Hey Newgrounds! It's been a while since I did a news post. I do check Newgrounds frequently though.

I've enjoyed seeing the community flourish this past year! There were community events and meetups, AI-content flagging, Takeover Tuesday, Pico Day, Madness Day, Robot Day etc., and more games available with Ruffle. It's been great. Every Tuesday (when I remember to do so), I've posted an old movie or game to the front page, like Seedling and Tarboy. @Aaron-Long just posted a great Christmas special, which I think is one of the best Sublo & Tangy Mustard episodes so far. Recently, I was blown away by Monday by @OtaKing77077.

Here's some of the stuff I've been up to in 2024.

Teaching

My teaching studio has grown a lot. This time last year, I had about thirty students. Now, I have about fifty students. That's because I started renting my office full-time, so I had a lot more time on my hands to work.

The recent student recital video is now on YouTube. I thought that was the best student recital so far. I saw improvement this year from all my students. That recital featured about half of my studio, since the other half are adults. They had some performance opportunities, too—informal “Music & Mingle” parties—but those events aren't filmed.

The Curses Concert

The first event this year was a concert called Curses. This was a collaboration between the poetry group Typewriter Rodeo and a group I'm a part of, Central Texas Composers. Curses was an eclectic mix of art songs inspired by the word "curses." For example, one song was about magical spells; another was about cursive writing; and another was about swearing.

The song I composed for that concert was called Ode To Cursive. The full concert is available on YouTube. Please be aware there's a lot of adult language.

Developing A Video Game With A Student

I helped one of my students compose music for an original video game. We began the project last year, and it was released this past spring. My student Vaibhav wrote all the music and we designed the game during the last ten minutes of our piano lessons. I programmed it in GameMaker and it came together nicely. You can play it at www.glitchmountain.net.

Music for Jani Putzker

I composed some music for an animation by my friend Janina Putzer. The film, which is called Hook In The Mouth, is still in production.

For Jani's stuff on Newgrounds, go here!

Not Yet by Ashten Falter

I arranged music for a music video by my friend Ashten Falter. Ashten is a local filmmaker, actress, musician, and dancer. The film is called Not Yet. It features the Debussy piece, Clair de lune, arranged for piano, flute, and cello. It was filmed at Mozart's Coffee Roasters in Austin, and featured Sheila Va and Caroline McGee.

One Ounce Opera: Valentine's Day

Early this year, I accompanied vocalists for a Valentine's Day concert organized by One Ounce Opera. The concert featured Carlee Abschneider, Katie Winchester, and Kevin Arratia-Diaz. I will release those videos later. (I want to add lyrics on the screen, but it's a slow process for me.)

Inversion Ensemble

I had the privilege of performing with the Inversion vocal ensemble this year. The first performance was at the Austin Public Library, called “Inversion at the Library”. The second was at the Here Be Monsters Festival this past summer. For that latter performance, I was on stage with an electric organ premiering an original oratorio by James Tecuatl-Lee called Godric And His Demons. Please be aware that this piece contains some graphic descriptions which are not child-friendly.

Sam Levreault's Doctoral Recital

I also had another opportunity to play with the flutist Sam Levreault. Sam is pursuing her doctorate at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I flew up there to perform a couple pieces in her Doctoral Recital. We performed the Prokofiev Flute Sonata, a solo piece by the contemporary composer Amanda Harberg, and a virtuosic showpiece by Alfredo Casella.

Young Artist Competitions

Another highlight of the year was playing for several young artist competitions in the area. These were at Cedar Park, Cedar Ridge, and Vandegrift high schools. These are basically school-wide competitions where student musicians perform sonatas, concertos, and other showy solo pieces with piano accompaniment.

Orchestration Lessons

This year, I worked hard to improve my orchestration abilities. I took orchestration lessons with my friend Keith Allegretti. Keith has been providing a lot of helpful advice, but more than that, having a deadline every two weeks to produce something has been incredibly useful. Here are the pieces I produced this year, if you'd like to listen:

• In The Cave
• Humoresque
• Cold Blood Overture
• Joy Ride

Aria in the Style of Mozart

A few people from Central Texas Composers were commissioned by One Ounce Opera to produce arias for the Here Be Monsters Festival. The lineup included Graham Yates, Carol Brown, and myself. We were given considerable freedom in what we could create.

I chose to write an aria in the style of Mozart. It was a parody of the Queen of the Night Aria, titled The Queen of the Morning After. It was beautifully performed by Elise Leung Kotara and Benjie Dia. That video will be released on YouTube.

The Riddles Recital

In September, I participated in The Riddles Recital. This was originally the brainchild of my friend, Amy Herman. Amy was seeking public domain text to set to music, and she happened on a set of medieval poems called The Exeter Riddles. In the end, she, Keith Allegretti, and I set a few of these poems to music.

This was my first time writing music in Old English. It was hard, but it was fun! The video will be released soon.

Personal Things

This was a busy year. To make my work schedule easier, I moved to an apartment near my office. This was a good call. It's right down the road, about a 3-5 minute drive.

I've been learning the guitar. This has been fun. I think it's making me a better teacher, too, because it's reminding me of what it's like to be a beginner on an instrument. Scarborough Fair was a recent project.

