Hobbies in the SCA or Questions that Need Answers

Lately my involvement in the SCA seems to be purely theoretical and perhaps even political, if only in the sense that I have been reading some about the politics and a lot of conversations people have been having trying to decide how to help out.

There are two comments I seem to hear a lot of. One comment is "How do we get more people involved." There is not a single community in the SCA that I have not heard this from. Everything from gathering more members on a whole to just finding more singers or more musicians or more fighters or more fencers or, and this is the one that can sometimes sting, more volunteers.

Yes. The SCA is a group of volunteers. It is a fantastic hobby. There are so many things out there to enjoy. But without the volunteers to do the more difficult tasks, the SCA starts to fall apart. But more and more now there are people who say 'uh uh, not me, I'm here to have fun!' So, how do you get more people involved?

The second comment I seem to notice a lot is "We need to get people who don't like us to like us." I hear this from many communities. There is a lot of friction between different groups of people in the SCA, but instead of asking why there is friction and how can we help, people feel if they are more head strong that they can push through the friction.

Because of this, I made a very quick, short, simple survey. It should take only five minutes, less if you don't want to make really long answers. The more detailed you get, though, the more helpful it is for me in the long run. I will keep the survey up, but once I have enough responses, I'm going to start picking it apart and making up some graphs and see what I may be able to assess from the answers.

Please consider filling out this survey as I think that it will really be a benefit in the years to come to really look through this information and be able to answer the question most on my mind, and I am sure others. "What are we lacking in that we can perhaps change or make stronger so that more people will want to become involved?"

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BVCLWTD

King's Order of Excellence

Saturday, I was given a King's Order of Excellence. I am stunned, honored, and humbled.

 

Every person I know has taught me something about how to do it better. I have watched people walk into court and yearned in my heart to be like them, grace and beauty in their persona. I cannot thank everyone I know enough for all the inspiration they have given to me, the push and desire to strive to be the best that I can. Without all of you, I would not be the person today. And each and every one of you continue to inspire me, and continue to make me drive forever forward.

Scroll by:
Illumination - Ro Honig von Sommerfeldt,
Calligraphy - Carolyne LaPointe,
Russian translation - Lord Michael Acrensis.

I have written to each of these artisans, thanking them profusely for the gift of their time and art in creating this masterpiece. I was, to put it simply, in complete awe and looking at it even now brings tears to my eyes and inspiration to my heart.

Translation: "To all who hear these words, I, King Edward of the East, and my Queen Thoora send greetings. We have heard the great acclaim of the people for our subject Katrusha Karpova, daughter of Gadiev the jester. By all of her many acts and studies she has shown herself to be a glorious example of a lady of Novgorod. She demonstrates great knowledge and skill as an Entertainer, craftsperson, and inn keeper along our spice road. We hold the acts high in regard and are moved to induct Katrusha the Skomorkh into our King's Order of Excellence. This is done by our will and power at the King's and Queen's Arts and Sciences Championship in our Barony of Dragonship Haven. On the eve of the Feast of Saint Theodore the Silent. A.C. 47."

My First Laureling

Saturday was a fantastic day. Stressful, but incredibly fantastic.

We loaded the car and headed up to King and Queen's Arts and Sciences Competition. It was Kathy, Lindy, Katherine, her son Chris, and myself. We took off and had an entire ride of conversation without a hitch. And not once even faltered in spoiling the surprise.

Once we arrived, Kathy began setting up her display and I began crazily running around, gathering people, making sure we knew which room we were heading into, cleaning it up, starting to decorate... and then stressing out because the food and rest of the decorations were running behind. No worries! The place already looked beautiful with everyone's help and we didn't need the food right away but I was still stressing. Anyone can attest to that.

I decided to enter my research into period French phonetics into the Master Alexander's challenge. I didn't really expect anything to come of it, but feedback was what I was looking for. I got to see the other artisans and scientists (there was totally some science entries there) with their displays and was simply blown away. The East Kingdom is so incredibly talented. And I ended up adding a few more 'want to try this' to my list. I doubt I will ever get through the whole list, but I really enjoy learning so I'm not complaining in the least.

I hung out around Kathy when I noticed the royals were there. They were going to send her to vigil any moment and I could hardly contain myself. As they approached and asked her to explain her pieces, she had this look of 'are you serious? Are you sending me to vigil?' but explained herself away in the exact way she would for anyone. Then a sudden court was announced and she was sent off. I merrily skipped along behind her with my hands clutched together, giggling. I whispered if she was surprised. She seemed to have gotten an inkling, but mostly she was surprised.

