The Clan Lord Sentinel

General information:
- All songs should be original works. Don't use music written by others. Duh.
- Your music should demonstrate a good understanding of melody, harmony, rhythm, and song contruction.
- You will be less likely to pass with avant-gadre pieces than you would be with pieces in 'normal' keys in common time signatures (such as 4/4, 3/4, 6/8, etc.). You have to know the rules before you can break them.
- Your compositions should convey a mood, or tell a story, or create a texture.
- All songs must have titles. (even if they're "Untitled 1-4")
- Your songs should be written for solo performance. Duets and Trios are generally inappropriate for auditions.
- Your songs should take advantage of the uniqueness of your instrument. For example, music for stringed instruments should include chords.
- Your personal presentation and character will be considered.

Quester audition:
- Four songs to be played.
- All the songs must be for one instrument.
- An instrument will be provided by the judges.
- We aren't expecting genius here, just a basic understanding of the basics of music and composition.
- It's customary for a hopeful to meet with a bard before arranging their audition, as the bard can help the hopeful determine whether they are ready to audition, and provide instruction in a variety of areas including commands and syntax.

Full Bard audition:
- No less than four songs, no more than six. These songs must be different than the songs used for the quester audition.
- These songs may be played on any instruments the quester has had Hendrux make for them.
- A greater degree of skill is required to pass this audition. You are unlikely to pass without well-developed pieces of music.

Hello fellow bards and visitors,

I passed my auditions some time ago. But I still think, that there should be a few changes.

1st:

- Your songs should be written for solo performance. Duets and Trios are generally inappropriate for auditions.
- All the songs must be for one instrument.

___________________________
>> Why do you limit "wannabe-bards/questers" this much?? Why don't you give them the chance to develop and get a better feeling for ALL instruments? Why don't you let them experience, how difficult it is, to write a duet? And if they still try and get something nice - why don't let them get the honours at an audition?


2nd:

- These songs may be played on any instruments the quester has had Hendrux make for them.

___________________________
>> Again, the apprentices are limited, where they should have more freedom. I had maybe 2-3 self-made instruments on my full-bard-audition... And that's not enough... You may say: "Well, then wait a bit longer until you have the right parts." Then I say: "If you do this to new bards, they will lose their motivation and so on."


Please change this! I really don't understand these rules and I can't think of any good reason to keep them. If there are reasons, please tell them.

Greetings,
Ojesi

The Orga Drum for one, is a fine instrument with it's own sound. I still don't understand why rim shots and the crack of a stick on the side aren't included in the instrument's repertoire.

Hi, Ojesi! I'll try to answer your questions as best I can. There's a simple and a more complex answer to each of your suggestions.

In regards to quester auditions, the simple answer is that due to the way the code works, it's only possible to lend one instrument at a time. The complex answer is that an understanding of multiple instruments isn't something that is looked for in questers, so it isn't worth changing the code for; the judges are only looking for a basic understanding of music. By limiting wannabes to one instrument we can keep the requirements manageable for a real neophyte, and keep the focus of the audition on the important part (ability to write music) rather than on extraneous things like knowledge of instrumentation. Essentially, being able to use more than one instrument wouldn't really improve the auditions because that's not what the judges are looking for.

In regards to full bard auditions, the simple answer is that it is impossible for questers to play instruments they haven't had made for them. The complex answer is that the Quest is supposed to be a personal journey, something that you might get help with but is ultimately your own (although admittedly it's shorter than it was back in CL's prime). Maybe all you've got is an ocarina, but dammit! it's YOUR ocarina. Part of the quest is learning to write for the instrument(s) you have. Although nothing is preventing you from writing for other instruments you aspire to possessing, to pass your audition you'll have to use only the resources you have available. That's part of the challenge. Plus, being able to play any instrument is one of the perks of being a full bard. (In fact, full bards only was a necessary condition of instrument trading being allowed in the first place.) Don't think "I don't have the right instrument, I can't audition," think "I have this instrument, what can I do with it?"

In regards to duets and trios at auditions.... well, if you're good enough to write a duet and have the technical skill to be able to perform it without incident at your full bard audition, nobody's going to mark you down for it. But at the same time, duet and trio writing is a specialized skill that's above and beyond what's required of full bards. If you can do that, you can certainly write four decent solo tunes.


Basically, what I'm trying to say here is that we aren't trying to discourage wannabes from trying a variety of instruments or questers from trying to write duets or trios, but we're not encouraging it either as other skills are more important to develop at those points in a composer's development. They can be fun, certainly, but that fun hopefully isn't diminished by not being included in these arbitrary tests presided over by the bard dictatorship. That, and technical limitations exist.

Hello Coriakin,
thank you for your fast and detailed answer. I do understand, that new bards have to be tested before they become bards. But I still don't understand why you make it so hard for them? Ok, I'll ask my questions on your text.

Coriakin wrote:Hi, Ojesi! I'll try to answer your questions as best I can. There's a simple and a more complex answer to each of your suggestions.

