Last Friday night saw the annual West Mainland Strathspey & Reel Society concert at the Stromness academy - regular readers will know I joined their illustrious ranks back in November with a whole one and three quarter years fiddling experience behind me. Having been practising till my fingers bled (well not quite - but I've certainly got fiddling calluses) & having managed to not be thrown out for incompetence, last Friday was my first concert with the Society.
We had three sets & an encore, with guests in between including the junior Society, Orkney Traditional Music project, Aff the Kuff (other members of the Society who play together in s small group) and - fresh from her triumph at the BBC 'Young Traditional Musician of the Year' fiddler Kristan Harvey - her first concert on Orkney soil since her win.
I'd assumed it would be tickets on the night - but it was a sell out well in advance, which meant my man Dave, who'd not been terribly enthusiastic about going on account of how he's had to put up with me massacring all the tunes nightly for the last 5 months, couldn't go as he'd got no ticket.
So I can at least now say I've been on the same bill as Kristan Harvey - who was of course brillliant - how she gets that tone out of her fiddle I don't know - well I do of course- years of sweating over it & complete dedication. She used to play with the Society before heading off to university and greater things - she had a BBC producer with her so I think they're making a programme about her too, & she's coming back with her band to play in the Orkney Folk Festival in May so must get tickets.
All the concert was very well received - the hall seats 250 & it was standing room only. I managed OK but not great - I'm not really good enough yet to be playing with the Society although my long suffering man says I've got a lot better since I started going. I did at least manage not to forget any repeats & finish at the same time as everyone else & remembered which pieces ended with chords & which ended with a sudden stop - it's not so bad forgetting to do the chord but it is seriously not OK to end with a chord if it should be a full stop!
The traditional raffle was held at the interval - it has been remarked upon that the only events in Orkney that don't have raffles are weddings & funerals - and the Society is raising money for the concert tour of Norway so there were lots of raffle prizes & lots of tickets sold.
We now have 3 weeks off - which is a shame but it's the school holidays coming up & everyone but me wants a break. I'm just worried about not having enough time to learn the music for the Fiddler's Rally at the Folk Festival - it's at the end of May & so not much time to go now. Apparently we get stickers for our fiddle cases & also an artiste's pass for the event - I quite fancy strolling through Stromness with a pass & a fiddle during folk festival week
Had better close now as the Society has a fundraising stall at the Harray car boot sale & our presence has been requested to play at the event - I'm not sure about it, I need at least 6 other fiddlers there - if there's fewer than that you can hear me too much! Maybe I'll just help on the stall - probably safer all round
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