tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62932120122321817252024-02-07T00:27:04.922-08:00Music Newsthorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-13096656741975419092021-08-25T14:22:00.001-07:002021-08-25T14:22:25.154-07:00Beginning of the School Year & "Stage Fright" (And the Big Question... Which is Scarier?)<p><b>Plans for the 2021-2022 school year</b></p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHg0QMgc_1Ff88iMPNRJrbpJ4YTS4482xmiN8kvNb8XeNws2wbAY5bYCZDszDL6sZxFInTcYwbnGrbTsdSttT0XpkjMdwBSll1vUr3LuVPG-xIZFtKtEbbfZAxSHV4TuqZzT3zil8oVrNo/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="569" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHg0QMgc_1Ff88iMPNRJrbpJ4YTS4482xmiN8kvNb8XeNws2wbAY5bYCZDszDL6sZxFInTcYwbnGrbTsdSttT0XpkjMdwBSll1vUr3LuVPG-xIZFtKtEbbfZAxSHV4TuqZzT3zil8oVrNo/" width="320" /></a></b></div><p></p><p>Needless to say, this coming school year feels anything but "normal," mainly because last school year was very unusual. The effects of COVID are the main reasons for this, and even now, after re-opening and half the country being vaccinated, there are still questions that loom. Almost all of my students meet with me in person now, but whether or not to organize a recital in November/December still hangs in the air, primarily due to concerns about the Delta variant and what potential this may have for children.</p><p>Nevertheless, I've been moving forward and plan to have a recital around that time (possibly November 13th, or later), and if new recommendations arise from public safety officials, I can always have that same recital, as planned, on Zoom -- the tricky part is figuring out how I would facilitate that, since I've never held a virtual recital before.</p><p> </p><p><b>De-sensitizing (Oh God, they're all looking at me!!)</b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ81Cm18Ss-VtM7EW2fo9SKsz2vuTJ-AeBkWItR6CigtAoef_QvuEArPoee6x1dbTAbpr9bKF0glc-YePE2M8Ob_6ddLtzVb-fIGWSXwywiU2FTHe1YWT8MLzDIOP-ilGrywO4xW9whczJ/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1224" data-original-width="1632" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ81Cm18Ss-VtM7EW2fo9SKsz2vuTJ-AeBkWItR6CigtAoef_QvuEArPoee6x1dbTAbpr9bKF0glc-YePE2M8Ob_6ddLtzVb-fIGWSXwywiU2FTHe1YWT8MLzDIOP-ilGrywO4xW9whczJ/w306-h230/sf+%25282%2529.jpeg" width="306" /></a></b></div><p></p><p>I've spent the last several months thinking about performance anxiety ("stage fright") and what role this plays in my life. It's also a little bit frustrating that it may be hard to book any performances in the near future, since some people are still hesitant to gather in large groups. My experience performing in front of large groups is, in many ways, a "love-hate" experience because on the one hand it's something I really want to do, and something I'd like to continue trying. This desire stems from a simple longing to share my own compositions with others, and the joy of having that connection with the audience. On the other hand, I've been known to experience the anxiety I mentioned, which usually manifests itself with trembling hands, a "shaky" foot and dry-mouth (very typical symptoms of performance anxiety). With this in mind, I've been pondering ways that I can manage these annoying symptoms. </p><p>I sometimes tell people that it's good to find experienced people, especially if they grant you their time to let you "pick their brains". I've been fortunate enough to do this--not to mention that I've been reading a book about a pianists' journey through stage fright--and a common suggestion is to gain more experience in "small" settings, like a group of 10 or 20 people. I've already taken action with this in mind, by sending an email to a coordinator at Enloe Hospital to see if I can volunteer to play their piano for their residents, on a volunteer basis. </p><p>My other idea is to try and organize some kind of "performance group", or a group of friends (or acquaintances/colleagues) who would all perform a short piece of music in a small-group setting. If I were able to find like-minded people, it would be a win-win. So far I have made a list of people who might possibly be interested. The next step is to contact these people and find a place to have these small performances. </p><p>The idea behind all of this is to "desensitize," but of course there are other methods that could possibly help me manage stage fright symptoms, which I might try as well (breathing exercises, meditation, running just before a performance, "tightening" exercises, etc.). </p><p><br /></p><p><b>More $$$ for recording equipment??</b></p><p>As usual, I have been making efforts to record myself and to post more YouTube videos of my songs. One of the approaches I use now is that I record myself constantly. This way, it won't seem as intimidating or scary when I play a song that I plan to post online, because I'll be "used to" the awareness of being recorded. This has actually worked quite well, and I was also blown away because I had no idea that I cursed so much.. (watching the playback videos of me practicing astounded me, as I noticed myself cursing like a sailor when making a mistake :D ). The idea is that I'll record myself so much on a regular basis, even during practice sessions, that during a "real" recording session it'll hardly even occur to me that I'm being recorded, allowing me to play more "freely" and without inhibitions. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1anEltH3KxJfX6b_MHXV8ekDsH41PJqFlrw36phSS7hqPPiBn-B3UUnKYKEEbfWVy5iiwQAVDA6bvuwuc43pFrsjKtE7BXs_SMKnqJELYE1ZR33dlheuwWmwPRHko1rp7OQj-hKhCZeth/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="620" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1anEltH3KxJfX6b_MHXV8ekDsH41PJqFlrw36phSS7hqPPiBn-B3UUnKYKEEbfWVy5iiwQAVDA6bvuwuc43pFrsjKtE7BXs_SMKnqJELYE1ZR33dlheuwWmwPRHko1rp7OQj-hKhCZeth/" width="320" /></a></div></div><p>I still use ProTools software for my recording, which ends up with "okay" results, depending on what you compare it to. I conducted a whole series of tests this week and plan to do another series of tests in the coming days. I may have found an even more "ideal" approach, involving a medium volume level from the piano but increasing the gain on my editing software. But instead of boring people with details, I'll go right into the main issue: should I spend more money on better recording equipment? (And more time tackling the learning curve that comes with the purchase?) One way to put it is, quite simply, that I have more hours now at the Sutter County Superintendent of Schools, where I work part time (and a promise of a raise), more private students, and a significantly higher overall income than before. So I'm thinking that in the near future the answer to this question might very well be "yes". </p><p>Only time will tell, and by that time there may be some crisp sound quality coming out of those YouTube videos... or at least I hope. </p>thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-88104229833930183932021-03-04T01:11:00.001-08:002021-03-07T16:19:07.617-08:00A Concert in Spring, Reforming Instruction and Musical Allies (All Rolled Into One)<b>May 2021 Concert (YouTube Live)</b><div><b><br /></b></div><div>It has been quite a while since I've performed anything, and after having more time to practice (since it's been months since my last performance) I've had the opportunity to ponder quite a bit about which pieces I want to play at my next concert. I've been avoiding setting an exact date, somewhat deliberately, because I fear that my busy schedule will keep me from practicing and that it will result in a "sub-par" performance due to lack of preparation. Nevertheless, I'm playing with the idea of doing a mid-May date, like May 15th or May 22nd (both Saturdays). In the mean time, all I have on my website is "TBD" for the time and date of the show. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdNqxmdwt6ONAswri6LY1_tHnH9J7lxIX3JSBeoBounlYoe_0uVwNF1-lyM4X7NXflcYgY412_uxzjO53MrAiEMtlRyoHUNSrIfd_o949viFY_iGQnIJPwyNHidEa8UHHmvtHJKi80bDDS/s849/youtube-logo-since-2017.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="849" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdNqxmdwt6ONAswri6LY1_tHnH9J7lxIX3JSBeoBounlYoe_0uVwNF1-lyM4X7NXflcYgY412_uxzjO53MrAiEMtlRyoHUNSrIfd_o949viFY_iGQnIJPwyNHidEa8UHHmvtHJKi80bDDS/s320/youtube-logo-since-2017.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>One part of this upcoming performance that I'm excited about is the fact that I've locked in the song "Autumn at Bidwell Park" as a definitely part of the list, and most likely it will be the first song. I performed it a long time ago, but this was on Facebook Live about four years ago when I was doing weekly broadcasts about my music (a series called "Piano Thor'sday"). There will probably be six songs total, and I'm delightfully surprised that I've been able to select pieces that seem to "flow" well from one song to another. As many musicians know, this involves questions like, "Should I play the next song in a minor or a major key?" "Should I play a slow song after a fast song, or vice versa?" etc. I seem to have found a good combination with the selections I chose, so maybe it's just luck :D</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>"Tightening the Screws" on Music Instruction</b></div><div><br /></div><div>As busy as my schedule is (and always tends to be, for some reason) I was able to find time to enrich my curriculum a little bit. I've mentioned before that even though the pandemic initially caused my clientele to drop a little bit, the number of students I have has actually gone up and I've had more now than ever. This has steered me towards the need to keep better track of what each student is working on (you know, so that I don't have to ask a 7-year-old kid, "What were we working on last time?" and other embarrassing questions). </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHwkiQxntsWdZho-XQKiAZnXaE0TiuGyDKPgh09YYId55etW_oS6TZOq01QnkNd70ITETfwb0mYKT-EjL7I3gdiE_aJD3TSsXIImcCom6AB_aOI1Law15BPRmO385m-vgtcYIu792T3iRJ/s2048/20200519_112034.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHwkiQxntsWdZho-XQKiAZnXaE0TiuGyDKPgh09YYId55etW_oS6TZOq01QnkNd70ITETfwb0mYKT-EjL7I3gdiE_aJD3TSsXIImcCom6AB_aOI1Law15BPRmO385m-vgtcYIu792T3iRJ/s320/20200519_112034.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div>I've been teaching music for about 10 years now, if you count all the lessons I've ever taught since I had my first student back in 2011. On a full-time basis, I'd say about four years now. I don't think I'm necessarily in a position to act like a wise "Yoda" or "Jedi Master" of music instruction, but if I were to give anyone a tip or a suggestion, it would be this: pick a "main" lesson book that you work out of, and give the students regular supplementary material to support it. This means you have a "textbook" (e.g. the Lesson Books from Faber Piano Adventures) but find other stuff that's appropriate for the student's level, such as songs from other books, other pieces, or downloads from the Internet. In the past few weeks I've been trying to be very mindful about this and it seems like it's already showing benefits. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>How to Find Musical "Allies"</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>It hardly needs to be said that if you're a musician -- regardless of whether you play in a band, a group of any kind, an orchestra, or if you're a soloist -- you need support. This support, of course, can be described as "moral support", as well as social, physical, financial, etc. It also shouldn't be any surprise to anyone that even with COVID-19 so widespread, musicians from all over the world are still able to connect, learn and perform by the wonderful technology of the Internet. I've recently taken even more advantage of this by joining a Facebook group called "Performing Without Fear," which is a group designed for any musician who suffers from performance anxiety (stage fright). The only "performance" I've done for this group is a video I posted of one of my originals, from my YouTube channel. I took this initial route mainly because I haven't had any time to really do a live performance. The nice thing about this, though, is that I got very generous feedback from some of the other members, including one who ended up buying my sheet music. This is just one example of why people in the music industry should always network, regardless of circumstances. </div><div><br /></div><div>At this point I'm looking more optimistically towards the future, especially when people are finally able to have gatherings again. This will mean more networking and, of course, more live performances and the opportunities to put on more recitals for my students. It's been almost a year since California had its first lockdown from the virus, and if this past year can go by that quickly, it only means that soon enough I'll be able to pour my soul into that piano with an actual audience. I feel very lucky that I still have these "allies" online to support me until that day comes.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-76349522076416085922020-12-24T17:39:00.001-08:002021-01-30T21:04:41.576-08:00A Sheet Music Collection (And Other Project You Can Do While COVID Keeps You Indoors)<p><b>Things You Can Do (As a Musician) While Staying at Home</b></p><p>It has been a long year, especially the way the pandemic has unfolded (meaning, of course, that ever since Thanksgiving the number of COVID-19 cases has soared, at least where I live) and now that we're getting close to the end of December it's good to reflect on the big picture. It has been about ten months that this health crisis has had a significant impact on everybody's lives, whether it's those who have actually contracted the illness, or just those who have had to adapt in some way or another (in other words, all of us). </p><p>For me, it has definitely been a while since I've put on any kind of a virtual piano concert, partly because Facebook Live was acting funny (freezing up during the livestream) and I want to make sure I can use a method of livestreaming that's more reliable (maybe YouTube Live). So what else is there to do? I still teach my piano lessons on Zoom, as well as in-person. The in-person students are required to wear their masks, and with the 28 students that I have now it's about half-and-half (half of them are on Zoom, the other half meet me in person). Even as we approach close to a year since the very first COVID-19 cases showed up, my business hasn't really decreased at all, which I continue to be grateful for. </p><div data-draftjs-conductor-fragment="{"blocks":[{"key":"ekce6","text":"One of the many ways I've been spending time, aside from having put on several virtual concerts, is adding new sheet music to my website. I finished putting together new sheet music for two of my songs (\"Search at Jan Mayen's Coast\" and \"Waking to the Rain\") which are now up on my site, along with all the others. ","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}},{"key":"95ptj","text":"","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}}],"entityMap":{}}" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="jwLWP _2hXa7 _30PMG blog-post-text-font blog-post-text-color public-DraftStyleDefault-block-depth0 public-DraftStyleDefault-text-ltr" data-block="true" data-editor="editor" data-offset-key="foo-0-0"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="foo-0-0"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8HoBU9LS2j9CIyuGJObLT7-OWSDsditPtZmpOzEvwiZyA8YEfrGwR5cOUbc1GqdfBOi5_JGupyFTSXpHXYE8n0oMPQvtkVNrysoyoVEB90L57RLMS_0i4tRpLkrjIqUqrLLPs5Z-WiWZk/s2048/Twelve+Pieces+for+Piano+Cover+Draft+1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1582" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8HoBU9LS2j9CIyuGJObLT7-OWSDsditPtZmpOzEvwiZyA8YEfrGwR5cOUbc1GqdfBOi5_JGupyFTSXpHXYE8n0oMPQvtkVNrysoyoVEB90L57RLMS_0i4tRpLkrjIqUqrLLPs5Z-WiWZk/w154-h200/Twelve+Pieces+for+Piano+Cover+Draft+1.jpg" width="154" /></a></div><span data-offset-key="foo-0-0">One of the many ways I've been spending time, aside from having put on several virtual concerts, is adding new sheet music to my website. I finished putting together new sheet music for two of my songs, which are now up on my site, along with all the others. </span></div><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="foo-0-0"></div></div><div class="jwLWP _2hXa7 _30PMG blog-post-text-font blog-post-text-color public-DraftStyleDefault-block-depth0 public-DraftStyleDefault-text-ltr" data-block="true" data-editor="editor" data-offset-key="d7hpd-0-0"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="d7hpd-0-0"><span data-offset-key="d7hpd-0-0"></span></div></div></div><p>I continue to cross my fingers and remain hopeful that the vaccines which have now been approved (which they're distributing as we speak) will eventually start to bring this under control. In the mean time -- since there apparently is a silver lining with everything -- I've been churning out one song after another in my sheet music collection. I recently finished putting together the sheet music for "Search at Jan Mayen's Coast" and "Waking to the Rain," and am about to wrap up another two: "The Falls of Dynjandi" and "Liliana". After I add one more I'll have a total of 12 pieces with sheet music available, which led me to start selling these as a collection. </p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Podcast Hiatus</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8JX5XA6BjPfgopaBIXB_zI2DeyAHl3l5d0KvfeyM4wV_f2a8hCeN9xL_GeM6my5jViAE2CVlxmCh_flwTWqRnC-oWVkXPvMAue0vRm8H5813cnDFADMfRed1GdQvSD9WW1tPDenuTe7Oy/s1080/podcast.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1080" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8JX5XA6BjPfgopaBIXB_zI2DeyAHl3l5d0KvfeyM4wV_f2a8hCeN9xL_GeM6my5jViAE2CVlxmCh_flwTWqRnC-oWVkXPvMAue0vRm8H5813cnDFADMfRed1GdQvSD9WW1tPDenuTe7Oy/s320/podcast.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>From August until November I was posting a weekly podcast on YouTube, along with Melissa Brown (another piano teacher who works here in Chico) and we had hoped to continue through the fall and the spring of 2021. We discontinued it temporarily because of the high number of COVID-19 cases and, even though we're both extremely cautious, because of our need to take all necessary precautions. The good news is that all the videos are still up on our YouTube channel, "Treble with Missy and Thor" (a name that I'm still very fond of :D ). As far as a timeframe of when we'll consider it safe enough to resume the weekly broadcast, that's anyone's guess. <p></p><p>Now, of course, and along with about a dozen on-going projects that are music-related, I'm waiting for some available time to start polishing up the videos we already have -- this would include, among other things, adding intro music at the beginning of each show, fixing some audio issues, and adding a second "blooper video" (the first one got some good feedback, and a few chuckles). </p><p>So remember, there are many things you can do as a musician to keep yourself busy. If I'm able to keep myself as occupied and busy as I have, others can do it too. </p>thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-59319167659337727662020-10-25T13:10:00.001-07:002020-10-25T13:10:54.332-07:00Laughs and Local Connections - Update on my Music Podcast<p><b style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: proxima-n-w01-reg, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nothing but Treble...</b></p><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: proxima-n-w01-reg, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="font_7" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_21" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The most recent project that I've been working on (as if there aren't enough) is the music podcast that I launched back in August. So far I've had a fair amount of success with it, and my colleague that has joined me in this daring venture (Melissa Brown) seems to be enjoying it immensely. I think the most appealing aspect of doing these weekly podcasts is the simplicity of it: every week we broadcast ourselves on YouTube Live, with no script in our hands, and basically just talk about music for a half an hour. The only preparation (besides setting up the equipment, which has only failed us a few times) is coming in with a different musical topic each week. </span></span></span></span></p><p class="font_7" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_21" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></span></span></p></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_21" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The purpose of this? You guessed it, to get more music students, and it has worked to some extent :) Mrs. Brown (a.k.a. "Missy,") also teaches piano at The Music Connection in Chico, so we are both benefitting from this. We've definitely intended to inject some humor into each podcast, and we've done eight broadcasts so far. Whether or not the humor has been effective remains to be seen :D In any case, I've attached the video of our first broadcast below. </span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: proxima-n-w01-reg, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #ebe1d9; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_21" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: proxima-n-w01-reg, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #ebe1d9; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZIlRV1-jMLM" width="320" youtube-src-id="ZIlRV1-jMLM"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Our first broadcast of "Treble With Missy and Thor," </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">our music podcast</span></div><span class="color_21" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: proxima-n-w01-reg, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_21" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="font_7" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_21" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Ulterior Motives?