 |
 |
  |
 |
  |
 |
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
| reference articles | competition journal | piping links | FAQ | contact me |
Andrew's Competition #5 - October 7, 2000For the first time I actually had fun with one of my events. Read on . . . My fifth piping competition was held at the Loch Lomond Games in Ben Lomond, California. This is my "home" games—a mere 20 minutes from my house. Weather-wise it was cold enough to wear a light jacket most of the day. At first seemed particularly cold as I had to get up about an hour and a half earlier than my normal wake up time; I'm one of those people that works later—typically from about 9 a.m. to about 7 p.m. I had two events in Grade IV: Piobaireachd and Slow Air. Our PM/instructor Jay Salter was there to do some administration and also to help tune up his pipers for events. Except he wasn't around for my Slow Air, but Nancy Fredrick (who went on to win both events) helped me tune up for that one. The piobaireachd went pretty well. I was happy. One half-choke near the end where the chanter dipped a bit, but I hit all the notes and embellishments fine. I didn't mess with my taorluaths this time and just played them at my normal tempo, still the judge wanted me to play them even faster. I was surprised. I felt pretty good about the expression of the tune. Based on my previous two attempts at Slow Air events, I figured I wasn't going to place, so I thought I just have some fun. I was bored with "Mist Covered Mountains" having played that a couple times before in competition, so I did a tune called "Sleep, Dearie, Sleep." The thing is, as a twist, I played it as a 'quick air,' maybe 20-30% fast. I pulled it off, timing was even, embellishments tight and clean and folks seemed to like it. Eric Seib, another member of Santa Cruz Pipes & Drums said it sounded good. I was rather euphoric afterward, I had a blast with that one! So there you have it, my fifth competition. The rest of the day I tagged along with the band helping where I could to speed up the tuning process before each performance. My tendinitis is still hanging in there, improving a bit, but I was back practicing with the band as of October 2, 2000. (Only five days before the band was to play at the games, that's why I wasn't playing with them.) Onward and upward to next year.
Here's what was on my Piobaireachd Adjudication Sheet: Contest Site: Ben Lomond, Date: 10-7-00, Name: Andrew Lenz Tone and Tuning: Execution: Expression: Tempos: Breaks: Is tune selection appropriate: <from the comment area:> [Jim drew three lines representing the lines of the tune, the last line marked one "X" indicating an error, labeled "choke".] Drones slightly out of tune throughout. Points Awarded: 56 Judge's Signature: <J. McColl> Here's what was on my Slow Air Adjudication Sheet: Contest Site: Ben Lomond, Date: 10-7-00, Name: Andrew Lenz Tone and Tuning: Execution: Expression: Tempos: Breaks: Is tune selection appropriate: <from the comment area:> [Jim drew four lines representing the lines of the tune, all four had check marks after them.] Quite nice Points Awarded: 60 Judge's Signature: <J. McColl>
|
| sitemap | ||
 |
 |
||
 |
|||
