I've been working with the superintendent of the Neptune, New Jersey school district for several months now to put together my latest Visual Recital workshop for the Neptune High School students.  This is my most exciting VR workshop so far, if only for the fact that i'll be able to work with the students for about a month (as opposed to the one-day workshops where we make the art then quickly scan everything into the computer for a show either later in the evening or the very next day).  Given the advanced artistic capabilities of the older students, i've decided to try something much more challenging:  visualizing the Ballade No. 1 in G minor of Frédéric Chopin. 

Today we had our first hands-on workshop where i presented the Ballade in 13 segments, each with a short descriptive text to give the students a basic concept of the emotional content and flow.  We tried picking out a few landscape pictures that a previous art class had already made, matching them to the shifting moods of the ballade.  That led to some fantastic brainstorming to come up with an amazing set of story and visual elements!  I'm planning to use www.VisualRecital.com as the project website to present notes, sketches, and a discussion forum for the students to contribute ideas and flesh out the scenes for the ballade's visualizations. 

Thanks to being debt-free and getting a better handle on my business-related finances, i've been investing in several new bits of equipment, such as:

My brand new Sanyo PLC-XF20 5000 lumen monster projector (aka Proxima PRO AV 9350).  Did i say this beast was a monster?  Try lifting this puppy at 80 pounds!  Hence, the dolly in the picture - an absolute necessity for me to move this elephant around!  As a point of comparison, my old HP M3130 DLP projector throws out only 2000 lumens and can be carried on my shoulder - can't be more than 7 pounds or so, i guess.  The Sanyo is loaded with tons of inputs and blazes its luminary output with 4 halogen lamps.  There are a lot of thoughtful touches in the design, such as the retractable handlebars on both sides of the unit as well as the front feet dials which have spring-retractable knobs as well (so that you can rest the unit on either side while you catch your breath trying to get the hippo into your minivan...) 

The lamps are surprisingly easy to install and remove with the back top-loaded hatch.  The main lens is motorized for automatic zoom and focus.  I got this projector very used through eBay for an incredible steal of a price - i wasn't planning on getting this type of projector for a good while yet, thinking that it would cost me twice as much as it did.  Hopefully this will help to address image brightness issues for future Visual Recitals.

At an initial pre-workshop meeting with some of the art students, i noticed that they were working with large canvases.  There was no way i would be able to fit their work onto desktop scanners, so i knew it was time to bite the bullet and finally invest in a decent digital camera.  I've been getting along with my trusty Sony DSC-T7 for three years now, but you can only do so much with 5.1 megapixels and a limited set of shooting options (my DSC-T7 pictures have always had gamma balance issues, heavy on the red and yellow spectrums).  I wasn't interested in going out on a limb to overspend on a full digital SLR, so i tried to get something to meet me halfway:  the Canon Powershot G9.

i suppose almost any camera after a relatively crappy point-and-shoot would be reason to celebrate, but man oh man, i LOVE this 12 mega-pixel camera!  Don't get me wrong, the DSC-T7 served its purpose well by being the camera easiest to hide in a pocket and whip out at a moment's notice, but the G9...wow, i never realized just how much fun it could be to play with F-stops for depth-of-field shots like this one (yes, i took this flower shot):

Here is a sample shot from one of the art students' landscapes:

You can see some other pictures from the Visual Recital Chopin Project blog here.

More tech to talk about, but right now i've got to catch up with some serious video/audio editing...back to the digital salt mines (sigh...)

No, i do not "need girl friend" and i certainly don't need Bidvertiser anymore.  The offending ad services has been promptly removed.  My deepest apologies for the offensive display - please let me know if you come across any other advertising anomalies on any of my sites! 

Google Adsense seems to be somewhat better behaved, as it tries to match ads to the text content of the site.  I see a lot of ads for music related products and services, tablet pc's, and even some financial things from time to time.  The other web ad referral services like Amazon Associates and various online music publishers like Virtual Sheet Music are much more preferable if you want direct control over advertising content.  With Amazon, i can select only items that i'm interested in promoting, such as my own CD's, carousels of my favorite books on career and finances on TheProsperousMusician.com, and music scores that i'm starting to recommend to students on my new piano lesson satellite site (more recommendations and updates to that site forthcoming soon).

A side note:  placing ads on my website helps to take care of the costs associated with running the site (domain name registration, server subscription, etc.), but i'm not expecting to retire rich from the income anytime soon. i'll be posting some metrics on my earned web income soon at TheProsperousMusician.com later today. 

