[NSRCA-discussion] FW: Winfield, The contest Pt2 (longer)

[DwayneNancy]

This is page 2.  Dwayne

-----Original Message-----
From: Guitar Flatpicking [mailto:FLATPICK-L at LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU] On Behalf Of
allen shadd
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 7:35 PM
To: FLATPICK-L at LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU
Subject: Winfield, The contest Pt2 (longer)

   As a competitor, it's hard to say anything negative about the way 
things turn out, without it sounding like sour grapes I suppose. That 
being said, it's true enough to say that when one performs well they 
should be happy at that alone. But it would be no less true to say that 
a person can feel disappointment, and be entitled. There's a whole mix 
of thoughts that associate to the outcome versus how well one played, as 
well as how well others may have played.

  Going to Winfield this year, I prepared more for it than I have in 
recent years, probably only eclipsed by my efforts in '97. My 
perspective then was that I wanted to win. It was a goal, even a dream, 
if you will. This year, it was a different perspective. I've said 
numerous times prior, that I hoped to go out there and just play my 
best, and the rest is up to the judges. I didn't have any aspirations of 
winning. If anything, I'm more surprised than anything that my winning 
streak this year lasted as long as it did, I truly have been blessed. I 
expected this year at Winfield to be like the last two years, but even 
more so with the addition of Adam Wright and Carl Miner into the mix. I 
told Adam, and a few others, that I knew fully well going out there this 
year that I could easily play my best ever and not make the cut. All of 
the mind games going on prior, with guys trying to figure out what the 
other is going to play, and working on all their strategies, I realized 
a long time ago that I can't control how Carl, or Adam, or any of the 
other 37 guys/gals play, I just have to try and play my best. That's how 
I prepared.

  This was the first year that I've ever competed at Winfield that I 
didn't feel like I was punched in the gut when I woke up that morning. 
After drawing numbers for order of appearance, I picked up the guitar to 
run my tunes with Rolly. I'm sure you've all felt this on occasion, but 
not so often, when you pick up a guitar to play and it feels about 
perfect, like everything you try seems to just roll off of the strings 
and sound, feel good? Well, I felt that way that morning. First time 
ever for me during a contest. I made it a point to go out front and 
listen to a few of the guys, expecting a repeat of the last couple of 
years where everyone played really well. As Rolly said in a previous 
thread, there were at least 16 names on the list that could potentially 
win that we knew of. Instead though, what I heard was contestant after 
contestant make small mistakes that could take them out of contention if 
a few others played with fewer mistakes. I heard some of my guitar 
heroes struggle to get a good round, and every person that I asked about 
how they played afterwards all felt they didn't play so well. I waited 
for my turn, and listened patiently to the guy ahead of me. He played 
pretty decent, I thought, but made a couple of mistakes just as everyone 
else I had heard, and I didn't think anything else about it. I took my 
turn, and felt the familiar twinge of nerves as I kicked off the first 
few notes, but then settled in and just tried to play and not overplay.  
I played what I felt was my best round there, possibly with the 
exception of the final round in '97. I was satisfied, and after hearing 
so many others make their mistakes, I felt that the odds of making the 
finals were good. The only person that I knew could be a threat and I 
didn't need to hear them, was Roy. He always plays solid, you know how 
he's going to sound, and he's always a contender. He sandbags a lot, but 
he's always the guy to watch. ;) So I didn't come out to hear his first 
round.

  The top 5 were announced, and I didn't make it through. I was 
disappointed, most certainly. But that's how it can go, so I watched as 
the 5 finalists competed. Now, whatever I might say will undoubtedly be 
taken to be a sore loser, but I assure you that it's not. Those of you 
that know me, know this already, and those that don't are certainly 
entitled to their opinion. But, I'm not going to hold an opinion just 
because I'm also a competitor, I'm as entitled as the next to observe 
and comment. So, there you have it. I think the difference may be that 
I'll say here in print what most would say in a conversation, but for 
some reason when everyone gets home and writes about it, it's always how 
great everyone played and how it could have been anyone's contest. Hogwash.

