Hi Jack,

Thanks for the info, but I'm being realistic about my musical skills, especially the fact that I don't practise enough, and I don't need to feel guilty about having *another* instrument that I don't practise, along with the harp, flute, piano, tin whistle, drum etc etc.

I live in Newcastle, which is 100 miles north of Sydney, and I hate going to Sydney, so it might as well be a world away.

I think I'm about to get serious about the harp again, after a few years away from it due to some serious, stressful ongoing life issues which have gotten in the way, and which I think I can now leave behind. So, I'll just appreciate other people's lute and oud playing and try to concentrate on my own musical progress.

(I'm trying to wrench myself away from my Gemini tendencies to get tempted to get yet another instrument, which I know I won't do justice to by learning to play properly.)

Stower, I guess you can't win re: Sting. He has a bit of bad press, but I always thought he was a very clever musician, and it did surprise me briefly that he had started playing lute, but then I thought it made a lot of sense.

Helen