A Second Public Service Announcement

For all you West-Coasters who were feeling deprived because you only get to stay up late (or get up early) for Easter Vigil, Midnight Mass, and the 'Worlds, dry your eyes, and put on a pot of coffee. They're streaming the Glenfiddich Piping Championship this Saturday (at 3 AM, Pacific). There should be piobaireachd enough for the most insatiable--or at least nearly so, I am hoping.

Quite the Opposite of Seasickness

Yesterday's schedule had a very large gap between the morning lessons and the afternoon ones, so I had a grand time trying out a couple of new tunes on my own. I have a very heavy practice mute that I like to use on my fiddle if I'm going to be doing anything terribly repetitious (or wobbly of intonation) within earshot of innocent bystanders--yesterday I had the leisure to discover that if I used the mute and turned up the studio speakers I could play along with the mp3 of my choice and still hear the details of the recording. So, yes, I tried through Bruce MacGregor's recording of "Sitting in the Stern of a Boat" several times. I love the second part of the tune--there is such a deal of wistful sweetness in the high B's, even if they're scarcely lingered on (because they're scarcely lingered on, I should say). And the understated accompaniment in this particular rendition is the ideal complement--it makes the tune richer without distracting in the least from the fiddle part.