Well,  it has been a pretty big year for buglegirl.

I refrained from saying 'good' or 'great' year as this is life and it cant always be a bed of roses. There has also been sadness too.
A lot has happened so im going to try to sqeeze in as much as I can without boring you all to tears.

Thinking back, it has become apparent to me that this year has been littered with many periods of intense work your hide off months here and there with absolutly nothing in-between, a real rollacoaster. Now is one of those 'nothing' times (well, in terms of music anyway) and im loving it.

Keller

The year began with preparations for the Ern Keller Competition. I had decided early on in the piece to play Philip Wilby's 'Flight'.

Flight for me was a real learning curve and I think I chose it with a notion that this was going to be the most challenging piece that I have tackled -  challenging in terms of stamina (8 pages), musicality and just being able to perform such a piece at a competition (you know...nerves, stage presentation and all that jazz).

I had been out of the picture for a while in terms of solo competitions so there was always going to need to be a extra big push to get up to scratch for this.
Well, to cut a long story short, I worked harder than I have ever worked before and won the competition that I had dreamed about winning for so many years. However, I have to say that I wasnt particularly happy with my performance on the day.
I have, for many years, suffered the dread of brass players, the mighty cold sore. I am always completly paranoid about getting one of the blighters and I get worse and worse the closer to a performance I get.

I was so pleased I had got to February 18th without actually getting one that I let up my paranoier and woke up on competition day (19th) with a pearler of one right in the middle of my bottom lip. Normally I would just not play at all but there was no way I was going to give up this opportunity - but it took every ounce of everything to get through that performance and I had nothing left at the end.
The Keller was a changing experience for me and I want to thank Ken Bradley and the St Mary's band club for a fantastic
experience and to say an , albeit belated, but never the less, big congrats to all other performers.

My first contest on end chair with {Brisbane Excelsior} was the Australian Nationals in Brisbane. The band were defending their title so this contest was very important. I have one question that I need answering. Why oh why do I suffer from nervs so much more when im in band than solo performances? Its really strange and I dont get it but thats the way things are.
{XLCR} successfully defended the title and are now looking forward to going for number 3!

Not long after the Nationals XLCR went on a tour of the UK along with a contest appearence at the All England International Masters contest  in Cambridge. Unfortunatly we didnt play to our potential but still achieved a credible 10th placing.

Albeit this, the band had a great tour, taking in London, Bristol and others and culminating in Manchester Cathedral with a joint concert with the then British National Champions, Leyland. 

I love playing with GSB as its always such an education and they are a buch of great peolpe who always look after me.
On the contest, Gunnedah won both the set test selection, Philip Sparks 'Beyond the Moon and Mexico' and the own choice, Peter Graham's 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth', but unfortunatly came third in the contest due to the placing of the Hymn!.
You can listen to both 'Beond the Moon and Mexico' and "Journey to the Centre of the Earth' (mp3 files, rather large!).
I have to say that these two performances were up there as the most exciting contest experiences of my life.
Congrats Gunnedah.

British Open

Part of my prize for winning the Ern Keller was an invitation to the finals of the British Open Solo Championships held in Dukinfield, England on the 11th November.
I thought it would be nice to do some other playing whilst I was over in blighty again so when Jason Katsikaris asked weather I would like to play for his band BTM (Wales) for a contest I jumped at the chance (had I known that the contest was Pontins I may not have been so keen - just kidding  ).
This was my first visit to Cardiff and I was really impressed with the place. I got to stay in a nice apartment on Cardiff Bay (apparently Charlotte Church goes there to get her tresses trimmed - wit woooo I hear you all say! )

I had a great time with BTM and have met so many new good friends. The band played well at the contest on Blitz and achieved a credible second placing.

The next weeked was the Solo Comp. Congratulations to Katrina Marzella for a fantastic performance and a deserved win.
I chose to play my all time favourite solo, 'Prelude and Capriccio' by Edward Gregson. I was really please with my performance but the adjucators thought differently. Oh well, thats contesting. Despite this, I had a really great time, got to catch up with many old friends and meet loads of new ones.

So in a roundabout way this brings me up to now. Band have finished for christmas and as we had a bit of a biggie this year we are having an extended break so im taking a couple of weeks off playing now as it looks like next year is going to be even busier than before. Cant say yet but I will fill you in in the not do distant future.