First competition wrapup

If you have a good memory and have been paying attention, you would have noticed that the counter on my blog expired yesterday morning at about 10:00, and I was counting down to my first solo piping competition. The counter has now been reset for my next competition at the Loch Norman Highland Games in Charlotte, NC.

The day was an interesting one, a combination of ups and downs. The band bus arrived about 8:15 am, and I got there at the same time since I rode on the bus. The solo competitions were scheduled to start around 9:00 and we had a few who were playing around that time. I helped find a place for the band to hang out and helped some of the younger ones get ready for their own competitions and checked the schedule... my own competitions were supposed to start at 12:30, so I had some time to kill.

The morning was spent in a combination of listening to others play, changing into the band uniform, and warming up my own pipes, and I went to check on my competitions. All of the judges were running behind, and since I was last on the order of play (which is usually a good thing) I was definitely concerned with my solos interfering with preparations for the band contest. The band was on last as well, and didn't have to tune up until about 3:00, and by 2:30 I had only attempted one of my solo competitions. I say attempted because that was what happened; officially it's a break down because I didn't finish the tune. In the second part of my strathspey I played a wrong note, fuzzed around for a bit and couldn't get back on, and just stopped. It's disappointing, only my second breakdown in five years of competing. I blame it on a combination of not enough practice and not paying attention; it won't happen again.

I waited for a bit and then played my 6/8 march, and finished around 3:00. I felt pretty good about the 6/8, and from the look of things it was the only event I was going to actually finish. The 2/4 march and piobaireachd were both running so far behind that there was no way I was going to play them and be able to do band stuff too. Grrr. So I put my solo chanter down, got the band chanter, and put myself out of the solo piping mindset.

During a break in the band tuneup (the band contest was also running behind, since some of the judges were behind in their solos), I went to get my scoresheet for the 6/8 march: 1st place with the designation of "above grade level." I can tell you that redeemed the day for me. Continued warming up, played the band contest, and ran back upstairs to check on the solo competitions. Piobaireachd was actually so far behind that the second to last competitor (right in front of me) was just starting his tune, so the steward said "You want to play?" Heck yeah! I missed the 2/4, but I was going to play another one.

The tune went fairly well, and there was a nice little chat with the judge after. He said "You're a very good player, and you've been we'll taught. I'm surprised I've never heard of you. A few little finger things, crunluaths not always consistent, but the music is there: good phrasing, good tempos, good transitions." That made me feel good; he said the competition was really tough so I wasn't expecting a prize (one wrong note and some finger things), so you can imagine my surprise when I went to the scoring table on the way to find 2nd place with another above grade level.

The band placed second out of five, and I'll post videos of the whole band contest on YouTube by this afternoon. Now it's time for breakfast, and to call all my piping friends to tell them I feel like a good piper.

**Addition: I have started a journal of competition results. Click here.

Prizes that you just don't need

One thing that kind of bothers me is the prizes that are given for certain contests. For example, consider a golf outing. A number of foursomes go out on the golf course and play the same set of holes throughout the day. In addition to prizes for the overall winning score (either for an individual or lowest for the group, depending on the tournament) there are other smaller contests. Closest to the pin on a par 3 is popular, or longest drive, or longest put. They have little stakes with a notepad on it, and in the longest drive if your tee shot is in the fairway you go out, write your name on the pad, and put the stake where your shot landed. If the next person hits the ball the stake, he then writes his name on the pad and puts the stake where his ball landed. At the end of the day the name at the bottom of the list wins. The others work the same way.

And what is often the prize for winning the longest drive contest? A new driver! How about the longest putt? A new putter! Seems to me that the people who win the longest putt contests already have a putter that works pretty well. Do they really need a new one?

A more valuable unnecessary prize is often given for piping competitions toward the top of the amateur level. There are some fine pipers in this category who are on their way to being even finer professional pipers, and wins a contest REALLY knows what's going on. So why then is it necessary for the prize to be a set of bagpipes, or a new chanter? The winner obviously has a set that works pretty well, and I generally subscribe to the "If it ain't broke don't fix it" school of thought.

Some amateur contests offer a new kilt to the winner, or piping supplies, or a scholarship to a piping school, all of which make a lot of sense. It's certainly nice that a pipe maker generously donates a set of pipes, but it's kind of like giving a new race car to the winner of the Daytona 500. Seems like they already have one that works pretty well!