She got settled in her tent and I promised her plates of food as soon as they arrived. And they did, shortly after, with Chris and John and Johann. Everything was brought in and people actually didn't start coming to see the vigil until things were nearly finished setting up (another person was being sent to vigil and I think that had to do for a lot of it).

At that point, the room became crowded so we shooed most everyone out to stand in the hallway to make merry and nice and I sat inside at the entrance to her tent to let her know when someone was here, who, and to hurry up the people inside if it was dragging and she had a line. I also was there to be hospitable to everyone that entered the room to wait their turn: offered them food and drink (and we managed to finish decorating and the food went over FANTASTICALLY!). People enjoyed sitting next to me and we chatted about Kathy and about awards and about all kinds of things.

When their Majesties came in, I stood and offered them a deep bow before letting Kathy knew they were there (she was grateful as sometimes she really needed to try and get something to eat in her, and I kept her very well supplied). I allowed them to take as long as they needed.

I honestly had an absolute blast having people come in and being the greeter. They would ask about the decorations and the food. And I would explain how everything that was there had links to Siobhan. It was possibly one of the most fun things I have done in awhile. I encouraged quite a few people to either sign the book or talk to her (as they felt they weren't important enough to do one of the other). I told them how wonderful she was and how everyone has something to teach someone. Not to be nervous. She is one of the easiest people I know to approach.

Eventually the vigil petered out and people stopped arriving. Kathy was glad as it meant that she could take a break. I was having fun, but she informed me later how exhausting it is to sit in vigil. I suppose it is different than jut playing hospitality for everyone.

We started packing things away before court as much as possible. I grabbed my book as I was asked to also take care of music and decided we should all sing the song I wrote for Kathy as we marched into the hall with her. This was when I became super nervous. I was hoping I could fill the hall and annuciate okay. I was hoping people knew or understood why we sang what we did. And over all, I was just hoping it would go okay.

We all started gathering and talking about how we were going to process and do things. I had to sneak out into the hall where people were waiting as I was watching court to let them know Lady Ose Silverhair won Queen's Champion of A&S! We are all so proud of all her research and hard work! Then I was surprised with the King's Order of Excellence and luckily not stunned into total silence because I still had to sing Kathy into court.

Eventually it was time to head in and the second she was called I began singing her song. She told me, later, when she heard her song, it made her tear up. It was the only part of the ceremony that made her that way. In either case, she was sung in and then we all moved off to the wings in order to watch. Yoshi spoke as her knight. Hawk spoke as her Pelican. Alethea spoke as her Lady of the Rose. And Alistrina spoke as her laurel as well as having text that was sent by Thora Sharptooth.

When Mistress Brid asked for her apprentice belt back and spoke words about Siobhan, I teared up. It was hard to hold it back. She was then fitted with all (okay, ALMOST all) her new regalia. She was given her vivats and everything was absolutely amazing.

It was such a long day, but such an important day for me. I got to see someone I care greatly about receive the credit she so truly deserves and I got to be such a big help in the process today. To know someone well enough that you can create the look, the feel, and the taste that you know they are going to adore... Even Kathy said I work myself too hard, but she appreciated it all. And everything went so beautifully well, I couldn't be happier.

And this was my first ever experience in helping with a crazy lot of aspects of the laureling process.

Ever More

There was a day I was feeling particularly nostalgic and sentimental after returning home from Pennsic with my son, sorting through the pictures of his first Pennsic at not even a year old. And I was inspired to write him a song. And this is the song I had written for him, sung to the tune of "I Don't Want To Live On The Moon".

Someday you will fight for the King
You will take up your sword in his name
You'll defend and honor the Queen
But for now it is all just a game

You'll write stories of battles so bold
You will sing of the glories and then
You'll recite and epic or two
But for now you're still learning to pen

You may just be a child but you're starting to grow
And it wont be long now as time continues to flow
You have so much potential, so much to explore
Can't be my little boy ever more

As I sit and watch you, my son
And I dream all the things you might do
Be the King, a knight, or a bard
You will find many things to persue

When I look at you here deep asleep on my breast
I know it wont be much longer 'till you leave the nest
You have so much potential, so much to explore
Can't be my little boy ever more

Tales of a Mundane Nature: Come to a Close

Some time ago I had written about a woman who had contacted me about Baba Yaga for her college paper she was writing.

First Contact

Then, some months later, she had written to me again asking for an interview and if I could dress in garb and tell a story for her class. Sadly, most everything was at Pennsic, but I had something I could wear.

