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I have only been performing since Oleasta of 5101 (April, 2001) and I am constantly learning from everyone around me.  There are a number of people to whom I owe debts of gratitude...
    To all of Lord Dagor's Travelling Minstrels, for encouraging me, for teaching me, and for setting the best of examples-- and sometimes the worst, but only in their drinking, never in their singing.
    To all those who support the Travelling Minstrels, by coaching us, donating door prizes, or coming to watch us perform.
    To Lord Dagor T'sarith himself, for accepting me among the Minstrels, and for then yelling at me a lot.  I promise, someday I'll learn not to rush.
    To Jacinto Quetzal, my First Guard, for standing by me always.

    The very first thing to do when getting ready to perform a song or a poem (or a story, even) is to pick what song, poem, or story you plan to perform.  (As a Minstrel, this hasn't mainly been a problem for me-- as they're assigned to me-- but it was important when I auditioned for Dagor, and for Bardfest.  This guide will focus on performance of songs, but many of the pieces of advice are appropriate to other venues.)  This isn't a guide that covers the craft of songwriting, but only performing a song already written.  For Aspis's Bardfest, you must be the author of your song; for other occasions, you may be able to use those written by others.  I have compiled a brief library of songs and poems free to general performance, which you may see here-- if you yourself are not a writer, or do not have a piece to hand, this might be useful to you.
    If you yourself are not the author of the song you wish to perform, then it is vital that you give full credit to the original author-- otherwise, you will be committing plagarism.  Similarly, should you not be the author of a song, and should you alter a song, it is important that you mention that you have altered the song-- giving someone credit for work not their own is, in its way, as bad as failing to give them credit in the first place, particularly should they disapprove of your changes.  It is wisest not to make any changes without full permission to do so by the original composer.

    The next thing to consider is the situation surrounding your performance of the song.  If you are serenading your love, or singing at a country dance, or rolling off some lyrics while tossing a few pints back, the situation will vary dramatically, and warrants a different style of performance accordingly.  This guide is written with a Bardfest performance or other competitive situation in mind, as Bardfest seems to draw the most singers out of their hidden holes.

Technical:
    -Is the composition on topic?
    -Is the composition in genre?
    -Does the composition scan well? Is there meter and rhyme?
    -If an accent is used in the piece, does it continue through out the piece?
    -Does the composition adhere to accepted grammatically correct norms?
    -How difficult is the piece?
    -Is there a beginning, middle and end to the piece?

This guide will not help you with the technical aspect-- the technical aspect is purely related to the song, poem, or story itself.

Showmanship
    -How well is the composition presented?
    -Do your actions follow the words, or are they merely placed there for something to do?
    -Are there actions at all, or is the piece presented with only verse?
    -Do you use props? If so, do you manipulate them properly and are they always present, or do they disappear without reason?
    -Do you do, sing or relate an impossible feat that your character could not possibly do?

This is the primary province of this guide.

Artistic

    -How well does the piece flow?
    -Is there imagery and if so, is it appropriate for the time and place. Is it appropriate for the piece?
    -Do you set the mood? Is it the mood that you intended?
    -Do you cause an emotional response in the audience?
    -Does the piece tell the audience how they should feel or what they are doing?

The artistic side will be addressed to the extent that it relates to performance, but will not be addressed to the extent that it relates to the initial crafting of the piece.

Judge's Preference

If I could give a guide that would say anything about this at all...!  However, judges are people as well as judges, and everyone has their own personal preference.

If the things listed are things you wish to learn to do or improve... read on.

    This is a fairly specialized guide.  This guide will describe a single method of choreographing and publically performing songs.  It is by no means the One True Way; it is merely a way, and, by describing it, I have no intention of downplaying any other styles and techniques.
    I will be using one of my own pieces, "Haunting City Streets", as an example along the way.  I have never choreographed this piece before, and it's high time I do, as I've had it on my shelf for over four months without ever bringing it up to performance level.
    Before continuing: I would hope that the following should go without saying, but I'd rather be doubly safe.  While others are free to sing this piece, the choreography I write for it is mine, and I will strenuously object if I ever see or hear of it being performed in this fashion.  In my opinion, a song may be sung by one person or another, but performing it in another person's style is another issue entirely.
    So now you have a song. What next?

