My music has been moving at blazing speed recently; not just the tunes themselves, but the pace of things.

I've had two parades in the last 2 or so weeks with Alexandria. Both finished up for some of us at Pat Troy's, and I was dragged on stage four times after the St. Paddy's for little 5-10 minute pipe sets while the musician playing that stage took a break. Though I made lots of mistakes when playing the fast stuff, I kept the beat, and few noticed. Even got an invite from one of the musicians to bring my fiddle and play with him at his regular night. Also had beers bought for me, posed for pictures, and had a generally rollicking good time.

The Devil's Tailors rehearsal sessions are going very well. Rosemary and I have worked out our orchestrations for most sets, and we brought Chris into the mix for the first time this weekend. I ordered another batch of gear too, and now I'm just two cases and two spare microphones away from having the full gear for the band. Okay, I may need a van too, eventually. Not sure if all this crap will fit in the PT Cruiser!

There are two upcoming events that are really kicking my butt, though. City of Alexandria plays for the Something Scottish Thistle Highland Dance School concert on Saturday, and we're playing the Broadswords: 2 parts of 6/8 march, 1 part of 6/8 air, 6 parts of strathspey, 4 parts of (single) reel, 1 part of 6/8 air, 2 parts of 6/8 march. And we - individually and as a band - are having the worst time playing the reel at tempo. What kills me is that we're only going for 86 beats per minute, which isn't even reel tempo for a fiddler. And yet I'm falling apart. It's terribly embarrassing to see my fingers trip over each other. So we'll be doing this gig on a wing and a prayer.

By the same token, Liz Donaldson invited me to play with her for a Scottish Country Dance class on the 14th, and we have the Fiddle Club dance on the 25th, and I'm struggling to get those reels to tempo too. I like to play my reels at a comfortable 105 bpm, but the Country Dancers want 112-116 - which is close to where I play my jigs, but damn, that's fast for a reel. Especially ones I don't know well. And then there's the issue of tunes. I'll be cramming tunes in Liz's book this week.

My newest friend these days is the Korg Metrognome, an earbud metronome. For both instruments. I think I'll be playing with this thing a lot more. Better get a bunch of spare batteries.

And on top of all this, I went and bought tickets to see Dervish w/ Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill last night and Natalie MacMaster tomorrow night. Not that I'm regretting that, but it's taking a bite out of my practice time when I need it most...