Mi Contra Fa

The dance weaves under the firethorn

Crown Tourney has a Tempore Cultura Atlantia trifecta going on - French, Norse, 16th cen.

Here is a list of 16th century Danish ballads.  (Norse, 16th cen)

Here is a "Medieval Scandinavian Encyclopedia" saying that ballads are derived from medieval French verse forms. (French, if you squint.)

Here is an Old Danish/modern Danish translation of one of the 16th cen ballads.

Here ("Elvir Hill," 2/3 the way down) and here (page 225, "Elfer Hill") are English or Scots-dialect translation of said ballad. In summary: young man pauses to rest on a elf-hill. Two elven maidens come out, sing and dance, promise him knowledge and prowess if he will dance with them. He stays silent, they threaten to kill him, but the cock crows and he is saved by the dawn.

And here is most of Sir Bela of Eastmarch's (Poul Anderson's) poem from his short story, "The Queen of Air and Darkness." Like the translations above, it leaves off the ballad's refrain (which is found handily in the post title).  And do you know, if you took out the references to alien plants and animals, it's more or less the same story.

Observation: Sir Bela's poem is much more... poetic.  He uses lots of very original and vivid imagery, whereas ballads tend to be formulaic.  "With starlight in her glance" is not a phrase you will ever see in a traditional ballad.

If I were going to Crown, I would looooove to perform this as an entry (if I could find the music).  It's by a Scadian - one of the Founders, in fact! - and it adheres very closely to a period source as far as narrative and even structure go.  (The Danish ballads evidently nearly always have refrains, while the English ones do sometimes, but it's hardly expected.)  

But I'm not going to Crown, so I'd have to write an original poem and send a non-performing art along.  I'm poking at the idea, looking for an angle that's more than a rehash of Elfer Hill, and also not a ripoff of Sir Bela.

 

Red Mountain Mead Hall and Night on the Town

Two events in two weeks! It's like some sort of record.

Red Mountain Mead Hall

This is a charming, laid-back event at a gorgeous 4-H camp in Isenfir.  The main hall had a large fireplace and a really rustic log-cabin look to it - really felt like a mead-hall. I took classes on Birka posaments and sprang, did my "Beowulf" performance as requested, and enjoyed a quite delicious feast. 

I tent camped, and there was frost on the ground both mornings.  Lessons learned: my old blue puffy sleeping bag is still hella warm.  Next time I put up the pyramid tent, try not putting the stakes in all the way.  Get the pole up, and then get the stakes down.  It was just unreasonably hard to get the pole up.  The only thing I can think that I did differently from when I first got the tent is that I drove the stakes all in.  (I remember I did not when I first used the tent, because I caught my gown on one of them and tore a hole in it.)

Night on the Town

I don't know if I've been to this local Lochmere event before.  Since I've been rationing my events (e.g., since kids), a mostly-fencing event doesn't usually rise to the level of me spending one of my 'chits' on it. Having just spent a full Fri-Sun in Isenfir, I didn't think I'd be able to make this one. But the weather was lovely and my husband was okay with it, so off I went.

Good Garb: I wore my oldest still-fitting violet tunic under my 7th cen. caftan, with appropriate jewelry and headgear. And you know what? I rocked it.  More and more these days, I am looking in the mirror and seeing things that fit well and look right, instead of seeing a to-do list of things to improve.  And at the event, a lady actually recognized what I was wearing down to the era, because she was interested in making the same sort of garb.  Yay more Anglo-Saxons!

Bardic: Lazy afternoon hanging with the bards.  Got some tips from Lord Wyn that might help my strained throat.  Warm up with humming, then open-mouth humming, then la-la-las.  Keep throat relaxed when singing.  I tried it and I think it helped.  I told "Thrymskvitha" here and at Red Mead Hall, and it went really well both times.  Comedy!

Spinning: I entered my spinning into the Novice A&S competition, since I've been doing it just since last year's Sheep and Wool.  And I won!  Woot.

 

 

Pennsic XLV: Bardic report

It was a good War for bardic for me.  I want to remember what happened, when, and what I learned, so I am writing it down.  I'm not going to brag, but I am going to note what I accomplished.