1.  Instrumentation

    Pick an instrument-- or none at all.  If you only play one, you have only to choose whether or not you wish to use it.  If you play several, you will have to choose which one, period.

Advantages to an instrument:
    -It gives you something to do with your hands.
    -Music is pretty, and, in the case of a stringed instrument or a percussion instrument, you can bolster your voice and help yourself keep the rhythm and melody.

Disadvantages to an instrument:
    -Unless it's a tambourine or a set of finger cymbals, you'll have to stop playing in order to use props, or, in order to use more than one prop at a time, put it away entirely.
    -If it's a woodwind, horn, or set of bagpipes, you can't play and sing at the same time-- you'll have to play, then stop, then sing, then play some more, and so on.

    I imagine that the last listed disadvantage raises a few eyebrows.  "Why," you may be asking, "can I not play my flute and speak?  I do it all the time, all I do is type 'play flute fast' and then 'say whatever'.  It works just fine."
    In GemStone, this may be so.  Try it in real life.
    Performance is all about roleplaying.  Your character may have certain abilities beyond the mundane, such as the ability to blast the undead with firebolts or to raise the dead into life again, but simultaneously playing the flute and speaking intelligibly are (in the opinion of someone who played the bass clarinet in real life for seven years) beyond even the most talented of bards.  What may you do in your spare time (and the mysteries of Bardic spellsongs) are another matter, but this is performance, and every little thing matters.

    Having selected an instrument, go through your piece and pick where you want to play and in what style you want to play, including all the points at which you switch styles.  If you're using a percussion instrument, you may note that the only styles permitted by the automatic scripts are fast, soft, and slow.  Don't let this bother you-- if you want to play a percussion instrument in a fashion other than those permitted, there will be a way to do that discussed farther along.   The "valid" playing styles (that is, the ones that have scripts) are Joyful, Mournful, Soft, Fast, Slow, Intense, Jaunty, Flamboyant, Aimless, Somber, and Inspiring.

    If you've decided not to play an instrument, go ahead and put in stylistic markers anyway-- just write in little notes saying "sing somber here", or "sing intense here", or whatever you prefer.  This will be useful to you later.
    If you want to break off singing and speak, yell, or recite at any point, now is the time to note that.

    At this point, here is what my example piece looks like.  This is doubtlessly unimpressive.  It will improve.

2.  Props

Think about what items you might like to use to supplement your song.  In this case, a prop is any object to which you specifically draw attention; Chastity's loom, Quivalin's falchion, and Chutnee's theorbo are all examples of props.

Some reasons to use a prop:
    -Props can help form a setting-- the massive dir chair I dragged up to the front of the room for "The Winsome Drake" is an example.  I wanted to sit in a chair, and I couldn't carry a chair in with me, and there were chairs in the room description, so it seemed perfectly reasonable.
    -Props can help set a mood-- instrumental props especially, but almost anything appropriate to the piece is effective.  Chutnee's theorbo, mentioned above, is an excellent example, as is Ahmeuseng's perpetually-askew moonflower crown.
    -Props can help you to illustrate your song-- to make your audience see a tale, rather than simply hearing it.  Quivalin's falchion, mentioned above, is an excellent example, as is the ice-covered stump that Lady Ylena dragged in during her Bardfest piece this year.
    -Props can provide symbols to indirectly illustrate your song-- a rose might be symbolic of love, a candle might be symbolic of hope, or a skull might be symbolic of death.
    -Props can be purely utilitarian-- they can be included to do something.  Flasks and flagons (for the purpose of easing a dry singer's throat) are particularly Bardic, but I've also used candles to light a room, dice to gamble against my audience, and a number of other things for various straightforward purposes.

    Keep in mind that you do not need to own an object that is the prop in question.  Chastity does not own "a loom", but there is nothing to prevent her from roleplaying that one exists through the "act" and "smile" commands.  If you desperately want to use something that you simply don't have-- create it!
    Be careful to pick your props with meaning-- don't include props just because you feel as though you should have one!  I've seen many a performance with none at all that impressed me to no end, and overcluttering is a danger... at the same time, don't be afraid to use them.  You'll have to find the balance yourself.

