Queen and Crown Bardic Championships AND Stringy, Scriby, Singy Thingy

Hail all bards, performers and gentlefolk of the East Kingdom!  Welcome to a day of performance, competition, and learning, as the Shire of Caer Adamant hosts the Queen and Crown Bardic Champions Tourney for Her Royal Majesty Margarita de' Siena AND a schola.

****BARDIC COMPETITION****

Greetings unto all the East Kingdom performers from the Royal Bardic Champions, Mästarinna Margreþa la Fauvelle and Sayyida Laila al Shanna al Andalusyya.

We give you the format for this year's championship, which is very much like last year.

LETTER OF INTENT
Entrants are REQUIRED to send a letter of intent to Margreþa at lafauvelle@gmail.com, until the end (11:59 pm) of day Saturday, February 15th.

COMPETITION FORMAT
The competition will take place over three rounds.  All performance pieces should be period, period-style* or otherwise SCA-appropriate**.  All performers must perform at least one period or "period style" piece with documentation in either the first or second round.  For this competition, the cutoff date will be considered 1651, so Playford (and everything earlier) counts.  Excessively bawdy or overtly adult themed offerings are not welcome.

Round 1
Pieces may not exceed 4 minutes; and can be period, period-style, or SCA-appropriate.

Round 2
Pieces may not exceed 6 minutes. 
Competitors in this round must perform a period piece if they chose to do a non-period piece in Round 1.

Round 3
The assignment for the final round will be determined by Her Majesty, guided by the performer's earlier works, as well as the information obtained from the performer via their resume.  Performers will have a few moments to prepare between the assignment from HRM and the start of performance.

A period performance is defined as a song, story, or other performance that can be plausibly documented prior to 1651.  Original compositions based on period rules of composition, original stories based on period styles, contrafacta to a period tune, and other such performances can be considered a period-style performance with the required documentation**.  For example, a performer could sing a period song with lyrics that have been rewritten modernly, tell a story from the Decameron in English, play an original tune in a period style on recorder or recite a modern English translation of an Old English poem.  Note that original works need not be written by the performer so long as the style is documentable prior to 1651.

*Documentation is required for at least one of your performances in the first two rounds and can be supplied on an index card.  For all questions concerning documentation, or assistance, please contact one of the current Champions.

**An SCA-appropriate performance is any non-period piece of an appropriate nature for an SCA Bardic event, which cannot be documented prior to 1651.  This would include things like SCA folk songs or traditional pieces or stories that do not break the illusion of the medieval and Renaissance periods.

RESUMES
On the day of the competition each performer shall submit a brief "resume" (such as would fit on an index card) listing the performance types and styles (e.g.  songs, stories, jests, musical instruments, poetry, improvisation of diverse kinds, etc.) they are willing to offer upon request, should the performer reach the finals.  Competitors are encouraged to be specific (see below for examples).  This gives the performers a chance to display versatility as well as skill; and gives Her Majesty additional information as she "auditions" her next bardic champions.

Sample Resumes

1) Romanus Gaius Cantus (SC, OTC, Troubadour) - Roman-style boasts, filk on any topic to the tune of the Maltese Bransle or Greensleeves, good at extemporaneous speaking, can chant war-style marching songs in Latin.  Excellent at theatre-style reading of texts I have not seen before.

2) Skihald the Viking (King's Bard to John VIII, Troubadour, Order of the Maunche, Order of the Laurel) - Perform and write Norse-styled poetry in English, tell skaldic tales from 4 to 10 minutes in length from hilarious to morose, excellent teller of jokes, intermediate juggler, have several magic tricks I have worked into period settings.  Can perform Norse-style morose jokes while juggling and performing magic.

3) Ysibeau du Provance - Period pieces in French for solo voice or recorder, Latin sacred music of the 12th century, improvisational harp.  Can write small praise poems in French and English with some notice.  Familiar with some music from most SCA periods, and SCA-appropriate songs.  I am good at selecting music for different occasions.

4) Haven Fortnight (Bard to Baron of the Place) - I know a handful of period pieces, but my strengths are really SCA-appropriate non-period songs composed by others (traditional, folk tradition, SCA-composers) or by myself.  I also play guitar.  I can write pieces on commission with some notice.  I can play and stroll at the same time.  I can write in rhyming verse on short notice on nearly any topic and present it.

The bestowing of personal tokens is extremely encouraged throughout the competition.


****STRINGY, SCRIBY, SINGY THINGY (SCHOLA)****

On the same day and during the Bardic Championship, the Shire will host a schola of 4 tracks of 3 sessions each.  The site opens at 9:00 a.m., with classes before and after lunch.  Baroness Mari Clock van Hoorne is our Class Coordinator.  Our class schedule has been filled; thank you!

