mary umbarger wrote: > I AM familiar in traditional Old Time competitions. You are absolutely > correct when you speak of egos and grandstanding, but I must admit that most > of these folk are really good musicians and much can be learned from them. > Here again, I enter for the love of the music, people and the excitement of > being able to play for an audience. Even though I play in a band and do > lots of solo gigs, nothing beats the shear fun of comparing tunes and > arrangements. > 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!
In the San Francisco branch of the RSCDS, every year at the Pleasanton games we have an adjudicated dance exhibition. What that means is that each participating group gets up on a stage and does a 3-dance medley in front of 2 adjudicators (who are typically long-time teachers) and an audience. Afterwards the adjudicators talk to the participants and note what they liked in the performance and what could be improved. It's not a competition but it gives groups the chance to perform in front of an audience and get constructive criticism from experts. I'm not interested in competing in music and I've often wondered why something like this isn't done for fiddlers. -- Steve Wyrick -- Concord, California Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
