Jo Blankenburg

I like to bring the music of some of the MySpace friends of Music 2 Work 2, that I have found interesting and enjoyable, to your attention. After all, isn't that part of what this community of friends is about?

One such MySpace friend is Jo Blankenburg, a composer, pianist and producer, living in New Zealand. His music is described as Classical/Ambient/Electronica. Jo Blankenburg's emphasis is in cinematic music; he has several film scores to his credit. But, with all his music, his intention is "to evoke visualizations in the mind of the listener."

Of the music accessible on his MySpace page, I particularly like "Awakening" and "No Bliss Without Grief." Listen to the music of Jo Blankenburg and see what you think.

New plan for website

There is a new piece of music posted on Music 2 Work 2. Angst - Development 1 is the first track of a session that is being composed.

We will be changing the Music 2 Work 2 website, as Andrew tells about in the description accompanying the track, so you will be able to follow the process as sessions are being composed. I think it is a great idea; I know I like to read about his thoughts and the process used to give life to a new composition. It still amazes me that he can start by listening to a beat, the clicking of a metronome - begin playing - - and beautiful music flows from his fingers. Some sessions grow and take life as he adds the other voices, one at a time. Some are complete in the one voice of the piano.

So, watch the Music 2 Work 2 website for some changes, including being able to witness the process and have an inside view of the development of new sessions.

Zenima

Zenima is one of our MySpace friends from Czech Republic, Switzerland and Italy. Her music is categorized as Alternative/Classical/Minimalist. Zenima is a songwriter-singer-composer. She has a clear, sweet voice and sings with feeling and passion.

Of the four examples of her music available to hear on her MySpace page, my favorite is Butterfly ft Bocelli. The voices of Zenima and Andrea Bocelli combine beautifully in this piece.

Most of the MySpace friends of Music2Work2 play musical instruments and compose. Zenima is one of the few vocalist/composers among our friends so far.

Still no Store

I can't believe the week has ended and still there are no tracks available on our Snocap MyStore. Still have not had a response to my question about the problem from Snocap customer support. It is very frustrating to me; luckily Andrew is a more patient human being than I am, so he has helped convince me to give them a while longer. I was about ready to remove the whole thing and start from scratch - - of course, there is no assurance that all this won't happen again.

This weekend will hold a big event for my family - my niece is getting married. I can't believe it! There just seems no way that she should be old enough to be getting married. Of course, it means that I am much older also, which isn't a pleasant thought. I have spent so much time with her - playing with her when she was little, watching her after school until her parents got home, picking her up from school, taking her to after-school activities - - it almost seems that she is my own child. I will always treasure the time I got to spend with her; when my nephew was growing up I lived in a different state. I know the wedding will be beautiful and she will be happy. That won't mean that I'll be able to hold back the tears; I cry at the smallest things and this is a major event.

There will be out-of-town guests staying in my home, so if I don't get to write a blog every day next week, that is the reason why. But, I'll try my best to be able to post one.

New Music 2 Work 2 Session

There is a new session on the Music 2 Work 2 web site. 211 Train is a lovely piece consisting of piano and strings.

The tempo and the voices in this session do indeed evoke the image of a train, moving rapidly along the tracks until finally reaching its destination and pulling slowly into the station. I can imagine that it is going someplace new and exciting - someplace where new adventures will unfold.

Geigertek

Geigertek Music is another of our MySpace friends who has an interesting sound and whose music reminds me of many of the Music 2 Work 2 sessions. Geigertek is from East Norwich, United Kingdom. It consists of two members, Neil Fellowes and Conrad Geiger.

Their music is described as Electronica/Ambient/Experimental. The synthesizers give their music a unique sound; the pieces available to listen to on their MySpace page are relaxing and beautiful music. Check them out!


Oh, yeah, and just a side note - Happy One Year Anniversary to the Kelli.com's blog, On the Big Black Bus. Kelli - An American Singer is one of our favorite MySpace friends.

