Link to RSPBA website for summary
The sound in the tuning park was excellent, bright, sweet and powerful for just six pipers
If we could control the performance in the arena we knew this was would be one of our best ever attempts at the MSR at Cowal
Unfortunately it was not to be
Nerves, excitement, pressure? - whatever caused it, the adrenaline kicked in and we played just far too fast giving ourselves absolutely no chance to play with any meaningful expression and causing a couple of small finger slips to happen
So when the summary came out we were extremely pleased with the placings awarded the pipers of 5th and 6th (giving a 5th place overall on piping) but the overall placing of 11th was disappointing
If we could have only held the tempo down to where we'd been practicing it........
Still, at last we're now competing with the top grade 4 bands on piping tone, something we've failed to do for many, many years (we've got the current chanter and reed combination to thank for that)
The 'after the contest' inquest has been held and we've got a few ideas on how to make further improvements in the playing, plus hopefully we'll have a little extra depth in the piping corps for next year
Looking back on the season as a whole, it's been a reasonable year (the high spot of course being the win at Annan) and the sound has improved week on week
Here's looking forward to the start of the 2014 season!!