music competition

[a non-amos]

In the last few years some people have forcefully recommended that I go off and compete in national competition on the hammered dulcimer.  Last year it looked like everything had lined up for this massive road trip, but it did not happen as planned.

The bank was foreclosing on my aunt; she and her family were on the verge of eviction and homelessness.  The money they needed equaled the money we would have spent on this vacation.  The solution was obvious; I cancelled the trip and gave her the money.

I showed up unexpectedly at the local pub, when I was supposed to be several hundred miles away competing.  Jerry, a good friend, flagged me down and had some pointed questions regarding why I was still here.  He was hoping for some good news from the competition, but I was still here.

I explained the situation privately, but he was still disappointed.  I told him I did the right thing, would make the same decision in half a heartbeat, and he would have done the same.

Two weeks ago Jerry was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and they gave him one or two months to live.  He asked me what I will play in the nationals this year.

The doctors were wrong.  He passed away last week.  He was a good man.

I need to play for Jerry, and to represent our region, and just because I need to play.

- A

[Tom]

And it will happen, A. You did a good thing. And goodness, sooner or later, has its reward. God bless you.

[pat]

And goodness, sooner or later, has its reward.

Alternatively, no good deed goes unpunished!

[rogue_mother]

A, I am so very sorry for your loss. He is in your heart, though, and when you get to the nationals, he will be there with you. The music is in you, too, and it will out.

P.S. You absolutely did the right thing with your money. Family comes first. Plus, you now have at least one more year of rehearsal under your belt, so you will only do better when you do compete.

[birdy]

So sorry for your loss. I hope that your playing, as he obviously wanted you to, will be a happy way of remembering your friendship with him.

And as for your aunt and her family, I would have made the same choice.  There are more important things than competitions.

[a non-amos]

Just a tidbit for the curious . . .

Our band has a web site, still under construction.  This is very new, but the music should be downloadable.

For the most part this is not what I will play as a solo in competition, but it still has some nice tunes.

www.brcmusic.org

Many of the photos are canned graphics from the web host.  We are working on that, replacing generic photos with real pictures.

If you find broken links, please tell me.  If you have words of advice, I am all ears.

[a non-amos]

What I intend to play in competition (maybe not in this order):

Earl Scruggs:  Foggy Mountain Breakdown

J. S. Bach:  Minuet in G

Frank B. Mills:  Music Box Dancer

Traditional Irish:  The Maid Behind the Bar (played more like it was written, not like it has been played recently)

[TRex]

www.brcmusic.org
<snip>
If you find broken links, please tell me.  If you have words of advice, I am all ears.

On the 'Our Music' page, the text link (not the square to the left) for The Red Haired Boy / Road to Lisdoonvarna points to the music for The House of the Rising Sun.

[a non-amos]

Thanks, TR.  I hope that this has been fixed (fingers crossed).

The next problem is that our illustrious web master used WAV files instead of MP3.  This means that downloads take far more time than they should.

Many would say that the WAV files have better fidelity, but they take much more time to download and they do not play automatically on all devices.

I will change these out for MP3 files.  Please expect a performance upgrade.

[a non-amos]

In case you are wondering . . . the illustrious "web master" who did this newbie mistake is me.

[rogue_mother]

A, I have listened to your music multiple times now, toes happily keeping time. I sure wish you had been doing this back in the day when we were slogging back and forth to Blacksburg every year. I would have gladly spent the night in Roanoke so that we could sit in the pub and listen to your music. The House of the Rising Sun is one of my all-time favorites, and your group does a fine rendition.

Methinks some of the music was a weensy bit out of tune, The Maid Behind the Bar more than a weensy bit. Perhaps the maid was sampling the wares a bit too much. Or perhaps Dave didn't re-tune his fiddle in the middle of a very long recording session. This might need a little looking after. In general, though, I like the performances.

Your spellchecker may or may not have flagged your webmaster's typo, should be Chieftains.

[a non-amos]

Dear RM - Many thanks to you and your happy toes!

The typo is no more.  Thanks for the help in avoiding further embarrassment.  The webmaster's spelling is no better than mine (for obvious reasons).  Sometimes my fingers type faster than my brain edits.  Spell checker?

You do have a point with the tuning on The Maid Behind the Bar.  On the fiddle, a couple of millimeters in hand positioning can make quite a difference.  This is not something we can gloss over in mixing and mastering.  I chalk that up to stuff that happens in live performance.  We will try to do better.

I know these are only MP3 files (not the higher quality WAV files), but what do you think of the overall recording quality and mixing?  This was a live recording in my dining room.  Our "sound engineer" is on Chihuahua, but never beats your scores.   

- A