Dave,

>>Obviously a keyboard player (as if I didn't know). Guitarist's, however, do better in sharps rather than flats (even though many do "flat" pick< bg >).
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>Right -- keyboard and trombone, which both work much better in flats. :-)
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>For strumming and picking, lots of sharps are ok, I guess, but if you're trying to read notes, ala classical, it might turn your brain inside out to be in 7 sharps!

Actually, I do play classical guitar. There are couple of things to remember. First, the instrument doesn't have anywhere near the pitch range that a keyboard does. Maximum would be around three and a half octaves. So pieces tend to be transposed into a key that best suits the instrument. A good example example of this would be the Prelude to Cello Suite No. 1 by J. S. Bach. On the cello it's written in G major. That would be too high in terms of pitch for it to be played well. So, as a result, on the guitar, it's D major. The other factor is that the instrument's normal tuning is basically an Em chord.

>I actually had to sight-read in 6 sharps once for a performance, after just one brief rehearsal -- great story:

Classical guitarists don't sight read that much. Can't turn the pages because both hands are required. We have to memorize the entire piece.

>I got home from Sunday lunch at about 3 pm, and found the phone frantically ringing (sounds dramatic, doesn't it?). It was a friend from my hometown in Alabama, saying that their pianist had broken her kneecap that morning, and their Christmas program was at 7pm that night. Pretty please, could I rush down there and cover?
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>I met with the choir for a run-through at 5pm, and then huddled in a classroom for another 30 minutes to cram what I could. The performance went off amazingly well, even the one piece that started in 5 flats, wandered all over the place, and ended up in 6 sharps. Boy, was I glad to get through that one!
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>That was 4 years ago, and they're still talking about it down there -- I'm like a local celebrity among those Baptists!

Great story, David. Who was the composer? I know that John Rutter does stuff like that.