</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="font_7" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_21" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="font_7" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_21" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Why yes, there are! The main one is that I hope to get enough subscribers and viewers to our YouTube channel (which is called "Treble With Missy & Thor") so that some of these same subscribers and viewers will eventually be directed to my own music-related channel ("Thorsteinn Gunter"), thereby allowing my compositions to have more exposure. That being said, I find the term "ulterior motive" to be somewhat of a misnomer because I'm very open about sharing this agenda. </span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="font_7" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"> </span></span></span></span></p><p class="font_7" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_21" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Regardless of how many subscribers we get (we now only have 45) I've been having so much fun with this because it's not something that requires a grueling amount of preparation, or any strenuous effort. In the mean time, I've added a new video to the music channel and thought I would share that one as well. </span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="font_7" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #ebe1d9; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_21" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="font_7" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #ebe1d9; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_21" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: black; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7UHRSY0ZZyc" width="320" youtube-src-id="7UHRSY0ZZyc"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">"Footprints on Esterro's Sands," </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">one of my originals</span></div></span></span></span></span><p></p></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: proxima-n-w01-reg, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">New Students, Upcoming Recordings, and... a Virtual Recital?</span></b></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: proxima-n-w01-reg, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: proxima-n-w01-reg, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The first two items in that heading are definitely a thing, while the third one is still a "maybe," an idea that I'm floating around in my head (among so many other ideas). Even though the number of music students decreased slightly during the onset of the Coronavirus, it has still remained pretty steady, and as of recently I gained a few more students, mainly through the vendor programs at the local charter schools in Chico. The interesting part of this (and the very unusual part of this) is that I am now teaching piano to a few students that I have literally never met in person, because they started their first lesson with me on Zoom.</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: proxima-n-w01-reg, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdXYxtDhgjWFV9JyLORdW7TW7sBFHwsZDC5SMEQUYm1FTtQi1rHNgLZM4bVoWEU4H7yPOFMGpbCVbM6pBe_PIg8b_oZRnhkWJQIjrIse81Qf9C875epjmnMZYNwEQx9gVfiUopP4VcIDcw/s2048/Virtual+Lessons+ad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdXYxtDhgjWFV9JyLORdW7TW7sBFHwsZDC5SMEQUYm1FTtQi1rHNgLZM4bVoWEU4H7yPOFMGpbCVbM6pBe_PIg8b_oZRnhkWJQIjrIse81Qf9C875epjmnMZYNwEQx9gVfiUopP4VcIDcw/w278-h320/Virtual+Lessons+ad.jpg" width="278" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: proxima-n-w01-reg, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Piano Lesson with Zoom </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: proxima-n-w01-reg, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">(It's the same, I just look a little smaller :D )</span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: proxima-n-w01-reg, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: proxima-n-w01-reg, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">As far as new recordings (aside from the most recent one above) I plan to start uploading some covers as well. I definitely plan to mix things up with regard to the types of videos I make, especially since I know people like variety. And the classical covers are definitely no secret - J.S. Bach's Gavotte in G minor, Edvard Grieg's Arietta, and Georg Benda's A minor Sonatina are among the few I plan to record. </span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: proxima-n-w01-reg, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: proxima-n-w01-reg, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">While I feel fairly confident about retaining the students I have now, I also know from experience that if they are not kept accountable, some may be liable to subconsciously "coast" or put in a little less effort. I know there's at least one other teacher in Chico who put together a piano recital entirely on Zoom, so I'm thinking about trying it some time in the future. It definitely has its disadvantages compared to an in-person recital, but the accountability factor that may discourage some of my students has weighed on my mind. </span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: proxima-n-w01-reg, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: proxima-n-w01-reg, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The solution? Put on a virtual recital, of course! It never hurts to try new things, and this is just one of many new things I intend to do. </span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: proxima-n-w01-reg, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: proxima-n-w01-reg, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #ebe1d9; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_21" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-48592666986417273072020-07-30T12:22:00.000-07:002020-07-30T12:22:42.734-07:00My YouTube Overhaul<b>New videos on my channel</b><br />
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I've spent a significant amount of time on YouTube lately, and I don't mean as a YouTube addict (as in someone who watches a lot of videos) but as someone who's been uploading new videos, and getting rid of old ones. I revamped my YouTube channel, mainly by spiffing up the design and adding some videos with better quality (I'm not sure if "spiffing" is really a word, but I'm using it :D ).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New design for my YouTube channel</td></tr>
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There's currently a total of six videos, which is fewer than I had before, but these include new ones that I'm happier with, and some of the old ones had mediocre quality in terms of the picture. The goal behind all this involves no secret, of course, which is that I hope to get more exposure. Online platforms seem to be ideal for reaching a lot of people, especially during a pandemic when many people are trying to stay home as much as they can. My goal by the end of this week is to add two more.<br />
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Aside from my attempts at creating slightly better quality in the videos, I've been spending a lot of time studying other musicians' YouTube channels, which seems to help (I've included one of the videos below, which I watched in order to get ideas of my own, from a pianist named Jacob Ladegaard).<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/t_Kd_G7p6ZQ/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/t_Kd_G7p6ZQ?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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<b>Diversifying my repertoire</b><br />
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In response to most people's first impression of the title above, yes, I have been writing new music. However, my use of the term "repertoire" in this case refers to the types of videos I plan to upload onto my channel. So far, there are five videos of me performing original songs (four of them with the grand piano Yamaha C3X, a.k.a. "Isabelle", and one on the Yamaha Avant Grande N2, a.k.a., "Zoey"), and one video that features a cover I did of the theme from <i>Princess Bride</i>. After I upload a few more original songs I also plan to add tutorials, where people can learn about piano playing technique, music theory, steps for learning certain songs, etc. YouTube allows the owner of a channel to organize the videos into different categories. Once I get around to adding more covers (and working out the necessary details involving copyright issues) I can create a section for that as well. In other words--and as usual--I have my work cut out for me.<br />
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<b>Worried about your business dwindling? Create loyalty in your clients</b><br />
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This is my advice, if I may give it humbly, for any music teacher who's concerned about their students dropping because of COVID-19 and their students having to stay home. One thing I'm extremely grateful for is that even in the midst of the recent upsurge of cases in the United States, most of my students have still continued taking lesson from me, even if it involves the occasional mishaps and hiccups that come with using media apps like Zoom and Skype. A few others, but not many, have returned to receiving their lessons face-to-face, with the other "new normal", which involves both of us wearing masks during the lesson. Students who do whatever it takes to continue taking lessons are showing their loyalty, and it's this type of loyalty that teachers need to foster in their clients.<br />
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With regard to music education and my plans for going forward, I'll be finding ways to continue using technology to my advantage, and to find better ways of using this technology to retain as many students as I can. Zoom and YouTube are great resources for that, and platforms such as Canvas will also allow me to continue my work with the Sutter County Superintendent of Schools.<br />
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<b>Virtual Concert in August!</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHmrwecC3jWZlPNdwybno4AszXDDJ8X8f5YUnei54a95gIvE6Eg75wVn3UEMH5bi4cRRZ9lax_B9f9Zaywd9pGJshHP8DrYgdTDNbjdIAKt8x6RODoNZQ4xAd2HjnBjIi1WpEg0LW3Auy2/s1600/virt.+concert+shot%252C+6.13.20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHmrwecC3jWZlPNdwybno4AszXDDJ8X8f5YUnei54a95gIvE6Eg75wVn3UEMH5bi4cRRZ9lax_B9f9Zaywd9pGJshHP8DrYgdTDNbjdIAKt8x6RODoNZQ4xAd2HjnBjIi1WpEg0LW3Auy2/s640/virt.+concert+shot%252C+6.13.20.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
I've had plenty of time to practice, so there is no excuse not to do another virtual concert - although it's very likely that I will postpone the date, which is currently set for August 9th. Either way it will include a mix of older pieces (probably "Waking to the Rain" and "Flight Over Askja's Fire") as well as a few newer ones. I've certainly mentioned the fact that virtual concerts are great even when there isn't a global pandemic unfolding, and the same is true with revamping the YouTube channel. My goal is to put on the best possible performance I can, of course, for the August concert, and also a rather ambitious one that involves the end of this week: two new videos on my channel, two new recordings, and two new pieces of sheet music.<br />
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<br />thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-14954400204265456062020-05-07T13:02:00.000-07:002020-05-11T13:06:15.338-07:00Concerts From Your Own Living Room<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYNUE4WqDDpXZHK3g4Ho8WcB4xwK0sYHF1UK9iwPalaPnGao1A3TIefJGJ0qcEc2wexZulzFaBRB8JflJ2agJUlJODdvdQ4950aVOn3-KhM4bDvhNwyUipjhF3rqxfNhSZAjuW11LZ05xc/s1600/livefacebook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="700" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYNUE4WqDDpXZHK3g4Ho8WcB4xwK0sYHF1UK9iwPalaPnGao1A3TIefJGJ0qcEc2wexZulzFaBRB8JflJ2agJUlJODdvdQ4950aVOn3-KhM4bDvhNwyUipjhF3rqxfNhSZAjuW11LZ05xc/s320/livefacebook.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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"It's the new normal". I'm sure by now you've heard this phrase on many occasions, as it obviously refers to the new lifestyles we've all had to adopt (isolating ourselves, social distancing, working from home, etc.). For me, this includes playing my piano concerts from the studio at my house, with my Android mounted on a tripod. It definitely has its benefits and drawbacks, as one can imagine. To be truthful, though, there are quite a few advantages to doing this.</div>
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At some point (I think it was during the first virtual concert I put on) I made a joke about the perk that there was no heavy lifting. This is true, actually, and the lack of legwork was really nice, so there's always a silver lining. What's even more encouraging is that I was able to reach a lot more people. In fact, at one point there were more people watching the concert virtually than there were numbers of people that usually show up to my<i> </i>actual concerts!</div>
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Another positive result is that these types of concerts will still continue, even after restrictions are lifted. I see no reason to discontinue the livestream shows, even if I do this in addition to the physical concerts. The easy part? It requires no phone calls or booking agent -- the venue is in my house, so all I have to do is pick a date and announce it :D I've done three of these already, and the next one will be June 13, 2020, (the Summer Concert).<br />
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I don't suppose there's anything else new that I've learned from having done the last three, except that I might have been putting a tad too much pressure on myself by allowing only two weeks between shows. Sometimes this is not enough time for rehearsing the songs, since the songs in each concert are all different, which is why I decided to give myself a month before I perform the next one. </div>
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I am my own worst critic, though--or so I've been told--and the last concert seemed to go fairly well. I played eight different piano covers, which I do only on occasion, and people definitely seemed to like it. The Summer Show will feature all originals again (and the luxury of not having to worry about copyright laws). </div>
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After all is said and done, I'm not sure which is more unnerving - looking into a crowd of 200 people, or looking at a phone that I know has 200 people "inside" of it, watching. </div>
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I guess I'll have to get used to doing both. :)</div>
thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-41663879363977258732020-04-16T01:10:00.000-07:002020-04-14T01:13:04.122-07:00Getting Music Out During Our 'New Normal'<b>Adapting to the COVID-19 Pandemic</b><b><br /></b><br />
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If you've been spending any time reading or watching information about musicians, you have undoubtedly come across something relating to the way the coronavirus has affected people in the music industry. The best way I can summarize my own experience is how suddenly I had to adapt - how I had to change my habits, my schedule, my routine, and the way I do business. I'm sure a lot of other performers, as well as music teachers, can relate to this as they probably have a similar story.<br />
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As if this wasn't enough stress, I was coincidentally in the middle of a major "life event" when things started getting really bad (I know, I have the worst timing possible). When I realized that the spread of this virus was really getting serious, I happened to be right in the middle of buying my first house. The sad part is that I ended up backing out of the deal, because I felt I needed to wait and see how the pandemic would affect my business (and the economy). So, no house! For the time being I will continue to remain but a lowly renter, all because of that pesky germ :P<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnBWlFZI7McVvmCtyyustitsBcYZtsbmYQnMJ4JtfxfxCuhkSpuzPOEz0HiQbu3tC6TdSCcM7OxbEdS1BOL7X01pXoPdG8SRJhvlQKOJqOOr768EzOhaiFLSiFnI6HLFUuq1ENnifK7L6R/s1600/Skype.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1202" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnBWlFZI7McVvmCtyyustitsBcYZtsbmYQnMJ4JtfxfxCuhkSpuzPOEz0HiQbu3tC6TdSCcM7OxbEdS1BOL7X01pXoPdG8SRJhvlQKOJqOOr768EzOhaiFLSiFnI6HLFUuq1ENnifK7L6R/s320/Skype.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Skype lessons... from the comfort of your phone :D</td></tr>
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There has been something inspiring about this, though, and it's how cooperative people have been throughout the ordeal. I was pretty worried at first because The Music Connection (the store where I teach my piano lessons) has been closed until further notice. My first instinct was that most of my students would drop and stop taking lessons, but actually I have retained most of them. Like many other music teachers, I've been teaching my piano lessons through Skype, Zoom, and other long-distance means. I have technology to thank, I guess, and I also attribute this to the fact that many of my students are already used to this process, since they've been having Zoom meetings with their regular teachers and submitting homework through student portals on their school's websites. At this point I am doing the same thing that just about every person on the planet is doing: getting by and doing my best to endure the process, however long it takes.<br />
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<b>Virtual Concerts (C'mon, Everyone's Doin' It!)</b><br />
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I'm sure I'm not the only one who steals ideas from other musicians (in fact, I know I'm not) and I recently saw two of my "Facebook friends" perform their own music on the Facebook Live feature that you can find on the app.<br />
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I've seen lots of comments about "silver linings", and there are quite a few when it comes to doing a concert like this. I performed original music on the piano via Facebook Live on Saturday, and I have to say it worked out great. Maybe it was because there was no heavy lifting :D Or, maybe it was the fact that I seemed to reach a lot more people this way. It goes without saying: more people are home, they don't have to leave home to see the concert in the first place, and I was able to reach far more people because Facebook automatically notifies people when someone is live (not to mention that, if you create a Facebook Event page, it automatically reminds every person that you invite). I was also able to get people from out of town to watch it, when they would otherwise not have been able to see the concert.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKe_2qHXaLDA3b3ymr_NlNNw5ow7sHyjwjxTpGBfIfxYNWsvvMtxytLgPYHBuh-26HMyKKqxTC82q2vCZdKAjYeEaCZNvRMKOFOZwNy5Dzc5Zd84cu_wKXb3DVchI3V8URyOyVlPkW-YCy/s1600/20200414_003005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKe_2qHXaLDA3b3ymr_NlNNw5ow7sHyjwjxTpGBfIfxYNWsvvMtxytLgPYHBuh-26HMyKKqxTC82q2vCZdKAjYeEaCZNvRMKOFOZwNy5Dzc5Zd84cu_wKXb3DVchI3V8URyOyVlPkW-YCy/s320/20200414_003005.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My attempt at setting up a tripod before my virtual concert.</td></tr>
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I have read that the best way to respond to an unexpected event, like the COVID-19 pandemic, is to make the best of the situation by responding optimally. There is some great information about this in the book<i> The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People</i> by Stephen Covey, as well as (and please pardon my French) an enormously entertaining book called<i> The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck,</i> by an author and professional blogger named Mark Manson. In other words, according to the advice of successful people, the best thing to do is make the best of the situation (and any situation) instead of feeling paralyzed, or sulking. The virtual concert I put on definitely motivated me to do exactly that :)<br />
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(By the way, this does not give you an excuse to wear pajamas while you're performing -- unless that's part of your shtick. Haha. )<br />
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<b>A Great Way to Promote Your Music from Home</b><br />
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It's interesting that even without the plight of a pandemic like the one we're experiencing now, I could have already been showcasing my music from home. Even before the outbreak, there were plenty of people who were hopelessly addicted to Facebook. I've decided to take advantage of it either way, and in about two weeks (most likely) I plan to do another virtual concert. It may be a smaller one (perhaps just a half hour long, or 45 minutes at the most) and it will feature some of my more recent work. The concert I put on last night featured mostly older songs.<br />
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And then -- yes -- in about a month from now I'm thinking of doing a concert with just covers. One thing I often tell people is that if you want to improve as a composer, you should study (and learn to play) pieces by other composers. Doing a show that includes covers will be a good way to exemplify this concept. Plus, I'll get to play some of my favorites, classical as well as modern (Chopin, Bach, Ludovico Einaudi and Leonard Cohen, to name a few).<br />
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The entire video of last night's virtual concert is still on my Facebook page, for anyone who wants to check it out (or if you want to giggle at the three minutes of technical difficulties in the beginning of the video). But hey, technical hiccups always seem inevitable. The enjoyment that I got out of putting on this concert made it well worth it.<br />
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<br />thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-43235579554389023952020-02-06T23:37:00.000-08:002020-03-08T23:38:09.485-07:00Gleanings From a Winter Recital... and Learning from the Students<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJbJEhPpv-082dItNNJxJnj2jvQqiHw5B1KD2uDKx4CIkovQ6NVLZP72VeXyBzLAs6xTnxngULFf4XMvyI-m0kV4ari6mObz_IW_HGZ2TZzMWGWhujmXWDqjCikue7cUYrORotUT1_C0kv/s1600/78692838_10156914890571325_8396696866527379456_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJbJEhPpv-082dItNNJxJnj2jvQqiHw5B1KD2uDKx4CIkovQ6NVLZP72VeXyBzLAs6xTnxngULFf4XMvyI-m0kV4ari6mObz_IW_HGZ2TZzMWGWhujmXWDqjCikue7cUYrORotUT1_C0kv/s400/78692838_10156914890571325_8396696866527379456_o.jpg" width="400" /></a><b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Recital at Apollo Music & Arts (Chico, CA)</b><br />
