Music Room Remodel: Week 1

One of the projects for this year that I am most excited about is our music room renovation.  This has been a long time coming, and I am thoroughly enjoying the process.

Until now, I have been using a sofa table as a desk in a poorly lit, dark room that is actually just a finished attic space.  While I cannot change the size of the room, I can work on everything else.

My original "Music Room"

Thankful for having a dedicated space to practice and create in, I have always felt that I was simply adapting to someone else's space:

The room was painted by the previous owners who did the room in light brown with a dark blue wall.  Now that we've been in the house a few years and the higher priority projects have been completed, it is finally time to make this space my own.

A few items to note before starting: 

- The wall slopes from eight to six-feet

- Florescent lighting

- Dark colors

One of the things we've been doing in general is to bring color back to the house, as most everything was brown and dark-stained wood.  So deciding on the paint colors took quite a bit of time.  First things first though, was to cover the dark colors with a white primer.  BTW, painting textured walls can be a real PIA!

And after two gallons of primer and a few days of work:

Part of my vision in this project is to provide this finished attic-space with a sense that it is a room with purpose.  So I decided to add some additional visual elements such as a chair rail.  For this I purchased an inexpensive laser level from the hardware store. 

Next move was to remove the old fluorescents, and bring in my old Craftsman flood lights since the room doesn't have any natural lighting:

The old fluorescent lighting gave off a lot of heat, emitted a buzzing noise, and the light tubes were dying with an annoying fluttering that would often result in no light whatsoever.  Originally, I wanted to replace them with a pair of those long, straight bars of small LED lamps.  However, after getting advice from folks at our local lighting store I decided to go with fewer lights that hang closer to the slanted ceiling-- which is important for a tall guy such as myself (!)

Today, (beginning week-2) was spent ordering parts that will enable me to hang my guitars/basses on the walls-- something I've never before had the nerve to do-- and searching for new musical-themed prints to hang on the wall.  It is surprising how little I can find, and this is in the days of the World-Wide-Web.  For example, try finding a poster or 8x10 of Booker T and the MG's-- they are as rare as hens-teeth!  Not all was lost, as I did find a few other prints, though I continue to search...

Tomorrow I will tape off the the walls again to start working on the lower section, source chair rail material and paint it before cutting in a day or two. 

This should be a fun and productive week!

Stay tuned and in tune!

Page Update

Having a little free time on my hands last week I did a few things to clean up the blog a bit.  Perhaps the most notable change is the spinning globe on the right, that displays your current location, and that of others who have recently viewed the page; now how cool is that?! -->

Also attempted to update some of the links that have gone dead since I posted in the respective threads.  There are a few more to update, but it takes time to click through each one... I'll continue to work at it

Got a few new posts that are in production, so as always...

...stay tuned and in tune!

Happy New Year!!

Welcome to 2017!

Beginning this new year I am filled with optimism and excitement.  Resolutions have never been my thing, but I do enjoy setting goals.  
What I have in store for 2017:

- Learn to Read Music

Visualize what we hear

     This is something that I've long wanted to do, but never had the time to invest.  Now that I have more time on my hands, I've run out of excuses for not learning notation.  New song ideas are always floating through my head, and having a way to capture them would be a huge help.  Being fluent in notation would also help when trying to communicate musical ideas to other musicians.  It only makes sense to develop the ability to see music as well as to hear it.

- Take Lessons With Local Instructor
     Following up with the desire to learn notation, meeting with a musician of greater skill can also help me break out of the various ruts I've found myself in this past year.  Having someone to hold me accountable to practice would be tremendously helpful, as I find it too easy to formulate excuses to postpone practice.

Scott's Bass Lessons

- Online Lessons?
     Taking lessons online through an organization such as Scott's Bass Lessons is very tempting, and might be a more cost effective alternative to finding a local instructor... This approach may also depend on the availability/quality of local instructors. 

- Join In With More Musicians 

     We have local gatherings that I would really like to get involved with, and maybe form groups to play at various locations and events.  There are two settings that I have long wanted to participate in: one is at our local farmer's market, where local bands often play on the weekends, and the other is a weekly Irish music jam session at one of the local pubs.  This is more of a long-term goal, however I do intend to start networking this year. 

- Remodel Our Music Room

Our humble music room

     We have a small room (finished attic space) that I've been using for a music room.  Trouble is, the lighting is poor and I don't have a true desk to make the space truly useable.  For the last few years I've been using a sofa table in lieu of a desk... which has since been moved to another part of the house.  This year I want to give the room a fresh coat of paint, adjustable LED lighting, and a proper desk.  Much of this project I hope to begin this week-- after cleaning out the garage and gathering the required painting supplies which are scattered in its various nooks and crannies.  

- Try New Things
      Having played bass for several years, I've become comfortable with things such as my rig, playing technique, and musical genres.  This year I intend to stretch my comfort zone a bit by trying gear that I normally wouldn't, genres that I rarely think about, and techniques that I've neglected.  There is always something to be learned by trying new things, which is one way we grow as musicians-- and as people. 

Naturally, I will document my progress on this blog as a way to visualize my progress, and hopefully encourage others to improve their skills along the way too.

So, what resolutions, or goals have you set for this year?  

Everyone is welcome to follow along and to join in as we begin this new year together...

... Stay tuned & in tune!