Many thanks to Piano Magazine editor and musical scholar extraordinaire Jeremy Siepmann for graciously inviting me to submit a double whammy - an article and an interview.  i'm still marveling at the surgical skills of Jeremy's editing - i submitted a 2000+ word monster of an article and for the life of me couldn't find a way to pare it down below 1400+ - you'll simply have to buy the magazine and see a master journalist's handiwork ;)

As you can see from the title, the emphasis is on my explorations of technologies to enhance the classical pianist's art and capabilities.  Jeremy came across one of my blog articles on the subject (back when i was just starting my search for the perfect digital piano) - he seemed to find my depiction of some of the concert stage pianos i've put up with as "kindling and firewood" particularly fetching, and asked me to make sure i kept mention of that in my contribution. 

I'll have to keep my eyes out for US distribution - Piano magazine is based in the U.K., and i haven't seen it here (yet), but you can order subscriptions online.  Can't wait to get my own copy!

Nothing more than the intro blog post for now, but be sure to check out the book carousels along the left hand column.  I'll be writing up a number of book reviews in the coming weeks and linking up to as many classical music business sites that i can find.  For those of you who have been following this blog for the past year or so, you can probably understand why personal finance has become such a passionate topic for me, given the amazing success our family was able to achieve in knocking out our personal debts in only 9 months (a la Dave Ramsey).  We aren't rich yet, but i'm excited about the tremendous opportunities that are out there, particularly for the classical musician who is willing to think "out of the box". 

Thanks to Valerie from www.free2create.com for the encouraging comment to get this new blog baby started!  Hope y'all find this new resource helpful as it grows!

One book on loan from a friend was "Cashflow Quadrant: Rich Dad's Guide to Financial Freedom" by Robert Kiyosaki.  i had heard Dave Ramsey mentioning Kiyosaki's first book, "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" several times on his radio show as a "must read", so naturally my curiosity was piqued. 

Several things struck me about both the book and its author:

• Robert Kiyosaki comes from a 4th generation Japanese background; being a second generation Korean myself, i felt an immediate connection to several cultural aspects he describes being an Asian in an American setting



• His depiction of his real father being the consummate professional, having graduated with advanced degrees and employed in the highest echelons as an educator, working harder and harder for an increasing salary (and increasing debt load), while ending up with less and less time for his family and virtually nothing financially at the end of his life.  This sounds too much like the life track i'm currently on...



• His clear depiction of the 4 quadrants of cashflow:  on the left side, E for Employee and S for self-employed;  on the right side, B for Business and I for Investor.  Again, this makes a lot of sense, and i find myself identifying with both the E and particularly the S quadrants ("S" folk are perfectionists, tending to do everything themselves and having difficulty delegating their work to others)



• The idea of "getting your money to work for you, instead of you for your money" sounds awfully gimmicky at first - but it starts to make a lot of sense when you see how a combined portfolio of real estate, business startups, stocks and bonds and even royalties for intellectual properties can actually work passively to bring income - "cashflow", being the operative word throughout Kiyosaki's books.  Financial freedom is defined as coming to the point where your passive income brings in more money than your expenses.



• Kiyosaki's definition of an "asset" is pretty radical - the most stunning example is his assertion that a personal home is NOT an asset, but actually a liability.  Assets are supposed to be those investments that have a positive cashflow, putting money INTO your pocket, not taking them out (any homeowner will tell you that bills, property taxes, repairs all siphon out money on a regular basis).  Waiting for an investment to appreciate in value is akin to gambling, according to Kiyosaki. 

Dave Ramsey also points to what he calls "the pinnacle point" in his book, "The Total Money Makeover".  That point gets achieved when the interest from your mutual funds exceeds your expenses.  The problem is, particularly in light of today's stock market volatility, mutual funds go up and down - there's a long term record of steady growth, but the wild swings get awfully hard to stomach when you see your OWN money lurching up and down for the ride.  For example, close inspection of my TIAA-CREF retirement account revealed that it lost $7000 for the first quarter this year.  That sucks. 

Dave eschews ALL forms of debt and regularly proclaims his own FICO score to be "0" because he hasn't borrowed money for 20 years.  All his investments are done in cash with the "100% down" plan (ie, no payments).  Kiyosaki, on the other hand, makes a compelling case for leveraging the power of OPM (other people's money) and OPT (other people's time) to actually make debt work for you by increasing passive cashflow.  Here's a simple example from Kiyosaki's book, "Rich Dad's Prophecy":

• Putting 20% down on a $100,000 property (=$20,000), borrowing $80,000 to mortgage the difference and pulling in $200 of rental income per month after expenses would net a ROI (Return On Investment) of 12% ($200 x 12 - $2,400) - roughly equal to Dave Ramsey's Mutual Fund average 



