Toby!!
I can't believe you know where I live!! It, indeed, is a small world. I
can understand why competitions are injurious to you health. And I do agree
that nothing should come between ones realy love and enjoyment of music. It
is a wise man that knows when to hold them and when to fold them!!
Mary U
----- Original Message -----
From: "Toby Rider" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 1:44 PM
Subject: Re: [scots-l] Tempos
>
>
> > NOW- the thrust of this is : If I did not enter these competitions
> > I
> > would not put forth the effort to learn, understand, express and
> > perfect. I would only learn and play - and it would be acceptable for
> > my audiences. I love performing more than I do competing, but the
> > competing , I believe make me a better performer!
> > Thanks, Toby fo all the great comments and information you share!
> > Mary Umbarger
> > Harmony, NC
>
> It sounds like you're getting some real positive benefits out of them,
> which is really great.. Probably because you're able to keep the whole
> idea of the competition in very reasonable perspective. Alot of people
> wouldn't be able to keep that reasonable perspective (including myself),
> which is why I'm not up on musical competitions. They would be very
> dangerous for me.
> I admit, I probably wouldn't be able to keep a reasonable perspective
> about them if I were to allow myself to take part in them. I would end
> up sitting up all night, every night, practicing those tunes till my
> fingers bled (which I've actually done before). That wouldn't be
> healthly for me or for my music.
> If it doesn't come through in email :-) I'll let you know that I have
> sort of an intense, fiery, focused personality. I guess you could say
> I've never been one for half-measures :-) It makes developing certain
> abilities come easy for me, but it makes it so very easy to lose
> perspective on things.
> As I've started to get a little older, I've developed coping mechanisms
> for dealing with my own personal intensity. For instance, I decided that
> I wanted to get away from being a "fiddle player" (which I spent a
> number of years doing very religiously) and focus more on being a
> musician that plays music on various instruments, including the fiddle.
> So I've made a decision to consider the forest, instead of focusing on
> the trees. So now my music has become a comforting creative outlet,
> whereas at times in the past, it was basically a caber toss. This is
> healthly for me. I'm actually having alot of fun with it again. Whereas
> in the past, the fun somehow got squeezed out in the all-out effort to
> get "good"..
> The interesting thing is, now that I don't care whether I play well or
> not, playing comes an awful lot easier..
> BTW, some of my ancestors immigrated from Scotland to Western North
> Carolina. My relatives live in Statesville, Granite Falls and Boone. All
> of which are a stone's throw from the little town of Harmony, NC. where
> you live. I used to drive up through there twice a month on my way to
> Winston-Salem. It's a small world.
>
>
>
>
> --
> Toby Rider ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
>
> "He either fears his fate too much,
> Or his deserts are small,
> That puts it not unto the touch
> To win or lose it all."
>
> - James Graham, Marquis of Montrose
>
>
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