Minstrels' Guild of Drachenwald

News

This page was last updated March 27, 2003

March 27 2003

That's it -- I'm finally off!
I had a fun time in the SCA and music, tales and good company were the very best of it. I leave the Guild in the hands of Lady Valeria delle Stelle, who's a far more competent musician and medievalist than I'll ever be.
This page will probably move soon, but don't worry, I'll leave a note here when it does.
As a parting gift, I did a major update on the story page.

June 05 2002

I have promised somewhere on this site that I'd notice you if I start to feel myself disappearing.
It is high time I do so. I haven't been to an SCA event since Bards' Night IV, more than a year ago. I haven't updated this page for nearly as long and even allowed it to become lost for some months. I'm not doing any SCA currently, and I do not intend to return to it any time soon. Instead, for the first time in years, I spend more time actually making music than just theoretizing and politicking about it. It's a nice change of pace.
Of course, with me vanishing, the question of sucession arises. Anyone here interested in becoming Guildmaster or Guildmistress? The paperwork is in good order and crashcourses are available. You need to be a Journeyperson of the Guild to apply.
Interested? Not completely averse to it? Bribable? Contact me!.

November 20 2001

This page was offline for quite a while, and I couldn't fix it due to hardware problems. I'm working on it now, in the meantime I have mirrored it on my homepage.

My goodness, it's November already: Well past time to look for a group who'd like to host Bards' Night V! If you think you'd like to do that or if you could be persuaded/bribed/cajoled into it, please contact me!

July 10 2001

I got this mail a few days ago:

Entertainers Wanted for Estrella War XVIII
(A Mime is a terrible thing to waste)
February 13-17, 2002
Let all Singers, Musicians, Dancers, Jugglers, Actors, Puppeteers, Company of Players, Heralds, Bards, Clowns, Balloon Animal Artists, Performers of all kinds..yes, even Mimes.... know that your services are needed at ESTRELLA WAR XVIII. We need your talents on Stage, at Merchant's Row, Troll and through out the War.
This is your opportunity to share the Dream and bring a smile to a child's face.
You will have a opportunity to 'pass the hat' and sale your tape or cd.
Scheduling is taking place now!!!

For more information please contact:
The Entertainment Autocrat
Lady Eden Blacksmith
Sonja Boroughf 1730 Gates Ave Kingman, AZ 86401
520-753-8064
edenblacksmith@usa.net
entertainmentatestrella@yahoo.com

May 31 2001

Bards' Night IV was a very nice and relaxed event with only 15 attendants, but great music, great weather and good food. Many thanks to the Shire of Mynydd Gwyn for hosting it, and to everone who helped making it special.

Lady Valeria delle Stelle became a Minstrel at the event. She played the recorder and a stringed instrument with an open tuning which's name I have forgotten, told a traditional story and one she wrote herself, and sang a really, really beautiful song where she had written the melody to a poem by Shakespeare. Lady Valeria is a resident of the Isles, so if you're there and are interested in the guild or in applying for guild rank, she's the one to turn to.

And, of course now I'm looking for a group who'd like to host Bards' Night V in February or March 2002.

Due to the low attendance at Bards' Night IV we didn't bother with a Guild Meeting.

Shea O'Shaughnessy kindly set up a Mailing List for the Guild and anyone interested in Bardic. To join, send a blank email to: Drachenwald_Minstrels-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Mar 16 2001

I'm still looking for people willing to teach classes at Bards' Night IV in May! If you are interested, please contact me!! Bribes in the form of home-baked cookies are possible!

Milady Janneke's research on psalterions can be found here. Apart from that, I have gotten a load of stories and poems which I'll put on the page as soon as I get around to it. I started with some poems by Laird Seanne Alansyn.

According to my list, there are currently 19 active Guild members, 1 is inactive, and 15 haven't answered my query so far.

Feb 13 2001

The Incipient Shire of Mynydd Gwyn is holding Bards' Night IV in May! It's in the Kingdom Calendar! Yeah!
Now we are looking for everything necessary to make that event a Bards' Night. Anyone who has ideas or who could be persuaded/bribed into teaching a class, please contact me!

More good news: At KnickKnack XXX in Polderslot Janneke von Suylen made Journeywoman in the Guild. She presented a psalterion plus documentation as her journeyman's piece and sang a few songs. Cailin Coilleach made Novice by singing a few songs, one of them with a self-composed melody, and reading a story to the bardic circle.
I enjoyed the event and the Bardic Circle a lot and I'd like to thank anyone who was involved -- even if I'm a tiny bit late with that ;-).

There's gonna be a Special A&S Edition of the Dragon's Tale soon, I heard. Would anyone like to write an essay or article on some bardic topic for it? Imagine: published author... fame... fortune... (Oh, well. Can't blame me for trying.) If you have something written that might be appropiate, please send it to me or to Lady Caitrin.

Speaking of articles, I intend to put Lady Janneke's research on psalterions on this page soon. Plus, I recieved a couple of SCA-inspired poems from Laird Seanne Alansyn, and hope to make them available to you, too. So, watch out for updates!

Oct 23 2000

Someone said they'd try for Bard's Night in March 2001! I do not dare to write more for fear that I will find out that it was all a dream, but I'll keep you informed!

I'm still looking for someone to translate the Charter and the 'In a nutshell'-page into other Drachenwaldian languages. No, I cannot translate them to German!

Aug 04 2000

Still no location for Bard's Night...

I added a story page to the site.

The Guild does not publish a newsletter at the moment, so... I'm looking for articles on bardic topics to put up on this site. Anyone got anything interesting? Please contact me.

I'm also looking for someone to translate the Charter and the 'In a nutshell'-page into other Drachenwaldian languages.

Jul 04 2000

Looks bad for Bard's Night IV... Please, any group interested in hosting a Bard's Night this year or the next (preferably during the cold season), contact me!.

I added a paper on judging bardic arts to the site.

Jan 19 2000

There is a Bard's Night IV this year! It is scheduled for April or May, somewhere on the Isles (England or Ireland).

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