Dear Corin,
I'm back safe and sound in NC, and just wanted to say "THANKS" for one of the "best five minutes of my life" so far... and for the practice sessions and more...
I have listened a bit more to our sessions and can't believe my ears. What a difference a "real" piano in a "real" recording room, set up with "real" microphones can make... I have never heard the piano music that pours out in quite this way. Can't wait to get a new piano somehow and start practicing all over again... perhaps one "can't teach an old dog new tricks," but I don't really have to do that, as I CAN remember "how to ride a bicycle!":) smile!
I'm already going to look into how much it will cost to send a small piano to Guatemala, where I will have nothing to do but sit there and play. I might have to learn how to tune it, come to think of it, as with the dearth of pianos in that small country, there probably isn't anyone to do it for me. So I better think about finding a piano tuner's kit as well. In the meantime, I'll order the 17 lb. "weighted keys" M-Audio electronic keyboard and start practicing putting together the "puzzle pieces" of the recordings we made. What joy!
I had forgotten what this felt like.
And now I have a bit of a "road map" about how to organize all the bits and pieces of songs that have floated down my way... I even found a box of cassettes, rough and jumbled though they may be, that I can convert to mp3's and go through them and pick out the "gems and jewels" as we talked about.
Here, all along, I thought because I had to "mine for gold" this music wasn't really "worth much" since there was so much sediment and muck and mud that had to be removed. Finding out that often times everyone works very hard sometimes to find "the best worth keeping" has given me great heart and good cheer. What a reason to live! This is probably the best part about our session up there in your peaceful little corner of VT: finding out how to get started, how to go about it and how to make improvements and eventually put it all together in a "whole." What a wonderful road map in more ways than one! Exactly what I needed at this point in life. EXACTLY. I can hardly believe it.
I had a wonderful, quite and peaceful weekend up in my little room above the woodshop; can't wait to come back in the Spring.
I can't thank you enough for the recording AND the music recording lessons you imparted along the way. Money well-spent in ALL ways. Just a great experience staying up there, and I ended up being so happy that my place fell through in NYC so I was able to stay there for the weekend. Sometimes things DO work out for the best, don't they? And...
Inspiration is everything, sometimes, isn't it?
Say hi to the friendly carpenter out there... can't remember his name and neglected to get his email or phone so I can't thank him directly. We had a great conversation before I left that gave me even more courage that I needed, and gave me plenty to think about on the drive back to the city. Can you thank him for me?
I can't tell you what a difference this trip to VT has made. What luck and inspiration. See you in the Spring, I hope... with progress being made!
Hope you got the photos that I took of YOU, and I'll send some more of the studios later on. I'm still serious about looking for property around there, so keep your ears open for me. As soon as the remaining properties sell down here, maybe I will find myself between Vermont and Guatemala. Who would have "thunk it?" I am determined to find myself somewhere "creative" for sure. I've been living among tobacco fields for far too long.
Your friend "in art and music," Catherine Todd
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*** Traveling:
"A child on a farm sees a plane fly overhead and dreams of a faraway place. A traveler on a plane sees the farmhouse and dreams of home." ~ Carl Burns
Words to live by: "Best of all is to preserve everything in a pure, still heart, and let there be for every pulse a thanksgiving, and for every breath a song." ~ Konrad von Gesner
"The world is made anew each day, for God makes it so. It contains within it all the good and all the evil as before; no more, no less, but the same." ~ Paraphrased from "The Crossing," by Cormac McCarthy
Catherine Todd
3007 Bent Tree Dr. Oxford NC 27565
H 919.693.0853 U.S. cell 919.605.0727 | |