    Once you've picked your props, decide what you want to do with them and when you want to do it-- in the general sense, no need for specifics right now.  Take simple notes, there'll be time to flesh things out later.
    If you look at your notes now, and you find that you have instrumental notes that conflict with what you want to do with your props, now is your chance to fix it-- stop playing before you use your props, then start up again after.

    Here's another glance at "Haunting City Streets."

3.  Movement

    Moving around a stage (or around the front of the room, or just around in front of your audience, depending on the setting in which you perform) is a good thing.  It makes your performance feel more vibrant and more alive.

    It may help you to print off a copy of your song, go over and stand in your living room (dorm room, hallway, lounge, den, decently-sized open area), and pretend it's your character's performance area.  If you're in a performing sort of mood, try to pretend you're your own character, and try to think about where you could move, where you could stand, how you could gesture, and so forth during each part of your song.  If not, then pretend you're the audience, pretend you're watching your character sing, and think about how and where your character could move, stand, and gesture.  Someone who just sits still, plays a lute, and sings is visually boring.  The end goal of choreographing a song is to engage your audience not only in your words but to make them imagine the performance with all their senses.

    Think about the room where you will be performing.  Most likely, there will be an area for the performance, such as a stage, and an area for the audience, such as some benches for them to sit on.  Nothing requires you to stay in the first area, if you do not wish to do so-- you can walk into or around the audience, if you wish.  There are up sides and down sides to this: on the one hand, moving into the audience makes you seem closer to them and more spontaneous, but, on the other, it gives them a chance to interact with you (which may be good or bad depending on your view) and decreases how well they can see you.

    Think about levels-- by which I mean sitting, standing, lying down, and kneeling.  Sometimes it's a good idea to stay at just one, such as standing through a whole song, but actions such as suddenly leaping to your feet or kneeling down quietly can add emotional punch.

    Take basic notes on what you want to do-- nothing too flashy; take them like you would take notes on movement for real life, not for game commands.  If you're a theatre type, then this is the piece's blocking that you're doing.  (If you've been playing far too long, and you think in game commands, that's okay too, but keep them simple.)
    Once you've finished, look back at what you do with your props and with your music and make sure that it fits with your movement.  In particular, it is very difficult to sing with any volume or to play most instruments while lying down-- something to consider strongly if you lie down at any point.

    Here are the notes on movement for "Haunting City Streets".

4.  Costuming

    Now, as many know, I'm afraid that I'm near as much taken with outfits and jewelry as Mystra, Ylena, Brownyng, or many another Elanthian lady with far more silver than I to finance her whims.  My locker is stuffed, I pay someone to store another section of my wardrobe, and there's still a spare robe, a bodice, a gown, and at least ten pieces of extra jewelry in my personal possession as I write these words (though that has a lot to do with the difficulty of tracking the aforementioned someone down when I need her.)  As a result, I change apparel every time I'm preparing for a public performance.  By "costume", I refer to the clothing that you wear to perform your piece.  This can be a simple change, such as removing your armor, tossing it in your backpack, and putting on a shirt, but I encourage people to trim down their apparel as much as possible and choose their clothing and ornamentation with performing in mind-- either performance in general, having just one spare outfit, or specifically for the piece you are about to perform.

What should be included in a performance costume?
Make sure that you have:
    -a container of some sort, be it a cloak, backpack, etc.
    -a shirt, blouse,
    -some pants or a skirt
    -most likely, shoes or sandals

...those are the only mandatory items.  Some men will even evade the shirt.
    To this, of course, you can add other things... whatever you wish... but the most important thing is not that you wear a lot, but that you think about what you wear.  Here is one example of costume choice; this was my planned costume for Bardfest 5101.  (This was the planned costume only, and I believe I trimmed it down a bit right beforehand.)

She is wearing a pure white rose, a river blue silk cloak, a pale water sapphire brooch, a bone white scabbard, a silvered moonlight satin gown, an intricate silver link bracelet, a silver filigree bracelet, a pale green moonstone ring, a diamond engagement ring, a braided silver waistchain, an embroidered sage green silk pouch, and some silver-threaded slippers.

My cittern and the incense I used was in the pouch, the longsword I used was in the scabbard I wore, and I wore the rose in my hair.

    I suspect that some people will read these words and think, "Bah, costuming is for fluffballs!", or, "I can't afford to buy a costume", or, "I can't afford the space to store a costume," or, "Where would I put the rest of my stuff?"  I will attempt to answer those questions in order.

