The bright side of stopping life as we knew it

[KC9UDX]

I have some time on my hands now that we're all quarantined. I have an endless list of things that need to be done that I couldn't do when I was going to work every day. But I do far did two things that didn't need to be done. I fixed my Lowrey, and I even spent a half hour playing it. I haven't played it this much in years. I had forgotten how nice it sounds. There is just something amazing about the sound of that organ. Next time I get a chance, I'm going to fix the broken pedal and play it some more.

I see tpappano has been busy too. What else has everyone accomplished?

[Logan]

congrats on the fixed lowrey! but is a half hour not a small amount of time for playing?

i really should just be working on my chops, but instead i've been writing/arranging/recording roughs of a suite based on passed on the passages of the I Ching. in the spirit of the material, i've applied random chance as much as practical. so 64 tunes with at least an A and B section. i'm half done writing. i am learning more about how the mic a leslie in an L-shaped room at least

the hopelessness of my project is that i'm spending time arranging this for electric keyboards; while the only group that will perform any of it is an acoustic string/flute quartet. also getting someone to mix just the demos would be nice, but i can't justify spending money on a vanity project

[KC9UDX]

Half an hour is all I could manage. I hope to get more later. Still more time than I've spent playing anything in years.

[jbird604]

Not much so far, but then I'm not shutting down the business until after tomorrow. (We're finishing up an installation, then have nothing else on the schedule for the foreseeable future.)

I hope to somehow get an organ moved from the shop to the house, since I sold my latest organ and it was taken away today. Once I get one moved, I'll be fixing and upgrading it, best I can, and hopefully will get around to actually PLAYING it! I'm falling behind on my New Year's Resolution -- to not let a day pass without practicing. I also need to sort through my numerous boxes and crates and shelves full of music and bring some organization to all that stuff.

And there are so many odd jobs that need doing here at the house, I could stay home for weeks and not get them all done. But that's a different story!

[Jay999]

Being in the pipe organ service business, and churches closed for the foreseeable future, we too are closed down. This idle time is giving me a great opportunity to clean out the warehouse and the shop....something that has been needed to be done for years!

[jbird604]

Good plan! I don't know why, but every music store or shop I've ever known eventually became more and more cluttered. I thought I'd break the pattern when I got my own place 10 or 12 years ago, but no. In spite of getting a dumpster several times in recent years to clear out the junk, the shop is once again so full of junk I can't even walk through parts of it. Gotta do something about it while we're out of work.

[myorgan]

Unfortunately, I have far less time now, as my recovery is supposed to be nearing completion in the next month, and I'm now moving from teaching in person to teaching online. Consequently, I'm in the process of scanning and preparing all my materials for online instruction. Also unfortunate for me was a substitute who taught NOTHING I requested of her-now the kids are over a month behind!

Church is now online, so my wife and I need to record some music for our respective services and upload them for the pastors' use for the streamed service (we help out different churches). Symphony and Band are now suspended indefinitely, so that's a bit of a load off our plates.

So, here we go again. It seems no matter where I work, something comes up to complicate it. Fortunately, I've instructed online before, so it's not new territory. For example, with our band I'll be sending the students their parts. After some theory exercises, I'll have them each record their part on computer and send it to me as an mp3 at a specific tempo. Once I've combined/layered the tracks, I'll send the final recording to the students as a distance learning band performance-in essence, a virtual concert. I hope it works as well as I've planned.;-) It's kind of like this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM

Michael

[Larrytow]

I have a bit more time now too, since all services I was going to be playing for are canceled. Here in the "sticks" my churches are not setup for doing online services, so I'm not needed for that either. I did go to a church today to finish up a pedalboard retrofit job, and that was on my schedule already.

I have Many, Many, Many projects in my shop to be working on, but I have to confess that I did not work on any of them yesterday, when I suddenly had a free day. I was just too bummed out about the prospect of not playing for any services at all for the foreseeable future. This season of the church year is the one I like best, and not being able to do it put me in quite the funk. A bit depressed even. I'm sure it will pass, but I'll bet many of us feel the same way these days.

[jbird604]

You're not alone, Larry. My church has no experience with streaming, but the pastor has said she will create some video sermons to post. I'm not promising to do any music, though she mentioned that she'd like to collaborate with me in some way. Whatever turns up, I'm pretty bummed out about feeling so isolated. Not only have church meetings ceased, the mall has shut down, the gym closed, all public eating establishments are carry-out only. After today, we have no organ projects scheduled. All pending jobs and sales are on hold. I've taken to going to Walmart and picking up one or two items just so I can go through a checkout lane and maybe get to talk to some checker for a minute or two!

[KC9UDX]

Please take the time to find items made in USA. Walmart does sell them.

[Organfella]

I believe that any normal person will tend to accumulate projects to complete at a later date. I have collected many - far too many as my interests are spread wide and far. Now that I have reached the golden age (someone referred to it as the wrinkle age), I suddenly find myself without zeal and excitement I once had about the prospect of designing, building, repairing or otherwise enjoying the stashed away projects. Now and then when I scratch around and find something I had long forgotten about, some of the zeal returns and I actually manage to complete some of them., However, there are simply too many of them to complete in another two lifetimes - at least in my case. So.... I am giving away, selling or otherwise thinning out this horde. Hopefully someone else will enjoy them - or horde them themselves for "when the time comes"...:-P
Nico

[jbird604]

My experience exactly! I have so many things I need to give away.