Second competition in Williamsburg Second Place Piobaireachd

My second competition was in Williamsburg Va. on September 9, 2007. I came down Friday to my mother-in-law's house which was not very far from the event. My son accompanied me and was promised a good shopping spree at the games after the event.

The weather the next day was perfect, slightly warm in the sun and cool in the shade. We arrived almost an hour early, checked in and went to find the tent for my first event, 2/4 march. I was having issues with rushing the 16th notes before the d-throws coming into the games. So my game plan was to play it safely and make each note standout. I talked briefly with one competitor who did not have his band mate to tune him, he did not asked so I did not volunteer. We chatted until I had to do my routine warm up, wished him luck and off I went. The result was disastrous, not only did it slow down the tempo, it killed my expression on the phrases. The judge wrote that it was too slow for his taste but it had potential. I felt as if I was playing in slow motion, I also had to adjust my march since I started to far to right of the judge.

It was another 30 minutes before going to the piobaireachd tent. I played my pipes every 5 minutes and tuned constantly. When it was time, I made sure Sandy Jones knew that I was playing "The little Spree" this time, did not tell him my tune in Maryland. I thought my drones sounded perfect, but since I was given time to tune, I touched the middle tenor and it seemed like it was slightly off. Now the pressure is on, keep tuning or start since it was close to being tuned. Chose the latter and proceeded, I went through with my teacher about the long notes and holding the end notes. I also played Donald Macleod all week just to make sure. It seemed that the middle drone was slightly off and it bothered me for a second and just ignored it as I marched. I kept my blowing steady and played the tune very relaxed. After playing, thanked Sandy and off I went with my son to go shopping. The weapons tent with swords and daggers was a hit.

After going around shopping, we went back to the main tent and check on my results, did not place in 2/4 march and piobaireachd was not finished, so off we went for the next spree. We came back to check on the piob result and since my 2/4 march was poorly executed, my goal is to get my piob paper and go to the movies after lunch. My son found the paper, and told me that I came in second place. Unbelievable, great comments from Sandy Jones, wrote on 3 and 4 that the note on the grips was held a little too long but overall it was played very well. I called my teacher and wife to announce the good news and off we went for lunch and the movie.
Lesson learned, play the tempo that was natural in practice and just go for it. Playing safe did not help the tune at all.