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3rd July 2009 - The Season So Far
Our preparation for the 2009 World Championships began in the autumn of 2008. After a well-earned break we began the slow process of building the band up, practicing rudiments, learning new tunes and moulding our existing and new players into the 2009 competition band.
We decided to keep the MAP tunes we competed with last year and concentrate on learning a new Medley and getting our MSR up to competition standard. Whilst this has meant that we know our competition MAP set inside out, it has also given us a few problems; there is a tendency to play tunes you know well without thinking about them and thus the crispness and clarity of the embellishments and rudiments can often become blurred. We are having to work hard to keep these tunes lively and well executed to ensure we play them tightly as a band and continue to impress the judges.
So far, we have been quite successful when competing this Season. As well as the World Championships we are also competing in the Scottish, British, European and Cowal Championships. We placed 4th at the Scottish in May with our drummers winning the drumming title and last weekend we travelled to Northern Ireland to compete at the British Championships where we were placed third.
In-between these events, we have been competing at minor competitions and playing at several parades, galas, beat retreats and public events, all aimed at keeping the band playing well as a unit and continuing our development throughout the summer.
We’re now having a two-week break before beginning our preparations for the European Championships at Inverclyde later this month. Prior to this we will be heading to the Loch Lomond Highland Games to give the guys a run out in preparation and to also give us time to iron out any issues that may crop up.
After the Europeans, we are heading to France for a week to perform at the 39th Interceltique Festival in Lorient. As well as being an excellent trip for all our band members, with great exposure to all aspects of Pan-Celtic music, we will be using this week playing together to help us build in preparation for the Worlds the week after.