Why Not a Bard?
I rambled on at length in my early posts about why I dislike being called a bard in the SCA. At one point I mentioned Donald Jay Grout’s “A History of Western Music” as a source of some of my crazy ideas. I was just in the process of moving my music room and came across that very work. Below is part of the section about minstrels from the Third Edition of the book (published by W W Norton.)
“The people who sang the chansons de geste and other secular songs in the Middle Ages were the jongleurs or menestrals (“minstrels”), a class of professional musicians who first appear about the tenth century: men and women wandering singly or in small groups from village to village, from castle to castle, gaining a precarious livelihood by singing, playing, performing tricks and exhibiting trained animals-social outcasts often denied the protection of the laws and the sacraments of the Church…”People of no great wit but with amazing memory, very industrious, and impudent beyond measure,” Petrarch wrote of them.”
I can’t imagine a more fitting description of Ciann the Minstrel. Plus, it goes on, including a description of what we call “filking.”
“The minstrels, as a class, were neither poets or composers in exactly the sense we give to those terms. They sang, played and danced to songs composed by others or taken from the common domain of popular music, no doubt altering them or making up their own versions as they went along.”
Look, research! (Sloppy though it may be.) So please remember, “bard” is a four-letter word.
Not a Bard 
[…] Therefore, since my oeuvre is really singing other people songs (just like a minstrel would, see Why not a Bard), I have decided I will learn 50 new songs for the A&S 50 Challenge. Now to some people this […]
Notes on A&S 50 Challenge « Not a Bard said this on November 17, 2009 at 9:47 pm |
thank you so much for my Epiphany! I have finally found MY inspiration. it’s YOU!
I finally got around to looking up your website and now I see what you mean. I must admit that there is much of the minstrel in my practice, and I do understand the distinction between a minstrel and a bard. It seems to me (at least with regard to my own practice) that minstrelsy is a subset of the bard type.
I style myself as a bard, not a minstrel. I sing mostly other artists’ work ( though I have a few originals), and as a poet/songwriter I am but indifferent, but I also make it my business to be the rememberer of important things – of history, origins, laws and customs, and also a practitioner of the magical arts (mainly as they are expressed through music or knowledge).
My persona is based in 10th century Ireland, and it is the Irish bardic tradition, rooted in the more ancient (and woefully ill-documented) druidic tradition that I strive toward. I am not a solitary wanderer, but a ranking member of the household of a mercenary company. I think of myself in some respects as an ex-minstrel, having wandered until I found my home and the men and cause to which I will anchor my life.
All this is not in any way intended to denigrate or insult anyone who chooses the style of minstrel, least of all yourself. I admit to you that I was somewhat surprised and even taken aback by your declining my offers of the hospitality of our bardic circle, but I understand how your approach to our game brings you to this choice, and I honor it.
I will also admit that I intentionally chose what I believed to be the hardest song on your list – not to punish you for any perceived slight, but just out of curiosity to see who was this man who would not join my bardic circle. I sat behind you as you sang “The Horse-Tamer’s Daughter”, and so you could not see the tears in my eyes. I will freely admit that you are a better minstrel than me, and I will always be pleased to see you, and consider myself privileged to hear.
I, the bard, honor you as a minstrel, an artist of rare skill and talent, and a superb performer. You are welcome at our camp at any time.
Cellach Cosnocht mac Cuain
Chief Bard to House Brokenheart