Hey guys, I didn't mean THAT different! For example "The Chinese Polka," "Christmas Eve," "The Drunken Piper," "The Carraroe Jig," "Kirrie Kibbuck," are the kinds of tunes that I was talking about--things that are a bit different, but by no means out of the genre. Maybe "distictive" is a better word. There are examples of this in Classical music as well. Some music really gets you going, while other pieces seem, no so much as "all sound the same," but rather indistinct. And it all works on a personal level. Some things I find "indistinct" sound exciting to others. Just like those tunes I arrange--I use chords that I think sound good--I'm not intentionally trying to be different, or set myself apart, but with my accumulated musical knowledge, taste, and ear come up with something that may sound like I'm trying to distance myself from others. It's really just me. Some people say they can't listen to other's music, because they might be influenced by it in their own works. I say give it all to me, and then my personal expression will be born of the collective music memory. Then again, I play some stuff exactly as I've heard other do it, and as time goes by, I remember less of the original, unconsciously add more of me in. That's originality.

--Mbo