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Mid-Realm Bardic Madness VIII Challenges

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The purpose of today's challenges is to encourage the participants' creativity and artistic growth. They are not meant to be competitions - everyone who takes part can consider themselves a winner.

Your response to the various challenges may be in many different forms. Song or story are the most obvious choices; however juggling, magic, instrumental, or dance can also express an idea or tell a tale. All of these could be used to answer a given challenge (though perhaps not all at the same time :-). Our desire here is to be inclusive rather than exclusive. If you have something to share that doesn't quite fit or that stretches the definitions a little, then fire away.

It is our wish to create a "bardic safe zone" - a friendly place where you may feel free to experiment and try new things. If you've never performed before, now's your chance. You'll be hard pressed to find a friendlier and more supportive audience. We would be delighted to see lots of first time performers.

Please remember, in order to make sure as many gentles get a chance to perform as possible, we ask that you limit your performances so that they run less than five minutes.


Fyt the First:
Pass the Tale All those who wish to participate get up together, and tell a tale from beginning to end. The challenge's patron will 'conduct' by pointing to the person whose turn it is to continue the tale, and deciding when it is time to end.
Here There Be Dragons Sailing off into the unknown was a chancy business. No one knew what waited in the blank corners of the map. Tell us of such a journey, real or metaphorical, and what was found along the way.
Death, Doom, and Gloom This song isn't from Calontir. A surprisingly large percentage of sea songs end badly for their participants. Cheer us all, well… down with a song or tale of something soggy and grim.

Fyt the Second:
Stir Fry Given a list of words, do something artistic with them.
Why Wait for Willy Many women waited for years at a time while their lover (usually named Willy) went to sea. It seldom worked out well. Let us know about one of these difficult relationships. How did it work out, why was the lady willing to wait so long, or how come the guy is always named Willy anyway?
Arrrrrrrr By the bleary bloodshot eye o' Bluebeard! What be a day 'bout the sea without mention o' them merry buccaneers o' the deep - the pirates? Stand to, and give o'er wi' pirate song or story, lest ye be made ter walk the plank!

Fyt the Third:
A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words Members of the populace will draw pictures for this challenge based on the theme: things found in the sea (feel free to define this broadly). Participants will pull both a drawing and a song out of a hat just before the challenge starts. Write two verses and a chorus about the picture using the tune.
It Came from the Deep The sea is said to be the home of many monstrous creatures: sirens, sea serpents, and krakens among them. Tell us of one of these legendary creatures or an encounter with one.
Period Piece Perform a documentably period piece of music, story, or song (poetry, prose, and so forth are good too). Dig out those reference books, blow off the dust (try not to sneeze), and see what wonderful and magical treasures you can find in them. There is a staggering amount of fantastic material out there. Find something, be it silly or sublime, and amaze us with it.

Fyt the Fourth:
Scrimshaw Carving Given a piece of material (perhaps from the great white whale, Moby Dial) and some tools, carve an image and compose a text based on it. This may be done individually or as a team.
Rondeau Roundabout The rondeau is a French poetic form dating back to the thirteenth century. It consists of thirteen eight syllable lines and two repeated four syllable refrains. These fifteen lines contain are broken into three stanzas and contain only three rhymes. The rhyme scheme is as follows:

              Stanza 1: A A B B A       five lines of eight syllables
Stanza 2: A A B C three lines of eight syllables, plus the four syllable refrain
Stanza 3: A A B B A C five lines of eight syllables, plus the four syllable refrain

So, how does this all work in practice? Something like this:

              A       Attend and I will tell to you,
A       Of how to write a rondeau true.
B       Use thirteen lines that hold eight feet -
B       Plus two of four, that do repeat.
A       Where, but three rhymes make their debut.
 
A Split into stanzas, that are few,
A Five lines in one and four in two -
B Plus six in three. It's now complete.
C Our Rondeau's done.
 
A The 'A' rhyme you will eight times view.
A The 'B', but five times will accrue.
B The 'C' you will but two times meet,
B Identical in ev'ry beat.
A Our poem is done and so we're through;
C Our Rondeau's done.

Additional examples can be seen at here and here. As always, for all the gory details, look at The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics.
Land Ho Sea voyages were dangerous. Many ships sailed out only to disapear without a trace. Because of this, the first glimpse of journey's end was always a welcome sight. Sing a song of celebration that tells of arriving at a destination, reaching a goal, or coming home.


Challenge General Rules


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Last updated: 2016-05-06