The Bard- A personal observation

[Sixchan]

Re: Re: Re: The Bard- A personal observation

I disagree....Celtic Bards most likely only learned poetry; however, the name "Bard" may come from those people, but medieval and renaissance bards (even if they were not called Bards) knew many differing performance styles.

Take a look at those minstrals who spread the Authurian legend or Chaucer. Those individuals were very much like the DnD bard. Chaucer played music, composed prose, recited his work orally, served as a teacher for royal children, a diplomatic envoy etc. He served a variety of functions.

Dave

I wouldn't call that long enough ago to be Ancient...

 

[Apok]

It's been mentioned before, but I think that Lord Byron would be an excellent model for a Bard. Sir Thomas More as well.

 

[I'm A Banana]

More to the point, perhaps, it's not in a Bard's idiom to specialize...their entire schtick is to be not specialized.

I guess allowing several sub-categoreis of Perform is the best option, I think...as Henry and others have done...because an infinate number of potential types just seems...unrealistic to me. And nothing stops a bard from having ranks in many different types of performance.

 

[Shadoe's Lady]

As someone that plays the oboe, I am reasonably confident that, with a bit of practice, I could play a flute given a little time, because I know that the fingerings are very similar. Likewise, as a clarinet player I could pick up an alto saxophone and play it with a bit of work, because clarinet and sax fingerings are fairly similar.

I could not, however, pick up a violin and play it without a lot of hard work, dedication, and practice.

You might surprise yourself.

Learning how to play an instrument and playing it well enough to impress a crowd are not the same thing. I can learn how to play any instrument quickly, because to my brain music is music and the particular instrument is not important, but the other takes practice.

A D&D Bard isn't bound by the same constraints as todays musicians. Learning several performance arts is very time consuming and most modern people just don't have that kind of time. They have to balance their "music" time with things like a job, food, a wife & kids, mortgage payments, bills, insurance, etc.

Whether I'm me or my bard there are always other things to balance-after all, the bard's out there adventuring, right? Isn't she supposed to be helping the party? She doesn't spend all her time on practice and performance. Amount of time available is not the issue.