On the last day of Pennsic I was retaining for Her (then) Highness Vukasin. I recall she was taking a moment to eat some breakfast and invited me to sit with her at the picnic bench. We chatted about this, that, and the other. She brought up a wish she had for a special court. She wanted to have an all musical court during the reign. I geeked out over the idea and thus a plan was born. Somewhat later I was contacted by Their Majesties asking if I was still interested in assisting with a musical court. They asked if I would be willing to handle running it at Christmas Tourney which would be held in the Barony of the Flame on December 2, 2017 (AS 52). I jumped at the opportunity!
What happened next was a whirlwind of planning, reaching out to individuals and groups, and messaging back and forth about expectations and desires. Their Majesties were amazing to work with. They made certain to have an approved court list ready for me by a certain date which allowed myself and others to write the scroll texts for each recipient. Once the names of the recipients were received I asked everyone involved to help me hunt down the individuals’ personas and info. Much snooping commenced. Thank goodness for Facebook! I wanted this court be musical for all award recipients and to be unique to the individual. The last thing I wanted was for this to be a boring experience for the assembled populace. So each award recipient was assigned to one of my performers to write the award text and come up with a period song that would fit that individual’s persona. I was not disappointed! The amazing creativity of the artisans in our Kingdom is astounding! Everyone involved took to the task with enthusiasm. I couldn’t be prouder of them all! I also had the distinct pleasure of working closely with the Dragon Signet Baroness Sorcha Fraser to make sure she had all of the scroll texts and the author’s names both SCA and mundane. She was quick to respond and always seemed to have an answer for my questions. Originally my goal was to become a warranted herald so we wouldn’t have to rely on someone maybe being there. Since the goal was for court to be musical, completely musical, we needed the herald to also be musical or at least chant. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to become warranted in time, though I appreciate the help from the Dragon Herald and others. Because of this I contacted THL Dmitrii Zhirov who, if you’ve never attended a court he has heralded, is amazing. Why didn’t I think of that before? No clue. But I was very happy knowing the populace would be able to clearly hear the names of the award recipients being called in and I also knew Dmitrii would add greatly to the overall project. A great many participants were spread throughout the Kingdom. There was a larger group in our local Barony that participated because I knew them, I knew they would be at the event, and I knew I could strong-arm…er…I mean…convince them to work on this project with me. We held multiple practices to go over the awards together.There was much music nerding that happened, let me tell ya’! As the date of the event drew nearer I grew equal parts excited and nauseated. What if everyone hated it? What if all of my performers came down with strep throat? What if, and this was the worst thought, Their Majesties hated what we came up with? What if we all died because everyone hated it so much? My brain loves to work overtime on this stuff. I was confident in all of my performers. I was less confident in my ability to assist them in whatever they needed to succeed. The week leading up to Christmas Tourney was fraught with a deep personal and emotional pain that caused concern I wouldn’t be able to participate. I had other obligations for that event as well and knew I needed to be there no matter what. The TL:DR version - I ended up needing surgery, but luckily the doctor was able to schedule it for the Monday following the event. Whew! Crisis averted! Finally it was the day of the event! Nausea reigned supreme over excitement for the first few hours and then excitement took over as I made contact with each performer and confirmed details. Finally, an hour and a half before court we all got together. I had a small meeting with the performers, Dmitrii and Their Majesties. We went over what was going to happen at court, what order the awards would be given out and we practiced them in order. We even had the benefit of an additional singer join in for the fun! Court itself turned out so well. I am incredibly proud of everyone who participated. Even the populace got in on the action and sang each Huzzah with us! I tried to video tape each award separately, hopefully it turned out. If so I will post them to this page so everyone can enjoy the performances! I want to also give a special thank you to Estelle de la Mar who begged a boon for Heather Hall. Estelle contacted me prior to the event and asked if we had an accompanist for her to sing the boon. Which, OF COURSE, I would make that happen! Baroness Ysadora von Drachenstein to the rescue! I really cannot thank everyone enough for the hard work they put into this project. To Their Majesties Cellach & Vukasin – Thank you for trusting me to run this project! To Dmitrii – I could not have done this without you, thank you for being our herald and making this so memorable! To my performers – Wow! Amazing! Brilliant! I’m in awe of your skills and creativity! THANK YOU! To the populace in attendance – I cannot fully express how happy it made me when you all go in on singing the Huzzah’s! You all made it just that much more amazing for me to be part of. I love our Kingdom! In service and love, THL Honor You can find the scroll text and recipient info here The List of all Performers and Scroll Text Authors is as follows: Baroness Eleanor of the Flame Award text author and performer Mistress Bianca Rosamund Performer Posadnitsa Ilyana Yosipovna Award text author and performer Masteritsa Anastasiia Kyrilovna Award text author and performer Baroness Ysadora von Drachenstein Award text author and performer Lady Dulon mer March Award text author and performer Madam Ursula Mortimer Award text author and performer Lady Isobel Inghean Alexander Performer Lady Fujiwara no Yuuko Performer THL Honor von Atzinger Award text author and performer
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Let’s talk about ways to research your selected piece’s period.