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I held my second piano recital on December 6th, with the same experiences I had when I organized my first recital back in March of 2019: ongoing excitement and, quite honestly, giddiness. I find myself living vicariously through these students, and as a result I get the same feelings of accomplishment and euphoria that some of them do after they've walked on stage and performed for over 50 people. A huge advantage of having put together two recitals now is that the upcoming ones will probably be organized even more efficiently, since I have a richer understanding of what to expect, how early to start the process, and how to avoid any pitfalls (and there really aren't that many).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi09lKqJFLss3ORV-Y5-V7306IcI9WjnWjKF77bJOOF2QmtkHKvu_qyM8alU3TM-5G44lMVCKAuq-72oioDoUyWAjb2FyHfM0NzwOQUkgkRCxLjpTyIXniPnnO417I0nfMxkveqIvyqxM77/s1600/g.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi09lKqJFLss3ORV-Y5-V7306IcI9WjnWjKF77bJOOF2QmtkHKvu_qyM8alU3TM-5G44lMVCKAuq-72oioDoUyWAjb2FyHfM0NzwOQUkgkRCxLjpTyIXniPnnO417I0nfMxkveqIvyqxM77/s320/g.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The beginner students played between two and three short songs each, and towards the end the advanced students played individual pieces that were between three and six minutes long. I was thrilled to hear how well they played, especially since some of the pieces were rather difficult to master (Chopin's E-flat major Nocturne and Rachmaninoff's C-sharp minor Prelude, to name a couple). Many people from the audience seemed amazed at some of the students' skills, and as a bonus everyone spent a good half hour mingling, chatting and posing for group pictures after the show.<br />
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I was also impressed by how nicely the venue was set up. Apollo Music and Arts is used primarily as a place to sell pianos (as well as teaching piano lessons) and I was able to rent that floor space for an evening. There was something very comfortable and intimate about having the recital there, and there's a good chance I'll use that venue again in the future.<br />
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I'm not sure if there's a short way to summarize the success of the show, but one thing is certain: the students are showing how far they can push their limits, and how far they can reach for their potential. That being said, I learned a host of other eye-opening concepts which, incidentally, came into light after spending several months teaching one of my adults students...<br />
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<b>If you can play at Grade x, then you can work up to Grade x+1</b><br />
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I hope people will pardon the math-like expression above, but I wanted to make a point about the importance of realizing an individual's potential. All too often I hear people make comments like this: "I could never play like that", or "I'm just not cut out for music". I've also noticed that people who make these comments are often the same people who have never taken a lesson in their lives. And my immediate reaction is usually, "How do you know?" or, simply, "I seriously doubt it," meaning that I sincerely believe that most people<i> do</i> have the potential to play an instrument extremely well. But it doesn't happen magically, and to play difficult piece (like Rachmaninoff's prelude that was performed at the recital) one needs to spend years, yes<i> years</i>, training on a daily basis, practicing, putting in the hard work and effort, and persevering when it gets frustrating and/or really challenging, which it sometimes does.<br />
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I have argued for it before and I'll argue for it again: the success of playing an instrument skillfully stems from hard work and effort, not from some accident at birth that makes you "gifted". The myth that you "either have it or you don't" is one that I hear repeatedly and will continue trying to dispel. There actually isn't any such thing as a "music gene", although there are some genes that might make you a<i> slightly</i> better musician (e.g., your genes determine whether you have slender fingers, which may make you a tiny bit more apt to play a violin more skillfully). But this is a miniscule factor in determining whether you'll be a good musician. After all, there are plenty of good violinists (including famous ones) that have really fat fingers.<br />
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As far as the math expression goes, it comes from a system used by the ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) where they categorize piano pieces into different "grades" of difficulty. "Grade 1" is assigned to songs that are the easiest to play, whereas "Grade 8" is reserved for those that are among the hardest. There are also pieces that fall in categories beyond Grade 8, termed "Associate" and "Licentiate" levels. The Licentiate level is considered the highest difficulty, and if you can play at this level you're basically a virtuoso, with an ability to play some of the world's most challenging pieces. The beauty of understanding this system is the realization that, given enough time and hard work, almost anyone could, eventually, advance to at least a Grade 8. Again, the ability to play at this level is not reserved for those who are just "gifted". Instead, it is attained by mastering Grades 1 through 7, one at a time, by putting in the hours, training, and receiving proper instruction from a good teacher.<br />
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Having said this, I should reiterate that mastering any musical instrument is never easy. It's meant to be challenging, which is also why it can be fun, inspiring and rewarding when it comes to achieving certain milestones. The formula describes the process beautifully because it's incremental; students will remain at "Grade x" if they don't practice. In order to advance from there, they need to acquire certain skills, (which they could learn in a matter of months, or sometimes over a year). The development of these new skills will result in Grade x+1, which means, for example, that a student can move from a Grade 4 to a Grade 5. Repeat this process a few times and it's only a matter of time and effort before a student finally gets to a Grade 8, or even higher.<br />
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People tend to think that musicians playing at a Grade 8 level are somehow "magical" with their abilities, that they are endowed with some mystical gift that allows them to have this ability. Yes, some students learn faster than others, and some are more motivated (and therefore practice more) but, at the end of the day, it really amounts to how much you practice on a daily basis. It also helps to have a decent teacher to make sure you're being steered in the right direction.<br />
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There are, of course, a few exceptions, but they are rare. You could consider students with learning disabilities, for example, who might not grasp the concepts as quickly when learning an instrument. But I hardly ever see this. I've had students with ADD (as well as ADHD, or maybe both), although getting them to play the piano successfully seems more a matter of just getting them to sit still and focus, rather than it being any issue with physical coordination. I've had a couple of students with Asperger's syndrome as well, but it seem that in both of these cases it only sharpened their ability.<br />
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<b>Revamping the Curriculum</b><br />
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I decided to pay more attention to this difficulty-rating system after talking to one of my adult students, and as a result I spent one of my weekends redesigning the curriculum I use in my instruction. I don't know if I should be embarrassed to admit it, but this was one of the most fun projects I've ever tackled. I think a part of it is that it gives me an excuse to learn a whole bunch of new pieces, since I have to teach a fair amount of songs from each grade.<br />
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I guess that means I'll have to practice the piano even more now. Darn. ;)<br />
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<b></b><i></i><i></i><u></u><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><br />thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-6260387259684287982019-11-21T12:44:00.003-08:002019-11-21T12:44:44.455-08:00Fall Concerts and December Recital<b>Opening for a Jazz Quintet</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnJWP7GcrZR7rIJLy44AIpY61Mjw3ocGyKG0k-Vlh96XdyxlOoi96Jeagx8Stv2Z2bj344UG-HLB9AykpTgWslyt58sT95jOvwJPRwPmkW_tvnoMXyVSXWxY3b8DyGinBUUD_oVLHlMI8p/s1600/610e19070d35043c6960b124a52047d34e131d95.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnJWP7GcrZR7rIJLy44AIpY61Mjw3ocGyKG0k-Vlh96XdyxlOoi96Jeagx8Stv2Z2bj344UG-HLB9AykpTgWslyt58sT95jOvwJPRwPmkW_tvnoMXyVSXWxY3b8DyGinBUUD_oVLHlMI8p/s200/610e19070d35043c6960b124a52047d34e131d95.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnJWP7GcrZR7rIJLy44AIpY61Mjw3ocGyKG0k-Vlh96XdyxlOoi96Jeagx8Stv2Z2bj344UG-HLB9AykpTgWslyt58sT95jOvwJPRwPmkW_tvnoMXyVSXWxY3b8DyGinBUUD_oVLHlMI8p/s1600/610e19070d35043c6960b124a52047d34e131d95.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; clear: right; color: #0066cc; float: right; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnJWP7GcrZR7rIJLy44AIpY61Mjw3ocGyKG0k-Vlh96XdyxlOoi96Jeagx8Stv2Z2bj344UG-HLB9AykpTgWslyt58sT95jOvwJPRwPmkW_tvnoMXyVSXWxY3b8DyGinBUUD_oVLHlMI8p/s1600/610e19070d35043c6960b124a52047d34e131d95.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; clear: right; color: #0066cc; float: right; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></a><br />
I performed at a small, very friendly café in Chico a few weeks ago, called Tender Loving Coffee, where I played nine songs before Joe Mazzaferro and his Sacramento-based jazz band performed right after. My first goal, which I started thinking about weeks before the show, was to get through all nine songs without "stumbling" or letting my nerves get to me. I say this mainly because this was a ticketed event, a sit-down-and-face-the-performer kind of show, and not just background music. I knew this the moment Joshua Hegg booked the gig, so I had already made a mental note of this.<br />
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The show seemed to be a hit with the people at the café, both with me as well as the incredibly talented jazz band that played after. Oddly enough, much of my own success at this particular show is owed to a YouTube video I watched the day before the performance, which offered tips on how to avoid being nervous when there's a huddle of on-lookers staring at your hands in plain sight, without the comfort and security of darkness (which you have when you're in a big concert hall). One of the tips included something I hadn't thought of before: you should actually<i> expect</i> mistakes, instead of expecting perfection. You should then over-prepare like crazy, and get the songs into your muscle memory as much as you can. This way, if you do happen to make a mistake, you shrug it off like it's no big deal and you keep playing. When you approach it this way, most people won't even notice (especially when you're playin your own work). This expectation of imperfection helps to keep the performer calm if any mishap does occur, whereas someone who expects perfection can get frazzled or frustrated after even a tiny mistake. So, as it turned out, I made very, very few--if any--mistakes at all. It's all about the little things, I guess (and thank god for YouTube!)<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnJWP7GcrZR7rIJLy44AIpY61Mjw3ocGyKG0k-Vlh96XdyxlOoi96Jeagx8Stv2Z2bj344UG-HLB9AykpTgWslyt58sT95jOvwJPRwPmkW_tvnoMXyVSXWxY3b8DyGinBUUD_oVLHlMI8p/s1600/610e19070d35043c6960b124a52047d34e131d95.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; clear: right; color: #0066cc; float: right; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></a><br />
My encouragement to anyone to see Joe Mazzaferro, by the way, is in no way just a "polite gesture" that I'm merely dropping out of some formality that comes with being a musician. It's a genuine recommendation--they were fantastic, and exceeded my expectations by far. The musicians were skilled, confident, versatile and incredibly good. All five of them (a trumpeter, a sax player, a keyboard player, a drummer and an upright bass player) performed solos regularly. Even though I had the option of heading home after my performance, I stayed to the very end because of how<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnJWP7GcrZR7rIJLy44AIpY61Mjw3ocGyKG0k-Vlh96XdyxlOoi96Jeagx8Stv2Z2bj344UG-HLB9AykpTgWslyt58sT95jOvwJPRwPmkW_tvnoMXyVSXWxY3b8DyGinBUUD_oVLHlMI8p/s1600/610e19070d35043c6960b124a52047d34e131d95.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; clear: right; color: #0066cc; float: right; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></a>impressed I was with this band.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnJWP7GcrZR7rIJLy44AIpY61Mjw3ocGyKG0k-Vlh96XdyxlOoi96Jeagx8Stv2Z2bj344UG-HLB9AykpTgWslyt58sT95jOvwJPRwPmkW_tvnoMXyVSXWxY3b8DyGinBUUD_oVLHlMI8p/s1600/610e19070d35043c6960b124a52047d34e131d95.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br />
<b>Chico Interfaith Council's Camp Fire Memorial</b><br />
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The Chico Interfaith Council is run by community members who are adherents to the Baha'i Faith (a religion that, as many know, I used to be a part of). The short version of that story, of course, is that I am no longer religious and haven't been for a long time. The Baha'is already know this, but they regularly borrow me because they know I don't mind performing at their services. There were a lot of win-wins at this one because I got to perform with Caleb Hermle, the cellist who has worked with me on several other occasions. We played Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and Pachabel's "Canon in D" at the Chico City Plaza, on the one-year anniversary of the Camp Fire. The Baha'is organized several other performances/activities (a choir, a moment of silence, and a release of birds into the air).<br />
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I think this ended up being really therapeutic for the people who came, even though it seemed uncomfortable at times (the sun was right in our faces, and we were sweating, complete with long sleeves in the hot sun--and yes, it was warm, in November). I feel like we pulled through beautifully though--bright sun or not, when you're a professional, you're a professional.<br />
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<b>"Oh, I'll be Fine--It's Still a Month Away!"</b><b><br /></b><br />
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The above quote is a common saying I hear from some students, and it's just as frightening as it looks... in fact, with some of the really young ones (6-ish years old) they don't even realize that a month is only four weeks. I had to remind quite a few of these procrastinators that a month was not a long time, because they were slacking on their practice and under a dangerous misapprehension that they had "all the time in the world" before the recital, because they had a "whole month" to go. Luckily, I've been able to instill enough urgency in them that they're finally putting in the time to get ready.<br />
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In any case, the next student recital will be at Apollo Music & Arts (pictured) on December 6th, 2019, at 6:30pm, and will feature about 15 performers. I'm especially excited about the six intermediate/advanced players, who will be showing off their mad skills with exceptionally difficult pieces (Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C sharp being one of them).<br />
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<b>The First 2020 Show (So Far)</b><br />
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Unless I book another performance before February 22nd, the first show of that year will be at Wine Time. I've played there quite a few times and one of the tings I love about that venue is the perfect acoustics. Unless it gets exceptionally chatty in the restaurant (which can happen if the patrons end up having enough wine :P ) I usually don't even need my PA speaker.<br />
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If I really wanted to (and had the time) I could approach this from a more philosophical angle, and ask the question, "Why should I do all these live performances in the first place?" But for the sake of being concise, and getting to the point, my aim for now is really just to get used to it. I spend most of my time teaching, which is something that many musicians do because it's a relatively easy way (and a more immediate way) to make a living. The gigs, for me, are designed to help prepare my for a more daring venue, which includes the idea of possibly going on a tour.<br />
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The interesting part about this is that I really don't have much of an idea as to whether I would enjoy touring, because -- like any other similar situation -- I've never actually done it. I imagine I would enjoy it because of the experiences of traveling to multiple places, many of which I will never have visited before, but I know there are also certain pitfalls that go with it. So, to sum this up, let's just say that the only way to find out is to actually do it :D<br />
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So, the more gigs the merrier. Aside from the heavy lifting, I have to say that I really do enjoy it so far.<br />
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<br />thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-49591449976459487062019-08-01T21:15:00.000-07:002019-08-19T19:54:05.040-07:00Updates on 'The Lost Enemy'<b>Published and ready to ship!</b><br />
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The creative writing project that I worked on for many years,<i> The Lost Enemy</i>, has come to fruition and it's been a wonderful learning experience. This originally started as a collection of poems, which was supposed to accompany one of my piano CD's, but I added a lot more to it and the project eventually blossomed into a novel-length story. I then converted these poems into prose, which left me with a book that not only contained a 180-page story but also a very unusual and a rather archaic style of writing.<br />
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A few people have asked me, just out of curiosity, why I decided to finalize this story now, and why I decided to publish it. The events leading up the time when I finally started "cracking down" on the project are rather amusing, considering I was somewhat careless when it comes to displaying this product on my website...<br />
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<b>"Wait! It's not ready!"</b><br />
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A few months ago I finally finished writing most of<i> The Lost Enemy</i>, and I already knew what order the chapters were in and how the events were to be portrayed in the novel. The only "snag" was that the story wasn't quite polished, and there were multiple changes that needed to be made with regard to the content.<br />
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As an example (and don't worry, there are no spoilers here!) there is a character in the story who becomes pregnant. In the original draft it didn't take long before this character became aware of her own pregnancy. The problem was that I absolutely had to make the story unfold so that she doesn't discover this news until very much later (this was due to a "hiccup" in the series of events, which was brought to my attention by one of my colleagues).<br />
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The point here is that <i>The Lost Enemy </i>was neatly displayed on my website, being advertised as a "completed" novel, a book that was for sale and ready to be purchased. Most people had no idea that I had even written anything, since the primary function of my business is <i>music</i> and not creative writing. So I didn't worry about this too much, and I figured that if anyone purchased the product I could just "fix it up real quick" and ship it off to the person who bought it.<br />
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Well, lo and behold, a random woman that I met at a concert one day stumbled on my website and decided to buy the book. I noticed this a few days after she made the purchase, and--as anyone can imagine--my first thought was, <i>Well, I guess I better finish polishing this up</i><i>.</i><br />
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So that is how I ended up finalizing the story. I guess the "funny" part is that the process of fixing it up took several weeks, with many all-nighters that involved hours of me sitting at the computer and changing/improving the story.<br />
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The woman who ordered that first book finally got her copy (along with a free CD, as a "thank you" for patiently waiting while I scrambled to finish the project). And, to my excitement, I've sold fifteen additional copies after that!<br />
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<b>Kudos to a wonderful printing company</b><br />
<b><br /></b>I feel somewhat fortunate that we live in an age now where people can self-publish pretty much anything. You can now self-publish a book, an album, a film, or just about any other form of media. So I self-published <i>The Lost Enemy</i> using a company called 48 Hour Books (you can check out their website <a href="http://www.48hrbooks.com/" target="_blank">here</a>) and they were fantastic. I was so impressed with how professional the final product was when I received my first shipment. So, as far as I'm concerned, if you want to get a book printed--that's where you need to go! Just a heads-up, if you've never published your own book before: ISBN numbers are not cheap.<br />
