An Open THANK YOU to MG Jacobs,
Hi MG,
I am about to release my completed drum and bugle corps "sonata" or whatever it would technically be called ( medley? ). Your inspiration and confidence has been the total motivation for me to even attempt such a project. I honestly did not think I had nearly enough ability to accomplish it and mentioned to you that if I were to try to put something like that together, it would take me at least a year. I have worked on it since Oct. 30th and now after only 6 weeks it is about 1 - 3 days from completion. It will be about 20 minutes long. I won't take the space here to mention all the trials, tribulations, and frustrations that went along with it ( only operating currently with 512MB RAM ). The file got so long that even simple editing took forever. I was constantly faced with problems such as " how do I make a big band jazz song sound decent using drum and bugle instrumentation? ". There are no saxophones, guitars, piano, strings, clarinets, bass, etc. in a drumline. Strangely, there is very little loss of sound quality using only chromatic percussion and brass. In addition to some of my original compositions, I have also added a few songs that are not my own compositions but ones that I have simply arranged. Believe it or not, I have actually written my own drum parts (a major accomplishment for me). Again, I just want to offer you my sincere gratitude for your continued inspiration and urging. Thank you, MG!

Merry Christmas!
Fred