Music

[Akdor 1154]

In the appencices of one of the two currently available books, it said 'Bard music would sound modern to someone of todays culture' or something like that... I'm assuming this doesn't mean Eminiem or John Butler (well, Mist, maybe ), but what do you have in mind? i.e. 'Folk' music seems the standard music used in fantasy. And in Thorold at the Festival, it says something about the bard's 'slow, solemn music' - is this akin to our 'classical'? or even the separate 'movie music' genre?

[alison]

Great question! Actually, I was thinking of some of the simpler early 20th century stuff - Bartok, John Adams and so on - and how some early music can sound surprisingly contemporary. (Bach's cello solos, say). A kind of "pure" intellectual music, complex and technically demanding, which stretches melody, though intensely melodic... Folk music existed in this world, minstrels play it for instance, and Bards collected the songs and played them because they were interested in everything and in any case enjoyed them; but the true Bard music was for serious musicians.

[Akdor 1154]

Are there any examples we can listen to or read?

I ask because I want to get a copy of Sibelius before I finish High School (There is a special $300-for-full-version offer, as opposed to the normal price of $1500 ) and I want to try it out with something

*I moved this to a new post - alison was too quick for me *

[alison]

Wish there was, Akdor! Whatever was written down seems to have not been preserved.

Perhaps someone might find some, in the ongoing investigation of the Annaren scrolls...

[Akdor 1154]

Oh, so sad...

Now, that would be a nice original idea for an appendix in a future book...

*originally from post 3*

Also, how would they have regarded out modern 'proper' exams - AMEB/ANZCA, or whatever... in my opinion they are just plain crazy - a music examination should be based on hearing/playing ability, not reading, you know, with music being a listening thing and all . I'm not saying reading should be totally ignored, as it is an important part, but aural testing should be at least as important as sight-reading!
I did a jazz exam with some guys from the U.K. (oops, they're probably 'chaps', then ) and it was one of the only times in my life I've seen (heard?) the aural testing given equality with sight-reading - none of the interval recogition crap from AMEB, just a choice between ear or sight: ear = they play it, you repeat it, and sight = sight reading. The same piece was used both times. Like I said, AMEB is plain crazy.

When I read how Maerad could hear/remember, I felt like I'd found a long-lost sister or something!

Anyway, how would the Bards feel about our current ideas about (classical) music theory?

[Mrs. Cadvan]

I think I imagined that the bardic music fuses fast medieval music with maybe a sort of baroque structure, that's to say with a basso continuo or something. When I say medieval, I mean like more modal than with modern octave scales, and with a clear beat. I suppose the mention of lyres and harps and flutes and stuff made me come up with that idea.

[Fionnoula]

i always imagined it as medieval kind of intertwined with Celtic music...but that's just me..i don't know much about music though..

[Akdor 1154]

medieval kind of intertwined with Celtic music

fast medieval music with maybe a sort of baroque structure

Yeah, same ideas here. Folk music seems to be quite popular

Woah, I just realized how much I ranted on and on and on and on and on in that last post... sorry

[alison]

Hi Akdor - interesting question on exams. I think Bards would have been puzzled by the whole idea of exams; they would think that would make people seek knowledge for the wrong reasons - to pass exams - rather than for its own sake.

Of course, Maerad can't read music; but she has an amazing ear and memory, courtesy of Mirlad.

[Akdor 1154]

But what about not having an exam for the hell of it, but to get a good qualification?
In my case, I thoroughly enjoy music for what it is, so a job involving music heavily appeals to me. In our society, of course, it really helps to have a good qualification. The Annaren system is probably very different, though. This might be akin to someone who (graduated? I'm not sure of the system) from a School being able to get a job of more responsibility. Or maybe the Bards would want to judge the best candidate for a job on a per-situation basis?

[alison]

The Bards just wouldn't think like that. Getting a qualification would be like an abstraction of knowledge, not valuing knowledge itself. They would have ways of evaluating students, but exams wouldn't have been one of them.

[Akdor 1154]

What about choosing a candidate for a job? i.e. a teacher at a School?

[alison]

I would imagine that the Circles of the Schools would decide things like that. And being Bards, they would probably argue quite a lot. They would discuss earnestly what they knew of a Bard, probably asking a Bard's particular mentor to give a lengthy opinion, and discuss what his or her skills were, their talents, their personalities, their achievements - and finally make a decision.

[Akdor 1154]

a Bard's particular mentor

But I thought

Bards having one mentor to teach was last practiced 500 years ago

[alison]

Actually, there's not a contradiction: you will notice that young Bards always live in a particular Bard's house (Saliman, Nelac, Malgorn etc) and are thought of as that Bard's students. But they are not taught only by that Bard: they will have different mentors for different skills, eg Maerad in Innail had two teachers (Dernhil and Indik) and three in Busk (Nerili, and two others).

What Cadvan is talking about is an older system, where one young Bard would "sit at the feet" of an older Bard, outside any School system. That senior Bard would be the sole teacher.