One of the best resources for finding academic period information is to look through articles using ‘www.jstor.org/’. Let me tell you now, it’s amazing! Search for a topic of interest and boom, tons of academic articles regarding that subject. Sure, Google is great for scratching the surface. It’s just not the best for citable sources. Since this post is specific to entering an SCA Arts & Sciences Faire or competition, it’s important to have citable sources. But even if you want to put together a performance piece for pre-court entertainment or a bardic circle, why wouldn’t you want to know if what you’re doing is period? I’m big on period presentations, if you couldn’t tell. Let’s assume you’ve picked your piece. These are the tops things you need to answer:
Keep those questions in mind while you’re researching your piece. Answer each question. I guarantee once you do, you’ll have a richer understanding of the artwork you want to represent. Which means you will have a better handle on how to present that art to your audience and hopefully convey the intended feelings effectively. Digging a bit deeper, here are some other questions that you need to ask yourself:
Disclaimer – you might not be able to answer every question. That’s ok! But go in wanting to know the answer. Go in looking for it. And if you don’t have the answer, say so. Put that in your documentation! For example, if you don’t know what the language would have sounded like at the time the piece was written, write it down! Say you’re pronouncing the words based on your knowledge and research of that language from SOURCE and that you could not locate a source to indicate if it would have sounded different in X year/century. To use a more recent piece as an example, when I entered my monologue from the Japanese Noh Play ‘Semimaru’ I researched as many aspects of the time and art scene as I could. I read through my textbooks from college to get an understanding of the Japanese history during that time. I looked at the Japanese Costume Museum’s website for period textile samples and reproductions of clothing for all stations of life (www.iz2.or.jp/english/). I read the biography of the Noh author’s life and I researched what a Noh actor’s life would have been like. I also watched videos on modern day performances of this play I selected, as well as others. Lastly, I researched how the costumes and accessories were made in hopes of replicating them. Turns out, making a Noh mask takes years for the wood to cure. I had months, so I bought one on Amazon.com. Can’t have everything I guess. BUT! I put that in my documentation. I must say, it was fascinating learning about how the masks were created, which is an art form in and of itself. Here’s one important thing to keep in mind while doing all of this research – don’t freak out. Seriously. Don’t. It is not the end of the world if you do not find out everything there is to know about your piece. Especially if you have a specific deadline to reach. Had I more time, I would have been able to more fully immersed myself in my studies of the Japanese Noh Theater. As it was, I had months. So I threw myself into it and presented my findings based on the time I spent. Lastly, please allow me to let you in on something I discovered when it comes to researching a specific topic – sometimes what you find out is disappointing and not at all what you were hoping for. I know anyone who has had to write a research paper for school knows this already. But it’s infinitely more disappointing when you actuallycare about your topic. I mean genuinely care. Currently I’m researching a topic very dear to my heart and soul. I’ve been researching it off and on for almost a year now. What I’ve found out so far is that we just don’t know very much about it and we DEFINITELY don’t know when it started. I’m still searching. I’m still hoping. But deep down, I know it will be ok if I don’t find what I’m looking for. Sometimes finding out there is no answer is exactly the answer you have to work with. If that’s not some serious Zen business, I don’t know what is. I have included my papers for various performance entries over the years on my documentation page. I’m including my first sets of documentation too, to show you where I started. I’m not a writer and research papers do not come naturally to me. But I'm learning, so keep heart! If I can do it, you most assuredly can! In service and love, THL Honor Let's talk about the performing arts shall we?
