Challenges

*Schedule is in Central Time*

About Bardic Madness Challenges

It is our wish to create a "bardic safe zone" - a friendly place to feel free to experiment, stretch yourself, and try new things. If you are a new to bardic and performing arts, recently returning, or an experienced performer with new material; You'll be hard pressed to find a friendlier and more supportive audience!

• The purpose of the challenges is to encourage participants' creativity and artistic growth.

• Challenges are not competitions - everyone who takes part can consider themselves a winner.
  Challenges are also not contests - You win by entering and striving to do & give your own personal best!

• Challenges are designed to encourage you to try your hand at something new, to stretch yourself, to enjoy, and celebrate the creative spirit.

• Read the guidelines for the challenges carefully. They are sneakily designed to help one develop specific areas. Try to follow them as closely as you can, but stretching them into unexpected directions is good too.

• Individuals are welcome and encouraged to give recognition to those performers whom they especially enjoy with applause and friendly notes in the chat window.

Read the general rules for challenges below!

Challenge Sign Up Sheets

We will be opening challenge sign up sheets on October 22nd, 2 weeks ahead of the event and hope to include as many people as possible!

• • *Please start with selecting up to 3 challenges, including the concert.
    (If there are enough openings, we will increase this closer to the day of the event, watch for any announcements on this.)

  • You can also select an additional 2 challenges to be added the 'day of' if there is time on the day of Bardic Madness. (*#’s 10 and up on the sign up sheets.)

  • Any 'Day of' additional participants as time allows, signed up ahead of time or added the day of the event, do not count towards a participants initial "3 challenges."

CLICK HERE FOR CHALLENGE & CONCERT SIGN UP SHEETS TODAY!
*The Google Doc will open in new window or tab depending on your browser settings*
Or copy/paste this link into your browser:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1R2P1TUnDfg9Df8KLa8RGhy7yAVOypgzFfyMZE02bGFA/edit?usp=sharing

2021 Notes*

• • Please read the challenge rules below and sign up for up to 3 challenges, including the concert - and up to 2 additional challenges in case there's time (#10+ on the sigh-up sheets.)

  • There is a checkbox on the e*sign-up sheets if you plan to perform the day of the event, or will send files ahead of time.

  • Please let Cerian Cantwr know if you do/don't want your performances added to the Event YouTube playlist after the event.

  • We may take some additional people in challenges and add them to the YouTube playlist, even if not shown the day of the event.

~ Note ~

In case we've caused any confusion- You don't have to have things pre-recorded to participate!
The majority of people in all challenges and the concert will be performing live/day of,
per the usual for a Bardic Madness event.

Sending in pre-recordings is an option we've included for several technical geeky reasons,
and for those who may not be able to be at the Virtual event and still wish to participate.

Also for all whose technology doesn't do well for live performing/streaming,
or who might simply prefer this as an alternate to performing live on Zoom.

Hope to see many of you online! 😃

Yours in Service, M. Lorelei Skye ~ Bardic Madness Provost

Challenge General Rules & Courtesy Guidelines

** Please keep content 'Family Friendly.' ** More on this below

• Each person may enter a maximum of one piece in each challenge and a maximum of three challenges, including the concert. (**At the end of a challenge, sometimes time is available and extra performers are called; these do not count towards these three.)

• Duets/Trios/Ensembles of 2,3 or more performing together can appear together in up 3 challenges, including the concert.

• Individuals who participate in both group and solo performances are asked to use your best courtesy selecting challenges.

• In order to allow the largest number of people to participate, use your best courtesy to keep your challenge entries limited to 3-5 minutes or less for Poems and Songs;
  5-7 minutes or less for stories - including any introduction.

  • ***If you realize you are running longer, Please Stop- let us know, and we will do our best to include 'The Rest of the Story' as time allows either: at the end of a challenge fyt, during one of the planned breaks we will create a 'breakout room' for Cerian to record the rest and for those interested in hearing it, as part of the bardic circle, or you and Cerian can arrange a time to record after Bardic Madness. Recordings can be spliced together to present the story as a whole on the YouTube playlist.