I’m still playing at Trinity Church every week. I’m grateful for that because it gives me an opportunity to perform regularly, which ensures I don't let my chops slip too far. (Thanks for putting up with me every week, Tim.)

Instead of New Year's resolutions, every year I pick a word or phrase to remind me of something I want to focus on.

This past year's phrase was “Netflix or Bust”. I wanted to participate in something on Netflix or another streaming platform—to be connected, in some small way, to show business. I sort of managed to fulfill this, since earlier this year I was an extra on the TV show 1923. It'll be on Paramount, not Netflix. That'll be coming out in February.

Someday, I'd like to snag a scoring job for a show, or something similar. That would be amazing. Being a film composer was a childhood dream of mine, and as an adult I still have a strong desire to tell stories with music.

I don’t know what my New Year’s theme 2025 will be yet, but things are looking up.

Musicians & Organizations

Thanks for reading! That's all for me, but before I go, here are all of the musicians and organizations I mentioned in this update. I've included links so you can find more information about their work if you're interested.

• Timbral Music Studios, my primary teaching location
• Central Texas Composers, a couple composers grabbing coffee, collaborating on concerts
• Typewriter Rodeo, a group of poets (what's the collective noun for this? A murder of poets?)
• Keith Allegretti, who's taught me a lot this year (about chess as well as orchestration)
• Graham Yates, who founded Timbral and in doing so greatly helped support my career these last few years (and has been an excellent friend and sane voice meanwhile)
• Carol Brown, one of the most creative people I've met, who first introduced me to the Inversion Ensemble and this year inspired some beautiful improvised music at the Curses concert
• Brittney Benavidez Smith, whose thoughtfulness and just-checking-in messages have taught me by example how to be a better friend generally
• Charissa Whillock, who introduced me to the fascinating art of music streaming.
• Mary Schani, who played clarinet on Curses
• Jordan Walsh, who played percussion on Curses and Inversion At The Library
• Barbara George, who played cello on Curses
• Armstrong Community Music School, a school where I teach, with a culture that nurtures creativity and musical growth
• Ashten Falter, director of Not Yet and a local talent with whom I'm always happy to collaborate
• Sheila VA, who played flute on Not Yet and who does a hundred other fascinating things ranging from modeling to producing a web series.
• Caroline Magee, who played cello on Not Yet and performs with Austin Civic Orchestra
• One Ounce Opera, an organization I collaborated with multiple times this year
• Katie Winchester, a soprano I performed with on the One Ounce Opera Valentine's Day concert
• Carlee Abschneider, a soprano I performed with on the One Ounce Opera Valentine's Day concert, and who also helped organize The Riddles Recital with Local Opera Local Artists
• Kevin Arratia-Diaz, a tenor with whom I collaborated multiple times this year, including for the One Ounce Opera concert and The Riddles Recital
• Inversion Ensemble, a choir I was honored to appear with this year, under the baton of Trevor Shaw
• James Tecuatl-Lee, whose raucous oratorio Godric And His Demons was performed by Inversion Ensemble to great effect at the Here Be Monsters Festival, which was organized by Tetractys
• Sam Levreault, a friend and flutist who I hope to collaborate with many times in the future
• Elise Leung Kotara and Benjie Dia, who performed my Mozartian aria at the Here Be Monsters Festival
• Amy Herman, who organized The Riddles Recital and had several of her pieces performed in it, and whose friendship (and pastries) I enjoy and appreciate
• Bethany Ammon, a mezzo-soprano and friend who performed my music in The Riddles Recital (see also our earlier collaboration on When Love Beckons To You)
• Monica Salas, a friend and flutist who performed my music in The Riddles Recital (see also our collaboration on Keys To Giving)
• Curtis Simmons and Lisa Lamb, who played horn and harp respectively on The Riddles Recital
• Local Opera Local Artists, which produced and organized The Riddles Recital and with whom I'm always excited to collaborate (special shout out to mezzo Liz Cass, who both founded LOLA and directs the Armstrong Community Music School)

Best wishes and happy holidays!

Ben

www.bentibbetts.net

Hello, Newgrounds! You've been busy! I've enjoyed seeing all the donations and prizes offered through this community; it's wonderful. I love the Drawing Tablet Giveaway, which seems like a great way to support artists.

I was saddened to hear that Wiesi had passed away. It seems he touched a lot of people through his positive, encouraging online presence. I'm sure I played some of his early Flash games in high school, probably when I was supposed to be doing something else on the computer.

Reviewing Wiesi's output back to 2002 makes me grateful that early Flash work is being preserved, not just for nostalgic trips down memory lane but as a time capsule for the future. Yes, a lot of the early internet was silly and juvenile, but it's also part of our culture.

History can be like that. Classical music fans probably know about Mozart because of his serious work like the Requiem, but did you know Mozart also wrote a piece called "lick my ass"? Yes, really. And there's one Ancient Roman poem so filthy that rather than quote from it I'll just link you to Wikipedia and suggest the incognito mode.

This topic has been on my mind recently; I'm working on a concert in January called "Curses", which features a lot of swearing as sung by an opera singer. Here's a full update on what I've been up to ("...on what up to I've been"?).

Curses

I'm planning a concert in January called "Curses". It's a collaboration between Central Texas Composers and the poetry group Typewriter Rodeo. This concert will feature all-new commissioned poetry and music on the theme of curses. There's music about hexes, cursive writing, swearing, bad luck, and more.

