After a pretty horrendous practice the other week where we struggled most of the evening to get a decent sound from a couple of the chanters, today started off not too bad, but it soon became clear the P/M reed wasn't giving the right sound. No choice for it but to change it, which is not usually good news on the day of a contest!
However, thanks to the excellent selection of reeds on hand, coupled with a little bit of manipulation we managed to get things going well (and at one point extremely well) in time for the first event
1st Grade 4 Quartets (March Selection)
Still a touch 'scruffy' on the High A's, but nevertheless not a bad sound at a nice pitch which held all the way through the performance.
Some really nice playing with good expression and clarity of fingerwork
Complimentary comments from the judge about the use of harmony, so perhaps just the right balance achieved today
1st Grade 4 Quartets (MSR)
Not much time to deal with the High A as we were back into the arena pretty quickly after the March Selection performance, but we gave it a good shot and it improved a little, alhough the P/M's D was not as consistent as it should have been
A good performance although strathspeys dragged just a touch and could have done with a bit more lift
1st Grade 3 Mini Bands (Medley)
Even less time to work on the chanters before this event, but further improvements were made and this was our best sound of the day.
This was the first airing of our new medley and it drew a number of compliments from the judge.
Everything went well until the very end when there was a little bit of panic in the playing for the last few bars and a trailing drone (both of which can be sorted with more practice and confidence)
To then go on and win this event against a Grade 3 band of the standard of Manchester Pheonix was brilliant
Well done everyone!