• Please keep content 'Family Friendly.' (**Think closer to 'Apples to Apples' not 'Cards Against Humanity.'**)
  We expect to have minors (and John Inchingham) present, or watching the YouTube playlist in the future & John is much too young for that sort of thing.
  Performances that push too far on this may be stopped live and/or not included in the YouTube playlists.
  If you are wondering if a particular performance work falls outside this, please contact Lorelei before the event.

Challenge Patrons

Would you like to be a Patron? Contact Lorelei at loreleiskye25@gmail.com

Click here for more info on being a Virtual Patron, and the list of challenges needing Patrons

Challenges

First Fyt

Early Bird Warm Up Challenge!

Boot up the computer and warm up your cuppa coffee, tea, chai, (or other preferred beverage at whatever temperature ;) to join us in the first challenge! Perform something of your choice to merrily cast us off upon the watery ways today...

Journey on the "Blue" Roads
Create an original work or relate an existing work (song, story, poem, prose, improv, play script...) where the river is, or a part of, the main focus of the work/narrative that is happening.

~ Theme of the Day~
In modern times, rivers are marked in blue on travel maps- and we generally don't or can't use them.
In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, rivers were traveled often for commerce, (typically) considered safer to travel by Nobility. Cities and societies relied on their rivers, building castles and forts alongside them.
Famous rivers such as: The River Styx, the Nile, the Thames, Seine, Rhyne, Danube, Tiber, Boyne, Sarasvati river, Saptasindhu of the seven holy rivers of India, Indus River also called Sindhu-considered the eldest daughter of the Himalaya mountains.
There are rivers with myths and legends that swim within them or spring from them: Naiades, shape shifters, river nymphs, Melusine, Kelpies, ...placating Japanese kappa by throwing cucumbers into the waters where they live.
And not leaving out the hand-made water wheels and cogs. Catching River Fish, shellfish, and eels for food, barter, and to sell. Or the myriad of famous bridges built to cross these rivers such as London Bridge, Ancrum Old Bridge, the Bridge of Sighs, The Rialto, Akbars Bridge.
And so much more to find and explore upon all these waterways!

A Crate of Surprises
A shipment of NEW folk and fae tales has arrived at port, and you've been handed a crate!
Drawing inspiration from myth, legends, fables, and perhaps even bestiary manuscripts- create a new tale in the style of these folk stories, or perhaps relate an unusual lesser known tale.
Tell us in song, story, poem, or prose - what did you unpack from your crate?

Second Fyt

Poetic Form Challenge: Terza Rima
The terza rima is a poem, Italian in origin, composed of tercets woven into a complex rhyme scheme.
"Terza rima is a verse form composed of iambic tercets (three-line groupings). The only time the form changes is at the conclusion of the poem, where a single line that rhymes with the second line of the final tercet stands alone; the rhyme scene at the end of the poem looks like this: "xyx yzy z. The metre is often iambic pentameter.

Dante, in his Divine Comedy (written c. 1310–14), was the first to use terza rima for a long poem, though a similar form had been previously used by the troubadours. After Dante, terza rima was favoured in 14th-century Italy, especially for allegorical and didactic poetry, by Petrarch and Boccaccio, and in the 16th century for satire and burlesque, notably by Ariosto. A demanding form, terza rima has not been widely adopted in languages less rich in rhymes than Italian. It was introduced in England by Sir Thomas Wyatt in the 16th century."
~ From: https://www.britannica.com/art/terza-rima

More information here:
http://www.english.emory.edu/classes/Handbook/terzarima.html
https://poets.org/glossary/terza-rima

Bonus applause if the work somehow ties back to the theme of the day!

A terza rima is a form most sweet,
Each stanza will contain three lines apiece.
The first and third lines form a rhyme that’s neat.