The event will be on January 14 at 7:00pm at the Spiderhouse Ballroom in Austin. To learn about how you can support this project through an ongoing fundraiser, go to www.bentibbetts.net/curses.

Timbral Fall Recital

On October 15, many of my piano students participated in the Timbral Music Studios Fall Recital. We heard music by Beethoven, Edvard Grieg, Elmer Bernstein, Scott Joplin, and The Decemberists. We also heard music from video games such as Super Mario Brothers, The Legend Of Zelda, and Plants Versus Zombies.

I'm proud of all my students, both for their musical and personal progress and for their courage displayed in performing on-stage.

Student Art Gallery

Students also had an opportunity in recent months to showcase their visual creativity. Earlier this year, I released a “call for original art” video to my students at Timbral.

Since putting out this call, the office has received thirteen pieces of original visual art from music students at the school.

The art, which came from both children and adults, is currently on our walls in the kitchen and the lobby. Some of the images are on a musical theme, but others just depict pretty things like a tree at sunrise, or food-related items to decorate the kitchen. I think this is all fantastic. They brighten the office and add a touch of whimsy.

Music For Organ

The month of October brought another Halloween, a holiday for which I often compose a bit of spooky music. This year I came up with an original piece for reed organ.

Passacaglia is a dark, meandering set of variations on a theme. As the piece progresses, the variations become more and more twisted until finally they barely resemble the original theme. I recorded it with the help of my friend Keith Allegretti, who I also worked with on my previous pieces for reed organ.

Armstrong Spooktacular

Halloween also brought the annual Armstrong Spooktacular, an open house event at the school where the faculty dress up in costumes, teach kids about music, and give out enough candy to feed a small country.

This year I dressed as the “phantom of the piano”, with a costume as scary as it was low-budget...

I also took the opportunity to showcase a project I've been working on with one of my students, an original video game which features my student's music. We set up a computer and a controller, and guests at the Spooktacular tried out the game. People liked the music and the game play, which my student and I tweaked together.

Music For Diwali

In the beginning of November, I released some videos to celebrate the Hindu holiday Diwali.

I picked three melodies from a book of Bollywood songs and used them for the basis of three piano improvisations: Jaane Do An, Sanwariya Sanwariya, and Dhoome Machale.

Open Mic For Students

There was another opportunity for my students to perform, as well. This time it was at an outside open mic event in Cedar Park.

I had seven piano students participate. Outside events are always tricky, but this one went off without a hitch. The weather held, and everyone had a good time.

Looking Ahead

This coming month will be a bit of a transition for me. I'm slowly moving into a larger office that I'll be renting full-time for music work. I got a new used piano for that space and tuned it myself. I'm looking forward to having an office space that I can use seven days a week, instead of my current part-time arrangement.

And that's it! Thanks very much for reading.

Best wishes,

Ben

contact@bentibbetts.net

Hello, Newgroundlings! Happy Spooktacular. 👻 This is my usual personal update, but first, some thoughts on a few things I enjoyed here recently:

• I've been a fan of the Salad Fingers series for years, so it was great to see David Firth (@Doki) publish a new one this past month. I think the NG Money Gang is a great idea and a Salad Fingers episode is a great choice for its first sponsorship opportunity. If you'd like to support David yourself, sign up for his Patreon.
• Similarly, I thought the recent release by Adam Bohorquez (@DeadlyComics) was amazing: Easy Bake is a little surreal masterpiece. It inhabits that same uneasy buried mental space as something by Don Hertzfeldt (or, come to think of it, David Firth).

And now, in the words of Monty Python, for something completely different.

Expanding Piano Lessons

My main project recently has been building up my piano studio. I'm trying to get more students at Timbral Music so I can rent an office in that space 24/7 (as opposed to part time, which is what I'm doing now).

I'm teaching around 20 students there, and I'm still teaching a few students at Premier Music Academy and the Armstrong Community Music School.

Video Game Development

I'm engaged in some hobby projects. For example, I'm developing a video game for one of my composition students, to give him the experience of writing a soundtrack.

I'm not a professional programmer, and the design of this game probably isn't anything to write home about. The graphics are ripped from one of the Zelda games, after all. However, it's fun to have a creative outlet that isn't music. It's a nice change of pace.

(If you'd like to see a game I made in the past, check out Blob Story.)

Bonus Content For My Website

Another computer-y thing I've been working on is an update to my subscribers' content.

I have a subscription option on my website where people can support me and the free content I put online for a few dollars a month. As a way of thanking people for doing that, I have an "exclusive content area" for subscribers, where I throw a bunch of behind the scenes stuff I figure they might be interested in.

I had this idea recently that I might expand that quite a bit with more material. I'm writing out new sheet music, making video recordings, and experimenting with creating audio commentary. I'd also like to revamp those pages so the whole thing looks and feels more like a streaming service.

It's still in the works. I've been chipping away at this for the last two months. When it's done, I think it'll be cool.

Student Art

I did a call for student art at Timbral this past month, and made a silly little video advertising the event.

Basically, I'm trying to get more artwork for the walls, and I thought it would be fun to ask students if they wanted to submit anything. We're putting the submissions up in the kitchen.

If you're one of my students and you're reading this, feel free to approach me with something that you drew or painted to showcase it there. I'll be putting up the submissions next week.

