The Clan Jacob

Well, here is the long awaited video of my Second place showing at the Utah Scottish Festival, Solo Competition. It was a beautiful day with excitement in the air, not to mention flying haggis. As I waited for the judging to begin I felt a wee bit anxious. After all, this was the first such competition I had ever attempted. My mind was a swim with doubts, Am I really going to try to pipe in front of this guy? What if he says I suck? or worse, what if my fingers freeze and refuse to move. What if my drones don't strike in properly?

These were just a few of my fears as I waited for the nod of the judges head, signaling my time had come. My first competition was the Piobairaechd, (the ancient style of bagpipe music, played by the original pipers of the 1700's). My judge was a colorful gentleman in his late sixties. John, I think was his first name. They said he fancied himself to be a pirate. He was an excellent piper of over forty years. Aaarggghhh.

He smiled at me, and said, "Whenever you're ready." Oh sure, easy for him to say! Just as I was about to play a light rain began, as if the heavens were exclaiming, "Think you're a piper, do ya laddie? Well, here's some good ole Scottish weather to help ya on!" With trepidation, I blew the wind that would power my waiting pipes. The drones sounded, steady and true. After a few seconds of last minute tuning, I turned and faced the judge, and nodded. He smiled and nodded back. The game was afoot! I played "Sir James McDonald of the Isles, Lament" as my selection. It went fairly well, until some piper decided it was time to tune his pipes right behind where I was playing.

I didn't let it rattle me too much. I turned in a fair performance, placing fifth out of eight pipers. Not great, I sure hoped the remaining two events turned out a wee bit better. I Nodded, thanked the judge and exited the spot to prepare for my second event, the 2/4 March. This event is a challenging one, because the song must be played while you march in front of the judge. Wow! This is like a drunk driving test, Sheesh!

As I walked to the second event Tent, there behind the table sat Aaron Shaw of the Wicked Tinkers. I knew him a little so I decided to check in and see if I could talk with him.

"Hi Aaron, where is the judge?"

"Hi Bob, I'll be judging this one, the normal judge couldn't be here."

"Oh, I see. Well, are you ready for me?"

"Almost, just give me a few minutes."

So, I did just that. Meanwhile, I am beside myself. It's bad enough to have this be my first competition, but to have Aaron Shaw as my judge? Wow, no pressure there.

"O.K. Bob, go ahead" came the lilting tones from the judge as he so glibly bid me to my doom! Again, I turned my hopes to my friend and ally, Llieam (That's the name of my pipes), and once again, Llieam came through. I played "The Siege of Delhi", a march written by the Scots Guard while occupying Delhi, India. I completed the piece and stood to recieve my just critique. Aaron indicated that I played it well, especially the fourth section. "It's very hard to do without crossing notes, and you did if perfectly". Wow! Really? Thanks, I thought. Well, I did a wee bit better in this event, coming in 5th out of 18 pipers. Hey, it got my name on the board.

Then it was on to my final competition, the Slow March. Well, by now the pre-competition jitters were pretty much gone and I felt comfortable. You can refer to the video above for how it went. Unfortunately, Laura's phone went off near the end of the song so you won't hear the whole thing, in it's entirety. I played "The Mist Covered Mountains". I came in 2nd out of 18 pipers and won the silver medal, Whoo Hooo!

Overall it was quite exciting. I liked it so much I am competing again in the Payson Scottish Festival, In July. So ends the saga, Tara the Noo!