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<b>The "Second Edition"</b><br />
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There's an interesting phenomenon that takes place during the editing/revision process, when it comes to writing and publishing a book. This was another learning experience. When you spend too much time on a creative project, you stop noticing mistakes. This is a classic case of "you can't see the forest for the trees" concept, if you'll forgive the cliché expression. I spent so much time reading and re-reading this novel that there were several (four, to be exact) glaringly obvious typos that I always failed to notice, regardless of how many times I read it. I would like to have hired an editor to iron out this common problem, but this would mean more money out of my pocket.<br />
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This resulted in the first batch of books being printed with four typos that bugged me to no end, along with some formatting issues that I realized needed to be changed. So after selling a bunch of copies with the errors in them, I ordered a second set with the improved version. This "second edition" also has 35 chapters instead of 34. The additional chapter resulted in my decision to split one of the chapters in two, because I felt it was too long.<br />
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<b>A second book? This remains to be seen...</b><br />
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I was delighted to sell even a small handful of copies, primarily because this was an experiment and a hobby that didn't involve the stress of pursuing it as a "career", and there was no pressure to meet any kind of deadline. I've been asked a couple of times if there will be a second book, and this all depends on whether there will be more sales,<i> and</i> whether I start hearing demands for one. Either way, one thing I will admit is that<i> The Lost Enemy</i> is a deeply personal book that I've worked on for a long time, and now it's rather surreal to not have a creative writing project to work on (other than these fun blog posts).<br />
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Completing this project was definitely one of the most satisfying and therapeutic things I've done, and when I'm asked if it was worth the time and effort, it's an easy<i> yes</i>. There are few things in life that are as euphoric as being immersed in such a colossal project with no restrictions, no rules, no time limit and all while being fully aware of the endless options I had at my disposal. And as for the question of whether I end up writing a second book--well, I wouldn't be surprised ;)<b><br /></b><br />
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<b><br /></b>thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-26044994581941002092019-05-02T19:22:00.000-07:002019-05-11T19:24:36.717-07:00Summer Sounds: Amazing Kids, More Shows, and a Novel<b>Composition Recital at St. John's</b><br />
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First thing's first, I guess: Wow! (Is that verbose enough to describe something that really amazed me?) I attended, and performed in, a composition recital that featured both kids and adults. The recital was held at St. John's Episcopal Church in Chico, which has a very well-maintained piano and pretty awesome acoustics. I knew I was going to enjoy these kinds of performances because I love discovering what kinds of techniques, styles and patterns other piano composers use when they write music. I had the privilege of hearing these students play their original work, which included compositions that featured multiple instruments. Writing for more than one instrument takes an enormous amount of know-how and creativity, and kids as young as twelve were able to pull this off.<br />
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Okay, so now that I'm inspired... moving on!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Composition Recital at St. John's Episcopal Church</td></tr>
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<b>Got a House?</b><br />
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The idea of doing house concerts originated way before the composition recital, so the performances by the budding composers didn't actually give rise to this idea. It did, however, motivate me to look into this more closely. No dates have been set yet, but I've spoken to one person who may be interested in hosting a house concert over the summer. House concerts are exactly that -- a solo concert (in this case, a piano concert) in someone's home. I'm shooting for June, but the time frame remains to be seen and I'm hoping to have a narrower time frame in the next week or so.<br />
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There are really nice things about house concerts, including the fact that it's a more intimate setting -- and the fact that it's easier to hurl tomatoes at me if I don't play well ;) Okay, so I'm kidding about that last part.<br />
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<b><i>The Lost Enemy</i> -- off the shelf and on my desk!</b><br />
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My novel<i> The Lost Enemy</i> has been an on-going project for so many years now that it's difficult to pinpoint exactly how long I've been refining it. It has gone through many revisions, and up until last month it sat on the shelf (so to speak) for quite some time. I decided to get back into it one last time and finalize the entire project. It's hard to say when it will be ready to publish, but I'm definitely hoping by August. I've already looked at companies that are able to bind and print the novel, what their rates are, and what they offer.<br />
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As far as the last revisions and the final edit, the events in the story haven't changed since the last major modification in which I added an entire chapter to the book. The format, however, has changed slightly. Originally, each chapter was represented by one of my songs, and instead of calling these "chapters" they are now headings in the text, and each chapter may contain two or three headings. This works out better organizationally (Is that a word? Sure it is!) and it just seems to make more sense with regard to how the events are divided up in the story.<br />
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Another idea I have is to eventually provide the CD's of the music in the back cover of the book itself. Either way, one thing is for certain: the revision process can be tedious. Somehow I still find it thrilling and I grow more and more anxious as it gets close to completion.<br />
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I have a feeling, for some reason, that this summer is going to be exceptionally productive. Time will definitely tell, as it always does.<br />
<br />thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-43493866080621739552019-04-04T21:35:00.000-07:002019-04-07T21:44:47.684-07:00Spring Success and a Summer Show<b>A successful (and busy!) spring concert</b><br />
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The solo piano concert I put on last month (March 9th) ended up being a great success, although it had about the same so-so turnout as the last time I performed at the Chico Women's Club (about 30 people). The fun part of this concert was that I got to sell my sheet music for the first time. This is definitely something I plan to do for my next concert, in addition to selling my CD's, because a few of the sheet music I brought actually sold.<br />
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The busy part of the day was not just preparing for the concert, but putting on a student recital the same day. My colleagues and friends didn't really describe this as "busy," because I think their word of choice was "insane".<br />
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Despite my insanity, which should be no surprise to anyone, the recital was enjoyable, inspiring, and as much of a success as the solo concert. Nineteen of my students performed, and 50 or so parents and family members showed up. I had already collaborated with other teachers in helping them with recitals over the years, and having my students perform in those recitals, but this was the first show I organized for the students myself.<br />
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A number of people usually ask me, after I do any of these concerts, "How do you feel now?" The best way I can answer that question is, always, "I want to do more." And this, of course, brings me to my next exciting excursion. A summer gig... er, gigs?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Time to pose! Our group shot with me and my students, after a successful recital at the Chico Women's Club (3/9/19)</td></tr>
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<b>Wine Time in the Mean Time</b><b><br /></b><br />
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I have been trying to book a solo piano concert at MONCA, the Museum of Northern California Art. I may wait for a while before actually performing there because I just played a big solo concert last month, which means many of my "regulars" may not necessarily bother coming to see the same kind of show a month later. I was thinking about playing MONCA in June, but either way I was still able to book a live show at Wine Time Restaurant on June 29th. The great thing about playing at Wine Time is that it's perfect for practicing, and the acoustics (and the staff!) are both wonderful.<br />
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<b>Recording Woes, and the Ultimate Cure</b><br />
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At my spring concert at the Chico Women's Club I brought two different CD's, my demo album<i> Heart of Storms</i>, and a CD that featured various recordings, including a cover of the theme from<i> Princess Bride,</i> and six songs from the future album called<i> August In Bloom</i>. This worked out well because many people urged me to bring a second CD (The<i> Heart of Storms</i> album is an old one and many fans already have it). The only downside was that there's a glitch on the newer CD, where there's about two to four minutes of silence after each song. It just means that people have to skip to the next track after listening to the first one. It should be an easy fix, but either way I am in the process of recording all of the<i> August in Bloom</i> songs, and I may use this album as a way to send the tracks to a company that packages the CD's for you professionally.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWBbzBpzzUjgpU_yGeRbHaLj_T97Hr3lZ2ILhFOTnuBQbLe3Zdvd6kfbMxXDgYHMNjvZ4I7Xnfex0VH_OJ8DcIlxfoLRYFyIvv6UneALy7Lh0Zw-7wbQ-QxNRmVjUWfpNc7oupciGjUGLu/s1600/20190407_212643.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWBbzBpzzUjgpU_yGeRbHaLj_T97Hr3lZ2ILhFOTnuBQbLe3Zdvd6kfbMxXDgYHMNjvZ4I7Xnfex0VH_OJ8DcIlxfoLRYFyIvv6UneALy7Lh0Zw-7wbQ-QxNRmVjUWfpNc7oupciGjUGLu/s320/20190407_212643.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
As many people know I own a Yamaha C3X, which is a 7-foot grand piano, and I plan to one day record off of this acoustically if I can. Part of this depends on whether I convert the room to a professional recording studio, or if I wait instead to buy my own home to do this. The fact that I'm renting and unsure of how long I'll continue living there (the housing situation in Chico and the difficulties resulting from last year's terrible wildfire are a part of this) makes the issue slightly more complicated. Either way, the C3X has a silent system, and I'll soon be testing the recording quality on it as well as the acoustic recordings from my hybrid piano. I have a microphone that I haven't yet used, and I may be able to use this along with a high-quality video camera that I bought shortly before I went on my trip to Iceland and Greenland last summer.<br />
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<b>More videos are afoot...</b><br />
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Speaking of videos, I plan to make quite a few more of them. My approach to getting more people to subscribe to my music and come to my shows is going to involve a lot of effort on social media and online videos, because 1) that's where most people go initially to find out about artists, and 2) the potential in terms of how many people you can reach on the Internet is pretty enormous. I added a brand new video on YouTube (below) and plan to make a lot more of these. This means, of course, I'll be just as busy as I've been... but not busier, because I don't think that's possible :D<br />
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<br />thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-6264984075421459812019-01-17T15:09:00.000-08:002019-01-19T15:11:53.699-08:00An Arctic Adventure, with Concerts to Follow<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.5px; margin: 0px; max-width: none; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<b>A land like no other</b><br />
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In July of last summer I took a trip to Iceland and Greenland, with my brother, and as I'm writing this it's surreal to realize that it was about six months ago when we embarked on that adventure. After I returned, I ended up with kidney stones (again) from eating too much lamb (yes, really), and then I had to return to my normal routine of working at the Sutter County Superintendent of Schools, teaching piano lessons, continuing my recording projects and preparing for several concerts. It was the classic "hit the ground running" scenario.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh956v_Co2oxI7ECwk05UGSpIPEDXp2sknV_UwX2sjg4TJBVEh2screBq1ZRxjyhWCr1nwn2dAZwSltgyoAgYe8p0P8vnOcB-m22T9Ec055ef1aTXTVmwzIhW9Er5XxUWUoPrRoJib_NXmj/s1600/Kulusuk%252C_Greenland_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh956v_Co2oxI7ECwk05UGSpIPEDXp2sknV_UwX2sjg4TJBVEh2screBq1ZRxjyhWCr1nwn2dAZwSltgyoAgYe8p0P8vnOcB-m22T9Ec055ef1aTXTVmwzIhW9Er5XxUWUoPrRoJib_NXmj/s320/Kulusuk%252C_Greenland_2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kulusuk, Greenland</td></tr>
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One of the exciting outcomes is that I composed a song called "The Ice Floes of Kulusuk," which was inspired by the majestic and stunning scenery I came across while visiting Greenland for three days. Kulusuk is the name of the village where we stayed, and I'm happy to announce that I'll be performing this piece in a solo concert coming up in March. I've been practicing it repeatedly, especially today, which is quite apparent as I'm feeling the inklings of pre-carpal tunnel symptoms even as I type. The great news is that I can talk about my experience in Greenland while interacting with the audience during the concert.<br />
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<b>Musicians stepping up during times of crisis</b><br />
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Everyone now knows about the horrors and the terrifying stories shared by the Camp Fire victims, especially people like myself, who live just a half an hour away from Paradise (my town of Chico is just a hop-skip-and-jump from the burn area). Musicians all over Chico have been donating their instruments to fire victims who lost their instruments in the blaze, and it's been inspiring for everyone. Two of my students were affected by the fire, and I had several family members that lost their homes. In light of the tragedy and all the inspiring efforts by members in the community, I'll also be performing at the Paradise Performing Arts Center on February 8th, where the Baha'is of Chico and other community members will be having a memorial for the 86 people who lost their lives in the event.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Zlged7NkdXoCsfIOG6dls1-t7tQKf1dQvb7cvOBlZ42BhG2Acr6C9wyyfj3yw9WiQiAKmX9w5BCQE7lai9Qd9jj2rVnVO9ZrvRv9n7WodMDG068S2Q2d2TtrCxjkpZZuNs0jsNgKaPfh/s1600/campfire_oli_2018312.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ariel view of the Camp Fire in Paradise, CA (November 2018)</td></tr>
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I'm hoping to donate proceeds from my March concert as well, maybe to some of the Paradise reconstruction efforts. Either way I'm excited for the event, since there are several other musicians performing (and no, not just because I'll have fewer songs to practice :P ).<br />
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<b>Why the majority of my colleagues think I'm insane</b><br />
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I performed at the Chico Women's Club for the second time, back in September. The concert seemed to go well, although there were only about 35 people or so, and I was somewhat sleep-deprived by the time I walked onto the stage because I had been going non-stop since 7:30 in the morning. There's a lot of prepping that goes into it, especially when you factor in food, sound checks, set-up time, ticket booths, etc. For my March concert, part of my plan is to have everything ready and set up about two days before the show.<br />
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Undoubtedly, this "have-everything-ready-ahead-of-time" approach is a wise way to go, but the "insane" part is that I scheduled a recital for my students on the same day. I mainly did this because it's more efficient<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"> economically<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span>-- both the recital and the solo concert will be at the Chico Women's Club, with just a few hours in between. I'm not too worried about feeling burned out when evening hits because I plan to actually sleep the night before (what a concept!) and the most strenuous activity required of me during the recital will be standing at a microphone and announcing the next performer.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO12eCbIPCJEDjM0Lnp3kW0MLTJCk9d8-nptkLZ1iwkdMQf3_x1J7i9rBnofNvi9Fz3b9YXjYi4C8ztV-okbzeWi2jabcO8jANJeULV3zUMwvb_-MdSFtAi0sXeEND8-QfkdI5BuAdB-e0/s1600/Chico-women-club.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="304" data-original-width="500" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO12eCbIPCJEDjM0Lnp3kW0MLTJCk9d8-nptkLZ1iwkdMQf3_x1J7i9rBnofNvi9Fz3b9YXjYi4C8ztV-okbzeWi2jabcO8jANJeULV3zUMwvb_-MdSFtAi0sXeEND8-QfkdI5BuAdB-e0/s320/Chico-women-club.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chico Women's Club (Chico, CA)</td></tr>
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The exciting part of the solo concert is that I plan to feature a local harp player as well as one of my composition students, who each plan to play two pieces. The best part of this is that the performance is still eight weeks away, which still gives me lots of time to practice, and I've already decided on the playlist. Maybe this time I'll be able to walk onto the stage without feeling like I'm going to fall asleep ;)<br />
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thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-23641164682818559932018-04-19T14:48:00.000-07:002018-05-11T14:50:25.814-07:00Update on the Yamaha C3X<div>
<b>...<i>and</i> it has a Silent System!</b><br />
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</b>When I bought the Yamaha AvantGrande N2 (which is a hybrid piano) a friend of mine joked with me and said that I had finally "tied the knot" with my True Love. But I have now purchased a five-foot-eight grand piano, which sits magnificently inside the recording studio in my house. I guess this means I'm now in some kind of a shady polyamorous relationship? (Or would it be an open marriage?)<br />
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My original plan was to buy it much later (maybe in a few years) but this particular piano, a Yamaha C3X with a Silent System, was one of the few left in California and was about to be shipped out. If I wanted that particular model, I had to act on it right away. As far as why I would want that particular model, all I would have to do is direct anyone to go play it and listen to the quality of the sound. </div>
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The Silent System, in case you're wondering, makes it so that I can push a switch that changes the piano to "digital", instead of letting the hammers actually touch the strings, so that I have the option of playing the piano with headphones. As with most things in my life, though, this is just the tip of the iceberg...</div>
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<b>I'm going to need<i> how</i> many mics?</b></div>
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I was told that the number of mics I will need is 'four', but I need to dig further and make sure I'm getting reliable information, and preferably from experts who know what they're talking about. As for the reason I'm looking into buying microphones, the whole purpose of buying this piano is to set up an acoustic recording studio, so that I can record directly from that the instrument. So far, all I have been doing recording-wise is recording digitally. </div>
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The piano (okay, I admit it, I named her - it's "Isabelle") has been adjusted/tuned two times now, since I bought it. A date is still being set up for a third (and I guess final) tuning and adjustment of the piano. After that, I will carry on my shoulders the monumental task of finding out how to convert that room to an acoustic recording studio, which kind of microphones to buy, how to connect them to the piano, and how to use them to record successfully. In the mean time, I am still trying to manage my time so that I can record the digital way and put together the tracks for<i> August In Bloom</i>.</div>
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<b>The Art of Piano Haggling</b></div>
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I guess it would be superfluous to point out that buying a piano is not like buying a loaf of bread at the store. There are other costs that come with it -- tunings, delivery, maintenance, and let's not forget the much-needed humidifier, which also requires you to buy distilled water (what??).</div>
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Since I bought the instrument in cash I was able to get them to take the price down quite a bit. Apparently, most people choose to finance when making a purchase like this. (Translation: pianos are expensive). </div>