New Piano Four Hands Recording

There's a new recording on my YouTube channel of my composition, "On the Road Again".

This is a kind of rhapsody or variations on a theme using the Willie Nelson song as starting material. I took the melody and I arranged it in a creative way for piano four hands (one piano played by two people). This was recorded with my friend Graham Yates, who I premiered it with two years ago. I'm really proud of this piece and recording.

Upcoming Projects

In addition to the work in progress I mentioned above, I've got some videos in the works for my YouTube channel; I'm writing another piece for Keith Allegretti's pump organ (like this horror-themed animation project I did earlier this year); and I'm looking forward to a concert in January that I've organized with my friends at Central Texas Composers. I plan to do another update like this in two months.

And that's about it! Thanks for reading. Happy creating :)

Best wishes,

Ben

Hello, Newgrounds! I haven't posted here in the past two months, though I do generally log on to Newgrounds once a day to check my feed and see what some of my favorite artists and creators have been releasing. Among the best recently was by @ToonHole, which broke a long string of funny and raunchy comic strips to release a thoughtful video on the creative process, detailing the steps for painting a comic called the "Introvert Olympics". There have also been some beautiful new works in July from @carrion and @Kamikaye and @maruki, and others I'm sure I'm forgetting.

If you'd like to see what I've been up to*, read on, or watch this video summary:

Concert at Waterloo Greenway

The first thing I wanted to mention actually wasn't recorded, to my knowledge, but I just wanted to thank Liz Cass and Graham Yates for a great concert on June 4. This was a concert called Outside Voices at Waterloo Greenway. It was a free concert of music by Bizet, Faure, Debussy, and Mahler, and it also featured some of Graham's original music. Thank you to Liz and to Graham for collaborating with me on that. It's always wonderful to work with you guys, and keep an eye out on the LOLA website for future events like this. LOLA does a lot of performances of opera and great music.

Ballet Austin Summer Intensive

I also did a lot of playing for Ballet Austin these last two months, specifically for the Ballet Austin Summer Intensive, which is a kind of dance camp and a set of dance classes for young ballet dancers. It attracts kids and young adults from all over the country. And these classes are really a joy, because the students are so enthusiastic about their craft and so eager to learn and to improve. I enjoyed it last year as well. I hope to do this every year, if I can.

Timbral Music Studios Fall Recital

For my own students, I wanted to let everybody know we've booked a fall recital for my students at Timbral Music Studios for Sunday, October 15, and this will be in two sessions, one at 2:00 p.m. and one at 3:00 p.m. It's also open to my students at Premier and Armstrong. It's slightly less convenient because of the distances between these locations, but for all of my students, truly, if you'd like to perform, you're welcome to come and sign up for this program. Just let me know.

Student Video Performances

I've also uploaded a couple of student performances, two from my student Sima. Sima played an arrangement of 'River Flows in You' by Yiruma, and a performance of 'My Heart Will Go On' from the movie Titanic. My student Azza also performed that beautiful song made famous by Elvis, 'Can't Help Falling in Love'. Those are available on my YouTube channel.

Updates to YouTube

And speaking of YouTube, I've worked really hard these last two months to, let's say, up my game with respect to my YouTube channel. I uploaded a couple of videos that were fairly experimental, the first of which was a commentary video, a kind of audio essay on the ad hominem fallacy. I uploaded two videos featuring improvisations that I did, and I uploaded a video that I actually made in high school called 'Throw Back'. And that's pretty much what I did these last two months. It was a little bit of a slow time of year, and also it was really hot. So I think perhaps I'm working at a slightly slower tempo than usual.

Conclusion

If you like my work, please consider subscribing to my website, which supports me. It's basically a donation of $4 a month. And in exchange for that, as kind of a thank you from me, you get access to exclusive content on my website.

And that's it from me. I hope you've enjoyed this. Stay cool.

Best wishes,

Ben

*Following that stupid preposition rule, I guess this should be, "If you'd like to see to what I've been up..."

Hello, Newgrounds! Here is another of my personal updates, this one covering the music I made in April and May.

One of the nice opportunities I had these past few months was related to Newgrounds: I was interviewed for the Off The Wall podcast, which used to be hosted by @ThatJohnnyGuy and which is now hosted by @Aalasteir. I had a great time talking with Aalasteir. If you'd like to hear our wide-ranging conversation, it's available on the @OffTheWallShow account. And for those that prefer to read text, I've created an edited transcript of the entire interview (though you'll miss the bit halfway through when I improvise on the piano).

As usual with my updates, I've made both a video and a text version, which you can watch or read below. Enjoy!

I should say first off, congratulations to those of my students who participated in the Timbral Music Studios spring recital. This happened in April at the Blackerby Violin shop. I think what we've probably settled on for recitals is to do two of them a year--one in the spring and one in the fall, most likely in October.

I'd also like to congratulate my students that have made recordings of their pieces to share on the TV in the lobby and to share with their family and friends. I want to continue to do that from time to time, and you can see a few of those student recordings on my YouTube channel.

