Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir

Want to be a part of something new and exciting?  Composer Eric Whitacre is in the process of compiling his second Virtual Choir on YouTube.  Begun as an experiment on Eric’s blog in May, the final product (a massed “virtual choir” performance of Sleep) was posted to YouTube in July.  Singers from around the world recorded themselves performing their individual part of the work and posted it, and Eric compiled all the individual recordings into an amazingly musical mass performance!

Now the internet community is preparing the perform Lux Aurumque.  The deadline to submit YOUR performance is December 1st, 2009.  Eric has posted a conductor track with some performance suggestions and tips on his blog. 

Don’t miss out on your opportunity to be a part of this amazing undertaking, and please let us know if you decide to participate!  To quote Eric, “Our goal this time is to take the whole thing to the next level and try to create a truly musical experience, a graceful and delicate performance full of passion and life and light.  Share your voices and your souls with the world!”

Thumb pressure relief for clarinetists and oboists.

So a customer came in the store one day in early September and wanted to talk to us about a product that he had invented.  This happens quite often here at Stanton’s and we try to listen and determine if it’s something that we think is significant enough to endorse and add to our product line.  This particular customer was an oboist and he had mentioned that Bill Baker, who was the former oboe professor at Ohio State and a good friend of Stanton’s, thought this was an fantastic device.  This gentleman had a new invention called the OCGenie for helping clarinetists and oboists relieve the stress that leads to sore thumbs.  These musicians support the weight of their instruments on their thumbs, and if they play long gigs or practice for hours at a time, they often have to quit because of the tremendous pain that their thumb knuckles have to endure.  Makes total sense, right?  Well this musician/inventor came up with a new neck strap device that actually adjusts itself by using the weight of the instrument to take the pressure off of your thumb knuckle joint. Normally we don’t carry musical instrument accessories, but we felt that this might be something that we should look into for our customers who are doing a lot of playing. It attaches to your instrument using a thumbrest ring that attaches to your original thumbrest.  The neckstrap itself winds back into its case when it’s not attached to an instrument–similar to a self-retracting dog leash that can be adjusted for different lengths.  There is also a soprano sax version as well. A Stanton’s employee was actually using one even before we had heard of it and she absolutely loves it.  This might be just what the doctor ordered, BEFORE you have to see him for tendonitis in your thumb!

New feature at www.stantons.com!

As you may or may not realize, Stanton’s has a great Digital Delivery download site that gets more and more hits everyday. From the convenience of your home you can now purchase and download everything from the latest pop tune to entire band arrangements directly to your printer. As an added service, when you navigate to many collections at stantons.com you’ll see the table of contents when you click on, “See all titles for this item”. You’re welcome to buy a hard copy of the entire album and have it sent to you OR you can download individual titles, in your desired key, directly from the table of contents! How cool is that!!! Happy downloading!

New Toy For Music Techies

It’s not often that we have something new at Stanton’s that isn’t sheet music but now comes the exception. From the KORG company comes the new NANO Key USB-Midi controller! This keyboard is the perfect input device for the performer or educator on the go. A USB-powered, 25-key velocity-sensitive keyboard in a console that measures 12″ long, 3″ wide by 1/2″ thick. Pack it in your briefcase, suitcase or bookbag and you have a great notation device for the plane, train or car! Compatible with Mac or PC it works great with Finale, Sibelius or Garage Band. It’s productive right out of the box… Check it out!