Hello, Newgrounds! I've started a mailing list to update people on my creative work. If you'd like to join it, let me know and send me your email address. I plan on sending an update once a month. Here's the email I sent last night.

Hello! If you're reading this, then you are on my mailing list.

I'm using this list to update people on my latest creative work, which is always posted on www.bentibbetts.net. I plan to send one of these emails every month.

This first email will likely be the longest, since it attempts to cover a backlog of previously unreleased material. I personally hate reading long emails, so in case any of you are like me I've created a video version of this message which you can watch here:

If you'd prefer not to be on this mailing list, please reply and let me know. Thank you!

Personal Life

I currently live in rural Maine and work as a caregiver for my brother. I'm playing piano, making music, and having fun. I'll be here in Maine until mid-May. After that, I'll be moving someplace, possibly to Austin. I'm experiencing wanderlust, like many of us after being cooped up during the recent pandemic.

New Website

BenTibbetts.net is kind of a professional-and-personal website, rolled into one. I revamped it this month, and this email will cover some of the new content.

I've added a page outlining my professional services. Basically I do piano performance, working with sheet music, producing musical audio, and teaching private lessons. If you know someone for whom any of this would be useful, feel free to pass on my information. (Except no new students right now, since I'm probably moving soon.)

I've also added an archive which gathers most of my content in one place.

Montague Falls and Prayer in A Major

Montague Falls and Prayer in A Major were two short pieces I composed last year and released together. Prayer is for violin and piano, and Montague Falls is for solo piano.

Nocturne by Baize Liu

I recently recorded Baize Liu's Nocturne, which he kindly composed for me after I left UMass last year. I got to know Baize through weekly meetings at UMass with student composers, during sessions we called "Composers in a Classroom Getting Coffee". (The name was obviously inspired by Jerry Seinfeld's show, "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee", which I recommend.)

Orchard Covenant Church Preludes

From June 2019 to March 2020, I recorded most of the preludes I performed at Orchard Covenant Church. Those are now available on the website. These musical fantasies were improvised using material from the services.

Music and Ideas

Music and Ideas is a podcast I did last year. The idea was to talk about music and composers I liked and then perform improvisations based on them. The last episode, which is on The Godfather and Fortunella, is available for free. The other episodes are available to subscribers.

Subscriptions

I'm using a subscription-based model for access to some of the content on my website. A subscription is $4/month. If you sign up you get access to anything I put behind that paywall. Right now, that's the Music and Ideas podcast, sheet music for my compositions, free copies of anything I put in the store, and a series of "work logs" where I (informally) show my working process. Subscribers also receive reduced rates on services such as commissions and piano accompaniment.

I hope to build this library of subscriber-only content over time. Someday, it would be wonderful to be fully supported by these subscriptions. I think that would give me a lot of autonomy and creative freedom. I could compose and produce content full-time without answering to anybody except my audience.

UMass Recitals

I've posted most of the UMass student recitals I worked on from 2018 to 2020.

Four Seasons

There is a newly released collection of four saxophone sonatas which depict the four seasons. There's one for summer (baritone sax), autumn (tenor), winter (soprano), and spring (alto). They were beautifully recorded by Nick Suosso and Peter Da Silva. That was a large, very satisfying project and I'm grateful to Nick and Peter for their hard work on these pieces.

Smosh Mosh Animated Miniseries

I've been writing music for a new animated miniseries, Smosh Mosh. I have to issue a warning here that Smosh Mosh contains mature-/adult-themed material including sexual content and nudity.

I have loved working with its creator, Janina Putzker, who is a delightful and passionate collaborator. We've almost finished the music for the pilot episode, but we still meet regularly to discuss and tweak the music. She hired a singer recently to record some of the cues I wrote. At one point I even sang music for the show myself, so I actually have a vocal performance in this pilot episode...what a crazy, fun project! (Hey Jani, if you're reading this: you're awesome, and thank you for hiring me. <3)

Student Recordings

I've posted several new recordings of my students playing the piano. Recently my brother Donald's performed a few pieces. Donald was my first piano student back in high school.

Conclusion

If you got all the way down to this sentence...well, you made it! This is the end.

And in the end, the love you take is equal the love you make.

Thanks for reading.

Ben