Bardic Glossary and Lexicon

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Intro to the Bardic Lexicon

This list was built starting with a 'hive mind' attempt by members of the Bardic Arts FB Group to start to come up with some common vocabulary about the SCA Bardic Arts.  This is NOT a definitive list, nor meant to be.  With thanks to everyone who participated in the April 2013 Discussion!

SCA Bardic Glossary and FAQ for the SCA Bardic Arts Resource Group, started on the SCA Bardic Facebook Page

A collection of SCA Bardic Art terms, definitions, jargon, bardic vocabulary, short hand, lexicon, acronyms, music theory terms, bardic styles, events, ... etc - as defined by SCA bards, bardic enthusiasts, and more for those who may be curious or enjoy such things!

*this is not an official or approved document of the SCA, or SCA Inc., and use of words may vary from Kingdom to Kingdom and person to person.

Originally Compiled by Lorelei Skye, 4/22/13.  Updates ongoing.

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Glossary: an alphabetical list of terms in a particular domain of knowledge with the definitions for those terms.(Steve Young)

General Bardic Arts Terms

Barding:  (noun; not a verb for doing a bardic performance)  Type of decorations used in Equestrian.

Bardic Arts: Those who perform created, or selected, works with a focus around a narrative/story/idea from SCA historical eras and cultures, as well inspired by the 'Modern Middle Ages.'  With performance styles analogous to descriptions of what/how/where such works were presented in pre 17th C settings.

Bardic Fodder: Inspirational Material and subject matter for original stories and songs.

"Bardic Moment": What some tell the audience having that experience when one suddenly goes totally blank on words/tune or messes them up.

Ear-Worm: a tune or song that gets into your head and won't leave - so you filk it in revenge. see: ST: The Wrath of Khan, the Ceti eel.

Novice Bard (AKA - Baby Bard): A new bard who might be a performer in their mundane world or might just be starting out performing altogether. Usually need a bit of a shove in the right direction to get out and perform, or maybe need a bit of guidance on Society norms, but usually have the potential to keep the histories, traditions, and culture alive through their songs, stories, and performances.

'Saint Stan': Usually a reference to Stan Rogers. One of the late great Canadian folk artists - author of wonderful songs such as "Mary Ellen Carter", "Fogarty's Cove", "Flowers of Bermuda", "Northwest Passage", "Barrett's Privateers" and many many many more.

Society: Typically refers to "The Society for Creative Anachronism". (See www.SCA.org for more information.)

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On-Book:  Performing with lyrics or notes in hand

Off-Book:  Performing without lyrics or note in hand

Book-Bound/Lyric Bound:  Polite terms used for performers who, for whatever reason, must use lyrics or words nearly 100% of the time.

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MSOB - Militant Society of Bards: Organization started in Atlantia and exported to the rest of the Knowne World. Members can be recognized by the motley that they wear when "on duty."

Motley: A garish pattern of cloth, usually checky or lozengy, that is worn as an item of clothing (hat, belt, sash, cloak lining, etc.) to identify a member of the MSOBs. The original motley pattern was from Wal-Mart and was called "Be A Clown."

Bardic Events

Bardic Events: Some SCA Events focus on Bardic Activities

Bardic Madness:

Northshield Bardic Madness,

Midrealm Bardic Madness (AKA Bardic Madness South)

A day event focusing on challenges, not repeat NOT competitions. Some challenges require composing a piece in advance. Others are extemporaneous or improv. Challenges typically have sponsors called “patrons” who give a small gift to each entrant. The event sometimes has a concert, usually involves a feast, and a post ervel bardic circle.

Known World Cooks and Bards: Definition needed

Calontir Bardic Bedlam: Definition needed

Midrealm Bardic Roundhouse: Definition needed

Bardic Circle Styles

Bardic Circle:  A gathering of people for the sharing of bardic arts, commonly associated with a fire at the center, though it can take place anywhere. Bardic circles have a wide variety of different customs and expectations depending on host and venue.  Can be compared to 'theater in the round'.

Fighters Singing Circle (Calontir): Definition Needed

Hosted / Moderated:  A bardic circle where there is an individual/s who are selecting performers and performances from the group as a whole. The moderator or host may have a sign up list, select known performers or open the floor; however they always have a presence and can guide how the circle performances unfold to the degree of their choosing.

