Well, it seems my instructor is thinking ahead. Of the 3 2/4s he gave me to learn, one was a Grade III tune, the others Grade IV. He really liked my execution of Prince Charles' Welcome to Lochaber. I was lucky I could remember it. I hadn't tried to memorize the tune, and I forgot to bring the sheet music. All I needed was a "how does part 4 start?". We'll work on The Cock of the North next week, that'll be my first attempt to get a 6/8 Quickmarch up to speed.

Getting him to teach me a pibroch is like pulling teeth. I told him, "Think of the children! You wouldn't want me learning about ceol mor out on the streets, would you?". I think he's convinced. Maybe in 2-3 weeks we'll start on that.

It is very nice to have moved on to learning tunes, and types of tunes, that I want to learn. Up until now, everything he taught me was geared towards making me into a band piper: first the Chesapeake Caledonian's tunes, then the City of Alexandria tunes. But I'm not driving to Annapolis to play the CCPD, and I've pretty much got the CAPD set list under my belt.

The flute is coming along nicely. I think it was modifying the Pachelbel Canon to fit on the wooden flute, and then learning to play it, that has made the difference. My embrochure is much better, and I'm timing my breaths better as well.

I just finished transcribing the tunes for the fiddle club performance at the VA Highland Games into a tune book. It surprised me how easy they seem to be. Oh well, I might just be getting the hang of this...