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Sorry for the long hiatus. It\u2019s been a busy time: my latest sabbatical is running to its end, I\u2019m broke, and back to job hunting. So I\u2019ve been having to put aside the music and be all practical lately.

Still, I have not left In the Hands completely neglected. Listening to some other podcasts \u2014 and some of those old school \u2026 what are they called? \u2026 oh yes, radio shows \u2014 I noticed what a difference a really nice audio logo or theme song makes. It functions as an announcement, of course: \u201cPay attention! Your show is on!\u201d And it\u2019s a cue to get in the right frame of mind to enjoy what\u2019s coming next. But most of all, I realized I love the ritual of the theme song, the anticipation and cozy excitement that comes from the conditioning of hearing the same theme again and again. It\u2019s amazing how deep that conditioning goes: though they are from my single-digit years, my heartbeat still involuntarily quickens when I hear these unmistakable sounds! (Yay for Delia Derbyshire.)

The trick is, I don\u2019t want a tune that\u2019s so catchy it interferes with the music I\u2019m about to play; my opening music needs to have a sort of palate-cleansing effect. I decided the thing to do was to make a collage of several different pieces, to get you in that piano mood without a piano tune in your head. Here\u2019s what I came up with.

This new audio logo won\u2019t make much difference to those of you reading the text version, but for those listening to the podcast, here\u2019s how it sounds as part of an episode.

(For those of you who didn\u2019t even know there\u2019s an audio version of this commentary, here are instructions for subscribing in iTunes.)