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An added benefit to this whole deal is that the piano gallery's owner, Vince Chambers, sold it to me, and is also the primary person involved in doing the adjustments and tunings. Since he already knows me and has worked with me professionally for some time, he's that much more invested in making sure the piano is taken care of, and I guess it's a benefit for him in knowing that the piano is being put to good use.<br />
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<b>The Yamaha AvantGrand N2 stays</b><br />
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I'm not selling "Zoey" by any means. She's the hybrid piano I used for the performance I did back in February at the Chico Women's Club. My long-term goal is really to perform, more than anything else, and Zoey is far more portable than the new grand piano. Isabelle will mainly be an instrument for recording. I'm still amazed at how close the manufacturers were able to get the sound of the N2 to match the sound of a real acoustic grand. The hybrid also allows me to record my own music into its internal memory, which is yet another reason to hang onto it. Yes, sometimes people need two instruments, especially if they're professionals.<br />
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I blame myself entirely for the bank-breaking expenses of these pursuits, since I had the option of choosing a much more portable (and cheaper) instrument. You know, like a harmonica. Needless to say, though, every time I roll my fingers on the keys of that C3X, I don't regret my decisions for even a moment. ;)</div>
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thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-21248500160430453602018-02-22T12:36:00.000-08:002018-04-08T12:40:25.617-07:00Gleanings from the February concert<b>An awesome turnout</b><br />
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I'm a worst-scenario kind of a guy. When I plan my budget, for example, I assume that the worst possible financial outcome will be the reality, and then I shave off a few hundred dollars off of that, just to be on the safe side. The result is that I am usually very pleased with the outcome, because I plan for the worst. A certain amount of pessimism can be healthy, and I proceeded with my plans for the February 10th concert with that same mentality. At least several people asked me how many people I was expecting to show at the concert, and the ball park figure I gave them was maybe 35 or so. It turned out to be about 64! Some people even showed up late and people had to scramble to find chairs. <br />
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I could describe the event in many ways, but the best way would be to label it as a learning experience -- there were last-minute changes, hangups, mishaps, misunderstandings, etc., days before the performance, but the minute the performance started at 7:00pm, it was as if everything came together perfectly. I was nervous the first couple of songs, but I finally relaxed during the third song ("Snowfall on a Light Glissade"), maybe because so far nobody had booed or thrown tomatoes at me.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio6J2ojbf52_eXe-ZTLmGZf2pUoQdcamwjgw8WieluB85oZH6rdy3TMVf_TzcnlacUI4cMxq_-21tpXMUTQ-mf2xaV4JufXYAxNONgb5iDQ8K4GaM50NAKQAS9Sahjk8vrs4LlaPtSq44Y/s1600/6448.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio6J2ojbf52_eXe-ZTLmGZf2pUoQdcamwjgw8WieluB85oZH6rdy3TMVf_TzcnlacUI4cMxq_-21tpXMUTQ-mf2xaV4JufXYAxNONgb5iDQ8K4GaM50NAKQAS9Sahjk8vrs4LlaPtSq44Y/s400/6448.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>The Next Adventure: September 15th!</b><br />
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I have to say I was really fond of that venue. The Chico Women's Club is just small enough to fit 60 to 100 people or more, but not too large that it appears intimidating or makes the audience look too dispersed. So I booked another show at the same location, which will be September 15th. It's a ways away, but it's the earliest date I was able to book it. I'm in the process of deciding on the program, and at this point mainly debating whether I want to have 10-ish songs played all the way through to the end, or do 45 minutes followed by an intermission, followed by another 45 minutes.<br />
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I've posted a video below of "Snowfall on a Light Glissade". I had written an arrangement to the original piece and included a cello, and I was able to find a cellist in Chico who agreed to play. I had also planned to perform a piece with an opera singer (which Vince Chambers had agreed to help with) but we had to forego that particular song since he had a cold the entire time we needed to rehearse the piece. He was still able to host the event though, and I'm hoping he can do both next time.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4spv32ar4hQ/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4spv32ar4hQ?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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There are too many other learning experiences to list in just a short blog post like this, but there's one that's worth mentioning, which is that I sold all nine CD's at the event, at $10.00 each. I had only brought the nine, so next time I'll be bringing more. Raising the ticket price slightly will also bring the profits into the "black" instead of the "red", although I was expecting to be a little in the red during my first major concert.<br />
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I have considered putting on more casual/informal shows somewhere between now and September, but this is hard only because I work so much (including my day job in Yuba City) and it's tricky to squeeze in the time to visit the venues and set it up. Either way, more updates will become available as the date gets closer.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxVAZnN3OTSF6JIzglYfeJmhHoVy0TeXSgh28a96VGLOwImAOs1tfwTLNVoWU84HCYtkrg2W5SLomMMFd5Cvuy_MZRMRtSlPwy-5vcTCSoXWYhUMIB5H1gbUp1b7865a9BcJosIXgyoFSY/s1600/P1070058.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxVAZnN3OTSF6JIzglYfeJmhHoVy0TeXSgh28a96VGLOwImAOs1tfwTLNVoWU84HCYtkrg2W5SLomMMFd5Cvuy_MZRMRtSlPwy-5vcTCSoXWYhUMIB5H1gbUp1b7865a9BcJosIXgyoFSY/s400/P1070058.JPG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of my trusty helpers/supporters! (Mandalyn, Dawn, Ashley and Mindy)</td></tr>
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<br />thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-30704332808320284322018-01-11T10:22:00.000-08:002018-01-23T10:23:51.940-08:0030 Days to Showtime!I've secured a venue in Chico, at a place called Chico Women's Club, where I performed for the Baha'is several months ago. The decision to book this event was generally a result of me telling myself to stop making excuses for postponing it. I've been wanting to put on a concert like this for quite some time. More specifically, I chose this particular venue because the place is small enough for it not to be too intimidating, and the acoustics are fantastic.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFiGH0UGOwOzxznS9M5uy9WT2igpcov7UqEws3Ayn1ACAl5T4GDNkEakNpPlK1SssFR-x4wVdvhv994V-qunWZMAKpOii4xXNmECFyL-Zg3nXepZaTHFQNjI65jHVWhPvCT7XI7PgxSsXl/s1600/Chico-Women%2527s-Club-Wedding-Redding-CA-1_thumbnail.1493749952.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="175" data-original-width="350" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFiGH0UGOwOzxznS9M5uy9WT2igpcov7UqEws3Ayn1ACAl5T4GDNkEakNpPlK1SssFR-x4wVdvhv994V-qunWZMAKpOii4xXNmECFyL-Zg3nXepZaTHFQNjI65jHVWhPvCT7XI7PgxSsXl/s320/Chico-Women%2527s-Club-Wedding-Redding-CA-1_thumbnail.1493749952.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>A secret to success...</b><br />
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I carefully chose the article 'a' in the above heading, as opposed to 'the', because I don't intend to claim that I know "the secret" to being successful, as if there were only one. But I do know <i>a</i> method that can work wonders, and that's being able to network well with other people. If you're good at building professional relationships, acquiring colleagues, and just being a nice guy (or gal) your chances of success will be a lot higher -- guaranteed. .<br />
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The Chico Women's Club concert is only 30 days away and I've been delighted to see how many people stepped in to help. I have a sound guy, a tech guy, a host person ("MC"), a chair set-up person, two other musicians that will be performing at some point, a promo guy, a design guy, a ticket lady, a merchandise person and even a person who's going to sell food. Some of these folks I'm paying, but even when you can't afford to pay people, building supportive networks goes a long way and it means that much more people will still step in to help you out when you happen to be strapped.<br />
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<b>Everything I know I learned from George Winston (and others)</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRet-IwgDgUxvE-wozFkOyIvtrTTVNFEhNFh-DWyUolBKBHHt6aKlMWV3bnYo2sQ4qwt4B8kOe_vljccrmNaB0TOKtp30_lrsl7atDppsWgT6pOW8n9BBzVDJcFJhn8kRRW4SQR1Lcvbaf/s1600/george-winston1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="240" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRet-IwgDgUxvE-wozFkOyIvtrTTVNFEhNFh-DWyUolBKBHHt6aKlMWV3bnYo2sQ4qwt4B8kOe_vljccrmNaB0TOKtp30_lrsl7atDppsWgT6pOW8n9BBzVDJcFJhn8kRRW4SQR1Lcvbaf/s200/george-winston1.jpg" width="135" /></a></div>
In one of my blog posts I talked about a time I went to see George Winston perform in Redding, California. Part of the reason I wanted to go (besides just that he's a great performer and a fantastic composer) is that I wanted to see how what a typical piano concert looked like. Questions kept coming up in my head, prior to watching him perform, like "Does the performer talk between songs?" "Does he introduce himself?" "Does he do anything else?"<br />
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George Winston played some of his most popular compositions on the piano, as expected, but during the show he also picked up his slack key guitar and played on that as well. He played the guitar for two of his pieces, and the rest were all on the piano. This was a nice change of pace and it added some variety, even though I loved everything he was doing on the piano.<br />
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Watching George put on a concert this way definitely helped inspire me to dig for ideas to add variety into my own piano concerts. As a result I've been able to find a professional cellist who will be playing "The Swan" by Camille Saint Saens, as well as a melodic version of "Snowfall on a Light Glissade". The person hosting the concert is also going to sing for one of the songs, and I'm extremely grateful that the host just happens to have an opera background. I've rehearsed twice with him and once with the cellist.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizDOQZou5q7FcJTFntMjc84Ab5m3WFR4I6evQlws9eDc8MScOljqpkoHIDIDEwOac0O2VEF4e3LyWiwGqi_jZcNwKeXgmZ97WFYavbZhfxX2Q4mnN5TNyCnfez_kPjyVjHB8SU1RSfGUzu/s1600/maxresdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizDOQZou5q7FcJTFntMjc84Ab5m3WFR4I6evQlws9eDc8MScOljqpkoHIDIDEwOac0O2VEF4e3LyWiwGqi_jZcNwKeXgmZ97WFYavbZhfxX2Q4mnN5TNyCnfez_kPjyVjHB8SU1RSfGUzu/s320/maxresdefault.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yo-yo Ma performing Camille Saint-Saens' "The Swan"</td></tr>
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Since it's my first self-organized concert, only time will tell how successful the attempt at variety will be. And at just a little over two weeks away I'll be squeezing in as much rehearsal time that I can.<br />
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<br />thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-19334348933142560302017-07-20T12:28:00.000-07:002018-01-11T12:29:55.845-08:00Why being a music teacher in July is like being a talented circus clown<b>Wait, you mean being a piano teacher is "seasonal" work?</b><br />
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It's amazing to think that it's now been six years since I first started teaching piano lessons on a regular basis. The "lesson learned" part of this process (which I'll describe in more detail later) emerged towards the tail end of this six year period, mainly because it's during this tail end that my clientele flourished up to 20+ students. As most people would guess, the majority of my students are kids, which means my time slots would involve after-school hours, the 3-6pm range. Most of my mornings and early afternoons were free for me to do whatever, or, more accurately, to work at my other various jobs and multi-tasking duties that I've just realized has the potential to turn me into a complete basket case. </div>
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Now, with regard to this concept of students somehow identifying themselves as "school children", I noticed an interesting pattern: they all seem to want "free time" over the summer. By the time June rolled around, I found myself having to juggle appointments around, re-schedule, cancel, re-cancel, re-appoint, post-pone, re-post-pone, and even pre-pone. I know "pre-pone" isn't a word, but I'm sure I did it at some point. What would a "pre-pone" be, anyway? Is it re-enacting an appointment from the past that didn't happen? </div>
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I digress... so all through the summer I was juggling these students around, rescheduling appointments, etc. Apparently, the reasons for kids wanting to cancel or reschedule their lessons included the following:</div>
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1. They didn't want to go to the lesson.</div>
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2. But it's summer!</div>
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3. They were busy because they were going to be fishing crawdads out of the water with a paperclip. </div>
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4. They were chasing lizards in the back yard. </div>
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5. But why do I have to go to piano? It's summer!</div>
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6. They were camping.</div>
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7. They were "sick". </div>
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8. They were sick and/or camping. </div>
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9. They were sick from camping and couldn't come to piano lessons because they had stomach cramps from eating too many s'mores.</div>
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10. They were sick of piano lessons and just want to go camping. </div>
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11. "I'm not going to school, why am I coming to piano lessons?"</div>
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12. It was too hot.</div>
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13. Yes, they know the music store had air conditioning, but they really just wanted to sleep in and not change out of their pajamas the rest of their day. </div>
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14. All of the above. </div>
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<b>Unicycles and flying chainsaws don't intimidate me</b></div>
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At first I was pleased that I was able to handle everyone's request for time changes. This was before I realized that the juggling of these time slots was a full-time job in itself, which meant extra time, which also meant extra time I was <i>not</i> getting paid for. I then realized that this is why a lot of private music teachers just say "screw it" and take the entire month of July off, or even the entire summer off. That way they can tell the students to just return on a certain date in August. They're going to be camping in the dirt and chasing frogs, anyway--they're not thinking about the phrasing of notes and the chord progressions in Bach's two-part invention. </div>
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First I thought, "Hey, it's still a little extra money, even though many students are out of town." Then I realized this was not just a "juggling act." It was a circus act that involved me on a 12-foot unicycle, on stilts, juggling a set of chainsaws while balancing a pole on my nose with flames on top of it -- and then having to jump through a flaming hula-hoop at the same time. If you like doing that sort of thing, and making a few bucks for those few students who are still sticking around during the summer, then that's great. I'm considering doing the whole take-off-July thing next year. That is what "lesson learned" means to me. </div>
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<b>How many W-2's does it take to make a guy realize he's a sucker?</b></div>
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I continued, of course, to work on my other projects and jobs throughout the summer, as expected. I've been helping Vince Chambers out at Apollo Piano a couple days a week, and was being paid with a 1099. Then the payroll system was given to an employment agency to handle, so I technically work for them now, and I'm on a W-4. But the new school that he bought, which is now called Apollo Academy of Music, is paying me via another 1099, and I've been teaching two new students there (who also contribute to my apparently-amazing juggling ability). On top of that, I somehow found the time to write articles for Klazema Communications, an online freelance writing company that hired me to write website content for their clients. Another 1099! <br />
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As far teaching ESL, I'll be going back to that next week and will be teaching at the Sutter County One-Stop program Mondays through Thursdays, until 11:30am. W-2! Not to mention that I'm on a W-2 for Chico Unified (substitute teaching) as well as, I think, the Tri-County Substitute Teacher Consortium. I actually forgot whether I'm still on a W-2 with that place or if that was in the past. </div>
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Is this even legal? I heard that in Finland they give you a fine if they find out you're holding down more than one job. And I'm doing this while writing this blog (I'm actually at Apollo Piano right now) and still producing my CD, <i>August in Bloom</i>, which is only half-way done, and of course revising my novella, and rehearsing for a live performance at a wedding that is taking place next month. </div>
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I'm not sure if I should be proud of the fact that, even last year when I filed my taxes, my CPA (who happens to do my taxes every year) actually got confused. And I mean genuinely confused, like he was actually furrowing his brow. And he's been a CPA for decades.</div>
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I'm going to use the remaining time in my shift here at the piano store to think about whether I should be proud of this, or if I've piled too much on my plate. After that, I'm going home and taking a nap. </div>
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<b></b><i></i><i></i><b></b><b></b><b></b><br />thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-28533698961451361732017-07-06T18:42:00.000-07:002017-07-15T18:43:16.331-07:00Updates: Accompaniment, August In Bloom, Apollo Academy<b>Excitement Builds for a September Wedding</b><br />
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I briefly mentioned in the News tab of my website that I was going to be playing a wedding gig in September. This will be a good opportunity to network with a couple of other musicians (two vocalists that I haven't met yet) and to gain more experience. I'll be accompanying the two singers, and one of the songs includes Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", one of my favorites (you can also read about the artist in another blog post I wrote last year, by clicking <a href="http://thorsfirstblog.blogspot.com/2016/06/leonard-cohens-joan-of-arc-how-to-write_23.html" target="_blank">here</a>). The only other time I did an accompaniment "gig" is when I played the piano for a vocalist who sang Christina Perri's "Lonely" at a talent show. It was enough experience for me to "catch the bug" and be more than willing to do an accompaniment again. There's something rewarding about collaborating in real-time with other musicians and having to get everything "just right".<br />
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I've only been able to reach one of the vocalists (by phone) so far, and will be meeting with both of them on Sunday morning to talk about the details--where we'll set up, the order of the songs to perform, and when we'll have our dress rehearsal. I've already begun practicing "Hallelujah" and the actual accompaniment is not difficult. I'm not used to only having to play the background, without having to worry about the melody, and I have to admit it's pretty nice.<br />
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<b>Halfway to Completion </b><br />
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<i>August In Bloom </i>(the piano album I'm producing) seems to have been more like a series of experiments rather than a straight-forward album project, and in a good way. I now feel like I understand ProTools 12 like the back of my hand, at least in the capacity that I need to in order to finish the project. I'm halfway done, for the most part (there are 10 tracks, and 5 of them have been successfully recorded). As luck would have it, the album just may be finished by some time in August, making the title quite appropriate for the timing ;)<br />
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I believe one of the best approaches is to originally record acoustically. The final recording ends up being digital. But yes, I can play acoustically first, and at the same time record that into the internal memory of the hybrid piano (Yamaha AvantGrande N2). All I have to do after that is play it back, but during the play back I have the piano plugged into the digital recording software. Playing acoustically requires me to get up early, because I have office neighbors and I need to be alone when I play out loud instead of playing with headphones. The bottom line with this issue is that playing acoustically just <i>does</i> something to me where I instantly get inspired to play way, way better, and with much fewer mistakes. <br />
