Fri Sep 2 - I'm happy to say I've completed all my paperwork preparation for tomorrows Bardic Competition. I narrowed down the English Lute songs to just two possible candidates. And then when I re-read the lyrics, I felt comfortable making one of them my "period song" (from history, with research documentation and sources cited) and making the other one the example of a piece "on the topic of Virtue."

So at home I took the time to write up all three pieces in my musical notation software, with the melody line at the top of the page and all the lyrics below, for each song. Then I wrote a quick one-page per-song documentation piece, explaining not only where the song came from but also a little about why I selected this song to perform and what liberties I took in the notation. Each song had to be changed slightly, in my opinion. Flieg's song was notated in 6/4 time, but my software did not have that as an option so I re-wrote it in 3/4. Also, he used an "alto-clef" and I switched it to a "treble-clef"—and unless you're a music geek and already know what I'm talking about, don't worry about it.

The virtue song and the other English lute song had some really long breaks/rests in a few lines, and I'm much more comfortable singing it more condensed. I'll be singing by myself with no accompaniment, so I thought it best to move the song along and not wait for the non-existent lute instrumental breaks. (hee hee)

All I have left to do is print the directions to the site, find the local motels in the area and get a reservation so I don't have to pack any camping equipment, and then pack a few sets of clothes. Then a quick stop at Kinko's tonight or tomorrow, to make copies of my documentation, and I'm ready to go.

It feels so nice to have actually prepared for the competition. Now all I have to do is memorize the lyrics to the third song and review the lyrics I've memorized to the first two, and I'm all set. Wish me luck!
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Talk about really prepared in advance. I've now been off to Kinko's and made copies of all my documentation for the competition. (I've no idea how many judges there are, so I made 10 copies of everything. I'm sure this is overkill.)

Then I got the directions to the event, booked a hotel online, printed directions from the event to the hotel, and printed a map of the local restaurants near the hotel.

I've never been quite so prepared for an event before. Where is the pod and what have you done with the real me?

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Recently Listening to: Barenaked Ladies "Maroon"