• Putting only 10% down ($10,000) with the same example above, coming up with a reduced monthly income of $130, the ROI actually INCREASES the net return on the $10,000 investment to 15%

Of course, theory always looks great on paper and has a funny way of turning out a lot worse in real life...i'm not about to take a financial sky dive and become a high rolling real estate investor overnight, but i have to confess that Kiyosaki's books are inspiring me to read up more on exploring passive forms of income from real estate, businesses, and other income-generating assets.  i like his example of comparing the risk of investing to the risk of driving a car - there's always risk every time you drive, but if you take lessons and practice, you simply become a better driver over time.  My plan in the meantime is to try to pay off the house, continue monthly investments with mutual funds, and lots and lots of reading up on investment/business "how-to's".  Who knows?  i may end up creating another blog specifically dealing with "Money for Musicians"...

Hm...some musicians would say that this just reveals what many of us have known for years about heart-less conductors...as for me, just show me the downbeat and i'll be happy, Maestro ASIMO! 

Wired magazine's online blog reports that Honda will be sponsoring the concert with their advanced robot ASIMO as the stick beater and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, featuring Yo Yo Ma as soloist on May 13, 8:00 pm.  What's especially heartening is the generous support for the arts that Honda is pledging to, with a $1 million donation to the orchestra's "Power of Dreams" educational fund and continuing support for master classes, scholarships, educational concerts and the like.

Maybe this robot has a heart after all...

Timmy has been fanatic about tracking all his jobs, and as a result he's consistently racked up high commissions each week.  Eric, on the other hand, really could care less and only fills in his chart sporadically and under duress.   He just doesn't share the same excitement about seeing his money grow as Timmy does, so it's been hard to find fiscal incentives to help him keep up with his assigned chores. 

Eric had been half-heartedly mentioning that he wanted to start saving up for a Nintendo Wii video game system, but i chalked this up to wishful thinking given the game console's incredible popularity and scarcity in stores.  Jeff, our financial planner, had just recounted his own Wii-purchase adventure, having snatched up the last unit after months of searching and pestering his local video game store.  This past Saturday on the way to Tae-kwon-do lessons, Eric asked to stop by a Game Stop store to see if there was something he could purchase with some gift cards he had received as birthday presents.  On a whim, i asked the store clerk if they had any Wii game consoles in stock, not really expecting there to be any.  He asked me to wait a moment while he checked the back stock room.  Lo and behold, he actually came back out with a unit, one of the last two they had left.  Two?  Since last Tuesday?  The clerk was equally incredulous - the only explanation he could think of was that lately customers had become so accustomed to being told that nothing was available that they had pretty much given up asking.  Not wanting to let opportunity slip away, i immediately texted Kyungmi and got her permission to buy it. 

Lest y'all think i'm succumbing to a poor example of instant gratification for my kids, i should explain the stipulations placed on our yet-unopened Wii:

1.  No one would be able to open the game system until it was completely paid for - i just guaranteed that there would be an actual reward for hard work instead of the additional frustration of hunting down scarce inventory.

2.  The power of incentive just shot up exponentially for the kids!  New jobs have been created for the boys to ensure that they would be able to apply the rate of savings needed to enjoy the Wii sometime before the age of retirement...

Eric immediately went to work vacuuming the minivan, practicing his piano and trombone, and even giving trombone lessons to Timmy.  Additional jobs include putting out the trash, weekly cleanups of the basement playroom, back massages for Dad (he's got the best feet for walking up and down my spine), etc.

Kyungmi and i agreed to allow the boys to dip into $100 of their bank savings and $70 of their current "Spend" envelope accumulations.  If Eric and Timmy perform all their jobs weekly, they should be able to take care of the remaining balance of $300 within about 6 weeks or less ($250 for the game console + $60 for the additional controllers - Eric's gift cards brought the balance down after taxes to $300).  Paul has also agreed to help out with some of his commission earnings, so that might cut the time period even faster.

Amazing to see how well the power of Wii-ncetives works!

Now if only we could get more musicians who read music to actually embrace music reading technologies (like Tablet PC's), we might actually see some of these neat devices actually getting made...

Taking advantage of the ELP (Endorsed Local Provider) program offered by Dave Ramsey, we hooked up with Jeff, a financial planner from Merrill Lynch to start laying out an investment strategy.  With Paul being only 4 years away from college, we needed to start aggressively addressing that oncoming train.  We also wanted to supplement our current retirement plans with some mutual funds and find ways to keep our tax burdens as low as possible.