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<b>Official Transition to Chico's New Music School</b><br />
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What was once The Wright Keys Academy (the piano school on Vallombrosa Avenue, in Chico) is now owned by Vincent Chambers and bears the new name of Apollo Academy of Music, and soon to be a full-fledged music school that offers classes in a variety of different instruments, as well as music workshops and group lessons. There are package deals being offered right now (Fall and Spring tuition) and some word-of-mouth going on. So far, the folks I've talked to about this seem excited, and the first student I taught at the location seems thrilled.<br />
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A few people have asked me questions about the actual piano store itself (Apollo Piano) and yes, that location will stay. In fact, it has been upgraded! The beautiful pianos in there have been rearranged, and new furniture has been brought in to make guests more comfortable. Maybe they did a study showing that people who sit down to listen to piano music are more likely to buy one--who knows :D The store also has a new employee whose job is to keep the books and schedule all the appointments while she's there in the mornings. I'm there two days a week, and I think my job is to hold the floor down with my feet, and drool while I stare at the pianos. Okay, so maybe I've done a few other things while I'm there (print out price signs, answer phones, greet customers, and, you know, drool while I stare at the pianos).<br />
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The entire Apollo Piano staff had a meeting recently at a very quiet and work-conducive space (a rusty pizza joint, with beer) and we discussed a number of issues, including a problem having to do with Apollo Piano's moving service. When you sell pianos, you generally have to offer piano moving services, and this can be challenging for several reasons. Since this delves into something a little different than the issues I want to focus on, however, the piano moving plight will be a topic of another post.<br />
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In the mean time, I've finalized my routine for the rest of the summer, as well as the routine I'll start when I go back to teaching some of the ESL classes at Sutter County Schools. For now, maybe I'll shoot for having that album done in August-ish. Something has to bloom out of the hot month of August, so it may as well be a finished album :D <br />
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<b> </b>thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-22950710313372787942017-06-08T18:04:00.000-07:002017-06-10T18:34:06.469-07:00Finding the Sweet Spot<b>At last, I didn't respond with the word "meh"</b><br />
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In recent days I've been staying busy recording and editing for the upcoming album <i>August In Bloom</i>, and for a while it was an obsessive-compulsive game of finding the "acoustic sweet spot". I had to get into my mad scientist mentality (see my previous blog post) and I kept experimenting until I found something that was at least close to the sound I wanted. The phrase "acoustic sweet spot", by the way, is not an accurate technical term. I ripped it off from an episode of <i>The Big Bang Theory</i>, where Sheldon "tests" the acoustics in a movie theater by making embarrassing noises while his friend Leonard is in there, trying to impress his date. But, I digress...<br />
<b> </b><br />
For me, the sweet spot is the ideal sound from the recording of <i>August In Bloom</i>. It took multiple sound tests and multiple recordings for me to finally say, "Okay, I think I can record a song with these settings and confidently hand someone a CD." The intricacies of ProTools 12, the software I've been using, are many. It has also been one set-back after another, even if some of them are more-or-less excuses. Now, however, barring my admittance to a hospital and ending up with no limbs (or something just as drastic) there is no excuse for me not to work on this album. I had the option of teaching a summer session at the Sutter County Superintendent of Schools in Yuba City (my part-time day job), but I declined the offer, specifically to give myself more time to work on this project. So, say it with me: "No excuses, Thor!" ;)<br />
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<b>Doing things my way...</b><br />
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Summer is just about here, and while many folks warned me that it's common to lose a few music students during this time of year, my clientele has stayed about the same. I lost a few (or, I should say, they informed me that they're "taking a break" from piano lessons), and this caused my count to dwindle a bit, but then I gained more students after that, keeping the count about the same as it was in the first place! <br />
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My next focus is going to be my curriculum. I've been experimenting quite a bit because I listen to feedback from different students. One of them, a retired woman in her 60's, absolutely loves one of the lesson books I use (The Alfred Piano Library) but a lot of the kids hate it. In response to this I looked at other publications, and I've ordered a stack full of lesson books from Amazon, but every book and every publication always has <i>something</i> that seems to be missing, at least for my teaching style.<br />
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The solution? (Yes, there is one! :) ) I've been using Sibelius software, which is a program that lets me write and print out my own sheet music. This means, of course, that I can write and print out any song, whether it's a cover or one of my own, <i>and </i>I can use it to design my own exercises. So all that's necessary to fix this is to write<br />
and print out my own exercises, and fill in the "holes" that I've found in the other books.<br />
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Here come supplemental materials, here come custom-made lessons, here come happier students, here come more phone calls from folks who want to take lessons :D The fun part is that I found a way to increase the size of the print when I write the notes out on the program.<br />
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It's almost as if "technology" is a big thing nowadays...<br />
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<br />thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-34308646938444896592017-04-20T17:11:00.000-07:002017-04-24T06:45:00.775-07:00Becoming a mad scientist<b>The importance of "Mad Scientist Syndrome"</b><br />
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Okay, I know that the title above is the item that appears <i>last</i> on the title of the actual blog post, but I don't care. That's the wonderful thing about having your own blog :D<br />
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That being said, I have something to say about <i>productivity</i>. As most people know, this is just a fancy word for "getting things done." All jobs, careers, duties, tasks, etc., whether it's writing a report, cleaning a toilet, repairing a pressure system on the International Space Station, wiping the snot off your 3-year-old's nose, or writing a symphony -- all of these "tasks" require productivity. If they didn't require productivity, they wouldn't be tasks. <br />
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Needless to say, composing and creating music is no exception to this. Different types of tasks also require different time frames, and this is where the "Mad Scientist Syndrome" plays a key role.<br />
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How long does it take to clean a toilet? Twenty minutes? That's not a particularly long time. But how long does it take to write a symphony?<br />
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The writing of a symphony, or any other task that requires a similar amount of effort (as well as training and talent) is one that obviously calls for a longer time frame. Jobs that require these lengthy time frames are the ones that require the Mad Scientist mentality. Wiping your kid's nose is easily done by dropping what you're doing and just <i>doing it</i> quickly. "Drop everything and just do it" can be tricky to pull off, however, when the task involves writing an opera, building a house from scratch, starting a business, sculpting a statue, or designing the blueprint for a new shopping mall. When it comes to lengthy tasks like these, where do you start? "Just drop everything and do it real quick" isn't a realistic answer, but "Drop everything and just <i>start</i>," is. Why not start now? It may take you three months, three years, or more than a decade, but there's no better time than the present.<br />
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<b>If a tree fell in the woods...</b><br />
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No, I am <i>not</i> asking that old question about whether a tree makes a sound if it falls when no one's there to hear it. (This is an easy question, by the way: Yes, it makes a sound. It creates sound waves. The sound waves are still there, even if nobody is there to detect the them -- it's not exactly rocket science). What I do want to accomplish, however, is making a connection between a fallen tree and this Mad Scientist syndrome I mentioned.<br />
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In 1997 I worked at a private resort near Santa Cruz, where my job was to maintain and clean cabins for the guests. I remember on one of the days that I worked there when a tree had fallen over unexpectedly, and as a result the landscapers had to run out with chainsaws and spend a day and a half sawing up the tree and removing it, so that it wouldn't block the trails. I don't know why, but I distinctly remember talking to one of the landscapers.<br />
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"At least you're getting your exercise," I told him jokingly.<br />
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"Yeah," he replied. "Well, I was going to clean the pool, organize the shed, check up on the electrical, clean the gutters, AND take a trip to the city dump. But instead, THIS tree here just had to fall over, so we've gotta spend all day taking care of that instead."<br />
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Just like the fallen tree incident that day, there are some tasks that suddenly become necessary because of an unexpected event, and if the needed task is something that requires nearly <i>all</i> of your attention, and/or is overwhelming and time-consuming, then often times everything else has to be dropped.<br />
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This was similar to what happened when I decided to take on the task of making a 15-minute slideshow for my aunt and uncle of their trip to Antarctica -- and yes, I was like a mad scientist, wrapped up in the work and the recordings, even forgetting to eat lunch. I was like that landscaper guy who had to "drop everything" and get it done -- you get lost in the work and feel energized because there's so much to do and somewhat of a sense of urgency.<br />
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This mad scientist mentality is healthy, in my opinion, because it helps to maximize quality. I've seen a lot of people get into this mindset and thrive on it. When it comes to music, musicians and composers should try and get into this frame of mind when they're creating something. I had quite a few other things on my plate that I knew I had to get to, so I didn't spend quite as much time on the Antarctica project as I wanted, but I finished it nevertheless. Agreeing to take on that project was a lot like being a landscaper and having to deal with a fallen tree unexpectedly; I had to drop everything and focus on just that.<br />
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<b>More Time Needed for the Album</b><br />
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The recording project <i>August In Bloom, </i>my next piano CD, is taking up so much more time than I anticipated that for a few days (or maybe a week or so) I was feeling frustrated and discouraged. I realized, however, that this feeling of pressure and angst was because of the deadline I had set for myself (April 29th). The recording process has not only been time-consuming, but it has been a series of experiments. I ended up upgrading my software, which in turn required me to buy a new (better) computer, which in turn also required me to install and learn how to use the new software. Basically it has ended up with me spending more time doing sound and recording tests rather than recording the actual tracks. So I submitted a request to myself and asked myself permission if it was okay to extend my own deadline, and I told myself "damn you Thor, what's your excuse this time?" and after explaining to myself how I wanted to find the right sound, I granted myself the extension. This clearly took a lot of convincing ;)<br />
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The background tracks (strings, percussion, etc.) are being included in most songs, so this also requires more of my time. There is no rest for the Mad Scientist.<br />
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<b> </b>thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-27693466575755726772017-01-19T14:10:00.000-08:002017-01-19T14:10:57.339-08:00Playing your music wrong... on purpose<b>Play the notes right. Okay, now play them <i>differently...</i></b><br />
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I talked about something called "Controlled Imperfection" on the last edition of "Piano Thor'sday", so I figured I would cover the topic here as well. As I mentioned during the broadcast, not all musicians know how to read music (many of them don't), but those who do were probably taught, originally, to play the music exactly as it's written on the paper, in the most accurate and best manner possible. If you're playing a piece by some other composer, this is generally true (sort of). Well, at first anyway. I tell my students this at the early stages of my Beginner Course. Then, if the student ends up being with me for a number of months, I tell them not to.<br />
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Sheet music is perfect for showing you which notes to play, and what the beat is. It also gives you a general idea of what the tempo is (the speed of the song). But, as any seasoned musician knows, many things about how to perform a piece are subjective. These subjective elements about musical performance are, in my opinion, grossly understated by most music teachers. I'm one of those teachers who has no problem telling a kid a bunch of rules about note-reading, and then telling that same kid to bend those very rules, just for effect. If the kid knows which rules he or she is breaking, and knows why they're being broken, what's the harm? It's the good old Mark Twain effect. The famous author certainly knew the rules about English grammar when he wrote <i>Huckleberry Finn, </i>but he deliberately broke a variety of rules in order to use a dialect that was common in that geographic region.<br />
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As many people know, performers who play the correct notes in a piece but have their own "style" (they play it at a certain speed, they perform at a certain volume, they play certain parts gracefully and other parts aggressively, etc.), it's called a performer's <i>interpretation</i> of a piece. The fun part about learning music is how free you can be to interpret pieces in your own way. During the broadcast last week I covered four ways that you can vary your interpretations of a piece, which I've summarized below.<br />
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<b>Four ways to explore your interpretations </b><br />
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<i>1. Vary your tempo (a.k.a. change your speed)</i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pianist Valentina Lisitsa concentrating on interpretation <br />while playing a Nocturne</td></tr>
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When playing a song, speed up in some places and slow down in other places. There is a healthy balance between doing these two things at just the right time. This technique normally only applies to music that doesn't have a consistent drumbeat, like most rock and pop songs do, so if you're in a band and writing a song that involves a drummer, this might be an exception (but not necessarily). For any kind of solo performance, though, whether it's a flute, a guitar, a piano, a violin, etc., I typically suggest using this technique fairly regularly. The beautiful part is that you can actually master this to the point where the listener almost-sort-of doesn't know there's an actual beat, even though there is one. The listeners can hear the beat, but they can't. Or the beat (even the time signature) can just change completely during a song.<br />
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<i>2. Create a delay</i><br />
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So, wait. You're playing certain pairs of notes together, just like the sheet music tells you to do? What are you, crazy? ;)<br />
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In printed sheet music, notes that are to be played simultaneously appear to "line up" so that if you took a ruler you could draw a line and the notes would both touch the line. It's generally good to play many of these pairs of notes together, but occasionally it's also very effective to play them so that there's a slight lag, or "delay," meaning you play the lower note a split-second before the higher note. I do this frequently and deliberately, and it creates a very nice sentimental effect, thus showing this so-called "controlled imperfection". It shows that you're human and not a robot, making the song sound far more emotional and touching. This is very common among soloists and vocalists alike, and again you can see examples of it on my broadcast from last week (you can watch a recording of it <a href="https://www.facebook.com/thorsteinn.gunter/videos/10154338713341325/" target="_blank">here</a>).<br />
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<i>3. Vary your dynamics</i><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1xJJcWvizku1TFSw2c51wwipF4Xi7Oi84cGnhaUAphKZ18hFHnAGanB7XajdqQteTEQTPj2T95Y2Khog2KLRdk9eQ-1sOII6NhFczL55uxkubtLQo-OiROH9J_pzeQNt8Un_I7xJA4bOm/s1600/crescendo2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1xJJcWvizku1TFSw2c51wwipF4Xi7Oi84cGnhaUAphKZ18hFHnAGanB7XajdqQteTEQTPj2T95Y2Khog2KLRdk9eQ-1sOII6NhFczL55uxkubtLQo-OiROH9J_pzeQNt8Un_I7xJA4bOm/s1600/crescendo2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The musical notation for a crescendo (getting louder) <br />and a decrescendo (getting softer). The '<i>p</i>' signals you<br /> to play quietly, while the '<i>f </i>'signals you to play loudly. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
One of the things I tell people often, especially students, is that playing music is one of the only times in life when it's acceptable to be a complete drama queen. In music, "dynamics" refers to the loudness or quietness of the notes during a piece. Most instruments allow for this, with some exceptions (i.e. the harpsichord apparently has a fixed volume level). The harder you bang on a piano, however, the louder the note will sound. The harder you dig your bow into a string on a violin, the louder the sound will be that comes out. It's wonderful. This dynamism and variation in the volume of an instrument allows for a huge range of potential for emotional expression.<br />
<br />
Sheet music does, actually, have symbols for changes in dynamics (i.e. there are symbols for a <i>crescendo</i>, meaning to "play louder", as shown above) but the measure by which <i>how much</i> louder you play and the decibel levels are not exact, so it's still pretty subjective. This subjectivity is what makes it fun to be a performer -- <i>you</i> can interpret the song how you want.<br />
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<i><br /></i>
<i>4. Let some of the notes linger</i><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv3xRM66MuGTCjsJB596rNs4Y2fvhuaUPJvsyyiIX838pwYkiwg-AO9fKcj6OEIX73-fl7sKhdV7Xg-546R9Uzp3vylmQESaLBbbN0-awHFOv0L7OLnDtOt3Ycrl1U-rM0SfYwukXZapYM/s1600/ae741b0e488d8de5c89b42b1fcc218ab.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv3xRM66MuGTCjsJB596rNs4Y2fvhuaUPJvsyyiIX838pwYkiwg-AO9fKcj6OEIX73-fl7sKhdV7Xg-546R9Uzp3vylmQESaLBbbN0-awHFOv0L7OLnDtOt3Ycrl1U-rM0SfYwukXZapYM/s200/ae741b0e488d8de5c89b42b1fcc218ab.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A <i>fermata</i> symbol, used in music to indicate <br />
that a note needs to be held longer than its value.<br />
A soloist can play the next note at his/her discretion,<br />
whereas a musician must wait and play the next note<br />
at the conductor's discretion.<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Many pianists and other instrumentalists will occasionally play a note for a longer duration than what's written on the sheet music, causing a certain note to "linger" before playing the next note. I demonstrated this during my live stream last week, but you can certainly see more examples of it from other performers. There are symbols for this as well, such as the "grand pause" (two diagonal lines directly after the note that's supposed to linger) and the <i>fermata</i>, illustrated to the right.<br />
<br />
<b><br /></b>Since I know that examples always help, I attached a video of world renowned pianist Evgeny Kissin below. He's playing a piece by Chopin (from memory, of course, hence he no longer needs the sheet music) but if you listen to it and watch him you can clearly seem him using the techniques of interpretation I mentioned above.<br />
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Hope this helps. Beethoven said it best in his famous quote, which I feel really pin-points this entire discussion: "To play a wrong note is insignificant; to play without passion is inexcusable."<br />
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<b><br /></b>thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-55000884856461028332017-01-05T13:52:00.002-08:002017-01-05T13:52:33.463-08:00Putting music to the penguins<br />
