Over the years of performing my reconstructions of Beowulf and the Eddic poems, I have often given presentations about my work, either in the form of a pre-concert talk or as a question-and-answer session following the performance. I am always struck by one enormous difference between these two formats; there are usually just some general and hesitant questions before the performance (“Is it like Gregorian chant?”), but afterwards, a genuinely critical dialogue often ensues, provoked by what the listeners have just experienced, and by their curiosity— or in some cases, consternation—about my working process. I amgrateful for the ease with which the listeners can comprehend what I have to say about my work after having heard the performance itself. A brief demonstration of a spoken or sung text, a modal gesture played on the harp, or a visual examination of the instrument itself, can only make sense in the context of performance, and can hardly be replaced by written words. In this same spirit, the following “notes from the workshop” attempt to provide some background on my work with epic and narrative, much as I would do following a performance (my remarks are generally not intended for an expert, medievalist audience, but rather for listeners who come to medieval epic performance for the first time). In this format, however, the crucial element of sound itself—the audible and visual presence of performer and instrument in live performance—will be lacking. So I aim to find a common ground—a workshop—where listeners (and potential listeners) can meet with the performer, where practical issues confronting a modern-day “singer of tales” can be discussed plainly, so that the listener can examine some of the factors leading to one possible reconstruction of medieval epic poetry in performance.

Regardless of the historical period of music which interests us, the concept of “historically informed performance” thrives on the conviction that today's performers can find knowledge and instruction in the documentation which has survived from past musical practices: musical notation, descriptions of performance situations, treatises, methods, visual representations of music-making, playable instruments, etc. Unfortunately, all of this documentation, which we performers assiduously track down and study, is still missing the one crucial element of musical performance that we would most need and desire to possess: the actual sound, the presence of a living master.