The round of the year —- Halloween and then Thanksgiving and then Advent, Christmas and New Year. I love it. I am learning The Fool’s Jig on the D tin whistle and I am keeping on keeping on with the big Low D whistle, I don’t know if I’ll ever get a true sound out of it. It may just be too big for my hands. But it was a $60 whistle and so I will not give up yet!

Cantata practice has already begun. We are doing all Christmas carols this year, great arrangements, The opening is fast, loud, tricky and a truly knockout beginning. Slows down in the middle for a new arrangement of ‘I heard the Bells on Christmas Day’  which I like very much, and then back to the old familiar carols.

So am with my singing/playing groups at least twice and sometimes three times a week!  Cantata practice every week, Pickin’ On The Porch bluegrass every other week, both rehearsal and performance, and then choir. I’ve learned an enormous amount about music in all of this, both in terms of reading a score and voice control and of course the tin whistle.