Pick, Pass, Play:  A bardic circle in which those gathered perform in the order they are seated. When an individual is done their performance, the individual seated next to them is given the option to Pick (request something be performed), Pass (skip to the next person), or Play (perform for the circle).

Popcorn, ‘Leap’:  A bardic circle where performances spring up in no particular order, like popcorn.  Usually group-moderated.

Song Styles, Choices, and Periodicity

Bardic 10-Foot Rule: A play on the '10-foot garb rule'. Should sound right and blend in to a 'reasonable attempt at SCA period sound' at 10 feet, primarily applied in casual and social bardic situations, and otherwise adjusted to the audience and circumstance. 

Peri-oid: See also: SCA-appropriate

SCA-Appropriate: Performances that include all period music, selections which are not overtly modern-sounding regardless of origin, original works about historic events and/or SCA events and culture.  Depending on the venue and host- may include words and lyrics set to modern works.

Venue Appropriate:  Different spaces are set up to be permissive and encouraging of different types of music - if you think a piece is in question, listen and ask before you perform.  Caveat - What is requested and performed in one's own house/camp - may not be appropriate for singing in the marketplace or other bardic circles. This is especially true of filks and 'tavern songs' and other *material may not be considered appropriate for children under 17. Some groups want to hear that - others definitely don't. 

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About Period: This would apply if the events are newly imagined, but in a period setting.   Musical / Storytelling style can vary, but the work is about events that actually happened in a period era or culture.  Telling a story from history through music, story or poem.

Examples include: "Agincourt", "To Serve the Lilly" by Ken Theriot; "Hotspur" Andrew of Wolvenwood; "Song of the Shieldwall" Malkin Gray

(From the FB SCA Bards group post about the Lexicon:  "Andrew Heinrich also trades in "about period" songs such as "From The Mud." I like these kinds of songs because they not only maintain a non-mundane setting (unless you do it as modern-song filk or in 12-bar blues :-P), while also teaching people about things that happened in period. We love it when we hear folks say their kids used our songs to pass history tests").

Modern: Songs that are entirely “Out of Period”, about post-SCA Period historical or current events, not about SCA Culture, and using post-1900 music.

Period-esque: (See Also Period Style) Sounds or appears very much similar to a period artifact.  Works in a period style or feel, even if not documentable.  Works "feel period", passes the "10-foot test," etc.  Helps to set a medieval and Renaissance mood even if it was written last week.

"Not Exactly Period But Who Cares?" aka "Close Enough."

Period Style: An original piece that has been created to accurately reflect a style or artist of period works, Style has documentation to SCA period, even if themes are modern.  Examples could include poetic forms, working to recreate period oration as reasonably accurate based on descriptions for the era and culture, using historical music theory practices to build the music and lyrics.  Or a Viking style saga about the Alamo*. (*reference the book 'Silverlock' by John Meyers.)

(Note RE: Period Style - This is like creating a work of garb working from period patterns or paintings.  It may not be an exact replica when it is completed- but a new work that captures the style of the culture and era.  It should be noted that this is pretty advanced stuff, and should not be mistaken for a derivative works or contrafact)

Period Piece: Material recreated as accurately as possible from a specific era and culture studied by the SCA.  Typically a piece that can be accurately documented from within 'corpora times', apx.* 600ad - 1600ad. 

*There is no stated starting point in Corpora beyond 'with a focus on the Middle Ages and Renaissance', and 'most of the world, and all of the centuries prior to the 17th, can serve as a source for personal research."  (Read More, "SCA Period - Per Corpora" Below)

SCA Culture Piece: Songs and stories in a variety of styles that reflect specific aspects of our Society – its background, history, administration, ideas, culture/traditions, ideals, people, places, and events.  Works for or about the SCA. Clear references to SCA persons, places, or events; illustrates some particular aspect of 'life in the Current Middle Ages while maintaining the illusion of being Medieval / Renaissance people.'

Traditional / Folk:   Songs and stories from the 'folk'/secular traditions of the 17th, 18th, 19th, and mid 20th Centuries.  Many of these are considered "Common Era Music" 1600-1900, which has stylistic ties to informal Tudor and Elizabethan music; 'Martin Said To His Man' as one example.

(Composers include: works by those great artists: 'Traditional', 'Anonymous', O'Carolan, Playford II and later, Child, and Robert Burns.)

Cover Songs, Contra-Factum, Filks

Companion Piece:  A work using another's style or tune that continues the story of the original piece, not considered 'filk', 'parody', or 'contra-factum'.  Examples: 

'Into the Fire' ~M.Kelly - continues the story of 'Under the Gripping Beast' using that tune, as told from the viewpoint of the songwriters' companion.

