My First Bagpipe Competition!

Hello again, folks!

Yesterday I competed in my first bagpipe competition! 

(I posted the video of it at the end of of this post and you can skip there or if you are a piper and want to hear about some helpful tricks I discovered that helped me, keep reading.) :)

Let me say that, though I have competed many times on mandolin and a few other stringed instrument, and gotten familiar with the competition nerves this was a whole new ball game!

When I first started taking lessons on my practice chanter I was thinking of just competing with a band and not so much solo. 
My favorite part about performing has always been playing with an ensemble, and it still is and I don't think that will change, but when my pipe teacher suggested I try playing at a solo competition it became a huge motivation factor in pushing myself to practice and get to a performance level. 

Nothing makes you practice like playing solo. No place to hide, yikes! ;) 

In my practicing, once I was able to play through my whole four-part 2/4 March, I realized I would have dry mouth trouble that, funny enough, would make it hard to keep my lips from starting to stick to my teeth. Yes, you can laugh. ;) Though it might be fun doing a Bugs Bunny impression while playing pipes it doesn't help too much with getting an air-tight seal on my blow pipe. 

I started using lots of chaptstick thinking that would do the trick but it was still to dry and sticky and there would come the Bugs Bunny again! haha #GummySmilesRock ;)

Then one day it came to me.

Oil! 

I had a bottle of Young Living's V-6 oil I pulled out and instead of putting more chaptstick on I used that. 

And...

IT TOTALLY WORKED!
Woohoo! :D


The other thing I would notice, after playing for a while, was that my throat would also dry up. About as dry as bleached bone in Death Valley. 
(Trouble is, water didn't always cut it. Plus, who has time to go pee every two seconds at a competition because you kept chugging' water all day!) ;)

Then I saw it at work. (I do instrument repairs at a music store.)

Vocal spray!

Again, worked like a charm!


So, after a couple months of practicing a little over an hour a day, learning my solo tune on my practice chanter and then building up stamina on my bagpipes, the day came and it was time to do my best. Fingers crossed! :)

Saturday morning we drove up to Piping in the Deseret, hosted at a school up in Layton, Utah.
Super nice and cool people running the event as well as participating in it! This competition wasn't along with any Highland games like ones during the summer. Just solo drumming, piping, and small bands, which was nice for for someones first competition, I think. No worries about getting lost in crowds trying to find where you need to go, worrying about rain or wind, or hunting down bathrooms. ;)


And finally, my number:

   

(Oh, and my judge: Seamus Coyne was my judge and looking him up online the night before, and seeing all his awards, might not have been the best idea for my nerves but as I learned he's a real cool and nice guy. *thumbs up)

I felt good about my performance when I finished...Okay, I was really psyched about it!! I had some things here and there but no huge bumbles, which I was really good at making during practice at home. ;)

And...2nd place!!

I got 2nd place for 2/4 March in grade 4!

Over all, a super fun day of competition. And getting to see the Wicked Tinkers didn't hurt either!! ;)

-Erin