Hi Fred,

Hey, I'm getting too old to have a piece of music grab me from the chair and dance me around the room. Good thing I wear headphones. I'm going to have to make a Fred play list so I don't have to keep switching back to hit the start button.

I think Polkas must have been pretty popular when I was 7-10 years old, or so, because my folks had quite a few on 78RPM records. I also remember that there was frequently a Polka on L. Welk. Later on, I heard them fairly often during my years on the Navajo Reservation. There it's called Chicken Scratch. Although it comes from the reservations down in the southern part of the state, it was popular (but not so much as Country and Western) up north, too.

The instruments used in Chicken Scratch are of the same kind you use, though the clarinet is usually an alto sax, the tuba a bass, and the banjo a guitar. I really like your ensemble. I love the German band sound of the tuba.

BTW, I also like Bluegrass. The first movement's coda of my symphony comes from a piece I have on a tape I copied from a tape of a scratchy old BG record. I think I first heard the piece, many years ago, at a square dance here in Appalachia.

Yeah, I like the clarinet. It's one of those I rented long enough to go through a beginning instruction book. In the case of the clarinet, I got into the intermediate book, and I nearly applied the rental to the purchase price, and would have if I hadn't already owned a flute.

Will be looking forward to your next one.

all best,
mgj