The internet is really, really great

[mayhap]

i just noticed that Timmy Vitz's Performing Medieval Narrative Today website is partially live. (It probably has been for a while and I just didn't notice because I was waiting for her to send us an email or something.)

I don't see videos from the class I participated in last semester, but it does include videos from her earlier students, plus some other good stuff like a traditional Hilali performer singing a medieval Egyptian epic and Benjamin Bagby performing Beowulf. This means you are spared any and all instances of me making a fool out of myself in front of the camera, but also that you don't get to hear the Roland and Oliver song. The Roland and Oliver song was fantastic. I assure you that if the Roland and Oliver song becomes available in the future, I will let you know.

Comments

[aesc.livejournal.com]

Yay!

I can't remember if she was involved in it, but at the K'Zoo Congress this year I sat in on an excellent discussion of performing medieval narratives as a teaching technique. A website was mentioned, and a mailing list proposed... Even if this isn't the same thing, it's nice to see medieval drama and narrative being promoted.

[ajodasso.livejournal.com]

The Roland and Oliver song was fantastic. I assure you that if the Roland and Oliver song becomes available in the future, I will let you know.

The...Roland and Oliver Song? What is this? I must know about it. Is it excerpts from the Chanson de Roland, or something just about the two of them?

[mayhap]

Yeah, when we were all performing passages from the Chanson, this one guy turned his into a folky song and brought in his guitar and played it for us and it was very cool and very catchy. My memory is atrocious and my books are all at home, but I believe the chorus (which we all joined in on) went like so:

Well, Sir Roland is brave and Sir Oliver is wise
They're fighting an army that's twelve times their size
The [mumble mumble don't quite recall] sun in the sky
They ride forth to battle though they're sure to die

You might very well have a better idea than I do what I'm actually talking about here. ;)