    First off, costuming is hardly restricted to women.  It is possibly restricted to those with a touch of vanity-- but what's wrong with wanting to look your best?  By "look your best", in this case, I do not mean look pretty (though that may apply as well), but I mean for your appearance to "say" the most that you want it to say.
    If you favor diamonds and pearls, that will say something about you; if you favor blue leather and spikes, that will say something about you; if you favor runes and mudstains, that will say something about you.  If you wear sixty pieces of clothing and jewelry, that will primarily convey that you own a lot of things that you like very much but are indecisive about them.  That, too, may be in-character, but it is very difficult for someone to look at sixty items of wardrobe and read them rapidly... as you see, fluffbunnying is hardly the point.
    Some more thoughts about general effective wardrobe choice may be found here, along with some examples of well-designed wardrobes.  While the examples presented are examples of everyday Elanthian wardrobes, they would serve for the most part as good performance costumes as well (minus, most likely, the armor).

Some reasons to costume for a performance:
    -It helps convey the personality of your character.
    -It helps people picture what your character looks like.
    -It helps set the mood of your piece.
    -It can be theatrically useful-- if you've ever seen Lady Brookwyn dress to talk about her dog Tragor, this is a perfect example.  (Unfortunately, I don't have a frozen image of her outfit.)
    -Bardfest judges do notice costuming.  (Confirmed by Lord Dagor, the head judge of Bardfest.)

Some reasons not to costume for a performance:
    -It's a lot of work.

...but writing a song is a lot of work, and performing is a lot of work.  At that point-- why go by halves?  Why not do the best you can?

    As for "I can't afford to buy a costume"-- with patience and a willingness to adapt, a great deal can be done within very limited means.  The clothier's in Wehnimer's is surprisingly versatile for basic clothing, lacking only in skirts and pants... though, I will grant, those are a fairly serious concern(!).  However, with some patience, one can find a decent skirt or set of pants carried by an Elanthian creature, which will require only a bit of laundering to be perfectly suitable.

    The space issues are a bit more serious, if your locker is already full.  Many people are lucky enough to hire porters or to have siblings or cousins who will carry some of their extra possessions (though I cringe to think how my siblings and cousins might react if I tried the same!).  Others are members of Houses or are Four Winds members or both, and both lead to dramatically increased locker space.  If you have serious space issues and you do not perform frequently, then you may wish to consider organizing and buying (or borrowing) your outfit only immediately before your performance, and discarding, re-selling, or returning it immediately after.

If you'd like to check over the costuming notes for "Haunting City Streets", here they are.

5.  Choreography

At this point, it's time to go through and turn your notes into game commands.  Having a wide and working knowledge of roleplaying verbs in GemStone III is important for this.  Personally, when I need a refresher, I go back and look at Eratika's Incredibly Lengthy Verb List-- there are a number of other verb lists out there, but this is my personal favorite.

Two often underappreciated commands that I use routinely in performance:
    -Stride.  This command will permit you to take a few steps to your left, to take a few steps to your right, to walk forward, to walk backward, and so forth.
    -Turn.  This command will permit you to turn around or to turn towards people-- both very useful.
Both of these commands will help you to "position" yourself somewhere on the stage or in the room.

You will often find yourself in a situation in which you look at your choreography and say, "But there isn't a command for that!"  At this point, depending on the situation, there are three extremely useful commands that may help you.
    1.  Smile.  If you type "smile", whatever you type after "smile" will come out just as you typed it, for the most part.  The catch is that smiling often isn't appropriate.
        >smile as she walks slowly forward until halting at the edge of the stage.
        Tanager smiles as she walks slowly forward until halting at the edge of the stage.
    2.  Act.  This is the most versatile and the most artificial at the same time-- anything that you type after "act" will show, but the parentheses are distracting.
        >act walks slowly forward until halting at the edge of the stage.
        (Tanager walks slowly forward until halting at the edge of the stage.)
    3.  Say.  This is quite possibly the most difficult, as, in order to manipulate it properly, you must say something both before and after you act-- putting quotation marks in the middle will pause it, let you do what you want to do, and let you start again.  This works best in introductions and conclusions (addressed later) or when telling a story; speaking suddenly in the middle of a song is problematic.
        >say Well."  She walks slowly forward until halting at the edge of the stage.  "As it happens, that was not the end of the matter...."
        Tanager says, "Well."  She walks slowly forward until halting at the edge of the stage.  "As it happens, that was not the end of the matter...."