Saturday: I taught my 'Developing Historically-Informed Performance' class. It was reasonably well-attended (10-12 people?) and the students were engaged. Two people (including Master Efenwealt) told me they'll be stealing the class notes to teach students of their own.  Sweet!

Saturday night may have been the night Lord Richard Wyn requested 'To Put the Devil Into Hell.'  That would be the first time someone has asked me to do one of my period pieces, I think. Yay!

I stopped in to visit Mistress Dervila, who unfortunately and unfairly broke her ankle at War.  Her husband Thomas Drum-Maker and Baron Talorgen were there as well, and we had a bit of a mini-bardic for a while.  Along the way, I mentioned the Irish saint and the otter story I wanted to put together, but was having a hard time getting to gel.  She asked when the last time I read the source material was; I guessed a few months. She said that was about the right amount of time to get some distance from it, so I could re-imagine it as the story I wanted to tell.  What was the point?  I protested that figuring out the point was my problem, but after a few days of ruminating on it (with 'permission,' as it were, to deviate from the source), I feel like I'm making progress. So it was really very good and helpful advice.

Sunday: I did 'Beowulf challenged by the coast guard' for the Atlantian Royal Bardic circle. I used my lyre (not the harp, which I've practiced with more), and the sleeve of my red cote kept buzzing against one of the strings (which at least two people noticed).  Anyhoo.  Master Rhuaidhri suggested that, although many people at this circle got the reference and where this was from, and that it was really cool, I might want to go with a more visceral battle scene to grab the attention of the non-English majors in the crowd.  We spoke more on Tuesday, and he had very good advice on appealing to the kinesthetic learners in the crowd.  I respond well to images (I am hugely visually oriented) and also sounds, so that's where I tend to go.  But there are people for whom images are just a big pile of 'meh,' and they need to hear how things feel in the body.  "Show, don't tell," in other words, but a much more targeted take on it.

A lady performed a song she later told me was for the Gulf Wars War Bard competition.  Not being a fighter but rather a waterbearer, she wrote a piece from the point of view of a female camp follower, a medic.  She sang it as a fight song - fighting to save soldiers' lives - with as much passion and determination as any war song might have.  I got shivers.  We get some songs about service and kind deeds, but not generally ones that make it so outright heroic.  I hurried over afterwards to let her know how much I liked the song, and gave her the pin suite I was wearing.  Alas, kinda useless if you're not wearing 7th century Kentish, but I was out of other tokens in my bag.

I also took Magistra Fiona of Clare's class 'Introduction to Old English.'  Excellent class - not only did she hit the expected notes of how to pronounce which letters and such, but she explained some of the tricks you need to navigate the glossaries.  That's gold, right there.  I did not get to attend her poetry class, but I mean to email her to ask for the handout.

Monday: Southwind bardic was this night.I read "The Saga of Fishflinger" early, cold out of my book, for the heck of it.  It got some laughs, but I got reminded why I shouldn't perform things I haven't practiced. I'm good, but I'm not that good.  The performance was adequate but not really skilled.  As the evening went on, the atmosphere got a little downbeat. There were many quite excellent performances of new material people had composed, but there was nothing for the audience to do.  So, after checking that this would please my host and Pelican, I did 'The Rattlin' Bog.'  On Tuesday, I learned that this effort had garnered me a nomination for sainthood. XD  The past two nights of bardic brought me to a new theory of Pennsic bardic:

The Internet and associated technologies have made it easier than ever for bards to write and share new material.  Bards who have written their own material, or learned interesting new material, are generally justifiably proud of this work, and they want to display/perform it.  Add to this a large bardic circle, where you may only get one or two chances to perform, at the largest event in the Known World, with many Notable People in attendance.  You will, naturally, reach for these pieces you've worked so hard on that you want to share.  And there is nothing wrong with that.

However, if you're one of the audience members who wants nothing more than to shout "MacIntyre!" at odd intervals, this is not going to be very entertaining.  More on this under Wednesday.