<b>Let's get to the bottom of this...</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyR9Nd7sSeDxO2f680_ydjiSxUNavo9_rlRRJQBtwGHpuOM1Og5GwEnBaLr1OewyRCR7ifKyJIR77NL2PXlC2cYp5n3A6fOFYwIP0cbn9jzYoJv6gCeaJqFbhNODJ-VGhNq6M1D3yKfLpH/s1600/42_g+13x19.tif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyR9Nd7sSeDxO2f680_ydjiSxUNavo9_rlRRJQBtwGHpuOM1Og5GwEnBaLr1OewyRCR7ifKyJIR77NL2PXlC2cYp5n3A6fOFYwIP0cbn9jzYoJv6gCeaJqFbhNODJ-VGhNq6M1D3yKfLpH/s320/42_g+13x19.tif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gentoo penguin (Antarctic Peninsula)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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No, I didn't go to Antarctica, and no, I didn't adopt a penguin. I would never actually adopt one anyway -- I mean, sure, they're cute, but I heard they poop everywhere.<br />
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The titles and headings of blog posts (or Twitter feeds) can sometimes be misleading, and I've had at least two people ask me if I actually went to the deserted continent<b> </b>(hence the title of the heading above). What I did do, however, is agree to put music to an Antarctica slideshow for my aunt and uncle. They visited Antarctica years ago, and have saved a plethora of penguin pictures, as well as pictures of the magnificent cliffs, shores, snow, etc., involving their trip to the bottom of the globe. To clarify, I've already done a slideshow with my music for my aunt's retirement ceremony, which she's having in February.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ7JlYQpVeF_DrHWkAHROcXfynJvfL-mg0kIsRH68Hvgt0OVKwKeVjnAEWs5ZC7pVgRE57I6_8Bwfb7QBsjazutGkczzyzF1NQNB6_rCG53N82yrhRERYi6G2cRb5QnUl3m_U2NlPpYIIR/s1600/Antarctica_major_geographical_features.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ7JlYQpVeF_DrHWkAHROcXfynJvfL-mg0kIsRH68Hvgt0OVKwKeVjnAEWs5ZC7pVgRE57I6_8Bwfb7QBsjazutGkczzyzF1NQNB6_rCG53N82yrhRERYi6G2cRb5QnUl3m_U2NlPpYIIR/s200/Antarctica_major_geographical_features.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<b> </b>The fun part about making these slideshows, aside from living through my aunt and uncle vicariously, is timing the slides so that the music syncs up with the pictures. I used my song "The Falls of Dynjandi" for the retirement one, and now I have my work cut out for me as they want one for their Antarctica trip. The images are amazing to look through, as you can see by the couple of pictures I provided below. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqOZJ14eDKLQaiHr2iYZ1_VinfSujD690e9koaaxo8R_IfpRMHfeNaCVHdJOWaUufvLPku4_gY3Nal7qX2OraDVdG0p6YKL3n6eT28tMg-vJDs5ZgOS6M4cSLBHVcAVd4MYplVpRE_kToE/s1600/45_bow.tif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqOZJ14eDKLQaiHr2iYZ1_VinfSujD690e9koaaxo8R_IfpRMHfeNaCVHdJOWaUufvLPku4_gY3Nal7qX2OraDVdG0p6YKL3n6eT28tMg-vJDs5ZgOS6M4cSLBHVcAVd4MYplVpRE_kToE/s1600/45_bow.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqOZJ14eDKLQaiHr2iYZ1_VinfSujD690e9koaaxo8R_IfpRMHfeNaCVHdJOWaUufvLPku4_gY3Nal7qX2OraDVdG0p6YKL3n6eT28tMg-vJDs5ZgOS6M4cSLBHVcAVd4MYplVpRE_kToE/s200/45_bow.tif" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxRHlVfSzhymWFnIZRB_LpwKQ7xSI4jtj9zYuwDivWSd4UTd48YESkb982a_xWIw-Vi17dIb0Jl0XHxo_DysURmczeemtH1e0bAoFtOQYwS5F0Yl_fxTnT8amacVgKbltFYvQtXvPMZgvl/s1600/46_port.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxRHlVfSzhymWFnIZRB_LpwKQ7xSI4jtj9zYuwDivWSd4UTd48YESkb982a_xWIw-Vi17dIb0Jl0XHxo_DysURmczeemtH1e0bAoFtOQYwS5F0Yl_fxTnT8amacVgKbltFYvQtXvPMZgvl/s200/46_port.tif" width="200" /></a></div>
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There's no deadline so far for finishing this particular project, since I'm still working on <i>August In Bloom</i>, but I'll definitely provide updates on the progress. I normally use Windows media player to make the slideshow, but have also been experimenting with another program by Sony called Imagination Studio. In the mean time, you can check out the slideshow I did for my aunt (below). It's dedicated to her upcoming retirement ceremony but a few Antarctica shots are still included.<span id="goog_515624222"></span><span id="goog_515624223"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My uncle checking out the finished product.</td></tr>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dz0Fn_vl5GqVn7kSLHhzo6AAofMWClMDRUBVuFpHZD2aWSa_4bux9S2ItHoUQe5x8-ZUuLvnFbztnXd0BnFtA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>A concert in the works!</b><br />
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Speaking of something that has nothing to do with penguins,<br />
I chose a date for the release of <i>August In Bloom</i> (my next piano album), which will be <b><u>Saturday, April 29th, 2017</u></b>. The later-than-January date was decided upon partly because I also plan to put on a concert that will accompany the release of the CD, so that I can perform the songs from the album (and sell the CD's during the break at the concert). Just like the slideshow project for my aunt and uncle's mingling with the penguins, I have my work cut out for me as far as getting this concert together by April. A few people seem pleased, also, that the release of the CD is closer to summer (since it's summer-themed).<br />
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<b>Yes, you get to meet Zoey</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd-Gicj6MkomxJ7Zr5MpqUqXgQElj3DIWuqf7fgEwEc5oUDxrollTGmuLSLKYXLC9vlt-yJ1qeSRwTgfjVuQ6fSLehB0L3BgXTFfBH1xs-QOTbaywtkFEeXLY6R9j8XFM7Ls_sThCK0Jfl/s1600/CzBUMqMUQAA3FrD.jpg+large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd-Gicj6MkomxJ7Zr5MpqUqXgQElj3DIWuqf7fgEwEc5oUDxrollTGmuLSLKYXLC9vlt-yJ1qeSRwTgfjVuQ6fSLehB0L3BgXTFfBH1xs-QOTbaywtkFEeXLY6R9j8XFM7Ls_sThCK0Jfl/s640/CzBUMqMUQAA3FrD.jpg+large.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Okay, so I named my piano. Stop laughing! It's just a sign of a passion for music (or an unhealthy obsession). Part of the plan so far is to hire one of the movers affiliated with Apollo Piano in Chico to haul the piano to the concert and back. It's a pretty penny well-spent to ensure quality sound that I'm not taking any chances on. The venue where the concert will be held is still to be determined, but updates will be available soon, including the news feed on my website (which you can check out <a href="http://www.thorgunter.com/news" target="_blank">here</a>).<br />
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The plans for the concert are still in the early stages, but if you're wondering if songs from other albums besides <i>August In Bloom</i> will be performed, the answer of course is yes :)<br />
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Comments are always welcome while I stay busy working towards the April date. And if I don't see you in person between now and then, I'll see you in the spring!<br />
<br />thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-4730418938281191372016-12-22T20:12:00.000-08:002016-12-23T20:13:01.075-08:00January-ish. That's a deadline, right?<b><i>August In Bloom</i> finally blooming</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF6WG75JWEdv51XxbIcuO41RdGkpP7_PK7oNuCyOMaDWHwBGufP8EWz5DkB-9Qr6gikZa_KPV9RDwWFNF24VtazMRQwcfPCYJ-1M34srXunC-n3NjG1xMnjHt6BUlw51BNgRJbIPvJtkA_/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF6WG75JWEdv51XxbIcuO41RdGkpP7_PK7oNuCyOMaDWHwBGufP8EWz5DkB-9Qr6gikZa_KPV9RDwWFNF24VtazMRQwcfPCYJ-1M34srXunC-n3NjG1xMnjHt6BUlw51BNgRJbIPvJtkA_/s200/1.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Scarlet 2i2 dual-channel Interface</td></tr>
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I must admit I felt some trepidation about this at first, but it definitely paid off in the end -- my approach to begin the <i>August In Bloom</i> project (the piano album I plan to release in the near future) involved me just "going ahead" and rehearsing the ten very<i> </i>difficult songs I plan to put on the album, and then figuring out the recording logistics "somewhere along the way". It's like the "shoot first, ask questions later" philosophy, except safer, and it has nothing to do with guns.<br />
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Now, to get <i>really </i>technical, I'm going to summarize a description of my recording equipment by listing two important devices that I have in my studio: 1) The ProTools computer software, and 2) That one recording multi-do-hickey thingamabobber.<br />
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If I wanted to bore you even more, I could get into more detail, like the fact that the ProTools system requires the use of that Interface gadget thing, which is an M-AUDIO something or another, and that I recently replaced that with a spiffier one that will make the recording sound way cooler (you can see a picture of this above). It's a really good thing I wasn't an engineer aboard the NASA space shuttle. I'd be telling people to "unhook the thingmajig and ignite that one funnel-looking thing with the small-ish hose, then clamp that attachment thingy to the belt or whatever," and then the mass explosion would be entirely my fault. But, believe it or not, this process of figuring out how to make a good sound on a CD has been on-going and brought my bank account down a few notches (okay, a LOT of notches), but the exciting thing is that I'm finally getting the make-a-CD-with-awesome-sound-quality thing to work!<br />
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This process took quite a few "baby steps" and it involved a lot of research. In the mean time I've been practicing the actual songs on the Yamaha N2 hybrid. Sometimes the "shoot first and ask questions later" (or, more accurately, "practice first and figure-out-the-recording-thing later") is a great strategy, because it's efficient time-wise. Now, for anyone out there who claims that the sound quality isn't really <i>that</i> important...<br />
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<b>"Sound quality doesn't matter"? I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that...</b><br />
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I like to think that I'm not an "eye-roller." When I think of people who roll their eyes, I mainly think of the ornery teenagers I sometimes see when I occasionally partake in my job as a substitute teacher. But there's one thing that will make my eyes roll back far enough to pretty much go full-circle, and that's when I find a piano that's out of tune and people tell me, "Oh, come on, no one will even notice."<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZcQR4_U6x1SsAltHQESJ4wVeELdyec9c3kXb1b77JvxEp1s8akHlmoFO1CQZrgLBVTrmuWf5u1bKPwLIeBroUXmztWuYOTFnHHIoIJ8NkLnTJqcnxKafZlAamoQ60FXTyphfzyfQpdpaK/s1600/Piano-tuner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZcQR4_U6x1SsAltHQESJ4wVeELdyec9c3kXb1b77JvxEp1s8akHlmoFO1CQZrgLBVTrmuWf5u1bKPwLIeBroUXmztWuYOTFnHHIoIJ8NkLnTJqcnxKafZlAamoQ60FXTyphfzyfQpdpaK/s320/Piano-tuner.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
As if a blog post is going to reach out to the population of people that induce this eye-rolling response in me, I'm going to set the record straight: You <i>do</i> notice the difference. You might not think you do, but you do. Yes, you, the you that's reading this, the you that's maybe not "trained" to hear music, the you that "doesn't know the difference" between a tuned piano and an untuned piano. When I play on an out-of-tune piano (i.e., most pianos), I often get this reaction from people: "Nice! Sounds like you need to practice a little bit, though". They don't realize that the constructive feedback in the second part of that response is often a result of the piano being crappy and not necessarily because of poor piano-playing. Interestingly, when I play the exact same piece, or the exact same melody, on a <i>tuned </i>piano, I get this reaction: "Wow! That sounded really good. Sounds like you've been practicing!"<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl5FsComKXmzh-7lBtMr662CbcoHzDYvmVa140HpolPh5F6UVkWzDHFe3dglO_cZAQgLxAcKUwJhWkAXsYAwU_axXszgnFIn4xSMrflEAAJUoWcFo2EOvJr5VSy526mjaqtfR7FoKs2yec/s1600/how-to-tune-a-guitar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl5FsComKXmzh-7lBtMr662CbcoHzDYvmVa140HpolPh5F6UVkWzDHFe3dglO_cZAQgLxAcKUwJhWkAXsYAwU_axXszgnFIn4xSMrflEAAJUoWcFo2EOvJr5VSy526mjaqtfR7FoKs2yec/s320/how-to-tune-a-guitar.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Again, keep in mind that I've encountered these two reactions when playing the <i>same </i>thing on two different pianos, one out-of-tune one and another in-tune one. It's not always the skill level or ingenuity of the composition that people love so much about some piano music, but it's also just the fact that an expensive, quality piano that's maintained and is <i>in tune </i>just sounds amazing. So I generally make it a rule that I don't play on pianos that are out of tune; it doesn't do the music any justice. Would you listen to a guitarist if he were playing on a guitar that was obviously out of tune? And if so, don't you think the quality of the song would be significantly less than if it were <i>in</i> tune? The piano is no different.<br />
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My point in bringing this up is that the same is true for recording quality, when it comes to CD's, albums, mp3 files, etc. Many people will notice that I'm being quite patient about any amount of time I need to take before releasing <i>August In Bloom</i>, just to make sure I can get the most optimal sound quality possible. Oddly, I don't hear many people (or anyone, really) disagree with me when I say that sound quality is important when it comes to releasing a CD, but a bunch of people will tell me "no one will notice" if I play an out-of-tune piano at a concert.<br />
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Bottom line: you, yes you, do notice when a CD has poor sound quality. And you, yes you, do notice when a piano is out of tune. You might just think the pianist is playing poorly, when, again, it's often just the piano that sounds bad. Look up a famous piano song (like a famous classical piece) on YouTube, and you'll see that the performer using an in-tune piano, with good sound quality, will have tens of thousands of hits, whereas the "homemade quality" video of the kid playing on an out-of-tune piano will only have 20 or so hits. There's a reason.<br />
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<b>The Plan</b><br />
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And now to the fun part: the plan for recording the album! There are ten songs, each played on the Yamaha AvantGrande N2 in my office/studio, and the songs will be recorded as WAV files using a TASCAM multi-track recorder. I may use some of the songs (or all of them) as one track, and copy the WAV files directly to a CD. I might also upload these tracks onto my ProTools editing software, if I want to edit the songs (or add other tracks, such as strings, percussion, etc.). Then I'll be recording these songs onto ProTools directly, using a Scarlet 2i2 interface device that I just recently ordered. The two recordings of the songs will be compared with each other, the best-sounding one obviously being selected, and the ten WAV files will be given to a sound engineer I plan to hire to clean up the tracks. Then the CD will be submitted to a company for manufacturing, and/or to CDBaby. End result: the CD will be available for purchase from my site, as well as from CDBaby, iTunes, Amazon, and from myself directly. The individual songs will also be for sale (99 cents each) from my site, just as I have done with the tracks from <i>Heart of Storms. </i>As one can imagine, this entire process keeps taking longer than I anticipate, which is why I've changed my "release date" from January 1st, 2017 to, you know, "January-ish". Maybe after my 3rd, 4th, 5th. etc. album I'll get a better idea of how long this stuff takes and be able to better estimate a date when these processes are completed.<br />
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<b>Planting the Seeds for a Tour</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfhZE_UEdyEvdOtLWMpUIoKLeIUS4VxiEKdfUEUKsLQgDNRcIzC7d6bykAmWQ0rP6J09LJV3eAUV3z3bpDC3H9i665StJE6IeXNnUFayI8Kh0UByUcxnD6n2uoWPbL18bdDcmNNd2k8X3X/s1600/IMG_20160110_083022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfhZE_UEdyEvdOtLWMpUIoKLeIUS4VxiEKdfUEUKsLQgDNRcIzC7d6bykAmWQ0rP6J09LJV3eAUV3z3bpDC3H9i665StJE6IeXNnUFayI8Kh0UByUcxnD6n2uoWPbL18bdDcmNNd2k8X3X/s320/IMG_20160110_083022.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Playing at Wine Time (restaurant in Chico, CA)</td></tr>
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As some may already know, my intention is ultimately to travel to different areas and perform. This, of course, is every musician's dream, and a host of obstacles come up that prevents them from doing so (it costs too much money, they fall in love, they get married, they have kids, they get swallowed up by day jobs to pay their bills, or they simply convince themselves that it can't be done, etc.). The release of this coming album is intended to be a launch-pad into possible concerts and shows, even if they are simple, such as "house concerts" or small benefits and/or shows dedicated to various causes. My next step after the album's release, in addition to the release of additional albums as well as a host of other things that have mainly existed as only ideas so far (including the publication of a novella to be associated with a "trilogy album", which you can read about in a blog post from January of this year, called <a href="http://thorsfirstblog.blogspot.com/2016/01/why-music-is-incomplete-without.html">"Why Music Is Incomplete Without a Background Story"</a>) is to start scouting out venues for a possible tour. Traveling is fun, anyway, and I'm curious as to the kinds of experiences I may have and the people I may meet along the way. This is also why I'm putting in the kind of money that I have been putting in and being as careful as I am about the sound quality of <i>August In Bloom. </i>There's a lot of people populating this planet, and a lot of competition in this industry, so I have to be picky. That being said, it's back to work :D<br />
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<br />thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-58860316258111587922016-12-01T19:38:00.000-08:002016-12-04T19:45:25.263-08:00Harvesting the "gold nuggets" of a dwindling genre<b>I'm not crazy, really... </b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDzAfTA73EZuDPUzIr-mwQNivpBzwevfrEzAe_zpYXTAF0HojWUQkMNwvJF0cSM7tD-Zd6-ozmInMwp7-6K3nM66G5mOQE5h_awOcReZZ_NCQsMZuIoamttOj431yuSmb6ZoEM9oarLo6C/s1600/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDzAfTA73EZuDPUzIr-mwQNivpBzwevfrEzAe_zpYXTAF0HojWUQkMNwvJF0cSM7tD-Zd6-ozmInMwp7-6K3nM66G5mOQE5h_awOcReZZ_NCQsMZuIoamttOj431yuSmb6ZoEM9oarLo6C/s320/unnamed.jpg" width="236" /></a></div>
Having had some success with a weekly broadcast that I do on Facebook Live ("Piano Thor'sdays") I've been able to stay busy with it and I was apparently persuasive enough to coerce a few followers to actually watch it. The Thursday music blogs will of course continue, although my busy schedule gives me that much more reason to only have the blogs every <i>other</i> Thursday (which is the routine I've ultimately established). As far as the blog posts themselves, one topic I've been wanting to cover (which I also talked about in one of my broadcasts) is having to correct false rumors that I'm in need of a psychiatrist, but that's only because I was hearing voices in my head. Okay, so let me rephrase that... what I really meant to say is, I was imagining the voices in my head. I blame it entirely, of course, on the Chico State Opera Workshop, which put on a benefit concert in September that inspired me. Because of those opera singers and their darn talents, I keep hearing the same voices in my head when I compose, so naturally I now have to compose an opera. Now, when I say "opera" I really mean just a 6-ish minute song with piano and operatic-style vocals, so it wouldn't actually be a full-blown "opera" per se (the full-fledged story divided into movements, transitions, a full orchestra with a plot within the story, and a woman in a viking helmet shrieking at the top of her lungs, that sort of thing) so it's actually just a single piece that resembles the length of, say, an aria. The fact that I'm doing this and not writing a full-length "traditional" opera is obviously related to the camping trips I take with my dad, especially when he brings a chisel and hammer during one of our hikes. But we'll get into that later. (And if you don't think I can relate the two, please see all of my previous blog posts. This will only take you about 12 hours or so).<br />
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<b>Wait... you mean musical styles change over time?</b><br />
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Anyone who asks this question has either spent their life in a cave or was just expelled out of their mother's womb, like an hour ago. What I want to focus on a little more is some of the modern music, especially the styles that many millennials listen to. It may seem that I'm "favoring" one style of music versus another, especially when it comes to lyrics, but I'm not going to claim that one type of music is necessarily better. What I will say, however, is that many lyrics in today's music contain quite a few cliches (whether that's good or bad) and I am strictly stating this as an observation. There are exceptions to every rule, of course, so there are certainly modern-day songs that contain well-written, original and well thought-out lyrics (and there may very well be lyrics from the distant past that are contain cliches). Note that I have not stated whether or not cliches are "good" or "bad," just that some music has them and some music doesn't.<br />
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Below are part of the lyrics from Katy Perry's hit song, "Roar". I don't listen to this type of music very often, but I took a gander at these lyrics, and I've decided to share them because I found several examples of cliche lines. I also found, in the same song, lines that I thought were quite original and clever. I took the time, as you can see, to pick out lyrics that had both cliches and originality so that Katy Perry doesn't write me an angry letter. I have to say, though, that receiving an angry letter from Katy Perry would be pretty cool. In any case, here are the lyrics. I've underlined some of the cliches in the lyrics so that they're easy to spot.<br />