In regards to quester auditions, the simple answer is that due to the way the code works, it's only possible to lend one instrument at a time. (But you can give it back and get a new one, can't you?) The complex answer is that an understanding of multiple instruments isn't something that is looked for in questers (but it also isn't something, that is not pleasing), so it isn't worth changing the code for; the judges are only looking for a basic understanding of music. By limiting wannabes to one instrument we can keep the requirements manageable for a real neophyte, and keep the focus of the audition on the important part (ability to write music) rather than on extraneous things like knowledge of instrumentation. Essentially, being able to use more than one instrument wouldn't really improve the auditions because that's not what the judges are looking for.

In regards to full bard auditions, the simple answer is that it is impossible for questers to play instruments they haven't had made for them. They can. Thanks to mTooth and CLTH. The complex answer is that the Quest is supposed to be a personal journey, something that you might get help with but is ultimately your own (although admittedly it's shorter than it was back in CL's prime). Maybe all you've got is an ocarina, but dammit! it's YOUR ocarina. Part of the quest is learning to write for the instrument(s) you have. Although nothing is preventing you from writing for other instruments you aspire to possessing, to pass your audition you'll have to use only the resources you have available. That's part of the challenge. Plus, being able to play any instrument is one of the perks of being a full bard. (In fact, full bards only was a necessary condition of instrument trading being allowed in the first place.) Don't think "I don't have the right instrument, I can't audition," think "I have this instrument, what can I do with it?" (My problem with this would be: I didn't find a single one of my instrument parts on my own. Though I searched a lot. So if there weren't all those great people giving them to me, I would still be a quester.)

In regards to duets and trios at auditions.... well, if you're good enough to write a duet and have the technical skill to be able to perform it without incident at your full bard audition, nobody's going to mark you down for it. But at the same time, duet and trio writing is a specialized skill that's above and beyond what's required of full bards. If you can do that, you can certainly write four decent solo tunes. (That's true, but trios sometimes sound a lot better. )


Basically, what I'm trying to say here is that we aren't trying to discourage wannabes from trying a variety of instruments or questers from trying to write duets or trios, but we're not encouraging it either as other skills are more important to develop at those points in a composer's development. (In my opinion, bards should be the judging part and not some kind of teacher, who tells the wannabes what to do and what not to do. But that's just my humble opinion...) They can be fun, certainly, but that fun hopefully isn't diminished by not being included in these arbitrary tests presided over by the bard dictatorship. That, and technical limitations exist.

I hope, I could help you understand my point of view,
Ojesi

I'll throw my two cents in.

1) The lending code as far as I know is fairly archaic and has a few bugs in it probably. What you might be able to do is be lent an instrument, perform, leave the bard hall (This returns the instrument to its owner), and then be re-lent an instrument, although I may recall some sort of cooldown being placed on it to prevent bard masters from loaning out their entire instrument library to a single person. I'm not sure. Regardless, kind of not enjoyable to leave the bard hall for each new song in your performance.

2) The aim of an audition isn't to please. It's to prove you have a core competency in at least one instrument. If you play each song with a different instrument, you haven't demonstrated that. After you're a bard, you can hold concerts to your hearts delight to entertain, but while you are being judged, concentration and depth in skill is admired more than a schizophrenic desire to show your audience everything under the sun.

3) Sure, but the real pleasure comes from playing your music to a crowd after you've earned the privilege. Music in CL has always had a sort of "privilege" air around it, because it was recognized that it could be used to abuse others (playing annoying music, making someone turn off their sound, spamming them with notes, etc etc). As such, all of us old timers grew up with it with that in mind. It may not be as much of a problem, mostly because administrative controls are in place and because the character of those auditioning is generally not considered questionable (Fun fact, someone has before been denied entry to the Bards Guild whose music would have otherwise qualified them, for being someone of questionable moral character)

4) Lucky you, some of us spent years looking for even a single part. Though frankly, I bet I had more fun in my quest than you did I remember my time fondly

5) Sure, they do. You can play em all you like after you pass the "core competency" test. It's like learning to drive, .. You might get your license, but that only means you are "good enough", it doesn't qualify you to drive in pro race. Maybe you still have a lot more things to learn and practice. Duets and trios is a nice reward to work with after you prove you can handle solos. By restricting the conditions of your advancement, we've given you an adequate challenge, provided a level playing field for grading, and can establish a baseline for how good you should be. In the real world, don't people generally hate subjectivity in their exams?

6) I get what you are saying, I just find that there is a lot of roleplaying potential in the Bard Meritocracy such as it is and that we have quite a rich history / tradition / culture that is unique to any other game in this regard, and it's probably one of the things I like most about CL. If everyone could just jump on and do/play whatever they want, however they want, to everyone in the game all the time, as many instruments as they want, right from the beginning, it would completely destroy the feeling of passing your audition (finally! .. Some of us failed a couple times you know!) and remove any specialness we have here. I mean, Bards afford a lot of respect in the CL community. People love music and the people who write it are really awesome. I think it's best they get to enjoy a quest befitting their potential skill, something that makes them work hard and think and really earn it. Sure, some might call it draconian, but I think it does ourselves a disservice to cheapen the quest.

All in good fun, just my opinions, etcetc.

All of the above being said, I believe the rules have been bent on several occasions for various people in various circumstances, so it's not really as strict as it might sound.