Thanks, guys. Kim has a long way to go, but I think she's better than she gives herself credit for.
I dunno Prof. Scratchy - Kim gets spooked just by the m/d recorder. I can't imagine how she'd feel about being in a real recording situation...
Aaron - we play That's It, but like I said, Kim tends to get a little freaked out about recording. I usually try to record now and then when we're playing so we can hear ourselves with a little more objectivity. Most of the time she can't through a song without freezing up about being recorded. I remember thinking as we rolled into the last verse that she'd been playing pretty well, so far - all she has to do is put off losing it until after the last note and it might even sound like a real song on the playback.
I used to play mandolin back when I had one (a no-name bowl back that imploded). I've been looking around for another one, though. My banjo hasn't been touched since July this year. As Kim has been progressing on the fiddle, she has expressed a clear preference for guitar backup. Probably driven mostly by the types of tunes she prefers to play, but even beyond that, the guitar tends to make a fatter sonic cushion for the fiddler to sit on. I can see how, given the choice, a fiddler would opt for guitar over banjo backup, although there is something undeniably exciting about the sound of a fiddle and banjo. There's a fiddle tune we play called Old Joe's Wedding (from J.W. Day by way of Clare Milliner, and no, that's not the original title) that sounds unbelievably different depending on which instrument provides the backup.
We played a bunch of tunes last night - this one also sounded ok, so I'll post it. It's Duck Shoes Rag by the Grinnell Giggers.
