I know that up until this point I enjoyed my retelling of the Wales adventures quite a bit. I love having the time to sink into a story and pull out all the little details. And I’m certain that, in part, my lapse has been about not having enough time.
But mostly, it’s about winning.
It’s not an accident that I started feeling stuck just before telling you about how I made it through preliminaries. They passed me and one other woman through to the mainstage competition. I felt relief and a number of other complex emotions — including, yes, a sense of pressure that I did my best to dissipate. What use is pressure? Pressure kills cognition.
I prepped for the mainstage like mad. I met again with the accompanist and he insisted that I be fully prepared to win the mainstage competition, along with the alternate piece that I would perform should that come to pass. I sang a lot. I video’d myself, and watched the clips. And then I sang some more.
The environment was relaxing at Park Place. The Maes was muddy. The entire experience was thrilling. And in the end, I had second; first place went to Angharad, whose performance was beautiful.
There are so many facts and opinions and emotions that go into this, I admit it: I don’t know how to sort through all of them. But I know that it was a truly relishable experience, and you can believe I relished it.
So what happens next, do you think? I haven’t kept you up-to-date, and I have much to report! I’ve been working extensively with Marge Adler, and we recently finished putting together a series of recordings. The album I’ve been trying to put together for the last six years? It’s on its way.
If you’re lucky enough to be headed to the North American Festival of Wales this week, you can even get your hands on a copy! Nice, right?
Thank you for listening, friends. :}
