There are communities on Cape Breton Island where a fiddle can be found in most homes and pipes as well. The Celtic music, song, and folk-dancing of Ireland, Scotland, and France has survived and been passed down through many generations. From a small population we produce many performers who grace the stages of the World. The only competitions here are for Highland dancing but that was never a part of our traditional culture. Once years ago a piper from Scotland told pipers here that they were playing incorrectly. People thought that he must be right because he had won many competitions in his home country and was an "authority". What people now realize is that competitions and military marching bands robbed the music of what is called "blas" in Gaelic (flavour or individual expression). Today many performers from Scotland look here to find cultural aspects that have been lost to the mother country. What is true of piping and fiddling also would hold true of competitive singing in my view.