This Harmony

This Harmony is one of our MySpace friends whose music you might want to check out. This Harmony is from Italy; the group is made up of four members, playing indie/ambient music.

Since their web page is written entirely in Italian, and I cannot translate it, I don't know anything about the group itself. I believe their music consists of guitar, bass, drums and violin.

Their music is lovely, pleasing to listen to and well performed. Of the three pieces available to hear on their MySpace page, Improvvisazione 11 is my favorite.

Another week......another problem

It's the beginning of a new week, and unfortunately the problems with the Snocap MyStore continue. I have successfully uploaded 7 tracks for the catalogue, they have been registered by Snocap, but they are not showing up on the MyStore on our MySpace page. Snocap has responded to the emails I have sent asking for help with this, saying that the signup and questions have been so numerous recently that they are behind in answering emails. If other individuals are having as much trouble as I am having, no wonder they are behind in answering emails. I am anxious to get this straightened out and have our music available for purchase. In the meantime, Music 2 Work 2 sessions can be purchased from our web site through My Song Store.

Breath of Life Tribe

I want to bring to your attention one of our MySpace friends who has a unique sound, Breath of Life Tribe (B.O.L.T.). Their music is said to be a new genre, "Dream Rock."

B.O.L.T. is made up of 5 members, playing guitars, violin, keys, bass, drums and three members performing the vocals. They are located in Los Angeles, California.

The music is harmonious and very pretty. The lyrics of their songs are meaningful and have a message about life, such as "Nothing Ever Comes" and "Everyone's the Same."

Someone suggests on their MySpace page that their music has almost a classical feel. I agree and at the same time it is unmistakably rock. Their music is quite good, very enjoyable to listen to. I would recommend checking them out!

Progress - - just a little

A little more successful day than yesterday. I finally got three tracks uploaded on our MySpace Store. I still don't know what the problem is because it is a matter of hit or miss. I might try to upload a track one time and get an error message saying it doesn't accept that type of file and to use an MP3. I will try to upload the very same file a few minutes later and it accepts it???

Andrew introduced me to a new software program today that "should" have made life easier with the Snocap project. I'm sure it will with projects to come, but so far it hasn't made a whole lot of difference in uploading the tracks. I think it is probably still a technical problem on their end, but who knows. At this rate it is going to be a slow process, but eventually I'll get all the music up, I hope, and it will be available to everyone on MySpace.com.

Problem with Snocap

We had the visitor's map taken off our MySpace page and replaced with the Snocap MyStore. For two days now, I have been trying to upload our music on the Snocap MyStore and I haven't been able to do it.

Since updating my computer a few months back, I have had trouble getting the security setting right. I don't know if this could have anything to do with my problem, but I get error messages like "there was a problem, try again later" and "incorrect file type." I know the tracks I am trying to upload are MP3 files. I wrote to the contact at the web site about the problem I am having, but have not received a response.

Maybe it is just that I don't know what I am doing. They claim that it is easy upload of your tracks. Unfortunately, I have found it frustrating and irritating.

Mario Raposo

Another of our MySpace friends whose music I particularly like is Mario Raposo. His music is classified as Electronica/Classical. Mario Raposo is from Portugal and is said to be a self-taught musician. His music is created on keyboards and synthesisers.

My favorite piece of the four available on his MySpace page is Heartland. It is a lovely, melodic piece that makes you feel good to listen to it. This piece reminds me a great deal of Victoria, a beautiful Music 2 Work 2 session. Victoria is one of my Music 2 Work 2 favorites also.

A frustrating Monday

Today has been a frustrating day. I spent some time trying to check out another of the web sites that Music 2 Work 2 has music available on. Each of these sites is different and to be able to do more than one or two justice, you would have to work on them practically non-stop.

We had two waves of terrible thunderstorms come through this afternoon. That messes up being able to do much as far as the computer goes. So, I haven't been able to spend much time on MySpace.com at all today. Too much to do and not enough time to do it. Guess it has just been a typical Monday.