Here's what we came up with:

1.  Jeff suggested keeping only $10K in cash for our emergency fund ('only $10K'...wow, only a few short months ago it seemed impossible to keep $1,000 intact in our savings account!) and putting the rest into tax-free municipal bonds.  The bond fund would still enjoy debit card and check writing access, but of course with the added benefit of tax-free interest growth.

2.  We set up some aggressive 529 plans for the boys, with Paul receiving the bulk of the initial setup funds.  The nice thing about these 529's is the fact that unused portions can be passed down to the other boys and eventually left to create a perpetual education trust to benefit our grandkids - and beyond!

3.  The remainder will be put into taxable mutual funds.  If i understood correctly, our income bracket doesn't allow us to enjoy the tax-deferred benefits of Roth IRA's - Kyungmi and i are both maxing out our respective employee retirement contributions.  Dave Ramsey recommends a diversified mutual fund portfolio with the following fund groups:  Growth, Growth & Income, Aggressive Growth, and International.  We're putting a heavier emphasis on the aggressive growth and international for now and will adjust the ratios as needed while we keep an eye on the market (and get a hang of all this newfangled investing stuff).

I've been reading and hearing about other financial gurus who pooh-pooh mutual funds as being too plain-jane vanilla and even riskier than individually picking out stocks, but until i getter a better grasp on how to invest it seems that monthly deposits into mutual funds are better than sitting around with money accruing lousy savings-account interest. 

Man, it was scary writing out those checks, bigger than any i've ever written in my life - but what a thrill to know that we were in essence paying ourselves instead of a credit card company!  In some ways, we're back to living on a tight budget, given the monthly contributions we're now committed to.  i think i now understand what Robert Kiyosaki means when he refers to "paying yourself first" - the fiscal pressure of putting money away for yourself first forces you to exercise your financial IQ muscles to find new ways to make money to cover any shortfalls.

More to come as we learn about the world of investing...

Gosh, i can't recall how long i used my old publicity pictures - 14? 15 years? 

Kudos to Mr. Steiner for getting my squinty eyes wider (i never knew i had whites in my eyes!  LOL) and for making the best of my sparse scalp - these new pictures should be good for a long time to come!

The subsequent week saw us entering our first tournament.  Eric was extremely reluctant at first, but ended up winning a first place trophy for his Chun-Ji pattern!  Paul in turn won three first prizes, for weapon form, Chun-Ji pattern, and sparring.  Even ol' Dad himself came home with a 1st place trophy for his pattern (accompanied with some excellent advice from the judging master to pay more attention to my footwork) - all in all, a terrific tournament system where everyone is guaranteed to come home with a prize and heaps of encouragement!

The best prize for "most dramatic transformation" has to go to Timmy, who was initially terrified to try Tae-Kwon-Do;  i had to drag him to his first class last Friday with him clinging to my leg for the first half.  By the end, he was laughing, jumping, kicking and punching with hearty "kiyaps" like everyone else - he wouldn't take off the uniform once he got home!

Saturday's class saw him standing all by himself and having a wonderful time.  What a fantastic confidence booster for the kids!  Now if only i could get my sit-up count past 40...

Crazy rhythms, poly-metric tacets galore, un-metered passagework...this piece looked to be a logistical nightmare!  My initial strategy was to use all the tech i had at my disposal to record the rehearsals so that at least i could get a better aural understanding of the work.  I had my nano iPod fitted with my MicroMemo Digital Audio Microphone, as well as my Samson C01U USB condenser microphone plugged in to my tablet pc recording into Audacity...the micro recording studio was ready to go! 

That is...until the glare of the Orchestra's assistant personnel manager caught sight of my setup and the threat of possible copyright infringement had me dismantling my equipment.

A tech musician being forced to resort to reading - gasp - paper music?  Counting measures with fingers?  Writing cues with (shudder) - pencils??  The horror, the horror...it felt a lot like the final battle scene in "Star Wars" where Luke Skywalker loses his R2-D2 astromech droid and abandons his targeting computer while being mentored by Obi-Wan Kenobi to "use the force" to make the shot...

Turns out that "Obi-Wan Kenobi" in this case was Maestro Leonard Slatkin, who did a phenomenal job of explaining the work and making the whole piece come together effortlessly.  I guess i learned to get better at counting fingers and toes - many thanks to Patty's comments for helping me to decipher the number cues within tacet bars indicating various instrument entrances (that helped keep me on track and verify that my finger counts were lining up correctly).

Thanks to paper, pencil, and a good set of fingers, toes and ears, i guess enough of the "Force" was with me to get through this final week of orchestral playing!

