Harmonica News
I am back to playing my chromatic harmonica, after months of only playing my diatonics–which are okay but limited. Since I play by sight-reading sheet music, not by ear, I need all the notes!
My main instrument is the guitar, but after some trouble with arthritis in my fingers, I decided to learn another instrument not so dependent on them. A pleasant surprise with this instrument is how much I’ve been able to learn in a short time–check out my harmonica recordings here!
A less pleasant surprise is how delicate harmonicas are. My harmonicas frequently need repair.Up to a point I can maintain them myself, purchasing toolkits and spare parts and spending a lot of time repairing them. When my Suzuki broke I spent three months trying to buy reeds, but could never get Suzuki customer service to follow through.
Finally, I found certified harmonica repairman Gary Lehman on a Reddit advice forum. Getting a certified expert to repair it made the difference!
Album Project News
I am moving forward with my album project, For Velma. I recently listened to my recordings for the album. They sound good! I’m biased, of course, but my teacher, Justin Heath, vets all my tunes before I release them publicly, and he has no qualms about pushing me to work as long as it takes to make each tune better, for which I thank him–if sometimes through gritted teeth!
About half of the pieces have already been professionally engineered, by Steve Steckler at Asparagus Media Studios in Takoma Park, MD. More engineering, followed by mastering, is yet to come in order to complete the project. Paying for these and other expenses associated with producing and launching my album will be the focus of my coming Kickstarter campaign.
The initial scope of the Campaign will be a digital album, which is a download link you can save to a CD-R if you choose, as well as save it to listen on your phone or computer. If my initial campaign is successful, the second stage will fund a physical compact disc recording. A CD album is more expensive to manufacture, but has the advantage of being a physical object in a case you can hold and open; you can view the cover art and song info–and info about me and my collaborators–in real time and space. And you can handle the disc itself (carefully!) and play it on your home audio equipment.
Help Fund For Velma!
I would like to ask each of you reading this to support me by joining my email list. In appreciation, I will send you a free download track. I will let you know when I make a blog post, and when I have new recordings.
In subsequent posts I’ll say more about how this project came about, tell you about Velma, and share what it’s like to do home recording and to record in a small local studio, as well as musical collaboration, and more.
Thanks for your friendship and for listening to my music! I look forward to your joining me on my musical explorations.