Charles-Henri Avelange

I want to let you know about one of our MySpace friends who decided to help make a difference for a group of local citizens who serve their community. Charles-Henri Avelange, from France now located in Seattle, Washington, says that when he came to the United States in 2005, he discovered what the word "hero" actually means. He produced an album, The Age of Heroes, to honor all those individuals who risk their lives daily for our safety and our freedom.

More specifically, his album, The Age of Heroes, became the official fundraiser for the Washington State Council of Fire Fighters. The four pieces of music available to hear on his MySpace page are from The Age of Heroes. The music is beautiful, inspiring and moving. It is especially appropriate in a time when we have heroes risking their lives in foreign countries, and heroes here at home serving their fellow citizens not just daily but during the disasters that continue to plague our country. I would recommend you check it out.

Piano Man John

One of our newer friends on MySpace.com is Piano Man John. John Pederson is from California and is a pianist-keyboardist. His music reminds me a lot of Music 2 Work 2 sessions, and in fact, is referred to as "Healing and Easy Listening."

John Pederson's Themes of Love, which is one of my favorites on his MySpace page (along with First Anniversary) reminds me of Music 2 Work 2's Boys Bedtime Music. Both are piano pieces which are relaxing and calming. As with Music 2 Work 2, Piano Man John often combines other voices with the piano, but the four examples of his music on his MySpace page are the piano alone.

Michael Roth - rothmusik

Michael Roth - rothmusik, one of our MySpace friends, is based in Los Angeles, California. The music you can hear on his MySpace page is different from that of most of our other friends in that all the pieces except one are vocals; Michael Roth composed the music for each of them.

Michael Roth has an impressive list of credits - projects he has worked on and artists he has worked with. He is a composer, musician, sound designer, and pianist.

Of the four songs on his MySpace page, Then They Move On is my favorite. The music is really lovely. I do not know who the vocalist is, but she has a very pleasant voice also. It is a song from the soundtrack of a motion picture, Holy Days. I like the music so well that I think I'll have to try to find the movie and watch it.

Today's news

There are several pieces of news today - - a new clip has been posted on our MySpace.com page. Kelli Development is a brand new musical piece of piano and strings. It is not even up on the Music 2 Work 2 website yet, but you can hear it on MySpace.

There is a new session on the website, however. Emma's Numbers is a companion piece to Emma. Check out both of them!

And, finally, congratulations to Kelli.com; they now have their shopping cart up. This entire website looks fantastic. If you haven't seen it, be sure to go by and have a look around...............purchase a couple of their great songs while you are there!

A while back, I spent a great deal of time finding websites on which I could upload Music 2 Work 2 clips so that others could hear our music. Each website of course had its own rules and regulations about how many pieces of music you could upload and how the website operates - whether listeners could rate your music, if you could form a network of friends, etc. All these websites and their uses were new to me; I hadn't exactly spent time on music download sites prior to becoming involved in Music 2 Work 2.

One of the sites on which we registered Music 2 Work 2 and uploaded our music was FIQL.com; it is known as the "playlist sharing community." We have a couple of playlists set up there. Today we received an email saying that someone had bumped one of our playlists. When I read that, I immediately thought that it was something bad - - like bumped our playlist off. But, when I went to the website, I found out that it is actually good, a compliment - - it means that someone especially liked our playlist Background Music.

With everything else that has been going on lately, I haven't had time to check back with the other websites very often, certainly not often enough that I remember how each one functions. I see that it is something that I definitely need to do!

New clips on MySpace.com

There are two new clips on our MySpace page - Identification and Cassie. I spent today trying to cut the sessions down to clips short enough to post. I love the music so much, it is definitely hard to pick out just one part of it to be the clip.

Identification and Cassie are both wonderful pieces of music. You can hear the whole sessions on the Music 2 Work 2 web site. Just register, which is easy and free, and then enjoy!