Canadian Museum of Human Rights, Winnipeg
One year ago, I took advantage of a rather large snowstorm that caused all my lessons and musical activities to be cancelled for the day. After writing the Collaborative Piano Blog since 2005, my interest in blogging had gone through fits and starts for a while, and although I had a strong desire to keep writing, I wanted to branch out into a wider area of inquiry.
The space of a few hours was enough to start a new project, learn the Squarespace platform, and start putting together the nuts and bolts of an entirely new venture. The first year was not without its scheduling challenges, and I stopped publishing altogether for several months through much of the year. But my resolve returned, and the completion of a few long-term projects opened up some time in my schedule for a more regular return to writing. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Here are some of the highlights from the first year of Foley Music and Arts:
Five Deep Breaths and a Pencil Behind the Ear: This is my second free ebook about practicing, with crowd-sourced advice (and things to avoid) from students in my studio. Here’s how I did it.
How I Use The Archive and My Music Staff to Create Engaging Lesson Notes: A rundown of how I use The Archive as third-party software to create lesson notes that I send with My Music Staff. A huge thanks goes out to both My Music Staff and the Zettelkasten community for their continued interest in the process I outlined in the article.
The Quick Start Guide to Starting Projects in the Performing Arts: One segment of the arts community where there is always room for growth is with startup projects. Here’s how you can get one started and move fast to get it up and running.
19 Blogs I Follow in 2019: I’ve long been a proponent of the open web, and this list encapsulated the blogs that I find the most meaningful. Yes, I’ll have a 2020 version. Yes, there will be 20 blogs this time around.
Classical Music Blogs are Surprisingly Robust in 2019: It’s no secret that social media has decimated the once-thriving classical music blog scene. However, many of the blogs of 10-15 years ago are still around, and you can find a list of those still publishing on the link.
From Brainstorm to Project in One Evening: I move fast on projects. Here’s how to do it.
I Have an Idea: Anyone putting forward a new idea puts themselves at risk. Let’s work on putting forward more of these ourselves and supporting those who do as well.
What I Learned Over the Last Two Weeks: A quick look at my incredible experience in Carbonear, Newfoundland in April and what it taught me.
Wendy Hatala Foley’s Painted Musical Instruments: My wife is an artist, and part of her output is giving life to musical instruments which are no longer playable. Her work gives them new colour, purpose, and delight.
How Wendy and I Designed our Company Logo: A story about how strong foundations can be built with a little legwork and minimal cost.
The Omega Steak & Seafood House’s Caesar Salad Recipe: A legendary recipe from a once-famous but now-forgotten restaurant, lovingly reverse engineered by our former neighbour.
Thank you for supporting Foley Music and Arts in its first year on the web, and stay tuned for much more in the coming months!