You know what I love to see? I love to see someone performing a piece of music and wearing the appropriate clothes for that piece and also being in the appropriate setting, or at least having an appropriate set of props. Oh man, that makes me so happy! Sometimes that's impossible. I know I've sung 16th century songs while garbed in a 14th century British cotehardie. But when it does happen, boy oh boy, it's pure magic. My goal as a performer is to transport my audience to wherever and whenever it is I'm representing. Truly a massive goal, I know. Does it work? Well, I've never been my own audience member, so I'm not really sure. BUT that won't keep me from trying. I hope to goodness that if I'm failing miserably at this someone will be kindhearted enough to tell me. Kind of like those friends who tell you when you have something in your teeth. Those friends are gold and should be cherished. The thing is, when I look the part, I feel the part. Lucky for us, the criteria for the Arts & Science Faires in the Middle Kingdom includes specific criteria that encourages performers to be garbed appropriately for the piece they are performing. It tries to push you to bring the focus on YOU by containing a section that asks about the overall look of the performance. Is the performer appropriately garbed? Are there any blatant modern items that the performer could have substituted period items for, or maybe hide? We live in a world where we are constantly distracted. Our phones, work, electronic communications, and even our own thoughts. So much to do, so little time. I view the presence of art in our lives as a gift. A way to take a moment away from the rush and stress and manic scampering about to focus. Focus just on one thing. Focus on the sound of the music. Focus on the way it makes you feel. Focus. As a performing artist it is our duty to provide that art to those around us. But we can't give the audience that gift of focusing on the art if instead they're focusing on how off our surroundings are. Now, we can't change the event sites. Unless you have a magic wand and if so STOP HOGGING IT. Much to my regret we can't have all of our events in castles or forests. Yes, we will most likely be in a modern building with walls, air conditioning and oh so much plastic. So what else can be done? Follow the criteria! Treat the criteria like an outline for your performance. Use the guidelines as bullet points to assist with your research. If researching how your piece would have been performed in period and how it would have looked doesn't excite you I recommend finding a different piece to perform. You have control over how you present yourself. Make it your best effort. Every. Single. Time. You owe it to yourself, your art, and your audience. I guarantee that you will not only grow to love the process of researching all aspects of your chosen piece's time and culture, but you will truly feel engaged in a way that cannot be beaten. And what's better than falling in love with your piece? My most recent entry in the Arts & Sciences Faire was a monologue from a Japanese Noh play, 'Semimaru', written by Zeami in the late 14th to early 15th century (exact date unknown). I chose the piece because I wanted to challenge myself to do something truly different from what I've done before. I spent the majority of my research time reading about Noh actors and the culture surrounding Noh theater. My reasoning was that if I understand how Noh came to be and what the goal of the writers and actors was with the plays, perhaps I would be able to come one step closer to giving an authentic performance. Many performers are frustrated with a daunting reality - they do not sew, or make props. The SCA is a huge community of people who sew or make accessories or make props! Make it a collaboration! Perhaps you know an artisan who sews and who would like a project to enter as well. What if their project was making historically accurate garb that happens to be perfect for your 13th century liturgical performance? That is what we call a win/win my friends. But there's another thing that can hold us back from our true performance potential. Money is often a huge factor. It is just an ugly annoying thing. I tell you though, a lack of funding for this hobby of ours certainly sharpens creative thinking and problem solving. I don't have a specific solution for this, other than to propose a trade with fellow artisans. Or perhaps showcase a minimalistic representation of the piece's time and period. I mean really, who doesn't love an adorable diorama? I challenge you, my fellow performers and friends, to stretch yourselves . If you don't think you can make something, find someone who can or who is open to giving it a shot. The worst that could happen is it doesn't work. And let's face it, when it comes to worst case scenarios, that ain't so bad. I want to see your fire, I want to witness your passion for your art! I want to hear your joy and sorrow in your stories! Show me! But not just me, show the world! Your story deserves to be told. Make sure you give it a proper foundation to soar. <3 In service and love, THL Honor Greetings and welcome to my blog!
My name is Becca Casey and this site is dedicated to my research and activities in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA for short). In the SCA I am known as The Honorable Lady Honor von Atzinger. I live in the Midrealm with my husband, in the Barony of the Flame. My primary interests include the performing arts, garb construction, research into the 14th century and armored combat. If you would like more data on who and what I am in the SCA, and a bit of what I’ve done, feel free to follow this link to the MiddleWiki for my profile. I’ve been thinking a lot lately on how I can add to my corner of the SCA. This is largely due to some of my SCA heroes. Duke Ullr encourages everyone to increase their kit’s presentation by 10% every year. Then there is my laurel, Countess Serena who’s courage and dedication constantly motivates me. One of her favorite things to ask is “How is your research coming”? Locally I am lucky enough to have Baroness Eleanor not only as the head of my household but also as a dear and cherished friend. If you ever want motivation to be better, just watch her. She is a force to be reckoned with! But if I were to list every individual in the SCA who inspires me to work harder I would never get around to writing any posts. Perhaps one day I can compile a list. Granted, I seem to always meet new individuals who deserve such accolades. Isn’t that awesome? There will be lots more to come on here, heavily focused on the performing arts, and the other aspects of the Society that bring me joy. After all, we’re all in this to have fun right? But for right now, let’s start off small. I want to make the SCA a better place for everyone, and I want you to help me! No big deal right? There are a great many ways I can personally improve and add to the group - serving as a local officer, utilizing my talents with sewing to others, conducting research and sharing the results, assisting with planning and working events, providing entertainment in as period a manner as possible, etc. What about you? I would be delighted to receive your input! Are you in the SCA? Would you consider yourself new to the SCA or have you been around for a while? What are your primary interests? If you could add something to the SCA, to make it a better experience, what would it be? Is there something I can do to help make the SCA better for you? If you don’t feel comfortable leaving this information in the comments, please feel free to e-mail me! My SCA e-mail is: [email protected] Thank you for visiting my site. I hope it will prove useful and/or entertaining to all. In service and love, THL Honor von Atzinger |