Come out and compete at the Ohio Scottish Games!

It is coming summer and we’re well and truly in the thick of the Scottish Games season. I hope that you are polishing your tunes, learning your history and getting ready to enter a Scottish Harp Society of America sanctioned harp competition near you!

I love to compete – I love the drive to master new music, pushing myself to learn tunes that will meet the judge’s expectations and my own, and putting together a performance of which I can be proud.

In addition, I love competitions because they are friendly. I enjoy cheering for my friends (long held and newly met). And at nearly every competition I’ve entered I have had the opportunity to ask a fellow competitor to teach me a wonderful tune that I fell in love with on first hearing. In addition, I really enjoy that the camaraderie is more important to most competitors than the win - they just genuinely enjoy being there and hearing one another play.  Of course, its nice to win too.

Competition, while not for everyone, surely helps us push ourselves just a bit harder, to excel and to grow. We learn not only the music but also the “what” behind the tunes we select. It’s just this thirst to learn about the history and culture behind the tunes that lead to our Harp in the Highlands and Islands tours!

I am very pleased and honored to have been invited to judge the Ohio Scottish Games at the Lorain County Fairgrounds on 26th June. Ohio is a fun games and I have a special place for it in my heart because it is the first competition I ever entered. I made a fellow competitor (and now lifelong friend) in the parking lot! And I look forward to participating because I have so many friends there and such fond memories!

I hope you’ll come out and compete.  In addition to being a fun and enjoyable games, Ohio has a lot of wonderful prizes.  The rest of the Games is good.  I'll be teaching a workshop.  And right after, you could attend the Ohio Scottish Arts School!  (more on that later).

Come join me – here’s the link: http://www.ohioscottishgames.com/2010Harp_Entry_form.html