Earlier this month, we took a short break to the Otways. We stayed in Forrest, at a lovely old cottage with a log fire. It's open plan, and has a great rehearsal space (photo of the kitchen/diner above; Craig, his violin and our shared amp were behind the camera).
Much of Craig's fiddle repertoire is Scottish (he was taught by a piper/fiddler). I'm just the accompanist, which basically means two things - Craig usually chooses the tunes; and if anything goes wrong, it's always my fault (I'm smiling as I type this; it's an accompanist's joke, but it's true!). Because ceilidh tunes are chosen for the timing/dance steps, we've played up until now in traditional sets. These are pairs of tunes with the same time signature and a specific number of repeats designed for dancers. This year, acknowledging that we don't actually play for dancing (so we can be a bit more inventive), we've put together some sets with time signature changes, including slow and fast pieces side by side. I've also started to work on some DADGAD accompaniments. The alternative tuning brings lovely possibilities which aren't available in conventional tuning.
When I took this photo, Craig was learning Mrs Crehan's in the background, and I'd taken the chance to rehearse some of the solo music I'm recording in August.
We don't play professionally, we only play for fun. When we started our duo again in 2024, we were surprised to realise that there'd been a 25 year gap since we'd last worked together.
It's good to be back.