I've been playing a lot of piano myself. I've been doing some concerto competitions for students at the Cedar Ridge High School and the McNeil High School. And I had the privilege of performing with One Ounce Opera the other day at the "Here Be Monsters" event at the Vortex. This was a five hour marathon of what was described as "indie classical music". I like that title. Basically, this just means new music, in a somewhat experimental vein. There were eleven premieres at this Here Be Monsters event. The piece that I played in wasn't a premiere, but it was by a contemporary composer, Tony Solitro. I performed in what was called an opera vignette named "She's Fabulous" with Julia Watkins-Davis and Patricia Combs under the direction of Julie Fiore. I'd also like to extend a congratulations to my friends Keith Allegretti and Amy Herman, who had a piece on this concert premiered called "Undine Speaks". This was super fun.

I had the privilege of performing with my friend Samantha O'Hare up in North Carolina recently, at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. We performed music by Valerie Coleman, Herman Beeftink, Ian Clarke and Amanda Harberg. Sam is a talented flutist who I've worked with a number of times before. If you go to the archive on my website, you'll see a bunch of recordings that we've made, including a piece that she commissioned me to write, the "Club Sonata" for flute and piano. (They're under her maiden name, Samantha Levreault.)

I appeared as a guest on a podcast recently called "Off The Wall". Off the Wall is a podcast that lives on Newgrounds.com, one of the original online portals where people could upload their own art, their own music, and their own animations. It pre-dated YouTube by some years, and in a way it was the natural predecessor to sites like YouTube. I've been a member of Newgrounds and uploaded music there since 2009. I was interviewed about my music, my creative process, my style of teaching, and my thoughts on a number of things. It was a very long, wide ranging conversation that lasted about 2 hours or so. I've provided a link to this interview on my website, along with a heavily edited transcript, at BenTibbetts.net/OffTheWall.

Finally, for subscribers to my website, I've uploaded some exclusive content that I hope you'll enjoy, including some unreleased sketches and some music that I made for Ballet Austin. And if you're interested in becoming a subscriber and supporting my work, you can go to BenTibbetts.net/Subscribe. People who subscribe to my website get reduced rates on services (just reach out to me for more details and we'll work something out), and access to exclusive content that I upload every month.

And that pretty much does it. As I look out the window here in Austin, I can't help but feel some dread as the weather continues to warm up into the hot summers here. A hundred degrees is hard for me, but it was a nice spring. I'm grateful for the good weather that we had and look forward to when those days come back.

Thanks for reading!

Ben

Hey there, Newgrounds!

I've been a bit of a silent lurker lately, reading the news on The Tank Tribune and occasionally going through my feed to see what the people I follow have posted.

I was delighted to see that David Firth came out with a new animation. Plastic Hand is less ambitious in some ways than the later Salad Fingers episodes, but that doesn't make it less memorable or interesting. For me, David's animations seem to work on a subconscious level. They're uncomfortable, but it's not always clear why. Anyway, it's great to see new work from him. If you want to support David, consider joining his Patreon.

Here is my usual update on my personal life and the creative projects I've been working on. There's a video you can watch, or you can read the text below if you prefer that medium. I hope you enjoy it.

Playing The Piano For High School Students

February and March were particularly busy months. This was to be as expected, since they are usually my most active time of the year for piano performances.

This is because I participate in an event called the University Interscholastic League (UIL), which is a competition for high school and middle school students. These young musicians perform difficult music and get evaluated by judges. I have been doing a lot of piano playing as an accompanist for that.

I also participated in an event called the Cedar Park High School Young Artists competition, which took up a lot of my time and energy in March.

However, I have managed to make time for other things as well. I have been jamming with friends, and performing each week at the Trinity Church of Austin. I have also enjoyed the occasional performance with other people too. For example, I recently accompanied mezzo-soprano Liz Cass on a concert called Songs in the Skyspace, at UT Austin.

Composing Music For Games

I participated in a couple of game jams recently, which was fun.

If you don't know what a game jam is, it's an event (usually online) where game developers make a game in a very short amount of time.

As a composer, I have participated in game jams before by going into the Discord chat and offering to write original music.

These new tracks will be available on my website and YouTube channel.

Getting Better At YouTube

I've decided to work on my YouTube channel and get better at making entertaining, useful videos.

Although I've been slow to realize it, I've noticed that I use YouTube a lot. It's probably the website that I visit the most. Educational content on YouTube in particular has added a lot to my life. I've learned a lot, and there is a lot of very good, creative work coming from that platform. I think I want to be a part of that.

I've organized my videos into playlists:

• Full concerts and albums
• Piano Bites, for short performances and clips
• Short Compositions, "for people in a hurry"
• Personal updates, these more personal videos about how things are going in general

In the future I'd like to make a playlist for stories and animations, as well as one for more "composing on camera" videos and a playlist for content by my students.

I also have some more experimental ideas for future projects. One of my students came up with the idea of creating long piano tracks for relaxation, which I might try, and I'd like to produce some commentary content where I explore topics in philosophy, history and the arts.

Using Lessons To Raise Money For Charity

This is just a quick update on the charitable efforts I've mentioned in the past.

I'm continuing to give regularly to GiveWell, an organization that redistributes charitable funds to improve as many lives per dollar as possible.

I give one dollar for every lesson I teach. Right now, I'm teaching around twenty lessons per week, so that's about $80 a month. If you're one of my students reading this, every time we meet you're helping to improve the life of someone across the world, probably a child. GiveWell's top charity is currently Malaria Consortium, which distributes antimalarial drugs to children 3 to 59 months old.