  I watched one competitor play his two final tunes, and both were a 
string of Tony Rice licks. I mean, as in NO improvisation whatsoever. 
His timing was such that you couldn't tap your foot in time with it 
either. Someone pointed out to me that he had good tone. I'd agree with 
that. That alone shouldn't put someone into the contention for the 
national title though. Of 100 points in the judging criteria, 40 are 
*supposedly* for originality, and that's a  hard deficit to overcome if 
you're playing nothing but somebody else's licks, period. Another 40 
points are for execution, which includes timing, as well as difficulty. 
Nothing was played out of first position. When I got home and listened 
to the first round on the Zoom H4, I had to question how he got into the 
finals in the first place. The first round was the same. His first tune 
(traditional fiddle tune) was played through 2 times, first position, 
and both times through identical with no variation. Second tune played 
through 3 times, but last two times were both identical and varied a 
little from the first, but again, Rice licks played clean but out of time.

  That was my biggest gripe about the finals. Not that I wasn't in them. 
I watched the other 4 finalists as well, and picked my favorites like 
everyone else. Of the top 5, I had two of them called to be there, two 
of them maybe but probably not, and one of them was a 'what the heck 
were they thinking?' I've judged a few contests as well, so I know 
things can sound different in a room than they do out front. But, I'm 
sorry..... if it just isn't good, it just isn't. Maybe at a county fair, 
or karaoke night somewhere, but not the national championship. Not that 
my opinion matters to anyone (except me <g>), but I would have flipped a 
coin between Roy and Carl in the final round. Carl had the technical 
stuff I think, and played a smooth round. Roy sounded like the wall of 
sound that he always is.

 So, before you break out the torches and track me down with the mob, 
let me say that what I've said isn't meant to slam anyone that played in 
the contest. We all did the same thing; practiced our tunes, tried to 
play well enough, and hoped the judges liked what we did. I respect each 
and every competitor the same in this regard, and I congratulate the 
winners. But, I think as much as we, the competitors, put ourselves out 
for critique, the judges aren't above the same opinions from us, as 
bystanders to the contest as a whole. And as it is supposed to be blind 
judging so they won't know who the competitors are, we also aren't 
supposed to know who they are. But there is always talk, and most of us 
usually mange to find out who at least some of them are. And so, 
returning home and listening to the first round again of the contest, I 
offer my opinion, same as everyone at the contest did.

 I'll say up front that I was disappointed not to make the finals, and I 
in no way suggest that I should have. But I'm disappointed in the 
judging overall more than anything else. When I listened to everyone 
make mistakes, and what appeared to be a couple of the worst ones pass 
through to the next round, I question it. When I hear a competitor play 
regurgitated Tony Rice licks out of time and go through, I question it. 
When I hear a contestant never move out of first position but get 
through, I question it. No, it doesn't change a thing, but I'm entitled 
to question it, same as everyone else who listens to the contest and 
witnessed the outcome can. I know the whole thing is so subjective, but 
these are the foundations that we all strive to play on, and the judges 
have the same criteria to judge by as the competitors have to play to. 
It's all in the rules at wvfest.com.

  I know there is always someone not satisfied with the outcome of every 
contest, and Winfield is no exception to that. And people that weren't 
there can offer there ideals about how contests go in general. I have a 
hard time remembering when I ever heard more people scratching their 
heads  though, wondering what the judges heard in some cases that nobody 
else did. Not so much as for who the winner was, but as to how some were 
selected. It didn't appear to be so much a criteria that anybody 
understood. At some point it's not a matter of if you play something 
they like, it's a clear matter of if you play well or you don't. There 
were several that did play well, and were passed over for something not 
so obvious.That's what disappoints me the most about Winfield this year. 
Just disillusioned, the best way to describe it maybe.

  I remember telling Roy that I  hoped to win, and that if I didn't I 
hoped it for him. I would have loved to have seen him get the third win 
over and done. I congratulated Dillon Hodges, and told him what somebody 
told me several years ago when I won. You got lucky. I told him that he 
deserved to win, just as much as anybody else that played, and I hoped 
that he wouldn't think he won because he was better than anybody else 
there. For those of you not familiar with him since he's not been around 
as much as some of these guys, he's a very good player, has some really 
good ideas, and is a real nice fella as well. It was his time. ;)

  When it's all said and done, it *is* just a contest, and my goal was 
to play my best and not choke through it. I really had no other 
expectations. I feel for those that did though. And, I'm getting to old 
for this crap. lol Pistolero

 

**********
Flatpick-l archives and Digest/Mail/NoMail, etc. settings
Got the HTML/MIME "Can't Post Blues"?  Post from here:
http://listserv.nodak.edu/archives/flatpick-l.html


-- 
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition. 
Version: 7.5.487 / Virus Database: 269.13.22/1015 - Release Date: 9/18/2007
11:53 AM