Second Contact

Well, I feel awful I never really wrapped everything up because the response came not long after Pennsic and fairly close to the holiday rush. But here it is:

"Thank you so very much for your major contribution to my A paper!  Your part in the powerpoint presentation really brought everything together perfectly.  The story is great.  Thanks again for both your expertise and your kindness :)"

This added to the bonus of receiving her whole power point production and hopefully I will also soon get the video of the interview and performance to post up here, but for now...

Look! I'm part of a bibliography! That is probably one of the coolest feelings ever!

Cuidoient li losengier Part 3

A lot of conversation has come up from my working on this particular piece. One being that we can't even be certain that where this was from was the same as the dialect I have been researching. In otherwords, place specific accents. Or, even, as I have come to find in my research of Russia, just because, as is stated in the book Singing Early Music, “...all were increasingly dominated from the end of the twelfth century by Francien, thelanguage used by the royal court...” does not mean that far out-lying regions had adapted easily as quickly. I look at Russia and how long it took for some places to become Christian even though Igor and Olga pushed the religion. Some smaller cities that didn't have as much contact with the larger regions kept mostly to themselves. And there is no reason that similar could not have happened here.

So, how do we decide what was being spoken in the area? Well, we have three facts we can look at that we know. We can look at education, the time period the piece was written in, and the nameof the author.

In this case, we know the name of the man who wrote the piece, as in the original document stamped in a circle at the beginning of the piece, is Guillebert de Berneville. According to the melodies left behind, we know he was a trouvere, famous in 1260, who was frequently present at entertainments by the nobility of Flanders. He was famous in the Arras region. From the sounds of it, Berneville sounded rather educated and certainly important enough to follow the change of the times.

Arras, during the middle ages, was a regional central hub for culture in France. In 1180 it became an important location for banking and trade, wool being of great importance since the 4th century. So certainly this doesn't sound like a small podunk area that was left behind by the times.

And now, education. France was not without education at the time, having the University of Paris which was started in mid 12th Century. So there is a possibility that this trouvere may have gone to a university as he was well chosen to perform for nobility as a favorite.

So now we look at the differences between what I had done before and what should be done.

The book that this was found in has it's own bibliography at the bottom the Oxford Anthology musical bars. It says:

R 1287; Paris; Biblioteque de l'Arsenal, MS 5198, p. 145.

My questions, of course, is was this a song writtenin 1287 or just simply collected and put into a book in 1287. So, again, we go back to Guillebert. The only information I can find on him says (fl c 1250-1280). Does this mean he lived exactly 30 years or is this just an estimate? I can not fully be certain. I have a feeling it is an estimate. In which case, he lived just on the cusp of when the book Singing Early Music says the language of early French turned into Middle French, which was 1250.

Because of this, I am now going to write out the rules for early and mid for consonants and then give the IPA of early and mid so we can pick apart how things changed. I also want to write the difference between singing and speaking, as there were differences.

So, let's start with early. We already have gone through all the rules of the early consonants, if you recall, in my previous post, but I will refresh your memory here. And then, if you recall, I had used mid vowels instead of early because I felt that there were hints in the writing style to show that is how it was supposed to be. But I could be wrong. I will write later of my speculation of this after we have gone through the early and middle in lyrical manner. Again, here are the rules from Singing Early Music:

-Double consonants are simplified to single except r's.
-Double r's are pronounced [rr] with 2 or sometimes 3 tongue flips.
-Double s's denotes [s]
-Single s's denotes [z]
-All final consonants are pronounced except voiced become unvoiced ([d], [g], [v] all become [t], [k], [f] respectively)
-Voicing or unvoicing due to the following consonant was a common practice
-c before an a, o, or u is pronounced [k]; before an e or i is  pronounced [ts]
-ch is pronounced [ʧ]
-g before an a, o, or u is pronounced [ɡ]; before an e or i is pronounced [ʤ]
-j is pronounced [ʤ]
-l at the beginning of a word or syllable is pronounced [l]; if followed by a consonant, even if in the next word, is pronounced [w]; if il or ill, pronounced [ʎ]
 -n and m both are still pronounced after their nasalized vowels
-[ɲ] is pronounced much like the Spanish ñ and usually spelled gn or ign
-q or qu is pronounced [k]
-r is pronounced [r̥] much like in modern Spanish or Italian
-s in the final position is pronounced as [s]. Inside a word, s maintains a [s] when followed by a t,p, or k. Followed by any other consonant, it is silent (to me, this all means that an s sounds as a [z] if followed by any vowel. Otherwise, these rules apply).
-x was used commonly for -us which was usually pronounced as [ws]
-z is pronounced [ts]