If you'd like to join me in this effort, go to givewell.org, where you can donate to the "top charities fund" or support to a specific top charity you prefer.

Setting Aside Some Music For Website Subscribers

A lot of the music I put out is available for free. But if anyone wants to support me, I have a subscriber option available on my website for a few dollars per month.

As a thank you for subscribing, I regularly set aside exclusive content on a password-protected page. Recently I've added recordings from my performances at Trinity Church, tracks from those game jams I participated in, arrangements I've made for students, and piano recordings from the classes I serve at Ballet Austin.

The sign-up process is straightforward, and unsubscribing is just as easy. (I hate it when services continue to charge you long after you've stopped using them...if you decide that you no longer want to support me, just send me an email.)

And that concludes this update. Thanks for reading and feel free to keep in touch!

Hey there, Newgrounds! I notice you're reviving the Treasure Hunt--I think that's an amazing idea. It creates an incentive to discover new and under-seen work. And it supports exactly those creators who will most appreciate and benefit from the attention. Awesome!

It made me wonder if platforms could build in a "Treasure Hunt" mode someday, like a tab that only showed content with small view counts. Maybe we could systematically boost talented creators who are just starting out.

And here's my usual update on the things I've been creating. The edited transcript is below the video, in case you don't feel like hearing me talk for five minutes. I hope you enjoy it!

Keys To Giving & Charitable Giving

In my last update, I mentioned a concert with a bunch of friends and colleagues called "Keys to Giving" which was a benefit concert for the local charity Thriftish. It's online now so if you want to watch and listen to that, it's at bentibbetts.net/keystogiving.

In my last update, I also mentioned I wanted to do more charity giving in general. That was kind of a goal of mine, and I think what I've settled on doing for myself is to give a very small percentage of each lesson that I teach to an organization called GiveWell. GiveWell ranks charities and finds the most effective charities in the world to ensure that the money you give does the most good possible. So if you want to join me on this journey, go to givewell.org and check out some of their top-rated charities or give to their fund.

Student Recitals & Lesson Materials

I just want to quickly announce a couple of dates for my students.

The Timbral Spring Recital will be on April 16th at 2 PM at Blackerby Violin Shop in Austin. This will be a recital for mostly young learners. I'm still working on something for my adult students. I'll be sharing that recital with the students of Graham Yates, Keith Allegretti, and Tiffany Cadenhead, my colleagues at Timbral Music Studios in Round Rock.

For my students at Premier Music Academy, there is an open mic night every month. The open mic night always happens on the last Friday of the month, and the next one will be February 24th at 6:30 PM.

And for my students at the Armstrong Community Music School, there will be student recitals at the school on a sign-up first come, first served basis on February 26, April 16th, May 7th, May 20th, and May 21st. So if you'd like to participate in one of those, please come see me and we'll sign you up.

I'm posting the materials that I bring to my piano lessons on my website; visit bentibbetts.net/students.

Happy Birthday Piano

On January 15th, we took some time out of our weekend to celebrate the 100th birthday of the piano in our office. We pampered it for the day. We got it tuned, we had the wood finished, we got a cake, we had balloons. It was a lot of fun.

A hundred years...Among the events taking place when this piano was built was the flight of the first helicopter, the retirement of Vladimir Lenin from the Soviet Union, and the founding of the Walt Disney Company.

Brass Quintet Arrangements

I've been working on brass quintet arrangements with my dad, Dwight Tibbetts. What we've decided to do is having me do the piano sketches and him fleshing out the piano sketches into music for his ensembles. He runs two brass quintets. We've put out a couple of pieces together and this past month, I finished a new piano sketch for Dad to chew on for a while. We're working on an arrangement of "Home on the Range" and it's pretty epic. This piano sketch lasted about seven or eight minutes and took a lot of work. So this was a long time coming. You can see Dwight's arrangements on Brass Music Online.

Live Performance Recordings

I'm still figuring out sharing my live performances. The trick is recording live performances in a way that feels high quality and captures the spirit of the event. For now, I have two new recordings available for subscribers to my website. The first one is my cover of Elliott Smith's "Waltz #1" and another is my performance of a Scarlatti Sonata in G major. If you're interested in either of those, you can go to bentibbetts.net/subscribe where you'll find information about getting a lot more content from me for a couple of bucks a month. And if you're already a subscriber, thanks for supporting me. I really appreciate it.

And that just about does it! Thanks for reading. Feel free to reply if you'd like; how was your month?

Hello, Newgrounds! You seem well. Tom's recent news posts have been digital smorgasbords. And I notice the Tablet Giveaway has been giving out some impressive prize money (thanks to some generous sponsors). There were a few years when it seemed Newgrounds as a platform was going through hard times. Now, at least to an outsider like myself, it certainly appears to be enjoying a resurgence in vibrancy and community. It's wonderful to see.

Here's an update on what I've been up to lately:

Keys To Giving: www.bentibbetts.net/KeysToGiving

I would say probably the biggest project of the last two months was "Keys To Giving".

"Keys to Giving" was a benefit concert at Trinity Church of Austin to raise money for Thrift-ish, which is a local charity that gives free clothes to people who need them. We brought together about twenty musicians and put on a giant concert on December 6th.

I spent a lot of time in November preparing for this event by organizing rehearsals, writing arrangements for people, coordinating the logistics, and in general doing my best to ensure that the concert was as much of a success as it could be.

