You know that I LOVE competitions! From the excitement in the air, the stress of performing, and the camaraderie of my fellow harpers, to the haggis and chips and Scotch eggs – I can’t wait! The best things about competition, for me, are the urge to master new tunes, to push myself to play under a deadline, to incorporate feedback from judges who are so careful to make competitions a growth experience, and to get to cheer for everyone else!

 

I know competition is not for everyone – and I respect that we all have different paths and goals. But, now it’s nearly spring and I can smell the games season gearing up in my area. And I am honored to be coordinating a lovely one day competition that is near and dear to me.

– I CAN’T WAIT!

So I want to invite you to the Celtic Society of Southern Maryland 2011 Celtic Festival on Saturday, 30 April in beautiful Calvert County Maryland. We are centrally located to the mid-Atlantic and have had competitors from as far as North Carolina to the south, Michigan to the west, and upstate New York to the north – and I hope this year will be no exception. The Festival is held at Jefferson Patterson state park with the field overlooking the Patuxent River which is stunning and delightful – a lovely location for a games.

We will have a Scottish Harp Society Sanctioned Competition (rules are available at http://www.shsa.org/events/handbook.html) . Our judge will be the wonderful Sharon Knowles. And we are fortunate to again have the Virginia Harp Center as our Prizes Sponsor this year.

I hope you’ll come to the competition, whether you compete or not. If you want to compete you’ll find the online registration (there will be no onsite registration) on cssm.org/harp . And if competition performance is not for you, come out anyway – we always need volunteers (who get complimentary admission to the games – just leave me a comment if you are interested).