Class Track #1 - Intro to SCA / Soap Making
Class Track #2 - Perfumery / Runes / Loom Knitting
Class Track #3 - Scribal Arts:  Redacting Illuminations / Calligraphy / Shading
Class Track #4 - Fiber Arts:  Drop Spinning / Tablet Weaving / Embroidery

Download the current Schedule and Course Descriptions here:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZMgJXT734IyIWzxmMBtzhx2ReQ6IQvnH3jPSD9j5hvQ/edit?usp=sharing

****PRINCIPALITY DISCUSSION****
Meeting/Announcement regarding the discussion of possibility of a Southern and Western Region, to hopefully grow up to be a Principality within the East Kingdom.  We are presently trying to bring people in, educating them as to what is happening.  Currently we are collecting email addresses to be able to keep interested persons informed.  The link for the email group where these discussions are found is here:  https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/ek-southern-principality

To recap:
1.  We would like to form a Western Region.
2.  This has merit even if we never go further than creating a new region.
3.  The merits include placing us in the rotation for kingdom level events, having regional deputies to kingdom level offices and creating a regional identity or sense of belonging.

****TENTATIVE SCHEDULE****
9:00....Site opens
............Merchants open
10:00..Morning Royal Court
10:30..Bardic Championships
11:00..Schola Hour #1
............Athena’s Thimble Panel (upstairs meeting room)
............A&S Consultation (upstairs meeting room)
12:00..Dayboard is offered
..........Schola Hour #2
..........Athena’s Thimble Panel (continued)
1:00...Bardic Championships (continued)
..........Schola Hour #3
2:00...Schola Hour #4
..........Principality Discussion (upstairs meeting room)
4:00...Evening Royal Court
6:00...Event closes
8:00...Site closes

Download the event site map:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iqRe-x7yenL9y2BVJTjFMayXgUiZECPL/view?usp=sharing

VOLUNTEERING
Please contact the Autocrats/Event Stewards to volunteer for the schola portion of this event (set up, break down, clean up, etc.).
Note:  Our kitchen is well and fully staffed, so no additional kitchen/food staff is required at this time. 

SITE
The site is NUT FREE.  Please do not bring nuts of any kind to the site; thank you.
The site is wet, please bring, share and imbibe responsibly. 
The site is fully accessible. 

FOOD
**The site is NUT FREE.**

Dayboard:
Cold Roast of Beef with Herbs, Rosemary, Garlic, Salt and Pepper
--Sides of Mustard Sauce and Horseradish Sauce
Chicken with Lemon, Capers and Thyme
Ember Day Tarts of Eggs, Herbs and Currants
Roasted Carrots, Parsnips and Onions with Olive Oil, Herbs, Salt and Pepper
Green Salad of Spinach and Carrot
--Sides of Dressing
--Cheese
--Dried Cranberries
--Apple Dices
Bread, Herb Butter and Plain Butter
Custard with Fresh Fruit

LODGING
Nearby hotels and motels, with distance from the site: 

* Holiday Inn Express, 300 Rocky Run Pkwy, Wilmington, DE 19803, ihg.com, 302-479-7900 (1.3 m)
* Courtyard by Marriott, 320 Rocky Run Pkwy, Wilmington, DE 19803, marriott.com, 302-477-9500 (1.4 m)
* SureStay Plus Hotel, 1807 Concord Pike, US-202, Wilmington, DE 19803, bestwestern.com, 302-656-9436 (1.4 m)
* DoubleTree, 4727 Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE 19803, doubletree3.hilton.com, 302-478-6000 (1.5 m)
* Days Inn, 5209 Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE 19803, wyndhamhotels.com, 302-298-0732 (2.0 m)
* The Inn at Montchanin Village, 528 Montchanin Rd, Wilmington, DE 19710, montchanin.com, 302-888-2133 (2.8 m)

LOCAL RESTAURANTS
* Five Guys Burgers & Dogs, 2217 Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE 19803, fiveguys.com, 302-654-5489 (1.2 m)
* Grotto Pizza, Fairfax Shopping Ctr, 2015 Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE 19803, grottopizza.com, 302-888-2222 (1.2 m)
* IHOP, Fairfax Shopping Ctr , 2001 Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE 19803, ihop.com, 302-427-3860 (1.4 m)
* Olive Garden, 305 Rocky Run Pkwy, Talleyville, DE 19803, olivegarden.com, 302-477-0870 (1.2 m)
* Seasons Pizza, 3901 Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE 19803, seasonspizza.com, (302) 478-2009 (0.4 m)
* TGI Fridays, 301 Rocky Run Pkwy, Wilmington, DE 19803, locations.tgifridays.com, 302-479-7170 (1.3 m)
* The Green Turtle Sports Bar, 307 Rocky Run Pkwy, Wilmington, DE 19803, thegreeneturtle.com, 302-510-6166 (1.4 m)
* The Melting Pot, Independence Mall, 1601 Concord Pike #43-47, Wilmington, DE 19803, meltingpot.com/, 302-652-6358 (1.8 m)
* Touch of Italy, 2530 Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE 19803, touchofitaly.com, 302-479-5683 (0.6 m)

Site Opens: 9:00 AM
Site Closes: 8:00 PM