I've been spending a great deal of time working on making decisions for my SCA persona. I grew up within the SCA; my parents had joined when I was ten or so and were avidly involved (or at least my dad and uncles were) ever since. I didn't really enjoy much more than the clothing until I was old enough to duck out of babysitting before I was asked. I went to Great Western War this year, and despite being completely unprepared, Rosslyn and I put on a half hour show at the Open Arms Bardic Hall. I took a few classes over the weekend and in general enjoyed being there as a vacation.
While there, I took two classes from True Thomas the Storyteller (look him up, hire him, he's sooooo worth the money), "Fyrecrawling101" and "Coaching". I had some embarrassing moments (forgetting the words to a song--remember how I said I was completely unprepared?), but by and large, I think I grew a bit. I got bolder...I even learned a story to tell instead of being a singing bard only.
We had a moment just to work on things one-on-one during the coaching class and he...Wow. He laid me bare. He asked my why I was there and eventually came to these correct conclusions: I made decisions to please other people when it came to being a bard, I didn't know where I was going--I was operating on too little information, and yeah, I cried. He was very kind about the whole thing, but one question he asked me stands out: Who is Adara the Bard? What is she known for?
I wanted to bring the magic of these stories to someone. Make Arthur and Henry real to them. Transport them to places they've heard of and yawned about, and make it so starkly real and magical that they never want to leave. That is the bard I want to be.
For humor's sake, here are a couple oneliners from my class on Personas During the Crusades:
"I think Middle Earth is more real than Los Angeles."
"Richard the Lion Heart was a jerk."
While there, I took two classes from True Thomas the Storyteller (look him up, hire him, he's sooooo worth the money), "Fyrecrawling101" and "Coaching". I had some embarrassing moments (forgetting the words to a song--remember how I said I was completely unprepared?), but by and large, I think I grew a bit. I got bolder...I even learned a story to tell instead of being a singing bard only.
We had a moment just to work on things one-on-one during the coaching class and he...Wow. He laid me bare. He asked my why I was there and eventually came to these correct conclusions: I made decisions to please other people when it came to being a bard, I didn't know where I was going--I was operating on too little information, and yeah, I cried. He was very kind about the whole thing, but one question he asked me stands out: Who is Adara the Bard? What is she known for?
I wanted to bring the magic of these stories to someone. Make Arthur and Henry real to them. Transport them to places they've heard of and yawned about, and make it so starkly real and magical that they never want to leave. That is the bard I want to be.
For humor's sake, here are a couple oneliners from my class on Personas During the Crusades:
"I think Middle Earth is more real than Los Angeles."
"Richard the Lion Heart was a jerk."
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