Tuesday, September 14, 2004

 

Competition - Informative Disappointment

I'm in a mid-season slump, it seems.

I competed on pipes at the Capital District Highland games in Altamont, NY over Labor Day weekend, and the Ligonier Highland Games in Ligonier, PA the weekend thereafter. At both contests, during the 2/4 march, my bass drone cut out - though not in the piobaireachd. Nonetheless, I didn't come away empty-handed - I took 5th in the piobaireachd (ground only) at Capital District, and 7th in the 2/4 march at Ligonier. Still, I should have done much better.

My blowing, as always, remains an issue, along with the obvious issues with losing drones (though I'm proud to say it didn't make me break down). In all cases, the judges heaped praise on my musicality and execution, with the partial exception of the piobaireachd (full score) at Ligonier, where I was told that my ornaments were beautiful when done right, but I seized up too often, muddling them. I was actually quite surprised that I did not place in piobaireachd at Ligonier, considering how effusive the judge was in his praise. The judge for my 2/4 at Ligonier, known for his harshness, wrote "winning fingers, not winning pipes!".

These comments are encouraging. I know my blowing is an issue, and I know I do tend to clamp the chanter after playing for a while. So it's back to the manometer and 90-minute uninterrupted practice sessions, and a conscious intention to relax the fingers.

What hurt me most of all was my pipes. Firstly, there's the drone cut-offs. I disassembled my bass drone reed to clean it, and may have reassembled it incorrectly. My blowing unsteadiness also certainly contributes. I need to work out these issues. But more, they loathe my chanter (add: or reed), and they loathe my instructor's chanter (add: or reed), both of which pitch in the neighborhood of concert B-flat. And while I disagree with the aesthetic that is turning the pipes into a dogwhistle, there may be a kernel of truth to the idea of running with the herd, pitch-wise.

I could be playing a perfectly tuned chanter at 466 Hz, tuned admirably to my drones, with perfectly steady blowing, and the judge will still hear my chanter as dull, and out of tune with the drones. Why? Because 30 feet away from me on all sides are other pipers warming up for their contest, and they're pitched at 475 Hz or more. No matter how discriminating the judge is, my pipes are just going to sound off by comparison, and the drones will beat - as if out of tune - to others' pipes, even if they're not beating to mine. Add this effect to my own imperfections in blowing and intonation, and I sound horrible in that setting, when, alone in a field, I might sound decent.

In the future, at higher grades, when the field of pipers warming up around me isn't so thick, I might get away with a lower-pitched chanter. But until then, I think I need to give serious consideration to pitching with the herd, for competition at least. To this end, I may play with my band chanter for the remaining three games of the year (add: though not for piobaireachd - since my band chanter won't give the proper piobaireachd high G).

It is my hope that this will push me over the edge and get me to place consistently for these remaining three games - something I'll need if I want to move into Grade III next year. I've got the fingers for it.

At the fiddle contest at Ligonier, I was very proud of my performance, but didn't place. I suspect I got 4th or 5th, but the judge (Ed Pearlman) didn't rank below 3rd. His comments were also very helpful, the most noteworthy being that I need to use my whole bow, rather than just the upper portion. Barbara MacOwen and Elke Baker have made the same comment in the previous 2 contests, so this semester, Elke and I will concentrate on my bowing - both the remedial material (bowing with the wrist, & learning to take advantage of the properties of the lower half of the bow), and new bowing pyrotechnics.

Addendum: In talking with my pipe instructor, and after he looked at my (mildewy) reed, he's convinced that my problem was three-fold. Firstly, there was my reassembly of the bass drone reed - and he adjusted the upper bridle accordingly. Secondly, he feels that my bag was probably waterlogged. I blow very wet, but while I was a beginner, he deferred judgement (since newbies slobber a lot, apparently). But I've been on the full pipes for nearly two years now, and it's pretty clear that the bag is - when I practice a lot in humid conditions - waterlogged. Combine this with a very heavy practice schedule, the humid conditions up in MA and PA, and the fact that I kept my pipes in Anders' very humid basement all week, and the reed was drenched. I was aware of this part; it had begun to break down in my practice Thursday night before heading to Ligonier, it was so soggy. I was advised to remove the drones from their stocks, and swab out the stocks, after practicing - though this advice will not hold in drier conditions, such as winter. Thirdly, he attributes my problems to inexperience in playing my pipes under different weather conditions. My pipes were probably waterlogged before I even got to Ligonier, and an extended warm-up just made it worse. Between my inherent wet blowing and weather conditions (a cold misty morning), my chanter reed was saturated, and hence pitched very low and thin. "Half of competition is your performance. The other half is understanding - by intuition or force of intellect - how your pipes will behave on a given day." Sound advice. I need to spend more time on maintaining my pipes, or rather, understanding them. I need to feel the bag on a regular basis to see how tacky its seasoning is, I need to check the reed for mildew, and so on. I need to re-mark my preferred bridle positions on my drone reeds. And sometime after competition season is over, I possibly need to re-hemp my pipes and re-season my bag, not to mention having the drones rebored (and possibly the drone top replaced).

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