MUSINGS...by Beverly Rieger

Marketing is an interesting thing. It can become a deal where everyone is viewed as a customer, when actually everyone is a brilliant soul walking in their own journey. Lately I have seen quite a few marketing resources.....telling me how to get my message out.....use online Facebook etc to ask people to be friends, but then try to sell them music. Obviously, if I don't get the word out about my music, no one can find it. So...the concept is valid, but the method is manipulative. I do have a Twitter account and it's time that I started tweeting. I also have a MySpace account that is just waiting for people to stop by and chat. So, to all who are reading this Musing.....you are not a "contact"....you are a friend whether we have met or not. As I write this, I am listening to a new piece of music that I have written which is called "Reaching Out". Going into the recording studio to create this music, I didn't bring my Kurzweil, my Mayan flutes, ...

This week brought many opportunities to be outdoors as September brings the change of seasons. The skies are brilliant blue and the trees still have enough green to contrast the new oranges and reds. On my computer monitor, these colors are bright and clear. On Walt's they are more muted and a little more gray...reminding me again that everything online is filtered through our own personal equipment. What I see is not necessarily (or probably) what you will see. When I send something through regular US mail as hard copy, I can be pretty sure of what you will see, although a lot of that kind of mail is thrown away before being opened. There is also the issue of sending out more paper to be thrown away and add to the pollution of the planet. On the other hand....many computer spam filters make sure that you don't even get a chance to see anything that I send online. So.....yikes! How does a person market to the larger world? That is the dilemma of someone who is marketing...

Of course it is not quite 4am and here I am with my cup of coffee and writing to all of you. As I read back on my blogs, I realize that there is mention of early morning hours in almost all of them. Obviously my biological, creative "clock" is set for being awake to enjoy the beauty of night and early morning. There is a light and steady rain this morning, and the peepers and crickets are calling outside my window. I have created so much music over the last few years that I forget what I have actually done. So I am listening intentionally to all of my albums. What do I notice especially? Lots of nature, lots of rhythm, strong melodies in some pieces, and no melody in others, but always the center point is the heart and the sacredness of all of life around us and our own personal journey for this lifetime. This last week I have had the privilege of responding to e-mail correspondence from customer/friends whom I don't hear from often. That is one of my favorite treats...