My first competition was in the Celtic Festival of Southern Maryland on April 28, 2007. After 13 months of weekly lessons and endless hours of daily practice, my teacher decided that I should start competing. Much of the practice and lessons were spent on preparing for the competition. Due to my lack of planning, I only registered in the 2/4 March and not in Piobaireachd. We fine tuned the tuned, “Prince Charles Welcome to Lochaber”, with some glitches in the hold and cut, especially the sixteenth notes after the dotted note not existing. I was playing the notes inconsistently, but the rest was in competition form.
I arrived with my kids about thirty minutes before 9am, Marsha Bell my teacher met me as I arrived, a little worried about my time management. She was there since the band was competing and to help me tune. We immediately went to find a spot at the middle of the field among over a many pipers to warm up. I played "Sou Gan" to get my chanter and drones to settle. Played off and on for thirty minutes until the steward motioned me to come over since the piper before me had just finished. Now, the correct way to approach the judge is to wait some distance from the tent and walk towards it when he acknowledges you. Since I was ready to go, I immediately passed the tent and struck-in, looked at the steward since the judge was still writing(big hint), then preceded to play my tune. I managed to correct some of my missing notes after I caught one piper emphasizing the beats on her steps.
After playing, I thanked the judge, Sandy Jones, and with a load off my shoulder, approached my family, friends and my teacher. Everyone was happy with my playing, I was glad of not tripping and falling on my face, I survived my first competition. Marsha though it was a decent performance with some improved areas in the tune.
I went with my family to go see the rest of the festival and say hi to the band as well. I came back to see my sheet, it had an 8th place on it with good remarks except, in bold letters, “You must always tell the judge the tune you are playing”, some minor glitch on the third and forth line. Only the top six are rated, my eight came in a surprise. Overall, it was a decent score sheet with 8's out of 10 for the first time competing.
So the fun begins, competition brings everything in perspective after all the hard work with lessons and practices. My next competition will be in Williamsburg since the rest fell on my work days. I had to leave early before my band's competition. They came in third place overall. Well done!
Posts
