Traralgon Eisteddfod 2010

Another Eisteddfod 'under my belt'!

Less new things to be surprised about than last year.

The major talking point was when the fire alarm sounded during a performance on the first day. We were all a bit confused what the ringing bell meant, but finally we got the message and evacuated the building and gathered on the nature strip in front of the Little Theatre. Pretty soon the fire trucks showed up and the firemen in full dress marched into the building. They checked the fire alarm panel and went to where the alarm was triggered and fortunately found nothing remotely hot. False alarm it seems.
All up we probably lost 30 minutes which was taken out of our lunch break which was a bit rough, I mean you can't arrange a proper lunch in that period of time.

No capo issues like last year, however I was caught out by a missing time signature. You need to know that I have never met in person a lot of the performers, so the music that they are performing, and expect me to back them with, is a complete mystery until they hand over their written music. This takes many and varied different forms.
The one issue I had was when a performer who up until then had played guitar suddenly announced they would just sing and I would have to play the guitar part. It got off to a rocky start and was abandoned at the start of the chorus when it just fell apart. A second attempt finished even quicker. I wasn't personally happy with the failure and felt bad for the performer. As it turned out they came back as the last act for the section and played guitar and all was revealed: The song was in 3/4 time not 4/4! This came about because there was no time signature reference on the sheet I was handed, so I assumed 4/4.
Ironically, the next day the same performer gave me another sheet of music with 3/4 written at the top. Easy I think, and they were playing guitar as well as a bonus, so I played bass. Off they go and I'm waiting for the three pulse only to find a four pulse. Most confusing.

This year no backing music was allowed, the backing had to be live. Some expected a pretty drab experience, but the experience was positive, a good move. Lots of more intimate music and a great 'leveler'.

The adjudicator was local identity 'Truckin with Tim' who did a great job.

This year I asked to play a song at the end of the official part of the function. I was given permission and sang two and a half songs and went over well. Nice way to finish off the event. The last two months have been busy, but worthwhile.