As a family we have always felt fortunate to have had the opportunity to play music, both at home and at various venues around Northern Ireland, and would normally begin with a brief introduction. We are Aine, James, Jack and Katie and are from Dromore in County Down. Jack and Katie have been playing the Irish harp since they were about 7 years old and are now entering their teenage years. Although they can both read music they have learned to play the harp by the oral tradition – that is playing by ear rather than from written music. They have played at various venues over the last few years and have developed their skills both as individual players and group performers. Aine took up playing the flute about 8 years ago and has never looked back. Within a few weeks of starting the flute she started playing in the local instrumental group ‘Bonaparte’s Retreat’ along with James, Anita Anderson and David Wilkinson.  Since the family group started Aine has been persuaded to sing with the harp accompaniments and her voice is now an inherent part of the Patience Family sound. James has been playing the guitar for most of his adult life and played as a solo performer for many years. He started playing the harp at around the time the children were born and began by playing a few chords as an accompaniment to singing. When playing with ‘Bonaparte’s Retreat’ he developed his harp playing to include both accompaniments and solo harp playing. James began playing instrumental background music as a solo harper in order to develop his repertoire and still does this from time to time. With the Patience family group James plays the harp but also plays the guitar, mostly in open D tuning ( DADF#AD ) and will occasionally sing. We have played together as a group for a little over three years now and have progressed from an instrumental group to one which encompasses traditional dance music, Irish and Scottish songs and ballads and the music of Irelands most famous harper, Turlough O’Carolan. We have been welcomed by many audiences over the last few years and have always enjoyed the opportunity to share our music with fellow music lovers.