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Competition

Feis Musician Appreciation

By Ryan Dunn, Feis Musician

I'd like to kick off the official start to my feis season with a few things we should address before our season is too far underway.

I am not in control of the stage.

This should seem obvious, but obviously it’s not. I am unable to account for stage delays, especially when my stage has been asked to slow-down because it’s conflicting with other stages.

I am not the feis time-keeper.

I haven’t any clue as to how long a contest will run, what time a certain competition will start, or what time the feis will end. If I did, I'd probably be advising every feis committee in the country.

I am not a machine.

If you really want to irritate me, when I get up to use the bathroom, please groan and make a scene as though my need to relieve myself is the greatest inconvenience you’ve ever experienced. Or, when I’m eating my lunch, please run up to me and ask how long my "break" will be. The five minutes it takes for me to consume a sandwich and a soda are not going to affect the feis too grievously.

I do not dance.

Despite having two championship dancers for sisters, I don’t dance. Do not ask me if your child is doing the right steps, if her reel step goes a certain way, or if her curls/wig/make-up is done right. I’m lucky to be able to put myself together in the morning (and I don’t wear make-up...I am lucky if I remember who I am each day), let alone put anyone else together.

I don’t want to be there all day either.

It galls me to no end when people come up to me and complain - at 2:00 in the afternoon - that they’ve been there all day. So have I. I’m actually working, and at 2:00, I’m starting to get sore and beginning to smell funny.

I am not the complaint department.

Honestly, I am not the least bit interested in listening to someone grouse and complain at a feis. My mind is on other matters (i.e., the dancers and the music) and I have no time for nonsense.

I am not a juke-box.

It stands to reason that I am going to make a mistake. The adjudicator knows it and I know it too. If I make an error, I will either have the dancer re-dance or the judge will disregard the error I caused. There’s no need for you to rush the stage or cause a seen on the side.

I follow the rules.

For all of your benefit, I’m going to post the tempos commonly required for usage at a feis. Then, you can go and invest in an instrument and a metronome, and see how difficult it is to play with the metronome all day.

While I’m on the topic, please note: If you are in Beginner or Advanced beginner, you have no choice of which Treble Jig/Hornpipe you will dance. You may only dance the fast tempos. When you are in Novice, you get a choice.

I love what I do.

The money I am payed does not compensate me for the pain I experience the next day (like today! I’m so sore). I love Irish dancing and count myself fortunate to be a part of a brilliant and vibrant culture. Recognize that it doesn’t come down to medals and trophies, but to a celebration of the culture - to digress into theology for a moment, our dance and our music is a eucharist - a thanksgiving.

Judges, too

Oh, note that the things I said above apply also to judges. If you look on your syllabus, you'll see that judges and musicians are solely under the discretion of the feis committee.

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