Monday was also Poetry Day in Artisan's Row.  I stopped by and chatted for a bit with Lady Katarzyna Witkowska (who was organizing it), Master Cerian Cantwr, and Master Olivier de Bayonne. It was good to finally put a face to Master Olivier's name.  The Known World Poetry Competition was canceled on account of mine being the only entry, but we sat and chatted for a while.  Lady Katarzyna requested a poem from those departing; Master Cerian warned us of the dangerous Polar Cow.  I recited 'I Drank of Mnemosyne,' which I had printed out from the replacement for Mystic Mail, so that I could perform it at the Depressing Song Competition.  Master Olivier gifted me a token, which greatly lifted my spirit.  The pieces I write for competitions frequently don't turn out so well (because they're written to spec rather than from the heart) so it was heartening that this one was well-received.

Tuesday: I ran through 'Mnemosyne' in my camp a few times, trying to see if I could get the music out well enough.  It didn't settle down to a single tune,  but it seemed to have a pretty solid musical idea that I was improvising on fairly well.  I waffled on whether or not to go ahead with it, but - I'm the one who wants to go toward improvisational music and even poetry composed on the instant.  Let's see how it goes!

 So I took the Pennsic Main Stage for the second time (I thought it was the first time, but no - I did my 'Beowulf' for the KW Harp Celebration last year) and improvised away. I had the lyrics in my hand, but only needed to consult them occasionally.  There were one, maybe two phrases where the music didn't land as solidly as I would have liked, but overall - I felt like it went very well.  I think I emoted and gestured without overdoing - easier on such a downer piece than the peppy ones, where I can get spastic pretty quickly.  I thought I saw at least one person wiping away tears.  A friend was in the audience, and afterwards, he asked if that was "Alzheimer's, but for the SCA."  So that aspect of it is getting through.  I made 4th place (in a field of eight or nine entrants)!  But even more squee-inducing - the 3rd place winner was a lady from far Lochac with a stupendous voice and fantastic presence.  She accepted the accolade, but couldn't take her actual physical prize on her return journey - so she turned and  gave it to me.  So very sweet of her.

Snake and coffin

 

I also learned an important lesson in discernment at the Windmaster's Bardic and Peep Sacrifice. 

Wednesday: Children's Fete. Two and a half hours of performing in a huge noisy barn. Master Rhuaidhri and Mistress Fevronia undoubtedly carried the afternoon with their amazing projection skills.  I think I managed some volume and managed to not destroy my voice. I really need to get some classes for improving projection and volume.

Wednesday was also the Bardic Symposium session where I was a panelist: Authenticity.  The two-hour discussion seemed to come down to Don't Be A Jerk, Stop Jerks from Jerking, and Lead By Example.  'Don't Be a Jerk' covers any and all performers who poop all over other people's performances - for being too period or too not-period - to make themselves feel better.  'Stop Jerks' encouraged bystanders who might be witnessing the Jerk in the process of pooping to step up and intervene.  And 'Lead By Example' meant that, whatever your feelings on performance and authenticity, you should do the thing you want to see done and do it so well it looks cool.

There was a second strain that ran through the conversation.  At first blush, it was the old 'fun vs. authenticity' problem, but Lady Lorelei of Skye clarified it. In addition to bardic being an art that we can re-create in a historical fashion, it is also a social function.  Like at the Southwind bardic, the general non-performing public wants certain things from bardic circles. If we stop providing them, we risk marginalizing the bardic community.  On the other hand, we are an educational organization, and as artists with an interest in historical performance, we want to do those things, too.  There was much talk of 'proper performances in their proper places,' implying that 'fun' and 'authenticity' have to stay in their separate boxes.

Nothing wrong with focused bardics.  But I think I'd like to see general bardics with better balance.  Old standards plus new art. The thing there is, this isn't like putting together an album or even a playlist for a singalong, where one person engineers the tempo of fast/slow, fun/serious performances.  You've got a mixed group of performers. If the circle is big and the performances are long, you get everyone pulling out their Most Impressive Piece, which will generally tilt the thing toward the serious and slow, and away from the Old Chestnut Standards.  Keeping it smaller and faster-moving, and you'll have more room for variety.

