Let the catch go round

Bardic Madness XX, which featured challenges on circles, cycles, returning, and remembrance, simply demanded a class on rounds, so I stepped up with Let the Catch Go Round: Canons, Catches, and Circular Songs. The subtitle tells it all.

Though the heyday of published rounds is slightly post-period, there is enough documentary evidence to make a pretty healthy list of period rounds. Sumer is icumen in is probably the most celebrated round of the era, but Three blinde mice and Hey, ho, nobody home were published in 1609, and were likely sung well before that date.

Though many 17th-18th century rounds were written for men's clubs. the Victorians turned rounds into a children's format. They should be for everybody, and I hope to hear more rounds at our bardic circles in the future.

ABGs revisited

Rokeclif's chatelaine thought that having classes at our shire meetings would be fun. I got to be the first presenter, with "Now I know my ABGs". It's interesting presenting a formal class to people you know pretty well. Nobody fell asleep.

Kudrun goes Elizabethan

"Much Ado About Twelfth Night" -- an Elizabethan-themed event. (Nordskogen, January 9, 2010) What on earth can a 13th century persona do with such modern times? Nothing. I needed a sixteenth-century persona.

Enter Katherine Stackhouse of Giggleswick, who was able to describe the life and times of Roger Ascham, the Cambridge Greek scholar who is best known for a book on Archery. Toxophilus, though intentionally written in English for Englishmen, is a Socratic dialog on the virtues of archery. It is, perhaps, the geekiest sports book in existence.
He also wrote a book called The Scholemaster, which outlines a method and a curriculum for teaching Latin without recourse to beating and berating the student.
Ascham managed to serve all three of Henry VIII's children when they came to the throne; a remarkable accomplishment considering how many others lost their heads in the transitions. He was a worthy subject for a class.

Hospitality as Art and Science

Her Stellar Majesty, Elizabeth, asked me to provide some kind of A&S opportunities at the Tournament of Chivalry, held in Coille Stoirmeil on November 14. We had an A&S competition at last week's event (Stellar University of Northshield) so I didn't want a simple repetition of that, though I did provide space for display.
With permission of their Majesties and the event staff, I undertook to provide an opportunity for artisans to simply come together in the solar, where musicians might be practicing, ladies were spinning and embroidering, and merchants plied their wares. A herald was there for consultation, and many books were available to provide inspiration. There was ample opportunity for informal teaching, particularly in the domestic arts and in the history and culture of the SCA.
My thanks to all who participated in this gathering, and to Her Majesty, who inspired "outside the box" thought about period A&S.

Stellar University of Northshield

November 7 was a big day. I planned to teach two classes, but ended up with three: numbers, ABCs, and colors -- a veritable kindergarten!

The Numb3rs class was a rerun from Bardic Madness in April of 2008. Karyn and Kudrun compare the way we use numbers in a typical day.

"Now I Know My ABGs" was a repeat from June 20, 2009. I assumed that the audience in Madison WI would be different from the one in Sioux Falls SD.

"A Rainbow of Rainbows" was originally conceived for Bardic Madness in 2006, but I completely revamped it, using PowerPoint instead of color slides (remember slides?). This is an exploration of color theory and uses of color in period, beginning before Aristotle.

Persona again

Falcon's Gate was kind enough to invite me back for "Meeting your persona" on October 1. I didn't hear any snoring from the old-timers who heard most of the material last year. That was a good sign. Even better was a chance to chat with some new folks about using their college experience to begin forming a persona.
Think about an art history major who's thinking of an Italian persona turning herself into an apprentice or relative of Sofonisba Anguissola or Lavinia Fontana.
As usual, I suggested the A&S 50 Challenge as a resource.

Autumn Rose XV

The feast steward for Autumn Rose (Rokeclif's fall event) wanted to do a middle eastern feast, so we made the theme of the event "Pilgrimage to Jerusalem".

I put signs on 15 places at the fairgrounds that served as the site, indicating the medieval city where a shrine might be found for a particular saint. At each location there was a poster offering more elaboration about the saintly person or persons and a pilgrim "badge" -- actually a piece of paper with instructions for finding the next location.

People had a tough time with St Martin's cloak, which I hung on a rack with other garments in the merchants' hall. St Anthony's shrine was at the (empty) swine barns. Cologne Cathedral was represented by the place we usually have A&S displays. (The clue made reference to works of art in the treasury and the scientific work of Albertus Magnus.) The big 4-H sign on the building where St Patrick's shrine was located was ascribed to a math-impaired painter. The big green pole-barn that we used as a feasthall was described as the magnificent green wall of Jerusalem.

People who were new to the event found the hunt a good wat to see the whole site. Those who knew the site learned a lot about the heroes of the medieval period.