Wow! somehow I lost track of this thread after my last post...

Jerry--you're right--I won't be slapping my thigh when I'm playing whistle or guitar! Not sure what I was thinking of, unless it was those times when I'm not playing, only singing. Also, I'd LOVE to have Reynaud "give me a nod". Sometimes he does, and that's terrific. Sometimes he noodles a little riff on his instrument to cue me. But when he "gets in a groove" he sometimes forgets that I'm not right there with him, and I definitely get "out of synch". Eye contact helps tremendously, and I'm not really sure how or why. We're certainly not keeping time with our eyelashes! But we do seem to be "interassured of the mind" to the extent that just eye contact communicates volumes.

As for getting "my heart" into singing, I'm working on that too...If I put "my heart" in, my EARS seem to go on vacation, and I'm prone not only to lose the beat but also to produce what I call "untimely modulations" but others call "sour notes". I think that's another whole thread--getting emotion into performance. And along the same lines of emotion, how about energy levels? Man, I'd love to get some "drive" and "energy" into my playing in such a way that it comes out of the instrument, without tying my body into knots of tension.

The only solution I know is practice, practice, practice. Boy do I wish I had more time to devote to music!

V