Monday, January 6, 2014

Enter the vortex

Well, we are experiencing the "Polar Vortex" in full force. It is brutally cold outside. I'm usually pretty cold hardy, I just put on my insulated coveralls and roam around outside to get my exercise and take care of the property and animals. Today I lasted about 5 minutes. The wind just cut through my clothes and burned any exposed skin I had left uncovered. My cheeks hurt and I simply wasn't having any fun! Fortunately, I have a warm toasty house to retreat back to, and spent the remainder of the day safely tucked inside working on music and other sundry things around the house. Plenty of leaks to plug in the old part of the house, and they are quite easy to find now with the cold wind blowing.

As usual, there is plenty of music news to write about. I have finished recording the new CD and will take it to the recording engineer to get it mastered later this week. I really like it so far, it has a bit of a different feel to it, a little more spontaneous and improvised, but still has some of the bigger songs as well as some sweet songs. I have also finished transcribing the complete CD Wind Chimes, it is at the printers as I write. Also, Michael Dulin and I are arranging concerts in the Pacific Northwest for April. And, of course, there is the big Whisperings Award Concert in LA toward the end of January that should be a wonderful event.

First, the transcriptions. The CD "Wind Chimes" is completely transcribed. I am going back through my older CDs and trying to get them down on paper, and this is one of the first older CDs I have fully transcribed. It has some great songs in it, a few times I was scratching my head wondering what I played in a particular passage.... but for the most part it is a close to accurate transcription. It is at the printers now, and I think we are going to put a link up on the website for pre release purchasing if anyone is interested. It should be ready in about 2 weeks, but if you want to pre-order that should be available.

The new CD has been recorded and will be mastered this week. Mastering is the process of editing the beginning and end of each song so they start and stop with the right amount of time between them, putting on reverb and cleaning up any noise like the dog scratching and making her collar jingle. That is the danger of recording at home. Although it is a more relaxed atmosphere and I can play the song as many times as I want to get just the right "take", it is hard to keep everyone quiet long enough to get a clean recording. And of course the wind makes noise, the wind chimes clang and the dog barks......

Concerts: Lots of concerts coming up.

!. The first will be a Whisperings Awards concert in LA. Here is an excerpt from the flyer:

It's the Whisperings All-Star Concert & Awards Ceremony, happening Sunday, January 26th in Costa Mesa CA. This once in a lifetime event will feature live performances by 15 of your favorite Whisperings piano artists, INCLUDING performances from all the Whisperings Solo Piano Album of the Year nominees! Dozens of artists from Whisperings Radio will be in attendance. And you, as a guest, will have the chance to meet and greet the artists after the show for autographs and photo opportunities!

Tickets available here: http://www.solopianoawards.com

2. Michael Dulin, Tim Neumark and I will make use of our time while in LA and perform in concert:

The concert is 7pm on Saturday, January 25 at:
Knauer Pianos
19301 Ventura Blvd
Tarzana, CA 91356

Tickets here: https://timneumark.com/store/dulin-maroney-neumark

3. Michael Dulin and I will be touring in Oregon and Washington early April. This is still in progress, but it looks like:

April 10th at Kathy Parsons house for a house concert. Contact Kathy personally at www.mainlypiano.com for details and cost.

April 11th for a 7 P.m. concert at classic pianos in Portland. Visit their website at this link:http://portland.classicpianos.net/about/recital-hall

April 12th in Spokane

April 13th in Seattle

April 14th private house concert in Portland.

So, I think that is most of the happenings from this house. Thank you so much for supporting my music, it helps me create more to share with everyone.

Take care

Greg Maroney

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