Go over the full text of your performance to date and set it up so that everything is in game commands.  Make sure at this point that you set up your verses with "sing" or "recite" and that you separate them with semicolons, and, should you have any "impossible" instrument playing, go ahead and put in acts and smiles to fix the matter.

Here's a choreographed version of "Haunting City Streets"...
... but perhaps the most important step comes next.

6.  Personalization

    This is the part where things get really interesting.
    Up until this point, this could have been anyone's performance-- there isn't anything to show who is performing.  The script above could be performed by a burly giantman cleric or a tiny halfling rogue or a sensual sylvan warrior or a feral half-elven ranger.  There is a certain sense of personality, yes-- but the personality that comes through is related far more to the song than to the character singing.

Some useful questions to ask yourself before continuing:
    -How does your character feel about performing?  Is he or she confident about it, or is this more of an experiment?
    -Is your character good at performing?  Does he or she have any experience or training?
    -What size audience makes your character comfortable?
    -In what styles is your character comfortable performing?  (comic, dramatic, romantic, tragic, historic, instrumental only, dance, juggling, so forth....)
    -How does your character feel about the piece he or she has chosen?  What is his or her emotional reaction?  Does he or she like it or dislike it?
    -What stands out most about your character to the eyes of a stranger?  ...what features are most distinctive?
    -How well does your character control his or her face and show or hide his or her real emotions?
    -What does your character's voice sound like?
    -How does your character move?  Are there any noteworthy physical characteristics?

It may be helpful to see an example set of answers, so here are the answers for Tanager Skydancing....
    -She is fairly confident in her skill, but audiences still scare her badly, because the approval of others is very important to her, and the disapproval of others can be very painful.
    -She is quite skilled as an actress, singer, and performer.  She is primarily self-taught, but has learned as well from the Minstrels and from Dagor.  However, she still makes some fairly brutal goofs sometimes.
    -She is comfortable with formal performances in front of a very large audience (over thirty people) or informal performances in front of a very small audience (under five people)-- but fifteen people or thereabouts make her uncomfortable, because she can't determine how formal she ought to be, especially if she doesn't know them very well.
    -She likes singing pretty things that will show off her voice, and leans towards romances, dramas, and tragedies.  She dislikes singing songs she sees as "silly" in public-- it's embarrassing, no matter how much the audience may enjoy it, and she always gets more scared of audience disapproval during comic pieces because she has difficulty determining whether they're laughing with her or at her.
    -She would like "Haunting City Streets"-- it suits her style.  Also, due to various events in her past, she empathizes strongly with the perspective of the song, and it evokes an emotional reaction in her.
    -She is a dark elf.  She is only 5'1" or so, and quite slender.  Her eyes are a very distinctive violet-sapphire color.  Her black hair also draws attention; she keeps it in long thin braids.  She may be in her 50's according to the game, but she looks younger than her years, especially with her "extremely modest" cleavage.  She is highly uncomfortable wearing anything over her legs besides long, swirling skirts (no pants, no short skirts.)
    -She has years of skill at keeping her own emotions and true feelings masked.  This becomes particularly useful during performance, when she can generally convey whatever she wants to.  In particular, she can prevent herself from responding to physical pain.  (Tanager performed one piece for the first time at the River's Rest Goat Festival while suffering from a rather nasty fever and a good touch of vertigo.)
    -She has a surprisingly pure soprano voice-- sweet, but not shrill, with a warm tone, especially as it drifts into her lower ranges.  Her pitch is perfect or very near.
    -While typically graceful, she is prone to the sort of nasty spill that only the perennially-graceful make, but she can generally recover without bruises to anything more than her dignity.  She is extremely agile, but not very strong, and prone to overestimate her own strength and stamina alike.

    Once you've given some thought to the list of answers you build for your own character, then consider how these things will affect your character when performing.  Make sure that the characteristics of your character come forward-- look particularly at your acts and your smiles, and take the opportunity to establish how your character looks and sounds.  (If your character has a roleplaying accent, and you haven't already rewritten the song to conform to it, now is the time.)  Feel like adding some more drama in?  Go for it.  Up until this point, you've been focusing on expressing the song, but this is your chance to express yourself.
    ...and if something you've done before doesn't fit, or doesn't feel right, or doesn't flow... nothing is irrevocable, and nothing is permanent.