This will make the first verse to instead read as such:

kɥidɔjãnt li lɔsãnʤjɛr̥

pɔr̥ ʦə sə il õnt mãnti

kə ʤə mə dɔjɛslɔjɲjɛr̥

dãmɔr̥s ɛt də mõn ãmi

ɛ nõn djɛw ʤə lãmər̥ɛ

ɛt bõnãmɔr̥ sɛr̥vir̥ɛ

nɥit ɛt ʤɔr̥

sãns fɛr̥ɛ fɔlɔr̥

ɛt ʤjɛrãnvɔjsiə

ʧãntãnt ɛt ʤɔliə

And now we will look at strictly middle French. Look here at the changes in lyrical consonants:

-spellings do not reflect pronunciation

-simplified affricatives: [s], [ʃ], [ʒ]

-silent [s] seen before consonants and in final position

-loss of many final consonants

-c before an a, o, or u is pronounced [k]; before an e or i is  pronounced [s]

-ch is pronounced [ʃ]

-g before an a, o, or us is pronounced [ɡ]; before an e or i is pronounced [ʒ]

-j is pronounced [ʒ]

-l at the beginning of a word or syllable is pronounced [l]; if followed by a consonant, even if in the next word, is pronounced [w]; if il or ill, pronounced [ʎ]

-n and m both are still pronounced after their nasalized vowels

-[ɲ] is pronounced much like the Spanish ñ and usually spelled gn or ign

-q or qu is pronounced [k]

-r is pronounced [r̥] much like in modern Spanish or Italian, final r's dropped in 13th C

-rr is pronounced as [r̥] with a single tap only in speech, having not been accepted in song as such until mid 17th C.

-all final consonants disappeared in popular language, but in literary (song and poetry), the situation was complex. Inside a line of verse, s was only pronounced if the following word began with a vowel and it was voiced: [z]. At a pause or end of the line a final s was fully pronounced [s]. Inside a word s was always silent even though it remained in spellings until 18th C. Before disappearing, s was pronounced in an aspirated form [x] before transforming into a lengthening of vowel form. (To me, I am hearing... s is forever and always silent when followed by a consonant unless it ended a word or began a word. It certainly confuses me quite a bit, that's for certain.)

-x was used commonly for -us which was usually pronounced as [ws]
-z is pronounced [s]

Although they state all consonants become silent at the end of words, they don't really comment further on that when describing the rules. It seems mostly the letter s becomes silent. But I am going to follow the rules of each consonant being silent so we can see the difference between the early and mid French. So here is our example of mid French:

kɥidwɛãn li lɔzãnʒjɛr̥

pɔ sə sə i õn mãnti

kə ʒə mə dwɛlwɛɲjɛr̥

dãmɔr̥ ɛ də mõ ãmi

ɛ nõ djø ʒə lãmər̥ɛ

ɛ bõnãmɔr̥ sɛr̥vir̥ɛ

nɥi ɛ ʒɔr̥

sãn fɛr̥ɛ fɔlɔr̥

ɛ ʒjɛrãnvwɛsiə

ʃãntãn ɛ ʤɔliə

I can certainly get a good feel of where modern French came from just looking at the difference between early and middle French and I'm sure if I go ahead and get the Renaissance French written out in IPA as well, I will learn even more through that. This has been an amazing experience to figure out. I finally feel confident enough now that I'm going to start working on the tune to the piece now, but I'm not going to stop trying to figure out how, exactly, this may have been pronounced.

To follow the process from the beginning, please view my other entries on this song:

Part 1 

Part 2 

Cuidoient li losengier: Part 2

Questions were beginning to arise as to the difference between medieval French and modern French. So, at the recommendation of a few people I greatly respect in the subject of singing period music, I borrowed a copy of Singing Early Music (which I plan to buy shortly because of the wealth of knowledge within its pages). I then sat down and began to work.

I got about four lines into working on making the IPA in a mixture of middle and early French (which felt correct due to how things were spelled, even though the time period of the piece proves it about 45 years past early French. But then you have the question of what region is the author from, how quickly that region progressed from early to middle, etc. So I did it as a mixture due to spelling choices used in the piece), when I realized I was missing an integral piece of material for helping me to fully understand the syllables of the song: a scan or photo of the actual honest document. So much can be lost in translation from the Oxford Anthology trying to decipher the piece, so it was hunted down so I could fairly view the original as well. Did it help? I felt it helped immensely and even helped me to further understand how things were written in musical notation during that time. But I did manage to have a few questions. Here is the copy of the manuscript page in question.

