Below is a wonderful recount of Meredith Hudock's personal experience at the US National Scottish Fiddle Competition, where she took thrid place! Congratulations to you, Meredith, and thank you for sharing your unique perspective on the experience!
Hard Work Pays Off
By Meredith Hudock
"On October 2, 2010, my parents and I attended the Williamsburg Scottish Festival in Virginia. The festival was outside on a warm sunny day, and we were in the “Fiddling Gazebo”. I was there to compete in the US National Scottish Fiddle Championship. Fiddlers from all over the country were there, and most of them were there because they won first place in a regional competition. I got to compete because, even though I finished second in regional’s, the judge announced that I was eligible for nationals.
In Scottish fiddling competitions, there are two divisions: Junior and Open. Junior is for people who are 18 or under, and Open is for people over 18 or those who have won the Junior division three times. The tradition in Scottish fiddling is important: competitors wear a traditional Scottish kilt and have to play in the traditional Scottish style, not variations like Cape Breton, etc. In a Scottish competition you play four pieces. The first piece is a slow tune/air. The judges give points on your musical interpretation of the piece and how well emotionally you perform it; an air is supposed to show lots of feeling. Then you take a pause at the end of the piece to let the judges write down notes and scores. When you get a nod from the judges, you then play a set consisting of a march, a strathspey, and a reel (called an MSR). These are played with no break in between. The march is a tune that an army can walk in time to while they are walking many miles each day, so you have to keep a steady beat. Then you transition into the dance tune, a strathspey. In this tune, you need to keep a steady beat and make it dance-able. The last tune is the reel. This is the show-off piece for the fiddler and fastest piece in the set, so giving it groove will score you big points.
On the day of the competition, there were three judges, all master Scottish fiddlers. I know all three of them which added stress and nerves. To make things even more stressful, the world famous, three-time National Scottish Fiddle Champion, Bonnie Rideout was in the audience. In the junior division there were six fiddlers, and I was the fourth one to perform. I never get nervous on stage, but when I put my bow on the string and started my first long bow, I was shaking uncontrollably! It felt like everybody could hear my bow bouncing and my vibrato tensing, but I kept going. Halfway through the piece I started to calm down and concentrate more on the flow of the music. Ending the last note I was rewarded with loud applause by the audience, and I nodded my head in thanks. When the clapping died, I checked my tuning again while the judges wrote down their notes. They gave me a nod to proceed, and I prepared for the MSR. I was calmer by the time I started my march but still kept focused. Unfortunately, I stumbled a bit in the strathspey and in the reel, but they weren’t big mistakes, so it didn’t phase me. After the end of my reel the audience once again congratulated me with claps and cheers. After we all performed my mom and dad both said they couldn’t hear my bow shake, and the stumbles were only heard by them because they knew the pieces so well. That news gave me some hope.
While the judges were conferring about the results, all the fiddlers congratulated each other on their performances. Several people congratulated me on my air saying it was their favorite of the day. I knew I had done a pretty solid performance, but also had by far the least experience of any in the group in this style. John Turner (head judge and ten-time national champion) came up to the stage and started out with a small speech about how well we all did today and that everybody is a winner. I stood over by the other fiddlers waiting for the results thinking that I would be there to cheer on everybody who placed. They awarded the individual prizes for the best air, march, strathspey, or reel. Next would be for the top three finishers. When John Turner announced that the third place goes to Meredith Hudock, I was in shock, but managed to walk up to claim my prize. I walked off and returned to my spot with a huge smile on my face. My dad came around to meet me and gave me a huge hug. It felt like I had won first prize and not third! My two other friends placed second and first which I was really proud of.
I worked very hard on this goal, put my heart into it, and was rewarded with great results. Even though I have only done Scottish fiddle for just over a year, I was able to succeed because of the solid skills learned over many years at CYM. This experience has shown me again that hard work can really pay off!"