Here's my rundown of microphone experiences:

Da-Hong Seetoo makes his own microphones...hm, i wonder if he'd be willing to sell me a customized pair...

Hope to learn more about your favorite microphones in the comments section!

Monday's pain-fest at the class left the punching bag pretty bloodied up - as one of my friends put it, it looked like the punching bag won...

Finger and knuckle bandaids have been pretty ineffectual, so i've turned to using a product called "New Skin", a topical antiseptic that you paint over your wounds.  It then dries to a flexible covering, mimicking the breathing properties of skin.  Note the word "antiseptic":  this stuff STINGS! 

On a less-grisly note, i bring to you some behind-the-scenes look at backstage life with a major orchestra - behold, the post concert poker table:

Check out this heavy-duty poker chip layout!

i can't remember the color codes, but i think the blue chips were $5, Reds were $1, and the whites were 25 cents each.  Apparently, they green and black are supposed to represent $10 and $20, but no one's won enough to get to that level...

Here's a mug shot of the poker supplier, violist Marvin Moon:

Other forms of Philadelphia Orchestra Lounge entertainment include a real dartboard - note my perfect score, shot right after an impromptu set - oh, yes, it's true!

Of course, no lounge would be complete without the caffeinated watering machine - in this case, a yummy Flavia automatic coffee machine (my flavor of choice being Hazelnut):

Life is rich and full - i just wish i was better at finding time to actually blog about it!

(A quick note:  i'm using the new Windows Live Writer to put this blog article together.  Like the nifty "polaroid picture" plugin?)

Jeff Khaner had a good laugh as he mimicked the changes in my seating posture on stage at Verizon Hall with the Philadelphia Orchestra - from edge-of-my-seat rigid with terror, to semi-alert middle position, to a final full-back recline complete with "been-there-done-that" yawn...yeah, yeah, so i'm finally getting the "hang" of orchestra life, har har har!  It's still great fun, and the terror never completely goes away...not yet, at least.  Carnegie Hall was definitely a thrill, and hey - i even got my taxes done on the bus ride there!

Paul Roby, Associate Principal violinist with the Orchestra and a Curtis school buddy of mine, took me out to the most amazing Donkatsu shop for dinner a few blocks away from Carnegie, called "Katsu-hama".  I'm not a big donkatsu fan, since 99% of the time they're pretty poorly prepared in restaurants, but this was a revelation: melt-in-your-mouth pork tenderloin in the most amazing breaded coating fried to perfection, coupled with a sauce that never overpowered the base flavors.  Heavenly!

Afterwards, we walked through Rockerfeller square and ducked into a specialty Japanese confectionary shop, where Paul picked out a box of sweet bean cakes for me and my family.  Again, not a big fan of bean desserts, but this was simply unbelievable!!  The kids inhaled the entire box within microseconds, and i had to dive in to snatch a single cake for myself.  i simply MUST find a way to get back to that shop!!

Here's a quick little souvenir video showing me gawking and fawning over Carnegie Hall - then complaining about how small the hall actually is when trying to fit an entire orchestra on stage!

After finishing the "Masochistic Mandarin" and "Planets" set with the Orchestra, i flew out to Cleveland to record an album with composer/flutist Gary Schocker.  Normally, classical CD's take a full 3 days to record, but things went so well that we actually flew through this project in only 2 days!  Many thanks to the superb production team of Azica records - Alan Bise, producer and Bruce the engineer par excellence -

Alan and Bruce use the same audio software that Da-Hong uses:  Sequoia.  Check out the nifty hard-case setup they have!  Gateway monitor and USB keyboard here...

...linked to a dedicated hard drive/CPU custom-built to interface directly with the Sequoia software.  Sweet!

Repertoire for the album included the Morceau by Faure, sonatas by Poulence and HIndemith, the Reverie and Valse by Caplet, and 2 works by Gary himself - "For Dad", and "Two Flutes on the Loose in Fujian".  Katherine Vogel joined us for the 2 flute piece - she hails as the principal flutist from the South Dakota symphony, and did a superb job!

We stayed at a funky hotel called the Alcazar, built in the 1920's heavily influenced by Spanish architecture and made famous by Cole Porter having written a famous song there.

Well folks, it's getting mighty late and the thinker is already heading to la-la land...but let me finish today's recap post with a picture from my serendipitous rendezvous with my old friend Anton Miller, a violinist who i hadn't seen in almost 15 years - we worked together at the old Point Counterpoint summer music camp, then subsequently at the now defunct New Arts Festival in Ft. Myers, Florida for several summers.  It's unbelievable how some people just never age!!  And, wow...what are the odds of running into an old friend like this when traveling on standby flights?