Then every other matches without cease.
Line five will introduce a rhyme that’s new,
While six links two and four of this showpiece.

The lines go on 'til you decide you’re through.
This pattern running ’til the poem is done.
Some have many lines, others very few.

They can be penned by almost anyone.

...............
River Horses and all their relatives
All over the known world are tales of mythical horses or horse-like beings that come from rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans. Some helpful, some are anything but- including the ones that try to drown their riders. There are Kelpies, Felkies, Hippocampus... Poseidon created many types of horses after being challenged by Demeter to make her a beautiful courting gift. ...There are even those long fabled Illiton "Hippocampus Stables."

Share a new or existing song, story, poem, prose, or play script... about these horse-like beings.

Period Piece:

Perform a documentable work of music, song, story, poetry, prose, or script from among the many eras and cultures explored by the SCA. Dig out those reference books, blow off the dust (try not to sneeze), and discover what wonderful treasures are contained therein. Find something, be it silly or sublime, and amaze us all.

*No documentation presentation needed*

Third Fyt

Loose Leaves on the Wind (Or a Master Binder FAIL)
"3 rings of bardic things
have fallen to the ground
99 Pages of questionable sages
Now scattered all around..."

...What happens next?
Share in an original (or existing) creative song, story, poem, short prose, play-script, improv...

Stir Fry:
Use this list of words in a creative way - song, story, poem, short prose, etc...
(Bonus smiles from the Provost if your work ties back to the theme of the day!):
staircase cascade
twisted tropical
sunset palace
painted icicle
fjord tiger
helmet cataract
wolves whisker
pillow moonlight
spire crater
heavens serenity
(Bonus long word: Dodecahedron)


Blow Someone Else’s Horn:

Perform the work of some other SCAdian. Extra applause for matching the theme of the day and/or choosing something that is not well-known.
A special 'window' may be provided if the author of the work is online

~ Concert ~
There will be a concert the day of the event. Click Here for more information
Sign-up is on the same document link as challenges.

Fourth Fyt

Pass the Tale *In Real Time & Impromptu, *does not count towards 3 challenge total*:

All those who wish to participate signup to tell a tale from beginning to end. The challenge's patron will 'conduct' by choosing whose turn it is to continue the tale, and deciding when it is time to end. Perhaps even sharing a lesson learned in the story.


Bard Scribe Illumination: Eel Rents & Catch of the Day

In the Middle Ages and Renaissance Lords of Manors would accept eels as a way to pay tenants rents, in part because eels and other fresh water were important parts of the feasts they would serve.
How might an eel receipt in leu of coin payment read? Announcement of the fish course for a feast? A recipe for the catch of the day?
Or what happened if the fisherperson caught something ..."unexpected" in their nets?

Compose the text, write in calligraphy, and illuminate the page. This may be done individually or as a team
(example: different people write the text, scribe the letters, and/or create the illumination.)
***2021 note - A Scroll Text alone, without calligraphy or illumination, is fine for this challenge!
Many bards are creating a variety of scroll texts and different announcements, have fun with this :) ***

"THE META CHALLENGE" Revisited! (**Signup day of the event, does not count towards 3 challenge total.)
Last year at Bardic Madness XXII, We happened to have a break where we all realized several folks had missed the challenges they had prepared, were looking forward too, and/or there were folks who wanted to jump into challenges that we didn't realize there was time.
And thus, dubbed this break, "The Meta Challenge" So much fun was had, I wanted to be sure and include this 'challenge' again this year!
(What we don't get to during the fyt, will start off the opening round of the post-revel!)


Together at Home:
It is the hope that journeys upriver, downriver, or treks into the unknown will eventually find our feet on a path leading to the familiar places we strive create where 'ere we go. And sometimes that takes Esprit de Corps. It is often the connections we have with each other, friends, and community that can help most when the world has gone beyond crazy-making.
Tell us in song, story, or poem of such a time where togetherness won the day!

Here Endeth the Challenges,
Onto the Post Revel!