Works best at a different pitch.

In a recording session recently Mary wrote out the tune to a song for our friend Dave Holland (not the jazz bass player!) to add a fiddle part. She wrote it at exactly the pitch she sang it, he played it was written, and it didn't work. She has a fairly low voice - the range was from the F# below middle C to the A above - so I suggested Dave play the tune an octave higher - result - clarity and happiness! The final formula was to double the tune that way in the verse and play harmony in the chorus. You'll be able to hear the result When "Sharp Practice" comes out on the Wild Goose label in a month or two, we hope.

With the Anglo concertina I'm usually above the voice; with the cello I can be below it, but you can't double the tune that low all of the time. In the middle register of the cello I have to play a harmony - following the tune at the same pitch would make it very muddy.

So you're right about hiding the voice. The idea is to spread the instruments and voices across the acoustic spectrum.

But whatever you do, you have to try it out and listen. I went into a rehearsal the other day with elaborate ideas all written out and bits that I'd recorded and sent out on minidisc etc. and then when we got together and tried it, it didn't work and I had to quietly drop it, and together we produced something that we know will work because we kept listening to what we were doing, evaluating what was wrong and working out how to change it. Hence my comment about ears!

Anahata