Checking In
Jan. 13th, 2019 12:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vinceconawayI haven’t posted here in what seems like forever, so I thought I’d do a quick status report as my off season comes to an end.
It’s been a productive and relaxing winter! I’ve learned two new 16C Italian pieces, which I adapted for dulcimer from the original lute arrangements. With last year’s push this puts me at five of the six that I intend to have ready for recording by December, comfortably ahead of schedule. I’ve been a bit remiss in the Italian folk music I had intended to learn, with only two tarantelle under my belt instead of the six folk pieces I had hoped to have ready for my trip to Sicily next week. Hopefully I’ll have learned more in time for my spring Italy tour in May.
My goals for Sicily are fairly modest. I’m revisiting some cities that were good to me in the past, but the real point of the tour is to hopefully redeem a few places where I felt my previous appearances left room for improvement. I’m a better player and a more experienced performer than when I played Siracusa in 2008, for example, and I’m hoping that I can use that improvement to make a beautiful city more commercially viable. I also have an unfamiliar city, Ragusa, on the itinerary, as well as a few beautiful places I’ve been told I should visit touristically.
As I’m doing so I’m looking forward to shooting videos for my patrons. Patreon has been a lifesaver for me, helping to compensate for the rapid decline in CD sales over the past ten years. I’ve really enjoyed the creative challenge of filming and editing video footage to make something spiffy, which is an avenue that I hadn’t realized would be so much fun. You can investigate at www.patreon.com/vinceconaway.
Finally, I’m also looking to write and arrange some music while I’m there. My next CD, scheduled for release in 2020, will have an Italian theme and the original music I include will all have been written in that country. I already have enough material to satisfy that need, but I’m hoping to be able to add to it and then use whatever is left over for a tentatively-planned album of original music for 2022.
I have a tendency to think ahead.
I’m excited for 2019, even as my eyes stray to the horizon beyond. After returning from Sicily I’ll be spending two months outside Austin, Texas, at the Sherwood Forest Faire. From there I’ll return to Italy for a northern tour, folllowed by two weeks in Ireland (Dublin, Galway, Limerick, and Cork). I’m still solidifying my summer, but in August I’ll be at the SCA’s Pennsic War event for the full two weeks, followed by the New York Renaissance Faire in Tuxedo Park.
As always, I’ll be posting to social media throughout. I’m really liberal with my posting to Instagram and Twitter, with Facebook getting a condensed highlight reel. I send videos, both polished performance pieces and travelogues, to my patrons via Patreon. And I’ll make an attempt to be more prolific in this space, posting more long-form musings as inspiration strikes.
Thanks so much for joining me on my adventures!
It’s been a productive and relaxing winter! I’ve learned two new 16C Italian pieces, which I adapted for dulcimer from the original lute arrangements. With last year’s push this puts me at five of the six that I intend to have ready for recording by December, comfortably ahead of schedule. I’ve been a bit remiss in the Italian folk music I had intended to learn, with only two tarantelle under my belt instead of the six folk pieces I had hoped to have ready for my trip to Sicily next week. Hopefully I’ll have learned more in time for my spring Italy tour in May.
My goals for Sicily are fairly modest. I’m revisiting some cities that were good to me in the past, but the real point of the tour is to hopefully redeem a few places where I felt my previous appearances left room for improvement. I’m a better player and a more experienced performer than when I played Siracusa in 2008, for example, and I’m hoping that I can use that improvement to make a beautiful city more commercially viable. I also have an unfamiliar city, Ragusa, on the itinerary, as well as a few beautiful places I’ve been told I should visit touristically.
As I’m doing so I’m looking forward to shooting videos for my patrons. Patreon has been a lifesaver for me, helping to compensate for the rapid decline in CD sales over the past ten years. I’ve really enjoyed the creative challenge of filming and editing video footage to make something spiffy, which is an avenue that I hadn’t realized would be so much fun. You can investigate at www.patreon.com/vinceconaway.
Finally, I’m also looking to write and arrange some music while I’m there. My next CD, scheduled for release in 2020, will have an Italian theme and the original music I include will all have been written in that country. I already have enough material to satisfy that need, but I’m hoping to be able to add to it and then use whatever is left over for a tentatively-planned album of original music for 2022.
I have a tendency to think ahead.
I’m excited for 2019, even as my eyes stray to the horizon beyond. After returning from Sicily I’ll be spending two months outside Austin, Texas, at the Sherwood Forest Faire. From there I’ll return to Italy for a northern tour, folllowed by two weeks in Ireland (Dublin, Galway, Limerick, and Cork). I’m still solidifying my summer, but in August I’ll be at the SCA’s Pennsic War event for the full two weeks, followed by the New York Renaissance Faire in Tuxedo Park.
As always, I’ll be posting to social media throughout. I’m really liberal with my posting to Instagram and Twitter, with Facebook getting a condensed highlight reel. I send videos, both polished performance pieces and travelogues, to my patrons via Patreon. And I’ll make an attempt to be more prolific in this space, posting more long-form musings as inspiration strikes.
Thanks so much for joining me on my adventures!
