I have been blessed with a husband who a) has infinitely more musical talent than I do, and b) can somehow intuit what I am incapable of creating and actually produce it on an instrument. Consequently, my short answer to the question is: give it to Reynaud and let him take care of it.

Example 1: I came up with lyrics and a melody...the lyrics were nice, but I couldn't figure out how to sing the melody--it was either too high or too low. And I couldn't come up with chords to fit the melody. I literally plunked out, note-by-slow-note the melody on the guitar, while saying the words. Reynaud came up with chords, and determined that the reason I couldn't figure out how to sing the song was that its range was larger than mine...he's arranged it as a duet, with him singing the verses, and me singing the chorus. In one of the bands he plays in, he has the bass player sing the lead, because the song really fits his voice.

Example 2: I had a dream where Reynaud, a friend of ours, and I were playing a really cool tune. When I woke up, I remembered the tune, but in the dream I was playing it on whistle, and I couldn't reproduce it on whistle (I don't play whistle in real life as well as I play it in my dreams...). Again, I plunked out on the guitar, note-by-slow-note, the tune, recording it into my little microcassette. (what I love about guitar and piano is they have *all* the notes, even though I really can't play either one very well.) I left the recorder on the table with a note for Reynaud, and by the time I got home from work he had mastered it on concertina (though he was playing fiddle in my dream...)and had worked out the chords for me play rhythm.

Needless to say, he's the one who teaches our originals to other band members.

V