate in the soundcard, the microphone, or the software system
- I will try making a YouTube video or two
And in service:
- Keep teaching as family schedule permits
- Finish the Lyre Book and make it available
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