Judging Bardic

This list was originally compiled by Lady Sarah bat David, I changed a few words (to make things clearer, I hope) and added some comments in [...] or after the listings of ratings.

As some of you might have noticed in a recent discussion on the DWML, I'm not the greatest fan of rating systems. These systems help judging, but, especially in bardic, you sometimes have a piece that everyone in the room knows is great, but falls short when it comes to numbers...
But they're better than nothing ;-/

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What the ratings mean:

1   barely acceptable
2   acceptable
3   OK
4   good
5   excellent.

Judging for Guild Ranks:

• Was the song sung well? (How difficult was it? Add 1 for a difficult piece) 1: false, 2: a bit unsure, 3: OK, 4: nice, 5: really beautiful
• Was the song and way of performing period? 1: modern popsong, 2: filk, 3: non-period, 4: well-known medieval song or good imitation [most Steeleye Span, Pentangle, etc falls into this category], 5 obsure mediaval
• Was it an original performance? 1: everybody does it that way, 2: some originality, 3: not often done like this, 4: I have never heard it that way, 5: really renewing
• Did the public enjoy it? 1: they ignored it, 2: got bored after a while, 3: listened, mostly, 4: everyone is quiet, 5: they can't take their eyes off the performer

Playing an instrument:

• Was the piece played well? (How difficult was it? Add 1 for a difficult piece) 1: false, 2: a bit unsure, 3: OK, 4: nice, 5: really beautiful
• Was the song and way of performing period? 1: modern popsong, 2: filk, 3: non-period, 4: well-known medieval song or good imitation [I would put most 17th century pieces in this category], 5 obscure mediaval
• Was it an original performance? 1: everybody does it that way, 2: some originality, 3: not often done like this, 4: I have never heard it that way, 5: really renewing
• Did the public enjoy it? 1: they ignored it, 2: got bored after a while, 3: listened, mostly, 4: everyone is quiet, 5: they can't take their eyes off the performer

Telling a story:

• Was the story told well? (How difficult was it? Add 1 for a difficult piece) 1: boring, 2: a bit unsure, 3: OK, 4: nice, 5: really beautiful
• Was the story and way of performing period? 1: the story how your car broke down on the way to the event, 2: Blood for Odin, 3: fairytale, 4: well-known mediaval tale, 5: obscure medieval tale
• Was it an original performance? 1: everybody does it that way, 2: some originality, 3: not often done like this, 4: I have never heard it that way, 5: really renewing
• Did the public enjoy it? 1: they ignored it, 2: got bored after a while, 3: listened, mostly, 4: everyone is quiet, 5: they can't take their eyes off the performer
  Note: Look for the audience's reaction in all the performance points. If they loved it, it can't be all bad.
  

Writing text:

• Was the text written well? 1: wrong words, modern clichees, 2: simple and plain. 3: nice, 4: beautiful, 5: really poetic, Shakespearian.
• Could the story/the lyrics have been period? (Add 1 for good documention) 1: story about modern things, 2: Blood for Odin [period elements in style and in the history of the story itself, but blatantly modern elements], 3: fairytale, 4: strong medieval influences, 5: can't tell the difference from period pieces.
• Is it an original text? 1: everybody tells that kind of story, 2: some originality, 3: not often done like this, 4: I have never heard it that way, 5: really renewing
• How much time does it take to make this? 1: less than 15 minutes, 2: up to an hour, 3: half a day, 4: one day or more, 5: a week or more.
  Note: Some people are able to extemporize wonderful complex and well-made stories (Perdita von Bremen comes to mind...). Holding that against them would, of course, be ridicolous.

Notes:
1. Remember when it comes to writing text or telling stories, that some people are writing/performing in a foreign tongue.
2. In period, most short forms (faery tales, anecdotes, legends) were meant to be told. In the high middle ages, the first stories were written for reading instead of telling. So a piece that works better in reading than in telling can be perfectly OK. But generally it is a good idea to have any written story read aloud by someone who has some preparation and reads well.

Writing music:

• Was the music written well? 1: wrong harmonies, modern clichees, 2: simple and plain. 3: nice, 4: beautiful, 5: really great.
• Could the music have been period? (Add 1 for good documention) 1: obviously modern, 2: filk, 3: generic ballad, 4: sounds mediaval, 5: can't tell the difference from period pieces.
• Is it original music? 1: heard it a thousand times, 2: sounds a lot like..., 3: sounds a bit like..., 4: I have never heard it that way, 5: really renewing
• How much time does it take to make this? 1: less than 15 minutes, 2: up to an hour, 3: half a day, 4: one day or more, 5: a week or more.

Note: IMO, this is the most diffcult thing of all to judge if you are not well-versed in medieval music. The documention provided by the artist is a great help here. (Good documentation can turn a bug into a feature ).Try to get someone to play the music, before you judge.

Research:

• Was the research well made? 1: no source mentioned, dubious facts, 2: one source, 3: several sources, 4: sources set in relation to one another, 5 using primary sources
• Does the research reflect the period or is it interesting if you want to know more about the middle ages? 1: research on a modern topic, 2: research on a 18th century ballad, 3: research on the same 18th century ballad, with conclusions that are logical to follow to the middle ages ballad, 4: research on the 'generic' ballad, including middle ages, 5: medieval topic
• Is the research original? 1: cited one source that reflects the researches opinion, 2: states the researchers opinion and uses the source to prove it, 3: contains more than one POV, 4: contains several POVs and a comparision or conclusion, 5: uses sources and draws some new idea or insight from them.
• How much time does it take to make this? 1: less than 15 minutes, 2: up to an hour, 3: half a day, 4: one day or more, 5: a week or more.

Making instruments:

• Is the instrument made well? 1: does not work, looks ugly. 2. playable, tolerable sound, 3: sounds and looks OK, 4: good sound and look, 5: beautiful, something special, very good to play.
• How period is the instrument and the way of making it? 1. modern instrument, made with modern tools/methods/materials (Saxophone), 2. vaguely period, made with modern tools/methods/materials (Guitar), 3: vaguely period, made in a non-modern way, 4: a medieval instrument, made by using partly period methods, 5: a medieval instrument, constructed in a medieval way.
• How difficult is it to make? 1: block of wood, 2: simple flute, 3: simple drum, 4: most string instruments, diffucult winds, 5: lots of moving parts, needs to withstand stress (harp, hurdy gurdy, lute)
• How much time does it take to make this? 1: an hour, 2: less than one day, 3: several days, 4. a week, 5. weeks

Remember, there are kits today for making harps or hurdy gurdys. Building an instrument using a kit is quite common and still needs skill (more skill than I have), but is not as awe-inspiring as it used to be ;-)