Out with the old...

The end of one year and the beginning of another is always a time of reflection for me.  There have been years when I found myself wallowing in a bit of self-pity at things that were not accomplished but such was not the case at the end of 2012.  Instead, I realized that a dream had been seen through to completion - that of launching a second recording out into the world. 

One thing that will definitely be different is that the pile of books full of Christmas arrangements, the pile that has been sitting on my Petrof since about November 2011, will now be put back on the shelf.  That feels both very good and very odd at the same time.

Studio pictures

A cool shot from inside the recording booth!  L-R - Dorcas Windsor, page turner, me, and Darryl Neustaedter Barg, recording engineer.  The recording was done at the Mennonite Church Manitoba studio here in Winnipeg.

A big thank you to my brother, Weldon Bull, for using some vacation time to take photos for me.

Okay, so now you know one of the pieces you'll hear on the finished product!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A really delightful sound comes from the Petrof combined with the studio.  I can hardly wait for you to hear what I've put together.

It can't be 25 years - can it?

Well, yes, the truth of it is that it has been 25 years!  The picture on the left was taken on Friday, March 13, 1987 shortly after the delivery of my first and biggest 'baby'.  Baby Petrof, measuring 5'8", and weighing in at (I have no idea!) came to my home on a snowy March day a quarter century ago. 

I never could have imagined then where I'd be now or what paths my professional life has taken.  I didn't yet know my husband, Gord.  Now we have a teenaged son.  I recorded my CD on this piano.  Countless students have sat on its bench to learn how to play.  Today is not the end of the story by any means, but it does feel like a significant day somehow.   And really, who would have thought dolman sleeves would be back in style?!

Christmas in the summer

This was supposed to be a summer of Christmas music. It still has been, to some extent - to the extent that all church musicians have to think and plan ahead to order music, choose anthems, etc. No, this was supposed to be the summer of recording a second album focusing on Advent and Christmas arrangements. My husband, Gord Keeley, will be my recording engineer again, and we'll record in the living room on my very own Petrof baby grand. So, what happened? New windows are what happened - and not on my timetable! I 'thought' (read, 'unrealistically hoped') they'd be in by mid-July and I'd have a good month to get the tracks down the way I wanted. A change in windows means a change in the acoustics of the room so I really had to wait until the project was complete. Well, finally today it is finished. A little late for a summer recording project. But maybe it's just as well - we've had a very wet, humid summer and I doubt the piano would have held its tuning well at all. Is there a lesson here? Probably. Do I know what it is? Not really. But I do know the new windows look nice.