Now, looking at the manuscript, one of my biggest questions has to do with the refrain of the song. So if anyone can explain why each time they wrote the song refrain, the nixed a few more words of it until the end, where they wrote the whole thing again. Another song starts immediately after, so it would make one think they would have had the space to fit the whole song, but that is neither here nor there really. It was just a question in the back of my mind.

Addition Edit: For those unable to make it out, I had written up my description of what was happening in the text to a friend: I just found it odd that the repeated section (that only differs, alone, in the second verse) starts, written in the music, as "et siere (it honestly looks like an s, not a g like all the others) envoisie. chantant et jolie." The second verse states "sen sui renvoisie chãtãt." (look familiar to the modern IPA for the song?) and then it stops there with no symbol to mean 'continue the phrase' or anything. The third says "et giere envoisie." (fixed from the first ending) again ending with no further symbol. The fourth, "et giere." and then the last, "et giere envoisie chantant et jolie." returning us back to the original full phrasing.

Needless to say, looking at the actual document in congruence with what is in the Oxford Anthology made me feel more confident in my translations as I could see even more obviously where the syllables were seated as well as double checking on simple letter choices in words. Much more confident.

As I began reading the Singing Early Music book, there were very particular rules that I quickly took notes on so I could reference them (for the time period I was looking to work in for the song). The notes were only for the consonants and they were as follows:

-Double consonants are simplified to single except r's.
-Double r's are pronounced [rr] with 2 or sometimes 3 tongue flips.
-Double s's denotes [s]
-Single s's denotes [z]
-All final consonants are pronounced except voiced become unvoiced ([d], [g], [v] all become [t], [k], [f] respectively)
-Voicing or unvoicing due to the following consonant was a common practice
-c before an a, o, or u is pronounced [k]; before an e or i is  pronounced [ts]
-ch is pronounced [ʧ]
-g before an a, o, or us is pronounced [ɡ]; before an e or i is pronounced [ʤ]
-j is pronounced [ʤ]
-l at the beginning of a word or syllable is pronounced [l]; if followed by a consonant, even if in the next word, is pronounced [w]; if il or ill, pronounced [ʎ]
 -n and m both are still pronounced after their nasalized vowels
-[ɲ] is pronounced much like the Spanish ñ and usually spelled gn or ign
- q or qu is pronounced [k]
-r is pronounced [r̥] much like in modern Spanish or Italian, final r's dropped in 13th C
-s in the final position is pronounced as [s]. Inside a word, s maintains a [s] when followed by a t,p, or k. Followed by any other consonant, it is silent (to me, this all means that an s sounds as a [z] if followed by any vowel. Otherwise, these rules apply).
-x was used commonly for -us which was usually pronounced as [ws]
-z is pronounced [ts]

(All information stated here directly acquired from Singing Early Music edited by Timothy J McGee. Full book information at the end in bibliography format.)

Mind you, this is only the consonants. The vowels are much more convoluted and I highly recommend picking up the book to look at the charts of the how's and when's for all the vowels.

With all this new information, here is the new verse written out in IPA:

kɥidwɛãnt li lɔzãʤjɛr̥
pɔr̥ tsə zə il õnt mãnti
kə ʤə mə dwɛ ɛlwɛɲjɛr̥
dãmɔr̥s ɛt də mõn ãmi
ə nõn djø ʤə lãmɛr̥e
ɛt bõnãmɔr̥ zɛr̥vir̥e
nɥit ɛt ʤɔr̥
sãns fɛr̥e fɔlɔr̥
ɛt ʤɛr̥ãnvwɛziə
ʧãntãnt ɛt ʤɔliə

One of the most important factor changes is that in early French, everything that was written was sung. It was almost as if they wrote things out phonetically. This was greater reinforced by viewing the original manuscript, for me. Seeing that the 'e' of jolie has its own note, even in the original manuscript. This was another reason I mingled the middle and early French.

Another important thing to remember is there is quite a huge difference between what is sung and what is spoken. My next step from here is to re-write this into strictly early, middle, and renaissance French for both lyrical and spoken so the changes can, again, be quite visible to anyone curious.

As it is, the changes I have already gone through with pronunciation to this song are astounding.

To view the progress of this project from the beginning, please view the previous entry: Cuidoient li losengier

To continue in the series, read the latest entry: Cuidoient Part 3

Newest edition to the bibliography:

McGee, Timothy J., A. G. Rigg and David N. Klausner, eds. Singing Early Music: The Pronunciation of European Languages in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1996.