Cover Song: Performing another’s work as it was written.

Contrafact / con·tra·fac·tum:  A new musical composition built out of an already existing one, most often a new melody overlaid on a familiar harmonic structure. From a 16th century musical setting of the mass or a chorale or hymn produced by replacing the text of a secular song with religious poetry.

Filk: "An altered song you wish you didn't like as much as you do" ~Master Owen Alun, Northshield

1) Often refers to lyrics set to another's tune - New words given to an existing (usually familiar) tune that could be in or out of 'public domain'

2) A typo that spawned a music genre and its own unique music festival and awards within the Science Fiction Convention communities.

3) In the Sci-fi conventions - a folk-style song about fictional, fantasy, or sci-fi characters and settings that may or may not have an original tune.

Leslie Fish is one of the most notable American filk singers, and along with the DeHorn crew was the first artist to release a commercial filk recording (Folk Songs for Folk Who Ain't Even Been Yet, 1976).

(For more information, Google or E-Search: 'OVFF', 'Pegasus Awards', Tom Smith, Blibbering Humdingers, Mercedes Lackey, Michael Longcor, Leslie Fish, James Alexander (PKA-Healther Alexander), Fire Bird Arts and Music)

Useful Copyright Terms

(*Note: As used in the United States; International Copyright standards may vary)

Scope of Copyright:  The five fundamental rights that the bill gives to copyright owners—the exclusive rights of reproduction, adaptation, publication, performance, and display—are stated generally in section 106. (Excerpt From: Page 3, http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ21.pdf)

Fair Use: The preamble of Section 107 Copyright code describes certain types of works that fit within the purpose of fair use, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching scholarship or research.  (From: http://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html)

Educational Use:  Unlike academic coursepacks, other copyrighted materials can be used without permission in certain educational circumstances under copyright law or as a fair use. “Fair use” is the right to use portions of copyrighted materials without permission for purposes of education, commentary, or parody. (From Google.com)

(Further information here:  http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/academic-and-educational-permissions/non-coursepack/)

Parody: An imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect. (Dictionary.com)

1. a. A literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule. See Synonyms at caricature.

1  b. The genre of literature comprising such works.

2. Something so bad as to be equivalent to intentional mockery; a travesty: The trial was a parody of justice.

3. Music The practice of reworking an already established composition, especially the incorporation into the Mass of material borrowed from other works, such as motets or madrigals.  (Freedictionary.com)

Derivative work:  Based on or derived from one or more already exist- ing works. Common derivative works include translations, musical arrange- ments, motion picture versions of literary material or plays, art reproductions, abridgments, and condensations of preexisting works. (Google.com)

(Further defined as:  "Section 101 of the Copyright Act defines "[a] 'derivative work' as a work based upon one or more preexisting works, such as a translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgement, condensation, or any other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted. A work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations, or other modifications which, as a whole, represent an original work of authorship, is a 'derivative work'." 17 U.S.C. §101. Derivative works are also known as "new versions."

It is important to understand that a derivative work refers to the work as a whole, and not just to the modifications. Another basic principle applicable to derivative works provides that "[t]he copyright in a derivative work is independent of, and does not affect or enlarge the scope, duration, ownership, or subsistence of, any copyright protection in the preexisting material." 17 U.S.C. §103(2). The preexisting material in the original work is part of the derivative work, but the copyright in the derivative work extends only to the material contributed by the author of the derivative work, as distinguished from the preexisting material employed in the work. 17 U.S.C. §103(2)."

Part of Text from - Finnegan Law article, Authored by J. (Jay) T. Westermeier, March 2009

Transformative Work:  Difference between derivative works from Transformative works require that the new work must "supersede the objects of the original creation; altering the first [work] with new expression, meaning or message."  A derivative work is one that merely "recasts, transforms, or adapts an original work into a new mode of presentation."

(From: "How Much is Too Much - Transformative Word vs. Durative Work" by Nancy E. Wolff and Kenneth N. Swezey. CDAP, 9-1-2011)

(Further Information here: http://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html)

SCA Period - Per Corpora

Definition of 'SCA Period' from the SCA.org Website, Revised January 28, 2018 Governing Documents http://www.sca.org/docs/pdf/govdocs.pdf

From the Glossary (Bottom of page 7):

Period: The era used by the Society as the base for its re-creation activities. The Society is based on the life and culture of the landed nobility of pre-17th Century Western Europe, focusing on the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. 