Thursday: The humidity was making the heat just unbearable, and I left War early. I had to cancel the Lyre Roundtable, which I regretted, but I was feeling pretty miserable.  In the car, I thought some more about St. Kevin and the Otter (currently entertaining a version of Goose that Laid the Golden Egg, or else a parable on the hazards of self-denial).  I was also struck with the thought to write a song about the frankly amazing ability the fighters (of all kinds) have to tolerate said evil heat and humidity.  I got a draft refrain figured out somewhere on I-79.

I'm icky and I'm sticky, I'm sweaty and I'm hot
The dew point's up to eighty and my energy is shot
Wearing armor in this weather is really no mean feat
Fighters, can you tell me, how have you beat this heat?

 

Beowulf at KASF

Huzzah for Lady Sophia the Orange, who arranged to videotape the entire KASF Performing Arts exhibition!

This here's my bit of Beowulf.  I got up my courage to watch it, and hey - I'm pretty good!  (Need to learn not to watch the harp so much.) The entire thing is worth watching, but if you click the video below, it'll start right at Beowulf.

 

Birka brocade complete

Woop, there it is.  Shiny brocade is hard to photograph.

Various lessons learned:

• Just doing the thing where you put some big wefts through a few picks to draw everything in is not necessarily sufficient.
• Resign yourself to doing the test piece to figure out how wide you want the thing to be. Try different widths in the test piece.
• Corollary: I should document the width I most prefer for this pattern along with the threads used.  Then if I decide to do another red/silver piece using this silk and this silver, I will have a rule of thumb for how wide it ought to be per X tablets.
• Listen to Nancy Spies and measure the band regularly, once you have established the width you want.
• Just because the pattern only has one border tablet, that doesn't mean the band should.  Those funky, fringey loops on the original probably weren't funky fringe; they were probably passed through linen border warps that have not survived.  Now how the [BEEP] do you expect to attach it to anything?

Birka brocade continues

Notes on process:

• I've tied the warp in a long loop around the tapestry loom.  No worries about crushing the brocade now.
• I started by using two arm's lengths of silver thread, doubled into a one arm's length strand.  That was too long - the thread got kinks in it and the silver came unwrapped in places. Now using one arm's length, doubled into a half arm's length strand.
• Taking the time to ensure the silver threads are laying nicely - parallel to each other, not crossing or twisting - really does seem to make a difference.
• When I start a new thread, the new and the old threads are coming in at the same shed, and it's bulking that pick up so some of the ground peeks through.  I should probably start the new thread the pick before I end the old thread - wait, would that help, or would it just give me two bulky picks instead of one?  ...I think it should work.  Currently, I have four thread-ends crowded into the shed, and one set of threads brocading.  New way would have new thread in the shed, old thread brocading, then old thread in the shed and new thread brocading. Should be smoother.

Silver Brocade

Band 2, Birka grave 824. Pattern by Stella Anderson.

Goodness gracious, that takes a ridiculously long time.  And to think I want to make enough to wrap around my enormous melon. >.<  This is notionally to go with the Birka outfit Team Storvik is making for Garb Wars (which isn't called Garb Wars this year, but I can't remember what it is called).

Same silk as last time, but I'm using silver DMC #10 thread, doubled, as the brocading weft instead of metal strips.  I cut a light cardboard rectangle and poked holes in it to serve as a warp separator.  The warp threads got very messy looking and threatened to tangle, but amazingly everything pulled apart and got threaded onto cards pretty easily.  Warping this time around went much faster.

I started straight backstrapping, and right now it's tied to the tapestry loom, down at the bottom, then it goes up and over before getting tied to my belt. However, I'm fast approaching that point where I will have to take it in to get my hands closer to the area that needs work, and I'm not sure how to do that without knotting the brocaded section. Pins?

I want to say it was 2-3hrs to weave that section, which is (rough estimate) 3 inches long by 1/2 inch wide.  Just weave, not the set up.  Whew.

Garb Wars prep

We're doing Birka for Garb Wars, and I get to be the model! Which means I get to shop for the supplies. 

I have most of what we'll need already, but my only linen is heavy. That's on purpose, I bought it for undergowns, and I don't want them see-through. But I needed some handkerchief weight linen for a veil.  Off to G Street Fabrics! Linen acquired.

