What I've been up to...

Well, my readers, you haven't heard much from me in quite awhile. The photo tells part of the story: I've been busy with copyright licensing and other paperwork for the new CD. In addition, the design, layout and content for the liner notes and traycard (back of the CD case) had to be written, revised, edited and submitted to the manufacturer.

In red on a paper in the photo to the left you see "Book 1st Pres".  The biggest highlights of my musical career have been at First Presbyterian Church here in Winnipeg.  I gave my grad recital there on April 2, 1981 on the wonderful Beckerath pipe organ. Twenty-five years later, on April 2, 2006 I released my first CD, Notes of Faith. The launch celebration concert was also at First Church.  Once again I'll be playing in this lovely space to launch my new CD. The details are below.

After the studio, then what?

In the days and weeks leading up to my time in the recording studio, all I could really focus on was being ready to record.  Are the pieces all well-prepared and ready to go?  No?  Then more practise time was the order of the day.  However, there are many parts to this project and recording was just the first.  I suppose if I wasn't 'the one' in charge of this project, that is to say, if I had a manager, or a producer, my work might be finished when the actual recording was done.  As it is, the responsibility of checking each track falls to me, and me alone.  You can see from the photo on the left what the dining room table looked like when I was in the midst of listening, checking, following the score, etc. making sure that every track was completed to my satisfaction.

Other parts of the CD project still on the to-do list (in no particular order) are things like cover image, title, liner notes, getting the mastering done, and last (and most intimidating), requesting and obtaining mechanical licensing for each track.  No doubt you'll hear from me again as I continue through this musical adventure!

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.

How I arrived at the recording studio

I hinted in my last post that I'd write a little about what happened prior to recording last week.  As you might guess, a lot of the preparation (not counting practising) was done long before April 30.  Two pieces that will be on the CD are from a book I purchased nearly 25 years ago.  Another pair of carols are in a book bought only in February of this year.  The others fall somewhere in between those extremes and more than one book was what I call a 'fluke' purchase - a book I wasn't specifically looking for at the time, but stumbled across and bought on a bit of a whim.  Two of my books were on a clearance table in Feb. 2011 for, if I recall correctly, 70% off so might have cost me $5 each!

Narrowing down my choices was much more difficult than I thought it would be.  There are so many good carols out there, and many good arrangers too - where to draw the line?  I tried very hard to keep a balance between well-known songs and lesser known ones.  Carols seem to fall into the 'mellow' category too (or is that just my bias showing?) and I wasn't trying to make a CD to put listeners to sleep, so I had to be careful to balance mood and tempo as well.  I made a list of possibilities, then narrowed it down until I was fairly happy with my choices.  Then came the challenge of deciding on an order for the tracks.

Advent selections came first - just makes sense to me to 'prepare' before I 'celebrate'.  That wasn't too difficult as there are fewer of them.  But putting the Christmas carols in order - well, that was more time consuming.  When I had a first draft, I went to the piano, played all the arrangements in order, and wrote down the key each song began in and ended in.  When I finished and looked at my list I was overwhelmed with how well one followed another!  I truly had the sense that the Holy Spirit was leading me in the creation of this project.

The actual recording is completed now and pictures will soon follow.  I'll also write a little about the whole studio experience - a new one for me; my first CD was recorded at home.

The time is coming...

There are any number of ways to complete the title of this post.  For me, right now, the end of this sentence is, "...to head to the studio to record."  The actual date for that is April 30th.  At this time last week, I felt a little like I did just before my son was born - I'm finished with preparing and ready to deliver.  What a difference a week can make!  Today I feel as if I'll never really be ready, and what was I thinking anyway?  I'm in what I call 'panic mode' and, thankfully, I've been there before, survived it, and come out the other side just fine.  Survival requires not giving in to panic - not letting it paralyze me into inaction, or more accurately, not practising. 

There have been many other steps of preparation for this project.  Some of them are:  accumulating music, choosing repertoire and setting the order of the pieces.  Maybe when the actual recording process is done, I'll write about those things but for now - I'd better get back to practising!