Christmas Carols

Last night I led the Christmas Carols in the Temple and for some reason I had left my guitar in "G" tuning instead of standard tuning. So when it finally came time to start playing, something was really wrong. I strummed the first chord of "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" and it sounded terrible. My friend Mark Billman was playing the cello and I just looked at him like I was in deep trouble. 

There were probably 75 people there and I was on the spot and at first I did not realize that I had chanted our daily morning hymm, the Sri Atma Gita, and that I always play that in this special tuning. So obviously I had to retune the whole guitar and it reminded me of one of my favorite poems, especially with so many people waiting.

The Guitarist Tunes Up

With what attentive courtesy he bent
Over his instrument;
Not as a lordly conquerer who could
Command both wire and wood,
But as a man with a loved woman might,
Inquiring with delight
What slight essential things she had to say
Before they started, he and she, to play.

Frances Darwin Cornford

Merry Christmas everyone.