First Competition

On April 1st I had my first solo bagpiping competition. I performed in Gonzales Louisiana at the Swamp Celts Festival. Although their games are fairly new, it is a great first venue for pipers who have never competed before (like me) to get their feet wet and see how it's done. The judge that day was Jamie Holton of Off Kilter, a very nice open grade piper who made the experience very relaxing.

Competing bagpipers are graded by skill and age. Seventeen and under is Youth, older is considered Senior. Beginning pipers who are still just on the practice chanter are in Grade 5, if you are on your pipes but still a beginner you are grade 4, etc, up to grade 1. Above grade 1 you are an 'Open' piper, or a professional piper.

I competed in Grade 4 Senior. The available types of music to compete with in that field are a four parted 2/4 march, a four parted 6/8 march, a slow march, and the ground of a Piobaireachd (pronouced "pee-brock", an older form of piping music). I competed in all events. I think there were 7 or 8 other pipers also competing in my level. However, when you compete with bagpiping, you really are only competing with yourself. It all comes down to how well you play a tune, not necessarily who played the most difficult tune. All according to the judges opinion, of course.

So, after that over-simplifying explanation, I have movies and my score sheets to look at.





Here is my 2/4 March, "Prince Charles's Welcome To Locaber".
It's a fairly simple march as 2/4 marches go, and a common one for beginning pipers. When a piper plays a march during a competition, he marches for the judge. CLICK THE PICTURE FOR A MOVIE (7Mb WMV, Windows Media Video).













Here is my scoresheet for that march. 1st place! His comments are valuable and let me know what to work on. He notes tuning, expression, as well as comments on problems in each part of the tune.










My 6/8 March was "Major John McLellan, Gordon Highlanders".
CLICK THE PICTURE FOR A MOVIE (8.5M WMV, Windows Media Video).










My scoresheet for the 6/8 March. 1st again! Interesting to note that my bass drone was out of tune a little. Plus there are many more comments specifically about each part in the comments box. "Choke" is when your chanter stops sounding. "Throws" are an embelishment called "D Throws" where you throw your fingers off the chanter and end on a D. "Light" means I didn't sound all the notes of the d throw embelishment, something I definitely need to work on.







Here is my slow march, "Loch Rannoch". This tune is from my band's warm up set, so I know it fairly well. CLICK THE PICTURE FOR A MOVIE. (6.8M WMV, Windows Media Video).














Here is my slow march scoresheet. 1st place! I know this tune pretty well. All comments good, pipes locked into tune.












My last category to compete in was Piobaireachd. It is an older style music where a main theme is played (called the 'ground'), then variations of that theme are played in increasing difficulty, finally ending back on the main theme. Sometimes it is beautiful and almost hypnotic. The tunes are like musical poetry where the phrases flow unhindered, as opposed to metered styles like marches and such. A piper can become very relaxed when performing and/or listening to good piobaireachd, so much so that you very well may forget where you are in the tune! When playing piobaireachd, you move in a slow walking style- but not to any relatable timing to the music.

I am playing the ground to "Glengarry's Lament", a very famous piobaireachd that many beginners play. CLICK THE PICTURE FOR A MOVIE (7.7M WMV, Windows Media Video).




My piobaireachd scoresheet. 3rd place! Not bad at all. There was actually some very stiff competition. I had a problem with one of my movements that was repeated throughout, so I played it incorrectly every time. Piobaireachd is very 'interpreted', you really need someone to explain how to play it correctly.







So there you have it. My first competition. I am signing up now for more, especially some sanctioned competitions.

I think the main key to successfully competing (in anything, really) is to relax. I don't get nervous playing in front of people or judges, and think that helps.

-Matthew