    You may also wish to consider whether or not you wish to use instrument scripts at all.  While they are very pretty, they are not reliable-- the "aimless" script is particularly prone to spitting out unexpected messaging at odd times, but any of the other scripts (woodwind and necked stringed in particular) may suddenly send out a message about heading into a chorus or repeating a verse-- and this can look particularly odd if you've just left a chorus, if there aren't any choruses, or if you have no intention of repeating a verse.
    If you decide that the instrument scripts are too unpredictable, but you still wish to use an instrument, then the thing to do is to write your own using smile or act.  The original instrument scripts serve as useful inspiration for writing your own, but be careful not to dictate your audience's emotions, opinions, or reactions.  Even though the original music scripts are very free with telling listeners how they feel about the music being played, it is bad form when performing to tell your audience-- because there will always be someone who disagrees, and, even if there isn't, it's rude to tell someone about the smile breaking over their face or the tears forming in their eyes.  They can smile, tear up, laugh, or shiver with fear all on their own.  Evoke emotion; don't force it.
    For some pieces, I use instrument scripts; for some, I don't.  You'll have to decide on your own what's best.

    It is just as possible to overchoreograph as underchoreograph a piece, though the latter mistake is far more common.  How can you tell whether you've over- or under- performed?  It's a judgement call, and one which I am only slowly learning to make myself, as I swung initially to the underperforming side and now to the contrast.  If I knew a firm, solid rule, I'd give you one, but I'm still figuring everything out myself.  The most important rule I can offer, as things stand, isto remember that the goal of performance is to support the song (or poem, or story).  Performance requires a great deal of work, but it should not replace or utterly overwhelm the piece being performed.

"Haunting City Streets", with a personal touch.

7.  Introductions and Conclusions

(Now we're getting down towards the end.)
    It's important to have an introduction and a conclusion to this piece.  By this, I don't mean the old essayist's strategem of tell them what you're going to present, present it, and then tell them what you presented-- I mean that it's important to let an audience know when you're beginning, so they have a signal to hush before you start, and then to let them know when you've finished, to let them know it's all right now to applaud.

The important elements of an introduction:
    -Move yourself from the audience to the performance area... or, if you plan to perform in the audience, make that clear too.
    -If any props need to be placed on the ground before your performance, put them there.
    -(optional) Introduce yourself.  Someone has probably already announced your name to the audience, but it doesn't hurt to do so again.
    -Give the title of your piece, including credit to the author if you didn't write it.
    -(optional) Say something about your piece-- some pieces need some explanation.  Others don't.

The important elements of a conclusion:
    -Make it clear to the audience that your piece is over.  Curtsying or bowing usually works well, as does thanking the audience for listening.
    -Move yourself from the performing area back into the audience, and sit back down.

You may wish to include a reminder note to yourself in your introduction to glance at your hands before you start performing.  If you're holding something, and you forget about it, your life will be fairly odd when you go to reach for a prop.  I once saw a very famous Bard play an entire song on the lute without remembering to put his beer away first.  If anyone can do it, I believe this Bard can, but I don't think anyone else in Elanthia is so skilled.

Another look at "Haunting City Streets"....

8.  Polish
    Polish is the frosting on the cake.  Despite having all the Big Important steps accomplished at this point, there are three more things to do before considering your piece performance-ready.

    First, examine your spelling and your grammar-- in particular, every 'act' and 'smile' command should have perfect grammar and spelling.  The objective is to blend the parts you wrote as seamlessly as possible with the game enviroment, and, to those with an eye for such things, either of these will stand out like a sore thumb.  If you yourself don't spell very well, go ahead and run your performance through a spellchecker.  If you have rewritten the song to fit with a roleplayed accent, make sure the accent is consistent.  Make sure that your capitalization is consistent and correct, and, unless you have very specific reason why, make sure that your sentences end with periods-- ending an action with a question mark or an exclamation point can be very distracting.

