Spring is Actually Going to Arrive, Eventually

OK my friends. Not gonna lie. It was in the low 60s here today. Last week, while many of my friends of the north were having their nostril hairs frozen in the wind, we were nonetheless subject to three straight days of cold, dreary, rain. I was indoors.too much. So today, a walk outside! My winter jacket was overkill. Anyway, keep heart frozen friends. The spring will arrive eventually, at least by May or so, right?

This is a song from a warmer time, a collaboration between Tim Doyle and David Oskardmay, "Flores".

I am hoping to do more video work in the coming weeks. Work continues preparing the Bach arrangement for release, and I plan to review the recent modifications in the coming week. Because most of my effort has been spent in going off book (i.e. memorizing the piece), I have not yet incorporated some of Tony's suggested modifications into my performance version. There are a few more things to go before we declare this project complete, and you, dear blog reader, will get to hear and see it. Stay tuned...

Inflamed—Medical Edition

The medical opinion is that it will take 4-6 weeks before new meds begin to help with my swollen fingers. I walk the line, maintaining a daily practice, but generally playing no more than a half hour per day.

The score I am arranging is a version of JS Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" for guitar (in NST tuning) and violin. This week I will be releasing an initial draft to those interested. Friday! If you would like to be among the first to try playing the piece, send me an email (doskardmay at gmail) and I will get the link to you by next weekend.

Visiting family in Maryland today. Pretty chilly weather here, actual winter temperatures! Stay warm, but without inflammation.

2022.. 2023 Looking Backward, Moving Forward

We have arrived at another year. What happened? What next? It is helpful to review where we have

been. For Project Next it has been a formative and productive year. We have launched a series of projects:

DMLN - Deep Media Liner Notes

This is the beginning of a new media format for musicians and multi-media artists. In short, DMLN is an

album app for digital liner notes. It promises a new avenue for artists to promote their work.

In 2022, we developed a prototype of the DMLN 1.0 app and released it to a very small group of users.

Conclusion: yes! This is a project worth completing. Prototype work has been completed and

the next stage is planned for 2023.

Stranger Than Fiction - Firstly

Our project from Stranger Than Fiction, the Bandcamp collaborative album, "Firstly", saw a remix of one

track, "Frogs of Cypress Point". For Halloween, we released the first music video from the album,

a visual rendition of "The Dark". It was very scary, a standout event of the year.

Band of Chaperones

The dynamic duo Band of Chaperones released their first single on Bandcamp, a hint of things to come from the songwriting talents of Lisa Oskardmay. BoC played a few shows during 2022, and look forward to the warmer weather (wait, is it January still?) when patio playing becomes an option again.

The Story So Far

The ongoing focus of my musical life is my guitar practice. If I have been an inconsistent blogger, it

is because other things have taken priority, mainly playing, along with all the other life stuff. I have been exceptionally fortunate to be able to maintain a daily practice. One highlight of the year was attending Robert Fripp's Guitar Circle in Glen Cove, NY, in August. I have several blog entries summarizing the course, so I won't go into more detail except to say that work with the larger group is continuing. A course in Argentina is on the horizon for 2024. I have been developing an arrangement for the particular tuning (NST--New Standard Tuning) used in the GC courses. I plan to introduce this in the next few months. The way things go, there is a large element of uncertainty about how to go about doing something I have never done before. Will anyone be interested in picking up and working this piece into their repertoire? What am I even talking about anyway?

Back to Bach

The centerpiece of my current practice is the piece "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", by JS Bach. I have

developed an arrangement with my guitar teacher, Tony G, and continue to refine it. I am struggling to

move forward with editing the score. At some point, the details and inflections cannot easily be conveyed on the page. Also, I am a beginner at scoring, so productivity is a challenge. If you are reading this and are good at the Sibelius program, stop everything and email me immediately! I need to do the work here, but the learning curve is.. curvy.

All This, and More!

The elephant in the room is arthritis. I have been dealing with potentially debilitating joint swelling in the hands. Just today I began new medication to hopefully give me some renewed flexibility. For now, I continue with swollen knuckles. It brings the necessity of clear focus into focus.

2023: Deliver

We have aims:

1. DMLN development--we plan to begin final app coding and deployment later this year. More news as we have it!

2. Bach--the NST score, completing in March.

3. Mythical Spring--what is Mythical Spring? It is the next big thing.

4. Live! The Story So Far (acoustic-eclectic performance) and Band of Chaperones (power duo) will be playing.

5. Course? There may be another guitar course spring 2022.

Are you ready?