And I would say that it definitely was a success. Through the night, I'm told that we raised over a thousand dollars for Thrift-ish.

"Keys to Giving" will be posted online pretty soon. We are working on getting that video ready. In the meantime, I have the arrangements and some of the audio from the concert on my website. And many thanks again to all of the talented local musicians who volunteered their time.

Music for Reed Organ: www.bentibbetts.net/ReedOrgan

Another very large project in the last two months was "Music For Reed Organ", my collaboration with my friend Keith Allegretti.

Earlier this year, Keith managed to procure this antique reed organ from the 1800s, which you operate by pumping with your feet. Ever since he got it, we've been chatting and brainstorming about how we might write music for it and use it to create novel soundscapes.

After a couple of months of meeting intermittently to talk about it, we managed to put together this album of original music recorded with this antique instrument. And with the help of our friend Bethany Ammon, a local mezzo-soprano, we were able to add a new dimension to the album. It is available for free on Keith's YouTube channel.

The Nightmares Of Odette: www.bentibbetts.net/Odette

I contributed two pieces of mine to "Music For Reed Organ". The first was an arrangement of my previous composition, "When Love Beckons to You," which Bethany Ammon sang beautifully. The other was an original solo called "The Nightmares of Odette."

That last piece represented a special challenge because, in addition to recording my performance on the organ, I decided to use artificial intelligence to generate a number of creepy animations to accompany the music.

This was a lot like what I did with one of my previous projects, "Birth of a Gorgon."

The result was unsettling and sometimes pretty beautiful, although I would definitely caution that it's not suitable for children.

The Audio Store: www.bentibbetts.net/AudioStore

I uploaded a new track to the audio store in December. This brought the total number of new releases to the store this year to 12, which was my goal. (I wanted to have an average of one new release per month.)

The tracks that I've been releasing on the store are intended to be used for film, games, and media in general. They don't tend to feature large spikes in volume; the mood of each particular track tends to stay somewhat consistent and static; and there's a definite tendency in these tracks to recede into the background.

I still plan to write and release music that is designed to be used that way. However, I think I might have more luck producing quality content by trying to write music that's interesting first.

Who's to say I couldn't write a sonata or a symphony and then simply release sections of it on the audio store, redesigned so as to be more conducive to background music?

It seems to me that if I just wrote and composed organically--and then thought after the fact about how I might rearrange this music into something that could be useful on the store--that might produce better music in the end. I'm not sure, but I'm playing around with that idea. I might shift my strategy on that project in 2023.

Thoughts For The New Year

This leads me to some of my plans and hopes for the next year. There are a couple of things I hope to gradually change and improve.

I'd like to write more music for media, and I think maybe the best way to do that--to find excuses for doing that--will be to participate in game jams, and possibly to work with Austin Public again in some capacity.

I also hope to scale back the number of gigs that I take on, including UIL related events, and teach more instead. Teaching is something that could maybe grow as a business in a way that gigging cannot.

When it comes to gigs, I'm either there playing the piano or I'm not; but when it comes to teaching, I could just barely imagine hiring an assistant down the road to help me prepare for lessons, create lesson materials, create opportunities for students to perform and record music.

Teaching is something that could grow more as a business, and having that epiphany recently has led me to adjust my priorities slightly. It seems to me that if something can scale, it can help more people and do more good. Teaching seems like an opportunity for me to do that.

Doing this concert for charity has reminded me that there are opportunities to help people that I could take advantage of more often. I'd like to do more of that in the coming year. Maybe I could give some percentage of every lesson fee to a charity that I admire, or I could host more benefit concerts. I'm not sure, but I know that I want that to be a bigger part of my life. It's important to me. So those are some of my thoughts about the near-term future.

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And on that note: happy New Year! I hope you all are staying warm and doing well.

Best wishes,

Ben

Hello, Newgrounds! How are you?

Before jumping into my monthly update, I'd like to encourage you to visit the Tank Tribune (@TheTankTribune). Its creator, Dohn, has been going through a difficult period. Given how much Dohn has contributed to Newgrounds over the last decade, it would be wonderful if the community could help him out. Please consider supporting him through his Patreon account.

Alright, and onto some music (and other random stuff!)

Three Of A Mind

In October, I collaborated with pianists Graham Yates and Carl Logue on a concert called "Three of a Mind".

Because there were three of us but only two pianos, we called it a "trio for two pianos", and paired off for different pieces.

We performed music by Gershwin, Bach, Schumann, Ravel, and others. Most of the arrangements were original to us. For example, I contributed an original arrangement of "An American in Paris", by George Gershwin.

     You can watch the concert here.

     Sheet music of my "American In Paris" arrangement is available for subscribers to my website.

You Are My Sunshine

Speaking of collaboration, I also worked with my dad on a project this past month.

My father, Dwight Tibbetts, is a very good arranger for brass quintet. Dwight founded two brass quintets: one in Maine, called the "Downeast Brass"; and one in Florida, called the "Coastal Brass".

We worked together to arrange "You Are My Sunshine", which was my grandfather's favorite song. It was recently published on Brass Music Online.

     Go here for more information.

All Things Bright And Beautiful

Earlier this year, my friend Brittney Benavidez Smith produced a solo piano arrangement of the Christian hymn "All Things Bright And Beautiful".

