pipermark84
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Post by pipermark84 on Apr 7, 2007 17:31:05 GMT
Highland Wedding Ewe with the crookit horn Mrs MacPherson of Inveran
I've played all sorts of common competition tunes in competitions I've played in, such as the ones above. What do you think the judge's reaction would be if I played something like Good Drying as a reel.
Is it a scary thought? When do nowadays tunes become tunes accepted in competition? I was thinking when I get back into competing this year or next, I'm gonna try some new(ish) stuff...
Imagine peoples faces if you played Andy Renwick's Ferret as your reel, throwing in some bendy notes here & there.
Anyone seen people before in competition try & break the mould?
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Post by greginlondon on Apr 8, 2007 23:51:20 GMT
I wish I could tell you something helpful, but the only competitions I've been in are Comhaltas ones and the expectation is completely different to RSPBA type events.
I'm not really even sure what counts as a 'competition' reel, except that some of them can't really be counted as reels as no-one could dance to them - but you've mentione the Ewit wi' the Crooked Horn which is a great old dance.
I've spoken to people who judge Pibroch Society events (at workshops) and they say that they are crying out for people to do something different. In fact they've said some judges are bored out of their minds by the same old same old.
In reality, though, if you do something different it's got to be better than the rest and the reception will be unpredictable - one person will rate it highly and another will slate it.
Maybe others with more RSPBA/similar experience can say if they concur or not.
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pipermark84
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Post by pipermark84 on Apr 9, 2007 9:52:33 GMT
Aye, I agree with judges that you've spoken to!!
It can be gruelling affair if you're at a competition, waiting for the end, having to listen to MSR's which are just variations of the same tunes over and over.
I suppose if pipe set up and technical execution between the two top pipers in a group are equal, the judge has only the tune selection to determine who wins....it could then be worthwhile trying something new & different, that may get the judges attention. Of course, you could just bomb out the competition.
What's a 'Comhalta' competition?
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Post by greginlondon on Apr 9, 2007 23:16:03 GMT
Comhaltas Ceoltori Eireann means gathering of Irish musicians (CCE), but most people call it Comhaltas, pronounced corltas. It's a group set up to promote standards in Irish music whic was set up about 1950 and has had annual competitions, with qualifying rounds in the various Irish counties and abroad before a final competiton - or rather about 100 competitions if you include all the classes - called the fleadh Cheoil. this year the All Ireland Fleadh will be in Tullamore, Co. Offaly. The last two years have been in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal. It's a world championship of Irish music and they claim 250 - 300,000 spectators over the weekend each year with thousands of musicians. War Pipes/Piob Mhor is one of the categories, although there are fewer entrants than most other categories.
One difference is that the pipes are judged in a similar way to other instruments and there is free choice of tunes, so long as they are Irish and you choose different types of tune. To get there you need to qualify in the county Fleadhs, or in my case the London and then the All Britain Fleadh. Hopefully I'll be back there this August.
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pipermark84
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Post by pipermark84 on Apr 9, 2007 23:40:11 GMT
Sounds very good!! Never heard of that before but sounds very interesting! A nice bit of Irish Craic while you're there also...
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Post by greginlondon on Apr 10, 2007 18:17:06 GMT
Ah you can't get a decent pint of bitter anywhere - need to settle for that bloomin' Guiness stuff - but apart from that I've always had a really good time - sessions, chat and drinking all the week leading up to it and a crowd of musicians it's easy to get to know.
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pipermark84
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Post by pipermark84 on Apr 10, 2007 19:12:52 GMT
I did have a wee scan last night at the Glasgow based Fleadh - will gen up a bit more tomorrow when I've a bit more time. Very interesting so far, though off the top of my head I'm struggling to think of any tunes I know that are definately of Irish origin.
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Post by greginlondon on Apr 11, 2007 16:04:34 GMT
There are quite a few good Irish pipe tunes and lots of good tunes that work ok on the pipes.
I found it very difficult to adapt to some of the Irish styles of tunes and find that there are no drummers who can play those rhythms. - obviously because they are mostly band drummers and don't play for dancing.
It's easy to get caught out with Irish band standards and at once stage I thought I might be disqualified at the All Britain Fleadh in Sheffield for Erin's Green Shore (not an acceptable slow air) and Back to Donnegal (not Irish enough) although in Ireland they seemed much less concerned - it was a band judge, rather than the traditional fiddle player judge in Sheffield.
If you fancy it, I have a book with suggested tunes for their grading syllabus which should guarantee that you have a list of tunes which are incontrovertibly 'Irish enough' although you're obviously not limited to these, just safe with them. To be honest, I think they really want a good range - 4 chosen out of air (slow or lively), hornpipe, reel, jig, slipjig, slide, march, waltz, mazurka, polka - off the top of my head, although the rules might allow one or two others.
The only disappointment might be that you don't get many entrants in the War Pipes category. I took part partly to encourage others, but winning it is probably more prestigious than things like the Gold Clasp amongst irish musicians.
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pipermark84
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Post by pipermark84 on Apr 11, 2007 21:47:46 GMT
Aye, definately. Like I said before, I'd never heard of this til you mentioned it - like a whole new world of piping (almost) has been opened up!! The War Pipes category - is that judged on its own throughout the competition, or does it get amalgamated at any point with other instruments?
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Post by greginlondon on Apr 13, 2007 20:04:16 GMT
No, the war Pipes are a separate category: in under 12, 12-15, 15-18 and senior classes. This is the list of categories at the All Britain Fleadh, which I presume the Glasgow Fleadh would qualify you for: Additionally, there is a pipe band competition, as well as a variety of marching band categories, but I have only seen these at the All Ireland finals. To be honest, although the competition is fierce in other categories, you won't have to fight through the crowds, although I had a massive captive audience when the war pipes followed the Grupa Cheoil (medium size youth band) and hundreds of parents and others listened to something slightly different. You obviously don't ave to wear Highland dress if you don't want to, although some people do, especially if they've entered in the pipe band competition too.
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