All’s well for Tidswell at R.U. Brown
Adelaide – May 4, 2008 – Brett Tidswell of Adelaide won the Gold Medal Piobaireachd event at the annual R.U. Brown Piobaireachd Society of South Australia’s solo piping competitions at Scotch College. Overall, Jori Chisholm of Seattle gained the most prizes.
Gold Medal Piobaireachd
1st Brett Tidswell
2nd Jori Chisholm
3rd Yasuchiyo Hamilton, Queensland, Australia
4th Ross Campbell, Queensland, Australia
5th Peter Hewlett
Judge: Malcolm McRae
Open MSR
1st Matthew Supranowicz, Queensland, Australia
2nd Jori Chisholm
3rd Ian Lyons,
Judge: Sam Young
Open Hornpipe & Jig
1st Jori Chisholm
2nd Ian Lyons, Victoria, Australia
3rd Andrew Fuller, Adelaide
Judge: Nat Russell
Silver Medal Piobaireachd
1st Andrew Cameron
2nd Andrew Silver, Melbourne
3rd Richard Wilson
Judge: Donald Gannaway
The R U Brown Society employs several judges with a fair representaion from various states and also overseas. There have been discussions regarding a panel of judges for the gold medal, but it must be remembered that this will create additional expense to a society that already pays generous travel allowances to all interstate and overseas competitors. A senior qualified piobaireachd judge already sits as a reader in all piobaireachd events and discusses the performances and provides opinion, so the situation is not as smelly” as portrayed. Each year a seminar and teaching program is run
Maybe most people do recognise a cheap shot” when they see one
Final Thoughts, it has been written on this thread that moves are afoot to address the judging numbers. You can rest assured that information is coming from a reliable source. It has also been explained that funding is a factor. Perhaps the event may not be the same if overseas travel is not subsidised….? Should they have floods of judges and then see how many overseas players would be prepared to pay their own way, especially on the eve of the season up north…? It has been about finding a balance and this will be found in due course. Until such time, the use of this website, by some people, to express derogatory and unsubstantiated comments about ethical ad widely respected people, and the lack of moderation throughout by this site, has done unknown damage to a gem of an event. It is akin to the IQ void that is the Beer Tent” somewhere else in cyber space. This event is going through a growth spurt. It survives on the labour’s of too few and is enjoyed by many more. Constructive feedback
I think you will find that at some time or other probably half the field has had some form of lesson or assistance from the judge. The prize winners seem to do consistantly well each year with a variety of judges. 12 wins to Tidswell, 3 to Campbell, several places to Hewlett. Chisholm has an unquestionable pedigree. Suggest these comments are rediculous and not supported by fact, history or general opinion.
Here here! It annoys me to no end when someone (who obviously has an issue with the result) uses a vehicle such as this to vent a personal gripe and in the process harm a superb event that is well run and looks after overseas players both financially and with hospitality. Tidswell is a regular in the prizes and pulled out a gem on the day, Campbell likewise (as per usual)and Hewlett has placed most years he has entered. Hamilton played a blinder and Chisholm is a class act. Makes sense to me. It is reasonable to expect that in a region that is not exactly awash with world class Piobaireachd authorities, that a number of people have sought guidence over the years from someone who meets the criteria, and that those people would enter contests and possibly be judged by that same person. To suggest an ethical problem is to highlight one’s ignorance to ALL the facts. Sour grapes perhaps….
That is only a matter of opinion – to which you are entitled of course – however, unless you sat there all day and heard all the performances, I’d suggest it is not constructive to come on here (of all places) and detract from what was a magnificent event that is trying to gain the wider profile it thoroughly deserves. I am quite sure that the judge was hoping someone would give him enough reason to split that top cluster up. As a judge, I have been in a similar position myself, but it is far more ethical to call it as you see and hear it, as opposed to engineering a result to avoid raised eyebrows. In my opinion, no-one gave the judge a good enough reason to break-up that top 5.
It is a sign of the times when one person can come on here, vent a personal gripe before giving themselves a chance to calm down and think it all through, and kick start all of this. Now we have people name dropping about grade 1 bands. Do you think we might get back on course now, please…? Go practice your doublings! The RU Brown is a superb event.
What the heck are you talking about D Mac? . I have friends in strathclyde who would never say the rubbish that you have just said about having a decent gr 1 band out here for the first time in a while. mate, maybe you need to get out of adelaide a bit more and wake up and smell the roses.