It took me a while to figure out the answer to this one. On the one hand, my mom tells the story that when I was three years old, at my daycare's Passover seder, I wound up hogging the mic and singing most of the songs when no one else wanted to. So in that sense, I've been a performer for a long time.
But I think when I really adopted the title of "bard," it was late 2003 / early 2004. I'd been in the SCA for four or five years by that point and had enjoyed doing bardic, but mostly as one of the "sing along in the chorus" people. However, at around that time, we found out that one of the group's more prominent bards was moving away, and I vowed to memorize all his popular songs so they wouldn't get forgotten.
When I went to Pennsic in 2004, I subtitled my journal "The Pennsic of a newbie bard." I started writing my own songs in early 2004, and I went to Pennsic that year (in August) with a request sheet of about a dozen songs I could do from memory. Since then, it's expanded to around 50 and a heck of a lot more if I've got my book on me.
I was first called "Pocket Bard" a few years ago at Pennsic by my campmates (I think it was 2007) because we already had a "bitty bard" in camp, and I'm small enough to fit in your pocket.
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syntheid
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Date: 2009-10-24 12:44 am (UTC)But I think when I really adopted the title of "bard," it was late 2003 / early 2004. I'd been in the SCA for four or five years by that point and had enjoyed doing bardic, but mostly as one of the "sing along in the chorus" people. However, at around that time, we found out that one of the group's more prominent bards was moving away, and I vowed to memorize all his popular songs so they wouldn't get forgotten.
When I went to Pennsic in 2004, I subtitled my journal "The Pennsic of a newbie bard." I started writing my own songs in early 2004, and I went to Pennsic that year (in August) with a request sheet of about a dozen songs I could do from memory. Since then, it's expanded to around 50 and a heck of a lot more if I've got my book on me.
I was first called "Pocket Bard" a few years ago at Pennsic by my campmates (I think it was 2007) because we already had a "bitty bard" in camp, and I'm small enough to fit in your pocket.