    Secondly, look back over your piece and see whether you have made the mistake either of telling people what they think or feel about your song or the mistake of doing something you are incapable of doing.  Both are often judgement calls.
    In the case of the first, a good rule of thumb is that anything that uses the word "you" is a mistake.  While there are exceptions to any rule, telling each and every member of the audience that they do, see, hear, or believe something will almost always evoke a "No I don't!" response, either internal or voiced.  Make sure to show people, rather than telling them-- if you do a good enough job, if you convince people well enough, then they will respond as you wish them to respond.
    In the case of the second-- there are a number of people who roleplay their character to have abilities or magics beyond those offered within the mechanics of the game.  (Some of my favorite people are on that list; it can make for very interesting roleplay.)  However, convincing an audience of strangers that those abilities exist is far more difficult than convincing a few close friends to accept them.  The degree to which you suspend your disbelief does matter.  I once called on my profession for a special effect in a performance dealing with the nature of fire, reasoning that a wizard attuned to that element should be able to manifest a candle flame at will (considering that I can manifest a powerful and deadly flamebolt at will to destroy zombies, it seems not so unreasonable that I can light a candle.)  So far as I know, no one particularly objected.  Had I levitated, transformed myself magically into a dragon, or summoned up mysterious creatures out of the depths of the sea to dance around in tutu costumes, I imagine the audience would have been far less willing to accept my view of reality.

    Thirdly, as horrifying as this may be to some people... rehearse your piece at least once.  If you walk onto the stage cold for the first time, you'll find all the mistakes that you would have caught if you'd rehearsed.  You may not wish to include elaborate costuming when you do, but do include your props-- I once ran a piece cold and realized to my horror partway through that I was about to need three hands.  Rehearsal will also help you spot any mistakes you've made particularly in movement-- for example, kneeling down and forgetting ever to add a note in the choreography to stand back up... that was embarrassing, and fortunately also not public.

At this point-- you're done.  You have a piece.

And so do I.  And here, performed from a distance, is the final rendition of "Haunting City Streets" (or will be just as soon as I record it.)

If you're very serious about Bardfest or another performance competition, you may seriously want to consider having not one, but two pieces prepared-- cover all your bases.  Sometimes it seems as though every performer has mutually decided to pick the same style of song-- and an entire night of only one sort of song can be very wearing on a set of judges, whether that sort is dirges, militaristic songs, historically-based songs, love songs, or any other variety.  Giving the judges a breath of fresh air will please the judges and please your audience alike-- though you'll have to make sure that your costuming remains identical between the two songs, as suddenly begging time to run out and change clothing is unlikely to go over well.  Pretend you intended to perform the one you did all along, and never breathe a word of the second.

When you are actually performing, there are a number of ways to transfer your work from the performance you've created into the game.  (Obviously, attempting to type your piece in at speed will not work well-- after all, you set it up beforehand for a reason!)  Some performers set up an intensive macro list, each with a different action that should be completed, and go through it in some sort of easily-remembered order (QWERTY, for example.)  Most commonly, top performers write scripts for the Wizard Front End.  I myself am utterly incompetent and unfamiliar with scripting; I much prefer to copy and paste from Notepad.  (The keystroke combinations Alt-Tab, Ctrl-C, and Ctrl-V are my friends.)

Speed is critical to the successful performance of a poem or song-- going too fast or too slowly can cripple a piece horribly.  I speak as an offender; when I perform, I get very excited, and, since I don't have a script controlling my timing, adrenaline makes me rush.  (To be honest, I prefer it that way-- not rushed, but with something to do besides just hit "go" on my script.  It feels more real to me, though I am struggling horribly with the speed problem.)  The best thing to do, especially at Bardfest, is to read your song or poem aloud, word by word, as you go-- because many of the judges are reading it aloud as well-- it's quite difficult for those who don't eat, sleep, and breathe scansion to check your meter without reading it aloud.  Actions may be given slightly less time-- counting two seconds or so after each normal action (sit, stand, stretch) and three seconds or so after every elaborate action (smile, act) seems to work well.

It's a long way from the start to the finish of a piece.  The technique described above is only one among many-- but it is, I firmly believe, one that works.  Whether you find use in it or merely inspiration, I wish you well in whatever course you take.  May the Bardic Lord bless you.

By my hand, heart, and soul,
    Tanager Skydancing CorFine Verethundi
 

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