Looking back on this year, two things really stand out in my chromatic journey. One, I finally learned to play in 12 keys on a C harp. Not great, but well enough to make me happy. The second milestone made me even happier. I struggled with valve noise in the low octave when switching breath direction. Turns out I was generating a lot of that with my technique. I had learned to play really fast bluegrass, Irish, and fiddle tunes on the suck harp and carried that technique over to the chromatic. In 2022 I learned that fast doesn't mean violent and smooth doesn't mean slow. The chromatic can be played fast AND smooth so that transitions in breath direction do not have to cause valve noise. It requires learning some breath control. This revelation has greatly increased my joy in playing chromatic harmonica.