((*Note: it is not defined how early century one can go, only how late.  In "A Brief Introduction to the SCA", page 6, - they also say:))

"As a living history group, the Society provides an environment in which members can recreate various aspects of the culture and technology of the period, as well as doing more traditional historical research. We sponsor events such as tournaments and feasts where members dress in clothing styles worn in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and participate in activities based on the civil and martial skills of the period. These activities recreate aspects of the life and culture of the landed nobility in Europe prior to 1600 CE. The dress, pastimes, and above all the chivalric ideals of the period serve to unify our events and activities.

For Society members, most of the world, and all of the centuries prior to the 17th, can serve as a source for personal research. However, the further you go from the core of Medieval and Renaissance Europe, the less the environment we offer will resemble what someone of your time and country would find natural or homelike. For example, you can be an Asian or African guest at a European court, but you cannot expect others to share your special interests - like any long-term visitor in a foreign land, you are the one who will have to adapt to the customs you find around you. Since members have free choice of what areas they will explore, it follows that Society branches cannot decide to specialize in a specific time and place, since that would make it hard for members there to pursue their own interests in other times and places."

Pennsic Bardic Terms (Some may also apply to other camping events)

Pennsic, Pennsic War: One of the largest international, Known World, events held by the SCA. Takes place annually in the summer, typically late july/early August for 2 weeks at the Cooper’s Lake Campground in Slippery Rock, PA. Many legends and myths surround the beginnings of Pennsic war, but the event is now into its 42nd year.

Despite the unpredictable weather (pack for 40 degree nights, 100 degree days, and at least 4 days worth or rain - and you might be covered for all possible weather combinations, ;) ) it is often a wonderful time - and a great way to network beyond your own local groups.

Sit in the coffee houses and enjoy a game of mancala with perfect strangers. Stop by Calontir or Northshield for a bardic circle nearly every night!

Stop in and take in the wonder and spectacle of Casa Bardici! Swing by Enchanted Ground for a period night! Entertain at Bards Haven... Be entertained in the Performing Arts Tent! Check the BBD/BBN book for other bardic stuff happening around, cuz there's a ton. Take any one of 1100 classes on everything from Marshal activities, to Archery to Maritime History to newcomers classes to bardic and performing arts and just about everything in-between... There are sometimes 9,000+ people from around the world in a 2 square mile area all camping in garb... battles with more then 2000k fighters on the field and siege weapons and more. A few hundred merchants...   and more!

If this sounds like your idea of a good time - Pennsic is amazing!

These are many reasons why so many of if call it "home."

The Motto of the event: Annual Enemies, Eternal Friends

BBD/BBN - The Bards by Day / Bards by Night Book: (Housed at Mystic Mail, it moves around a bit).  A very large listing and descriptions put together of the large variety of bardic events throughout war.

(*Note - I don't know if the other wars (Estrella, Gulf, Lillies, Great Western...) have this or anything like it.)

Enchanted Ground:  A place which holds to all-period as closely as possible. In bardic circles, per the preferences of the host - this would mean all performances should be those which could be documented to the SCA timeframe. ("SCA-appropriate," modern filk, and modern sounding pieces and instruments would be out of place in this environment.)

Fire-crawling, Fire-walking, (or Fyrecrawling): To roam from camp to camp looking for opportunities to perform and entertain.

Pennsic Block: A block of land at Pennsic, usually (but not always) broken up into smaller parcels for camping groups. Listed on maps as a way to navigate Pennsic. Most are listed by a name and number - such as N19, W20, etc.

Music Theory and Music Styles (WIP)

Blondel:

Historical Exemplars:

Kennings:

Minnesang: The tradition of lyric and song writing in Germany which flourished in the 12th century and continued into the 14th century. People who wrote and performed Minnesang are known as Minnesingers (German: Minnesänger). The name derives from the word minne, Middle High German for love which was their main subject, and an individual song was a minnelied. The Minnesänger were similar to the Provençal troubadours and northern French trouvères; they wrote love poetry in the courtly love tradition in Middle High German in the High Middle Ages.

Modalities:

Odes:

Scales:

Sonnets:

Variations of similar performer styles from the Middle Ages & Renaissance in different cultures  (WIP)

Bard

Minstrel

Skald

Troubadour