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<b>"Roar"</b><br />
Katy Perry<br />
<i><b><br /></b>
</i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Katy Perry</b></td></tr>
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<i>I used to <u><b>bite my tongue</b></u> and <u><b>hold my breath</b></u></i><br />
<i>Scared to rock the boat and make a mess</i><br />
<i>So I sat quietly, agreed politely</i><br />
<i>I guess that I forgot I had a choice</i><br />
<i>I let you push me past the breaking point</i><br />
<i>I stood for nothing, so I fell for everything</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>You held me down, but I got up (hey!)</i><br />
<i>Already <u><b>brushing off the dust</b></u></i><br />
<i>You hear my voice, you hear that sound</i><br />
<i>Like thunder, gonna shake your ground</i><br />
<i>You held me down, but I got up</i><br />
<i>Get ready 'cause <u><b>I've had enough</b></u></i><br />
<i>I see it all, I see it now</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><u style="font-weight: bold;">I got the eye of the tiger,</u><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>a fighter</i><br />
<i>Dancing through the fire</i><br />
<i>'Cause I am the champion, and you're gonna <u><b>hear me roar</b></u></i><br />
<i>Louder, louder than a lion</i><br />
<i>'Cause I am a champion, and you're gonna <u><b>hear me roar!</b></u></i><br />
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As I've shown above, "bite my tongue" and "hold my breath" are both expressions that are over-used, which makes them cliche (and therefore makes the expressions in the lyrics unoriginal). I also underlined "brushing off the dust" because it's too similar to "dusting yourself off" when you get back up, as it relates to the metaphor of "getting back on the horse," etc.<br />
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The phrase "I've had enough" is so cliche that it probably gets uttered millions of times a day by the English-speaking population.<br />
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Finally, the phrase "eye of the tiger" in the chorus of this song is not original at all. As many of us know, not only is it used in a famous song by <i>Survivor</i>, but it's also the actual title of their song! Admittedly, I'm too inexperienced in the music industry to know whether the lawyers from <i>Survivor</i> had lunch with Katy Perry and agreed not to sue her. I've wondered the same thing about Adele's recent hit, "Hello," and Lionel Richie, who wrote a song with that exact same title.<br />
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Part of my purpose for bringing this up is to also point out lines from the song that I thought were original and clever. Keep in mind that this is just my opinion, and for all I know I could be completely wrong about this. But I thought "stood for nothing, fell for everything" was okay, even though "falling for" something is not original. The full line is still clever because it involves two common phrases that have opposite meanings, yet they make sense in describing the "trapped" situation she's in. Okay, so I like that. "Scared to rock the boat" may be a tad cliche too, but I didn't underline it because I hear it rarely enough that I actually like the image. Again, people may have different opinions about this. "Dancing through the fire", while the image of "dancing" and using that as a metaphor is in itself overused, the combination of that and a "fiery" situation is neat. Oddly enough I also like it because it's literally the opposite of the line "Dancing through the snow" in Jingle Bells.<br />
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If we compare this song to an older song -- say, "Carry On Wayward Son" by <i>Kansas</i>, we get something a little different. Here are part of the lyrics to it:<br />
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<b>"Carry On Wayward Son" </b><br />
Kansas<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Kansas</b></td></tr>
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<i>Once I rose above the noise and confusion</i><br />
<i>Just to get a glimpse beyond the illusion</i><br />
<i>I was soaring ever higher, but I flew too high</i><br />
<i>Though my eyes could see, I still was a blind man</i><br />
<i>Though my mind could think,</i><br />
<i>I still was a mad man </i><br />
<i>I hear the voices when I'm dreamin',</i><br />
<i>I can hear them say</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Carry on my wayward son,</i><br />
<i>For there'll be peace when you are done</i><br />
<i>Lay your weary head to rest</i><br />
<i>Now don't you cry no more</i><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj90SHn8sUi_z9zHtG_cyC__VMioFfpehtwR3lNAe-U9uIDNrNw0t-SqUQWdC_JJfNJaZFn6QnqzcBmgVdVE1UWfD_J_a_V0pQ0pmBPj1MZsuZ4WPFfuo275xobxXCkDFY9gQvsnvC74DC/s1600/KansasBandDay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj90SHn8sUi_z9zHtG_cyC__VMioFfpehtwR3lNAe-U9uIDNrNw0t-SqUQWdC_JJfNJaZFn6QnqzcBmgVdVE1UWfD_J_a_V0pQ0pmBPj1MZsuZ4WPFfuo275xobxXCkDFY9gQvsnvC74DC/s320/KansasBandDay.jpg" width="320" /></a><i><br /></i><br />
<i>Masquerading as a man with a reason</i><br />
<i>My charade is the event of the season</i><br />
<i>And if I claim to be a wise man, it surely</i><br />
<i>Means that I don't know</i><br />
<i>On a stormy sea of moving emotion</i><br />
<i>Tossed about I'm like a ship on the ocean</i><br />
<i>I set a course for winds of fortune, but I hear the voices say</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Carry on, you will always remember</i><br />
<i>Carry on, nothing equals the splendor</i><br />
<i>Now your life's no longer empty</i><br />
<i>Surely heaven waits for you</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYJe1IJrZ-4uajxQVic0ib4t1beKEYSdy5wHUEhXulsfN3aiRdj5P_3NUSKWUnB4lHzSdQF9AszSYiD75VZ4M9-pgCKby-2sIszlLGCVL7w-wl5UUgwJ9pGCSK5oqDGvU-PG9XjP82hVKt/s1600/kansas1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYJe1IJrZ-4uajxQVic0ib4t1beKEYSdy5wHUEhXulsfN3aiRdj5P_3NUSKWUnB4lHzSdQF9AszSYiD75VZ4M9-pgCKby-2sIszlLGCVL7w-wl5UUgwJ9pGCSK5oqDGvU-PG9XjP82hVKt/s320/kansas1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<i><br /></i>
<i>Carry on my wayward son,</i><br />
<i>For there'll be peace when you are done</i><br />
<i>Lay your weary head to rest</i><br />
<i>Now don't you cry no more...</i><br />
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The difference between these two songs should be clear. The lyrics from the <i>Kansas</i> song above has pretty much no cliche lines, making the metaphors in the song far more original than those in "Roar". The only exception I can think of is the line "stormy sea of moving emotion". So, one somewhat of a cliche line in an entire song -- not too shabby. Not only that, but from a literary standpoint, I find the writing in this song fantastic, personally. There's even irony thrown into the mix (i.e., "Though my eyes could see, I still was a blind man," etc.).<br />
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Okay, so what's my point? My point is that I've seen many other examples of this. Time and time again I hear lyrics from modern-day songs that have one cliche after another. And often times, when I compare these to songs from the '70s and '80s, the older songs typically don't have this kind of cliche writing.<br />
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Want another example? Take Kelly Clarkson's pop hit, "Stronger". The transition from one of the versus to the chorus goes like this:<br />
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<i>Baby you don't know me, cause you're dead wrong...</i><br />
<i>What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!</i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kelly Clarkson</td></tr>
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Really? Yes, I know many people like this song, but as a matter of plain fact, the phrase "dead wrong" is very cliche and therefore took no time or imagination on her part when writing it. And the line, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" is an age-old expression that has been uttered by millions. It's not original. If Kelly Clarkson had been the first person to use this expression, and put it in her song, then I'd be a little more impressed. But she merely steals it from everyday speech and sticks it in her lyrics. I could just as easily write a song and stick in the phrase, "Birds of a feather flock together," and it would be just as imaginative.<br />
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Sounds harsh, I know -- but again, I'm merely making an observation. And again, when you compare modern songs like these to some of the older hits, you don't see nearly as many cliches in the older lyrics. Scroll through the lyrics of Peter Gabriel's song from the 1980's, "Sledgehammer". It's one creative metaphor after another, and almost none of them are cliche. And yes, I know most people say the lyrics in that song are probably a series of sexual innuendos. Either way, the metaphors in the song are brilliantly original. The first line of it ("You could have a steam train, if you just lay down your tracks,") is an expression that you <i>don't</i> hear everyday.<br />
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The broader point I want to bring up here is that musical styles change over time, in very many ways. Anything that's creative and artistic tends to change over time. Fashion, for example, is obviously different now than it was 50 years ago. People used to wear neck-ties that were thin. Then "wide" neck-ties became more popular, and I think are still the trend in formal settings. But now some of the younger folks are wearing "thin" ties again, in certain casual settings. This intrigues me, because it means that creative trends can <i>revert back </i>to a style that used to be "in" a few generations ago. I realized this when I was watching the vocalists at the opera workshop, as they were performing. For a few reasons, I generally prefer instrumental music over anything else, and when I do listen to anything vocal it will, often, be something like "Nessum Dorma" (an aria from a famous opera called <i>Turandot</i>). If you haven't been blown away by this incredible piece, you can click below to hear Paul Potts (a then-amateur opera singer) perform it at a national talent show.<br />
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<b>Bring back the voice, but let's lose the helmet</b><br />
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My attempt, after all this rambling, is to connect this idea of changing trends (and, more importantly, <i>reverting</i> trends) to music. As an art form, music changes pretty rapidly over time. That's expected. One of my interests, which is somewhat incidental, is to make instrumental music more popular. There's a great quote by the popular instrumentalist Yanni, from his memoir entitled <i>Yanni in Words</i>, that goes like this:<br />
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<i>"I don't need lyrics. Classical composers communicated across cultures and centuries beautifully without words. That's proof that it can be done. I prefer not to use words when I'm trying to move you emotionally, so you don't have to use logic to understand what you were just told. Also, my music gives you the ability to make up your own story as it plays; your mind is free to wander and create. You can use the music as a soundtrack to your emotions." </i><br />
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But in addition to this, I've wanted to make opera more popular. Let me be clear, however, in stating that there are only <i>some</i> kinds of opera that I like. If you hang out with people who go to operas, you will hear them raving about many of the same selections, i.e. certain arias from an entire opera production. The selections they mostly praise are usually a very small percentage of all the opera music that's out there. I happen to agree with these people, meaning that I find only a small percentage of opera to be absolutely gorgeous to listen to (to the point where it often brings me to tears) and the rest of it I don't care for at all. The stories behind the operas, as well as the drama and costumes associated with this art form (in case you didn't know, opera is a combination of music and theater) are also interesting, although some of it seems over-the-top to me. As an example, the woman wearing a viking helmet is a bit much. So I say, let's introduce the gorgeous melodies that I sometimes hear in a few of the arias, and just have regular <i>songs</i>, with operatic vocals, and lose the viking helmet.<br />
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I intend to do the same, by the way, with regard to popularizing only <i>certain</i> kinds of classical music. Many people don't seem to realize that classical music has may different styles and types, and that there are certain kinds of classical music that I don't like at all. The early baroque music, for example, I can only take in small doses. If I listen to too much of it I'll start to go crazy, and none of the music I've written so far has ever really emulated that style. However, the later stuff, i.e. classical music from the Romantic period (Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Mussorgsky, to name a few composers from that era) I find incredibly exhilarating to listen to.<br />
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If neck ties can go thin again, I think we can include the <i>awesome</i> parts of some of the older music back into the music world -- and yes, I know that what I consider "awesome" is completely subjective. As far as leaving some parts out, like the shrieking viking lady, you can look at it this way: mullets are probably never going to be back in style, as far as haircuts go. At least I don't think so. And if they do, I am <i>not</i> growing one. My big scheme is that I want to introduce the style that echos the memorable, popular opera selections, and integrate it back into modern music. I want to do the same, by the way, with lyrics that aren't painfully cliche to read. Yeah, how did you guess? I think that stripping away a style of lyrics that is painfully cliche will be a gradual process, like chipping away the crappy parts of a rock in order to get to the gold nuggets, when you're digging for treasures. See, told ya I could do it! ;)<br />
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<b>Collaboration Time</b><br />
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I haven't yet contacted the Chico State Opera Workshop, except when working with one of the vocalists who happens to own a piano gallery in Chico, but it's only a matter of time before I will. I'm already planning on writing arrangements to my own piano pieces (including "Lara in a Rain of Petals") that include operatic vocals.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Chico State Opera Workshop (September 2016)</b></td></tr>
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The inspiring part of this is that the opera performance I went to in September was actually a benefit concert that used the proceeds towards introducing opera music to kids, at local schools. It's a start. I'm convinced that if these incredible voices can move me the way they do, they can move others to the same degree.<br />
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I think it would be best if we <i>all</i> started hearing more voices in our heads. I don't care what the psychiatrist says -- it's healthy :D<br />
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<br />thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293212012232181725.post-79146302952255356962016-10-13T12:07:00.000-07:002016-10-13T12:07:35.064-07:00Piano Thor'sdays: You aren't leaving your house anyway<b>People and their gosh darn flannel pajamas</b><br />
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I firmly believe in praising the people who have helped me, and giving credit where credit is due. That's why I'm blaming my friend Shawn. This, of course, relates to the progress of my musical endeavors. And pajamas.<br />
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But before we talk about misshaped eyebrows and out-of-place nose hair, I want to summarize the reality of my current situation. Right now I'm at a crossroads, of sorts, and many people may be aware of this already. In the past year or two my music has really had two main facets: the private piano lessons, which have been a decent success for me (they're now providing about half my income) and the other one being the occasional live performances. When it comes to the "end goal", I've maintained consistently that the live performances are my focus. It's been my dream to tour, perform, play my music live for a big audience, etc., because what person wouldn't want that? For the moment, the piano lessons are much better financially, but as it stands my dreams still haven't changed.<br />
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I'm sometimes mildly concerned that this two-tier system is too multi-faceted, and that I need to pick just one, instead of offering two services. The very few opinions that have been given to me have been somewhat mixed; a business guy once told me that it's good to be multi-faceted, but not <i>too</i> multi-faceted. On the other hand, when it comes to providing private lessons <i>and</i> live performances, many people have responded with "why not?" when it comes to the idea of doing both.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A live show I did at La Rocca last year</td></tr>
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Aside from the fact that I actually sort of enjoy teaching piano lessons (most of the time) the reason I do it is to make money and invest it in better music equipment, and in the live performances. The other way I make money for this purpose is by droning on about independent clauses to a classroom full of confused foreigners, who mistakenly say "My wife is a bitch," when they meant to say "My wife is at the beach." The income I get from teaching English as a second language is not without the entertainment of mispronounced vowels and catastrophic misunderstandings. <br />
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So I figured, what's the difference if I make my money just teaching music lessons instead? I may also be able to use my piano instruction as a springboard into the live performances (see my recital hall idea on my previous blog post, <a href="http://thorsfirstblog.blogspot.com/2016/10/august-in-bloom-album-and-other-updates.html">August In Bloom Album (And Other Updates)</a> ). And in addition to the recital hall idea, another way I may be able to use it as a springboard towards getting more live performances is by Internet marketing, an idea concocted by Shawn himself. If people are able to learn the piano without leaving their homes, they can just <i>stay</i> in their fuzzy flannel pajamas, and not have to get all gussied up to drive to a lesson. It is fall, after all. Did you think I was not going to somehow relate this to flannel nightwear? I don't just spout out words willy-nilly, you know. This is also why my unusually long eyelashes will come in handy.<br />
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<b>Smile! It's time for Piano Thor'sdays</b><br />
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It's not enough that I have the Thor'sday Blogs, a Discussion "Thorum" on my website, and "Throwback Thor'sdays" on my Facebook page for people who want to see my face during the dorky pre-bearded era, but my friend insisted that I also call this Internet marketing endeavor "Piano Thor'sdays." The next thing you know is I'll be opening up my own piano store and calling it "Thor's Hammers." <br />
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In any case, the idea is that each week (I'm sure you can guess which day of the week it is) I will record a few-ish minutes of live Facebook streaming, in which I play "teasers" on the piano, either to introduce a new song or to showcase part of a song for an upcoming album or show. The live streaming feature on Facebook is apparently becoming popular with businesses because it reaches a lot of people. Plus, people are drawn to videos in general; they gravitate towards them like a moth fluttering straight into a porch light.<br />
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This, of course, is also where the springboard comes in. Not a real springboard, a metaphorical one. Stay with me here. Eventually (somewhat soon, I would think) I would do a short mini-lesson on the piano, during one of these Thor'sday streaming vids. If people liked it, they could sign up for the at-home piano course that I'm going to offer. This means that people can pre-pay for a series of videos, and once they pay they will have access to, say, 20 videos, each containing a piano lesson (I would be in the vid, giving the lesson). They would have to watch them in order, and as per my recommendation they would watch one video each week. That way they could sit at their piano at home, in their flannel pajamas, and have their lesson right there while they drink their morning coffee. Again, this is why my long eyelashes will come in handy, as will my trimmed nose hairs and eyebrows that I mentioned earlier. And if people don't like my long eyelashes then they don't have to buy the videos.<br />
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These at-home video lessons could be put on my website for purchase, and as I said the reputation that I might be able to build could help me launch into the live performances more easily, especially if I'm able to announce and promote the upcoming shows, using the existing fan base to reach more people in the process.<br />
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The first video for this Facebook live stream series will be tonight (or, it was, depending on if you're reading this after the fact) and this is because Shawn is making me do it. Apparently I'm not allowed to procrastinate, hence me placing the blame entirely on him for even giving me this idea in the first place.<br />
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Remember, flannel is underrated. So stay tuned and you might be able to take piano lessons without leaving your home... because I know that's exactly what you've been wanting to do :D <br />
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<b> </b> thorsteinngunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880978409750798570noreply@blogger.com0