Tuesday, June 01, 2004

 

Piobaireachd, Pipe Competition Plans, and Still More Costuming

I played my Grades IV & III competition piobaireachd, Lament for the Old Sword, straight through in public for the first time at the park yesterday. By the crunluath a mach variation, I was a wreck. I was leaking air at the lip, I couldn't remember the tune, and my hands were just totally locked up. And that was just a 12 minute tune. I'm at least a year away from playing this thing in competition, which means I better make this part of my regular practice regimen. I think that as I rebuild my endurance, I should be less distracted by my own problems, and should be concentrating on the tune. Interestingly enough, a jogger stopped, about 100 yards away, and listened through the whole thing. I'm hoping he doesn't know the pipe idiom, and thought I had performed masterfully! Another fellow, a clarinetist, came by to watch my fingering, and asked about the mechanics of the pipe, and a lady waved and complimented me from a van.

I think I might enter my first competition earlier than I'd planned, on June 19. There's a Pipes & Drums festival in Harrisburg, PA, about 2.5 hours away, and I think I'm going to go out for it. This means I need to burn the midnight oil on my Grade IV competition tunes. I'm happy with my piobaireachd urlar and my 2/4. They also offer a slow march contest; I'm not sure if that's EUSPBA-sanctioned. If it is, I'll ask my teacher about an appropriate tune. A good showing here could take some of the load off of me for later contests, especially ones where there's a fiddle contest the same day.

I've got my neck cloth dyed black, and did so without even making a mess! I probably should have used a finer linen for it, since it's kind of thick and stiff when worn, but it's servicable. I'm still engaged in the tedious task of stitching around the edges to keep it from fraying further. I'm using threads that have frayed off for this. It's usable until that task is done, but not really washable. Hopefully my orders will start coming in soon, my new basket-hilt sword & steel-framed pistol, my tartan wool, and my Lochaber axe and 17th century shoes from various vendors should all have shipped, or be near shipping. I expect to put together the fitting pieces for my waistcoat, hose, and jacket this weekend. I might need a sewing machine to speed this up.


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