Thursday, September 25, 2008

Competing in a fiddle contest

There you are on stage under the spotlight. The audience is so quiet you can hear a pin drop. Though you can't see them, you can feel their eyes staring right at you. Judges are waiting silently back stage with headphones to listen to your every note. Your competitors are back stage wondering what tunes you'll play and if they will overlap with the tunes they plan to perform. Then all of a sudden you see the green light turn on indicating your 4 minutes have begun. Suddenly you can't remember the first note of the first tune. "Breathe," is what you tell yourself as your hands suddenly take over while your mind follows...

I'm not quite sure I understand the point of fiddle contests or why the heck I keep entering them every year. It's not so much that I want to prove to anyone that I'm a better fiddler. It's more that I want to prove to myself that I can play under pressure. I have been performing on stage for over 5 years now and I am never as nervous as I am when I'm competing. Maybe it's the green light that screams at you as it turns to yellow and then to red and the fact that I have a time limit on what I'm playing. Or it could be the fact that I am surrounded by some of the best fiddlers this side of the Mississippi or that the judges are sitting there listening to every note or it could be a combination of it all.

Anyway, this weekend I will attend and compete once again in the Northeast Fiddler's Association's annual fiddle contest in hopes that I can just get through it without flailing.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Wish me luck!

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