Hello !!! I am competing here,,,,

[Financier]

ok,,so I was watching a fellow competitor in the solo comps yesterday.
I had just finished and just as he is playing a band started playing about 50 ft away. Really?
Could they have not picked another place because there were lots away from the platforms.
I love bands and solos but would they want me to walk into their circle in the middle of their competition....lol
sorry it just irked me, and a few others.

[Randy McIntosh]

Re: Hello !!! I am competing here,,,,

Yeah that sucks for sure...How about some common courtesy
I know it's dying out as it seams that a lot of folks are into "it's all about me"

[Steve Anderson]

Re: Hello !!! I am competing here,,,,

Happens quite a bit, unfortunately. I remember a few years back at the Savannah Games. A Grade 4 competitor had just started her piobaireachd comp and the Rosie O'grady came parading by at less than 20 feet. Threw her for a loop and unfortunately, she didn't do nearly as well as she should've.

[Chris Apps]

Re: Hello !!! I am competing here,,,,

This is where good stewarding comes in handy. Move the buggers away!

[Texas Gael]

Re: Hello !!! I am competing here,,,,

This happened to me at a Highland Games, when I was into the third measure of Captain Norman Orr Ewing for Grade IV 2/4 march. A street band assembled next to the competition area, about 30 feet from where I was competing and started blasting away, out of tune and not in unison. Threw me off my tune. I was furious at the band, but more so at the steward. This type of interference is the steward's fault, though you would think that bands would be more aware of what's going on around them.

Cheers -

Wes

[EagleJCS]

Re: Hello !!! I am competing here,,,,

This is one reason why, as organizers (I'm actually an assistant), we at the Glasgow (KY) Highland Games P&D comp try to have the solo events finished well before the band comp starts. This also holds true for the Central KY Highland Games P&D comp, which I am involved with at the organizational level as well.

We also encourage our stewards to be proactive and try to head off any potential issues like spectators getting too close to the 'action' or other soloists tuning too close to a solo station (though most soloists are pretty good about being fair to their competitors).

Another reason is to allow time for the judges to have a bit to eat, take a restroom break, etc., before the band comp.

Also, some of the higher-level soloists tend to also be key band members of lower-grade bands, and since the higher-level solos take place later in the morning, it only makes sense to allow them a bit of a break as well.

[Financier]

Re: Hello !!! I am competing here,,,,

I just know if it had been me getting ready to compete, I would have no problem walking over to the P/M and asking them to move.
I am not in a band so I have no fear of P/Ms...lol

[Steve Anderson]

Re: Hello !!! I am competing here,,,,

This is one reason why, as organizers (I'm actually an assistant), we at the Glasgow (KY) Highland Games P&D comp try to have the solo events finished well before the band comp starts. This also holds true for the Central KY Highland Games P&D comp, which I am involved with at the organizational level as well.

From what is now 4 years playing and competing, I must say that Glasgow is near top of the list when it comes to well run and well thought out venues. In the savannah games, it was mere oversight that the host band decided to bang out and play tunes so close to the comp area.

Perhaps a change to the rules such that if ones event is overrun by a herd of elephants or pipers, they should be permitted a McMulligan and have a do over.

[Piperalpha]

Re: Hello !!! I am competing here,,,,

Indoor contests can be just as bad. I remember playing my piobaireachd right beside an elevator once. I somehow made it through my tune with people talking while waitng to go up one floor and the visual distraction of people getting off the lift. Tuning areas can be a pain as well. I remember a band coming into the room for solo players and starting to tune up. I suppose we do the best we can with the venues we can get.

[SteveW]

Re: Hello !!! I am competing here,,,,

I HATE HATE HATE heavy events...they feel the need to narrate EVERYTHING over a loudspeaker for the small handful of people who actually stay to watch.
The Chatham, Ontario games were the absolute WORST. The heavy events were only a few hundred feet from the band circle and the announcer went on and on and on and on...It was rare to hear the band clearly over the speaker.

I also remember at the Kincardine games a few years ago...Burnett's and Struth G3, who wasnt even close to competing yet, marched and played right up to another band who was in final tuning. The B&S pipe sergeant had the nerve to mouth off and start swearing at the steward who told them to stop playing.

[Neil Clark]

Re: Hello !!! I am competing here,,,,

I don't know, there have been times when I've been up on the boards when I've wished for a couple of massed bands to mask the bad tuning/dropped gracenotes emanating from me....

Double edged sword...

[JP Cahill]

Re: Hello !!! I am competing here,,,,

The 2d Gordon's collection has a GS McLennan strathspey called "Cutting the Caber". The notes say this:

"This unusually named, unpublished strathspey was given its title by George McLennan after a curious incident that took place in 1906. His father, GS, was competing at Lochaber and while he was playing a strathspey and reel, two men placed a caber on the edge of the platform and began sawing a piece off it as it was too long. They did this while standing between GS and the judges; sadly history does not relate what was said to them The tune was dated 3rd November 1906 in GS's book."

Plus ça change. . . .

Cheers,

-John-

[Richard Strayer]

Re: Hello !!! I am competing here,,,,

The 2d Gordon's collection has a GS McLennan strathspey called "Cutting the Caber". The notes say this:

"This unusually named, unpublished strathspey was given its title by George McLennan after a curious incident that took place in 1906. His father, GS, was competing at Lochaber and while he was playing a strathspey and reel, two men placed a caber on the edge of the platform and began sawing a piece off it as it was too long. They did this while standing between GS and the judges; sadly history does not relate what was said to them The tune was dated 3rd November 1906 in GS's book."

Well let's be honest, they're not tossing logs around because they're geniuses.

[Neil Clark]

Re: Hello !!! I am competing here,,,,

Jeez, Richard....... I think u should tell them that 1st chance u get.

Funnily enough, I watched Gordon Macready playing his MSR at Killin this year whil the caber was landing around 3 meters from him. He never batted an eyelid! WHHHUUUUUMMMMMMP!

I had been on the same boards earlier, I'd have laid an egg.

[el gaitero]

Re: Hello !!! I am competing here,,,,

ok,,so I was watching a fellow competitor in the solo comps yesterday.
I had just finished and just as he is playing a band started playing about 50 ft away. Really?
Could they have not picked another place because there were lots away from the platforms.
I love bands and solos but would they want me to walk into their circle in the middle of their competition....lol
sorry it just irked me, and a few others.

talk about poor stewardship.... I had a spectator walk tight up behind me so when I turned there he was ..18" away with a stupid lopsided grin on his face waiting to ask me everything he ever wanted to know about bagpipes.
Of course I lost the beat,the tune and the event. The judge was absolutely unconcerend, shrugged gave me a B/D.

On a slightly funnier note.. at the Maxville games once some clown with a clipboard thot it time to shorten the caber for that toss event... so he roared up an unmufflered chainsaw..about 15 feet behind a band circle already competing.
It looked like 6 of the pipers with backs to the chainsaw had a heart attack.... I think their drone reeds might have landed in Alberta.
I'm sure they had to have their kilts drycleaned.