Ruth, I don't think David is quite up to grasping the subtle—and sometimes not so subtle—puns that Shakespeare occasionally slips into his plays. . . .

David is singing about a quarter-tone flat throughout "The Holly and the Ivy," with occasional temporary explorations of other nearby keys.

Some years ago, my wife Barbara and a young woman named Deborah Reed sang "Down in Yon Forest" as a duet in a Christmas Eve service at a local church, with me providing a lute-like accompaniment on the classic guitar. Beautiful and haunting, with the candle-light, and those two voices blending, lofting, and reverberating softly through the church.

After listening just now to David's rendition (emphasis on the "rend"), I'm trying desperately to recapture the memory of the sound of Barbara's and Deborah's voices on that occasion.

Don Firth