If I'm accompanying a singer with a tin whistle, the main thing for me is to keep in the lower octave as much as possible - not playing to be heard over the singer. For this reason I tend to mix n match a bit between straight melody and simple harmony (if a tune goes too low for the whistle it's better to harmonise than to jump the octave). I also tend to mix straightforward tune following with long notes, but the thing that nobody seems to have mentioned yet is actually dropping out for verse or chorus, just for the effect. If I'm playing bodhran the same rules apply - keep it subdued and simple. If you're playing with friends, you have more license to mix it up, but with strangers I keep it very straight. Nobody's told me to shut up yet (but you never know...) m.d.