About My Music – Overview

Intro – I thought that it might be appropriate to provide in this blog an overview in written form, for those interested in learning more about me as well as my music.

Before I get started with this overview, I’d like to say that writing music for me is an outlet of self-expression and of creativity. Although I didn’t set out to be commercial, to make money from it,  somehow I got there without being tied to anyone or to any Major Music Industry Company. As of now, I have remained free to express myself musically, as I wish, and not for purposes of fulfilling some song quota, forced into being strictly commercial or required to meet specific deadlines, however, that does not preclude that I would not write some of my work for these purposes. With that said, the music that I write will come as it comes. As I have posted in another blog, “I merely get a glimpse of the sounds from the spheres and write them down.”

I promise to do my absolute best, with the resources available to me, to make my music of the highest sound quality I can afford and to compose it to the best of my ability. Granted, that may not be commercial as previously said, however, once a song is completed (or an album) you will be given the chance to hear it in it’s original state. Therefore, you are getting the “virgin” music from someone who enjoys the act of writing it, directly from the Composer – me.

Secondly, you can stop in for a visit anytime you wish to my Official Website, by clicking on this link – http://www.stringtunes.com . At this website, StringTunes, I post my music in full length for your enjoyment, make available single song downloads for $0.99 each, make my CD’s available for purchase on a secure site for $9.99 each, post photos, keep a diary, provide a complete song list of my compositions and provide a biography. All news, notices, and progress on my projects are first shown there so feel free to visit often and feel free to link to to my website. Enjoy! – or – follow this link to purchase direct from my manufacturer – Click here to buy my CDs. Thanks!

For those interested in purchasing my music at other digital retail stores on the Internet, please feel free to visit; iTunes, Amazon and CDBaby where your can purchase at locations you may be more comfortable with. Thank s in advance for helping by supporting my music!

Basic description of my music – My musical instrument of choice is the Classical Guitar. I began playing an acoustic guitar as a freshman in high school back in 1970. Before that I played the Cornet, the Flute-O-Phone and I tinkered around with the organ/keyboard. I enjoy Classical Music and as time passed I found myself wanting to play the music written for the Classical Guitar. In 1996 I basically switched from acoustic to classical guitar and have remained there. Also, because of classical music, I am prone to write in a similar manner. So, it is from that base that I developed musically and have come to compose the way I do.

Again, since I favor the Guitar and since I truly enjoy the sounds made possible by the other stringed instruments as well, I compose primarily using these instruments. My Compositions include and are not limited to; the Guitar, Violin, Viola, Cello, Contra Bass and/or Double Bass and the Harp.

Additionally, since learning more about the other Orchestral Instruments, I add color to my compositions using the Oboe, Piccolo, Flute, Clarinet, Bassoon, all from the Woodwind Family and Trumpet, French Horn, Trombone and the Tuba from the Brass section of an Orchestra.

Also, as needed, I include the occasional Cymbal, Timpani, Tom-Tom or other percussion sounds to fulfill those needs in the composition. Lastly, I do include some additional instruments depending upon the need within a composition including but not limited to; Bells, Gongs, Marimba, Xylophone and Glockenspiel, among others.

As you can tell by the instruments I am using that my music could simply be classified as Classical, however, I do not adhere strictly to the Classical Music Forms of Composition. I attempt to use more simplified song forms using the Orchestral Instruments by choice rather than using typically found in a rock, blues, jazz or other genres of music. With that said, I think I am joining together the use of the strings with a more “tune-like” song structure, hence my website name of StringTunes.

Further, I truly enjoy the acoustic sounds generated by an instrument rather than amplified sounds or highly modified digital sounds. It is extremely expensive for me to do all of the things I need to do financially and then to pay for live performers on top of it. Consequently, I use digital Professional Sound Samples to demonstrate my music.  So, I guess you could say that my music is classified as Digital-Acoustic, Orchestral Music, also known as Virtual Orchestral and Chamber Music.

Sound Samples – I am fully aware that the Performer and the real Instrument cannot ever be replaced by Sound Samples.  The nuances, uniqueness and color of each Instrument is beyond the capability of sound sampling for each of the instruments. Yes, you can get several different libraries in hopes of having enough variations to make it sound very realistic, but and again, each instrument is unique, posing a huge problem when using sound samples alone. Owning a variety of Sample Libraries can get you closer to a realistic sound, however, these are extremely expensive and as a single person, without sponsorship, I do not have the resources to purchase the wide variety of available Sample Libraries in an attempt to come closer to the sound quality and character of using real Instruments and Performers.

The same is even more true when you think about the special and highly developed performance skills and unique, highly developed artistry brought to the table by Professional Performers. As a result of the limitations of using Sound Samples the final mock-up may sound really good but it is not a direct reflection of recording live performances. One cannot possibly duplicate every single performance or every single instrument, its’ nuances, articulations and the unique sound of specific instruments. What sound samples can do is to provide a decent mock-up, an example, of what a Composer intends when composing a piece of music.

History Outline

1) I started Composing way back in 1972. Since then I have completed over 100 musical works, all of which are officially copyrighted. I have another 40 or so being worked on now.

2) When I first started to compose, I wrote primarily for the solo guitar, however, I was just a novice player and I had a very limited understanding of music in general, musical form and structure as well as poor arranging skills.

3) In 1997 I completed a CD demo of several of my guitar compositions. It was titled – Night Wind. This CD was never officially released but I did manage to sell a couple of CD’s, mostly I gave them away to Family and Friends. See, Night Wind post for more information.

4) In December of 2006 I completed my first official CD produced with the intention of selling it over the Internet. It is titled – Heart Strings. See; Heart Strings post for more information about this CD.

5) Also in June of 2006, I started my website, StringTunes, as a placed to post my music and to get the word out about my music.  See StringTunes to learn more about my website.

6) On March 21st of 2007, I completed and released my second official CD titled – Dawn of a New Day. See; Dawn of a New Day post to learn more about this CD.

7) On March 21st of 2008, I completed and released my third CD titled – Colors of Cello. See; Colors of Cello post to learn more about this CD.

8) Currently, I am working on three more CD’s. Right now, none of them are titled, however, one is a Solo Guitar CD, another is an additional Strings based CD and the last one, is if all goes well, is a Christmas CD featuring traditional Christmas music arranged for the Stringed Instruments. Watch for additional blog posts and updates regarding these efforts.

Once again, please feel free to stop in for a visit at my official website and to continue your perusal of this blog site.