I performed it at my church, the Trinity Church of Austin, and this past month I recorded it for her as well.

I want to thank Brittney for letting me learn, perform, and record her music. It's been a lot of fun!

     You can listen to this recording here.

The Audio Store

Also in October, I released a couple new tracks on my audio store. New work included a waltz for violin and harp, a collection of music for synthesizers and orchestral instruments, and a collection of free jazz piano compositions.

That last set of tracks was produced on commission. The style was based on the work of jazz pianist Cecil Taylor. Honestly, I find this genre a little abrasive, but it's also exciting! Everyone has different tastes.

     Visit the Audio Store to hear these new tracks (and older ones).

Publicly Released Sketches

I also released some musical sketches in October. These are abandoned tracks from commissions and projects.

I'm not sure if releasing these is always useful. In general, though, I like the idea of sharing work in progress, provided it's clearly marked as such.

These sketches are a glimpse into my writing process. The ideas didn't fully pan out, but maybe you'll enjoy them anyway.

     You can listen to these tracks on a page I've created, called the "Cutting Room Floor".

Interview with Composer Kevin Olson

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing composer Kevin Olson. Kevin is a very talented composer who's written an enormous amount of work, especially piano music.

The interview was produced by Central Texas Composers, a small music publishing group that I'm associated with here.

We spoke about music, creativity, education, piano pedagogy, avoiding writer's block, and other related topics.

     You can watch or listen to this interview online.

The Great Bus Fire of 2009

I've been working with the Boston Public organization. Specifically, I've been volunteering as a cameraman for a televised talent show / open mic called "The ATX Underground".

In September, I took the stage on that program to perform an original short story. It's called "The Great Bus Fire of 2009", and it's based on true events. The performance was released on my YouTube channel last month.

Caution: this video has some adult language. It's not for children.

     You can watch that television appearance via YouTube.

That's about it for this monthly update. I hope some of this was interesting or useful! And if you're just reading to stay in touch, great. Feel free to reach out. I hope to hear from you.

Thanks for watching, listening, and reading. Until next time.

Ben

Hello, Newgrounds! It's good to check in here. I noticed that @JamesLee posted a new video about his Patreon...well, it's Nox's Patreon, really. I signed up to support him at the $2 tier, and was delighted to find that his patron-exclusive video updates are actually in character. Pretty awesome. So I suggest y'all go support him for a few bucks. Then you, too, can enjoy secret updates from this weird, dark character that's become as iconic as any originating on Newgrounds.

And this news post is my own update, which I'll admit is definitely less entertaining. Maybe I should have Nox post my news from now on. Regardless, I made a video to cover what's happened in my life these past two months, or you can read the edited transcript if you prefer that.

Music for a Funeral: "The Rising"

www.bentibbetts.net/rising

The month of August started out on a sad note, with the loss of a friend. My old buddy Adam Zibura passed away on August 4 at the age of thirty-three.

Adam was awesome. He was one of the most altruistic, self-sacrificing people I ever met. It was awful to lose him at what felt like too early an age. I was looking forward to many more years of his company.

I flew up to Maine to attend his funeral on August 10, and made a piano arrangement to perform at the event. The song I arranged was "The Rising", by Bruce Springsteen.

"The Rising" can be interpreted a few different ways. I hear it as an ode to service-men and -women, as well as an encouragement to people struggling through difficult times.

I thought that was appropriate for Adam. He was a volunteer firefighter and he worked as a 911 dispatcher. He believed in serving his community. It meant a lot to him.

Music for a Documentary: "The Music Came First"

www.bentibbetts.net/creedtaylor

Also in August, a film was released which featured music I wrote on commission. It was a documentary, called "The Music Came First", about the life of music producer Creed Taylor.

This film was produced by Snapshots Foundation. I was honored to be a part of that project, although it was intimidating to hear my background music alongside classic jazz and bossa nova.

Piano Students

www.bentibbetts.net/students

It was a busy two months for my piano students, and for me as a teacher.

A few of my students recently participated in a piano recital, and I've been putting new recordings and lesson materials on my website.

Music for Violin and Piano: "High Strung"

www.bentibbetts.net/highstrung

In my last update, I mentioned the "High Strung" concert, which was a collaboration between a bunch of musicians to put on original music for violin and piano. Those recordings are now available online.

One of the pieces on the concert was my musical re-telling of "The Emperor's New Clothes". It featured violinist Phil Davidson and mezzo-soprano Julie Silva.

Future Projects

On Saturday October 8, I'll be performing in "Three of a Mind: A Trio for Two Pianos". This is a concert of piano four-hands music (and sometimes six-hands) with my friends Graham Yates and Karl Logue. Our program will include Bach's Inventions, Gershwin's "American In Paris", and Ravel's "Bolero". This will be at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin, at 7:30pm. Tickets are $15 for adults, free for children/students of the performers: EventBrite

Other works in progress include music for pump organ (an instrument you pump with your feet to make sound), preparations for a benefit concert in December, more tracks for the audio store, and an update to the website that will enable me to sell items individually.

Conclusion

And that's about it. Sorry I missed last month...I guess this one's a bi-monthly update?

Anyway, feel free to reach out and let me know how you're doing. I hope you are well. :)

Best wishes,

Ben