When things change, so must we. That’s been a tough lesson for me the past couple of years, but I am working hard to embrace it.

What does that really mean? Basically making the change from focusing on live shows to the always-live venue: the internet. This is an idea I’ve looked into for some time, but never felt that it was right for me. But then two things changed my mind…

Thing 1 – My Fans

I usually hear the same words from folks at every show. They say that my music is soothing, relaxing, and that they “could listen to it for hours on end.” That’s really nice! It always makes me feel good when people tell me they enjoy my music. But recording an endless string of albums hasn’t really been practical for me, so I didn’t quite know what to do with these compliments beyond enjoying them.

Thing 2 – Being A Fan

As my options for creating music expanded (see more below), I started looking into some other genres to work with. In particular, ‘old school’ electronic and ambient music. I have always enjoyed it and so wanted to learn more about how it’s made and how I might try it for myself.

That research led me to Martin Stürtzer who makes some pretty cool stuff assisted by his cat Neptun. He does a great job of explaining his process and has shared his journey into full-time music with his loyal listeners. This gave me some ideas, but more importantly it helped me to understand something I had not appreciated before.

It is up to the listener to decide how to make use of music, not the artist.

Martin’s music has been a great help to me as I have sorted through a very stressful time. I can put some tunes on and I feel more relaxed. Then I can go back later and listen to the more intricate and interesting things he does, and I appreciate the music all over again. That multiple use of the same music really turned a light on for me, and I realized that I could do something similar with my own music.

Listen As You Will

With this idea in mind, I feel more free to create the things I want and put them out there, and if I am lucky then others will enjoy what I do and potentially I, too, could be a full-time creator. Ideas that I am working on right now include…

• Home Concerts – Monthly shows recorded ‘live’ (no do-overs) and then polished up for visual appeal and final checks on audio mastering, to be released to YouTube and other platforms. Some of these will be recorded on location at various places that I find inspiring.
• “Making of” videos – These will not just be technical walkthrough videos for the gearheads–I also want to show the production process for its entertainment value, and especially to draw attention to the remote locations. For example, I want to record a set at the Rose Gardens in Washington Park. The “making of” video will include background & history about the gardens from someone in the Portland Parks Department, along with information about how folks can visit and support the garden. These videos will be separate from the concert footage, but shot on the same day.
• Short meditation videos – I got this idea from looking at a dish with some tangerines in it, and then the idea expanded to a series of 3-minute videos showing relaxing imagery and accompanied by equally relaxing music. The goal of these is to give people a quick time-out that they could watch at their desk to help them reset and focus. But according to the lesson I mentioned above, what use people make of them will be their choice, not mine. I have a lot of ideas for the visuals, and I’m sure they will lead me to other ideas as well. It will provide a great opportunity for experimentation and community-directed developments.

A Little Help From My Friends

Yes, making videos is not the best choice for a blind person to do alone. Luckily, I have someone to help me. As I share ideas with others, I hope to create a community where we all can help one another create good things. This hearkens back to my theatre days, where everyone does their part to make one big thing.

But visuals are not the only part that’s hard if you’re blind. Music production requires computers, hardware, and software. Fortunately, there is help.

Accessible Accessibility

Without getting too technical, there is a keyboard instrument that has speech built into it so that blind users can create music with essentially no sighted assistance. If you would like more details, please watch this video. This keyboard allows me to play literally thousands of instruments, plus twiddle knobs to create any kind of sound one can imagine.

There is also audio production software called Reaper that works very nicely with screen reading software. The developer works closely with the blind community to make sure features are available and problems get solved quickly. This makes it easier to produce recordings at home with very high quality, which is something I have always been concerned about.

Going Full-Time

There are no guarantees here. But my hope is that enough people will enjoy my music and want to support my work that I can afford to make it my day job. How am I doing this?

• GoFundMe – I am running a campaign to help pay for studio upgrades and equipment, along with better promotion, a website upgrade, and other back-office things to give this project a better chance of succeeding. You can donate right now if you’d like to help. If that’s not an option, please consider sharing the link with others–that is also very helpful.
• Listener Support – Just like public radio, other creators have been able to do some amazing things thanks to support from the people who enjoy their work. So I will be giving my audience several different ways to do that, either as ongoing patrons or donating one time because they like a thing they saw. Current options are:
  • Patreon – Monthly support for ongoing projects
  • Bandcamp – Purchasing albums, tracks, and other releases
  • PayPal – For one-time donations from home concerts, new fans, and anyone else who would like to help out.

The Big Stream

At this moment, I am reluctant to post my music to Spotify or the other big streaming platforms. There are many reasons for this, among the biggest are the tiny amount artists get paid unless they are already huge stars, and more concerning is the way that AI platforms are scraping data from streaming platforms without compensating or even ackowledging the artists whose work they are sampling.

But more importantly, I really want my music presence to grow organically. With real people sharing their enjoyment with other real people. It may take longer, but quality matters so it will be worth it.

What will this adventure hold? I have no idea. But stay tuned and we can find out together!