I've started a new CD project called "The Year"; twelve orchestral sketches for each month of the year. Several of them are done already. February, March, September, October, and December are completed. Which month shall I work on next?

Well, the Chemeketa gig has come and gone. The weather was nice, but chilly at first. Not as many people showed up as I had hoped but the core of my department held a table for awhile and provided applause as needed. Everyone liked what I did, except for maybe myself. I must have been getting tired because my oboe playing took a dive for a few seconds near the end. My co-worker, Sage, and my wonderful wife held the video cameras and Cubase faithfully recorded the audio, such as it was. There were mysterious snaps and pops at the beginning that made it onto the audio track.
Now the task is to mix the audio, create a DVD video project and splice in the video tracks from the two cameras and sync them up. Never done that before so it should be an interesting job. Several people have requested copies already. As it is, I'm taking Memorial Day weekend off from music stuff and just relaxing around the house. Maybe I'll go trade my car in for a new one.

The Chemeketa gig is tomorrow (Thursday 5/21). Tuesday was, once again, the worst weather of the week. I think I'm ready. Six months of planning. Three months of intense mastering/remixing, practice, and rehearsal - all for a few hour and-a-half gigs. Last Saturday at Relay for Life went pretty good except... they had me start a half hour early because they had a Newlywed Game starting at 10:30. The weather was nice but still chilly at that time of the morning. I played basically to Debbie, the sound guy, a woman sleeping and one other woman that loved the music. I will never say yes to the Polk County chapter of RFL again. I dislike being rushed during setup.

I'm glad I pushed back the Chemeketa date a week because today would have been disappointing. It's cold and wet outside. Next week is supposed to be nicer. We're gearing up for the RLF gig this Saturday morning. Getting in all the last-minute practicing on piano, flute, and guitar while my oboe is in the shop getting adjusted. Oh, if only my fingers would move the way I want them to...

The latest snag in my project is that my audio drive has failed. This is where all my sequences and all audio files, including master mixes, are saved to. Fortunately, I was prudent enough to make backups of all Cubase files three weeks ago after most edits were complete. A new drive is on its way and I'll be back in production this weekend. In the mean time, I've been practicing along with the backing tracks CD and working on other stuff. The oboe work is coming along, but there is some question whether I'll be up to speed by next month - only six weeks away now.
There is also the fallback position on using the computer to play and record everything live. After experiencing the drive failure just as I began testing the live recording has tempered my enthusiasm. There are so many variables. Ultimately, the music could suffer because of the time dedicated to the technical stuff. My contingency plan is much simpler.

Well, I've gone and done it now; taking delivery on an old french oboe. It is a beautiful instrument and reminds me of the one my dad played while in the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra. I had not ever played an oboe before yesterday, so I have my work cut out for me to integrate this instrument into the 'live' portion of my two-hour set. Wish me luck.

Amidst working on some cover tunes for the Relay For Life gig, I managed to squeeze in some time this past weekend to update the player on Pictor Music so you can listen continuously to an entire CD until you press stop.

Pictor Music Studio has been busy lately with several projects. The main being getting ready for a 2-hour performance at the American Cancer Society 'Relay for Life' Polk County benefit in mid-May. The set list is beginning to take shape with a mixture of old and new compositions of different styles, plus some appropriate cover tunes to round out the set.

I have also been working on the Grieg Piano Concerto 2nd movement (Adagio) as an exercise as well as a remix of my own 'Tone Poem for Piano and Orchestra'. This piece was written back in 2002 (before I knew what a tone poem was) and performed live with backing tracks at the Chemeketa staff talent show.

The event was elegant and fun, but the video and sound quality were disappointing as I recall.

Oh, by the way, Welcome to my blog!