I wanted to buy silk brocade, but they had nothing appropriate.  The brocades were mostly rayon and Orientalizing; the bridal silk twill was plain white and $100/yard!  Lovely, but no.  There's an ecclesiastical fabric vendor I may hit up, or we could skip this. The silk would be used only for binding the top of the smokkr and/or making a hanging strap for Stuff Hanging from Brooches.  There are alternate ways to bind the smokkr, and alternate ways of making hanging straps (including making a bronze link chain).

We are planning on making a cloak/shawl, and in the interests of making it more interesting than a hemmed rectangle of fabric, I thought I'd look at the faux fur.  ZOMG.  This is not the fake fur I remember.  It was so soft.  Also, the remnant pieces were $40/yard, down from $60.  I stared at the piece of... ermine? I dunno, it was white with a 1/2" pile, but I have no idea how it would work with the wool suiting we have for the cloak, or if there's any info on what fur was used for the Mammen cloak or... and it was a lot of money.  Also, it's rare that a seriously heavy cloak is needed or packed for an SCA event.  But so soft.  I may try to come up with a project just to justify buying something.  (Coverlet?) In the future, because I think I've spent all my fabric money for a while.

I also grabbed some diamond twill!  Tiny diamonds - smaller even than the ones Alfrun ketta had at KASF that were to period scale.  So maybe too small. But they were, if not monochrome, then only really really subtly two-color (I have to check more closely).  And it's wool suiting again.  Still!  Yay diamond twill.

So I bought the linen because there's a Birka find that's interpreted as a brocaded band and linen veil.  I have fine silk in the house, and maybe I should have just used that, but must be anal retentive.  Although on second thought, I've been wanting a linen veil for a while.  All my veils are currently either cotton or Random Modern Stuff from Target.

 

Seiðr staff: I give up

I went out yesterday looking for more sticks.  Observation: If I had to pick between birch or beech, I'd go with birch.  The young birch trees were almost arrow-straight, while the young beech trees had limbs that zigged and zagged.  (General caveat about trees in N America vs. trees in Europe not necessarily being the same tree.)

I still didn't want to cut down a living tree in a Forest Preservation Area, but I did find a branch of maple that had some reasonably straight bits on it, and was... well, it wasn't green, but it was green-er than the beech I'd found. Took it home, tried to split it. Fail.

Gave up, returned to the Rose of Sharon, the only freaking thing I've managed to split the entire length of.  I went at it with a wood chisel for a while before realizing:

1. At this rate, I might not get it done by April 2. Surely this is because I have no idea what I'm doing, as this ought to be a very simple job.
2. I am not having any fun anymore.

I think I'll write a research paper instead.

Seiðr staff: Green sticks

I should note that my experiments with the dry wood weren't a total wreck.  The machete actually followed the curves of each stick pretty well for a foot or so.  I suspect it hit a knot or something, which deflected it up to the surface of the wood.

I hacked down a slender green branch today - off of a Rose of Sharon shrub.  Bushes are, if I recall correctly, wood-y, but not wood.  But it's growing in my yard, and so legal for me to bend, fold, spindle or mutilate as I please.

This went much better!  I split the 24-30" stick from one end to the other; I'd say it was maybe 1/2"-3/4" at the base and 1/4" at the tip.  Each half bent away from the blade like a cartoon character's hair being split by a sharp sword.  I wonder if the 'organic cord' wrapped around the original was a way of clamping it as the glue dried? It's going to need it.

I took it upstairs and got out the wood chisels.  What a mess.  I removed some material - without destroying anything, even! - but there were little shreds of wood fiber getting everywhere.  I don't know if this is a function of: this is a shrub; this is green; I have cheap chisels.  I haven't thrown the sticks out, but I am setting them aside as I look for a hardwood wand.

(Speaking of wands - I remembered that Harry Potter wands are also wood, which seems like it would have to be split - maybe hollowed slightly? - to accommodate the various hairs and feathers and whatnot that go into them.  Interesting!)

I am also wondering if maybe I shouldn't do a poem or story (dead tree edition, if this is a static A&S competition) rather than a seiðr staff.  I mean, that would be the smart thing if I wanted to potentially win.  But but but I can document a magic wand.  I kinda want to do that.