Wyre Accordion Festival 1998

This is the Marine Hall at Fleetwood where the festival was held.

This was the first competition I had ever been to, never mind entered. I did not know what to expect when I was volunteered to enter the Buskers section of the competition by one of our club members George Hicks, George has won the section for the last five years and had decided to let someone else have a chance. I was only entered for the competition five days before the start so I did not have much chance to practice.

When I arrived I found lots of accordions and accordionists hanging around in the foyer, some of them were holding their ears to the gap in the doorway leading to the main room, this seemed a strange hobby until I found out that the competitors were playing in the main hall, when a competitor is playing it is forbidden to enter or leave the hall as this may distract the player.

When the current player finished there was a lot of movement as people found a seat before the next player started and the doors were shut and guarded by a doorman. The competitor was sat on a chair in the middle of the stage while the adjudicators were sat about 20 Metres from the stage, the audience were all behind the adjudicators who, with a nod started the next player off.

Soon it was time for my section of the competition, I made my way to the other hall where I was to be playing and found that accordion cases were banned due to fire regulations. After listening to about six players my name was called and I made my way to the stage still unsure as to what I was going to play (I am not kidding), I had never been to a competition before and so I thought I will see what kind of thing the others are playing first. I sat down and the adjudicator nodded to me to start. The first thing I noticed was that he seemed to be writing something all the time I was playing, I was in the middle of playing and thinking "is he writing a novel", I have decided that I will ignore him next time. After about 10 minutes I finished my performance and went to get a cup of coffee.

During the day, I sat in on the sections I was interested in and missed out the rest. The competition went on until 7pm when the band section finished, this was a long wait because the competition was supposed to finish at 5pm, we were sat around for quite a while while the band sections seemed to do nothing. About 20 minutes passed between bands playing and after a long day 20 minutes is a long time to wait between players.

Finally it was time for the presentations, this was compered by Gina Branelli who has organised the competition for the past 11 years. I did not win my section but all competitors receive a written evaluation of their performance, I was looking forward to seeing what someone who knew what they were talking about thought of my playing. The winners were announced and the prizes handed out.
The results of the various sections are listed below.

This is Gina Branelli - the festival organiser on her trade stall, giving a few tips to two of her pupils who went on to do very well in the competitions

Competition Results

Nine year old Lyndsay Garvin who was recently voted 1998 Festival Queen

After all the prizes had been given out we were able to all crush together in the reception trying to get hold of the paper on which the adjudicator had been writing throughout our performance. I feared the worse, I was not in the first three places and he had probably latched on to my nervousness and pulled my performance to pieces. When I got my paper back I was pleasantly surprised. His comments marks and grading are mentioned below which should give you an indication of what to expect if you enter one of these competitions. I entered in to the Buskers section because I nearly always play from memory without ever looking at music. I normally listen to a tune and just play it, maybe not as good as I would if I learnt it note by note from the music but playing by ear is great when you hear a tune you simply play it, some people say I didn't know you knew that tune, I tell them "I didn't know it until just now", I am reading music but it's a case of too many dots - too little time.

Any underneath that was the adjudicators handwritten remarks:

********** ADJUDICATORS REMARKS **********

PLASIR D'AMOUR

Good tempo always maintained throughout. Melody well marked and easily recognisable. Good bass work.

MEDLEY

Contrasted bass work in this medley. Good finger work with very few slips. Nicely contrasted sections & pieces. Good work.

AMERICAN PATROL

Unfortunately marred by a shaky start, OK when recovered. Good work.

DUELLING BANJOS

Good interpretive performance with contrasts.

Marks Awarded = 87

I had done it, entered my first competition and gained 87 marks and if I had been a bit more relaxed and not started the American Patrol tune in the wrong key then I might have made it to 90 and a Distinction instead of a Merit, (you have to think positive about these things).

I am looking forward to next year, I now know what it is all about, it is nerve racking sitting there surrounded by people who know instantly if you make a wrong move, whilst their leader sits there writing things about you but I am glad I did it and I will certainly be in the next competition next year, I am starting to think about it now and have reserved a place for my trophy.

If you have never been to a competition then I can recommend it, it does not matter if you don't win, it is a chance to polish your skills and see how your playing compares with others, friends may tell you that your playing is good, drunks at the pub wouldn't know if you had the accordion on upside down, but it is nice to have an unbiased view from an adjudicator who knows what they are talking about. The adjudicators job is not to pull you down if you make a mistake or to ridicule you in any way, it is simply to mark your performance and provide you with some helpful comments which will hopefully spur you on to better things, I have certainly benefited from entering the competition and I now have nearly a year to practice and return to collect my prize. (hopefully!)

David Batty