There’s less than one week to get your designs entered into the contest! We’ve seen some great ideas come through, which will already make the judging difficult. We’re sure some of you are holding out until the final days to submit your entries (and we’re not just talking about Mark’s finger-paint design), so don’t miss out by losing track of the date.
Your thoughts and comments have also been very helpful to both the designers and us, so check out the current entries and give your constructive comments. A simple “like” or “not so much” work fine as well.
As summer starts Tonic Sol-fa is preparing to go back to school. We are thrilled with the opportunity to work directly with students from eleven schools and perform for their respective communities throughout the state of Minnesota this fall and next spring. This past spring, the Minnesota State Arts Board awarded an Arts Learning Grant to these eleven communities and we are honored to be the teaching artists. Officially, these activities are made possible in part by a grant provided by the Minnesota State Arts Board, through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature from the Minnesota arts and cultural heritage fund with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.
Tonic Sol-fa has had the good fortune to perform together for many years and it has been quite an education for us in many respects; from improving on-stage performance and off-stage preparation involving vocal technique, arranging, effective rehearsal, etc., to the crucial business details of promotion, publicity and networking. We look forward to sharing our knowledge and experience with these students and equally, learning about the music that they are enthusiastic about and the career opportunities that they aspire to realize.
As the summer progresses we will be completing our study guides for these master classes and posting blogs about and vlogs of the master class sessions. We will also give a nod to our mentors and influences, those individuals or groups that have inspired us along the way and whose music we draw from to create our own.
If you like would like more information on grant programs, follow this link, check out the grant link on the bottom of our booking page or simply send us an email.
Have you been skeptical of our past CD covers? Are you constantly doodling on every piece of paper you come across? Do you prefer functioning more with the right side of your brain? Check out our new contest for all you seasoned (and “wanna-be”) designers. Here’s your opportunity to increase your design portfolio, and earn a few prizes as well. Enter your best CD design for our new holiday release, “March of the Kings”, for your chance to have your creation on a bunch of Tonic Sol-fa merchandise, and win some cool stuff as well. For more information, go to http://www.tonicsolfa.com/holiday-cd-design-contest-terms-and-conditions/
As many of you know, earlier this year we released an album of our ballads entitled “Something Beautiful”. Having planned this perfectly in time for Valentines Day, it was a huge hit. Many of you appreciated the ballad CD idea, and wanted an album of our more upbeat songs as well. Either that, or you didn’t like our ballad CD, and wanted a CD of our upbeat songs instead. What we’ve come up with is “Something For The Rest Of Us”, an album to keep you moving, help you clean the house, get the car washed, keep you conscious on the drive, and many other things you want to be awake for. The album will be available soon on our website, so watch for that announcement.
We have a new iphone app that we’re working on, and will hopefully be available within the next few weeks. The new app will provide more material, better up-to-date concert information, and an overall happiness felt when using it. Our previous app is no longer available on itunes, and while the previous version will still work on your phone, updates will no longer be made to it. Sorry for any inconvenience, or disappointment brought to you by this sad news. Send your complaints to Mark via our contact page.
We try and try to post blogs and news as often as we can, but most times fail miserably. In an effort to see our dream of recurring blogs come to fruition amidst our writers block (and o.k., occasional bouts of laziness), we are holding the first annual “Tonic Sol-fa blog contest”!
The blog can be about whatever Tonic Sol-fa related topic you’d like: a concert experience, introduction to our music, fist-fight with Plastic Santa, bumping into Shaun at the local Walgreens. Anything, just try and keep it PG. To be eligible for a chance to win one of our fabulous prizes it has to contain all of the following:
- Our website address (www.tonicsolfa.com) including the hyperlink to our site. Please, no hyperlinks in blog other than ours.
- Blog content having to do with our group, group members, Tonic Sol-fa’s music, etc. (Must mention Tonic Sol-fa).
- Must be in English and have limited spelling and/or grammatical errors.
- Blog should be at least 150 words. No duplicate content.
- The post must be accessible from the home page.
- You agree to leave the blog up for at least 6 months.
If this doesn’t scare you off, you can submit your full name, email address, and link to your blog entry to info@tonicsolfa.com with the subject BLOG CONTEST . We will then choose first, second, and third place winners from the eligible entries. Winners will be chosen April 15th, 2011.
Prizes:
1st Place: Pick a song for our 2011 Holiday Tour set-list (from a list of pre-determined song options). Each night we will introduce the tune as your preferred TSF selection.
2nd Place: Be a part of our video pitch to the History Channel and Discovery TV.
3rd Place: Name our upcoming holiday CD release (pending TSF final approval).
Tonight’s show in Norfolk, NE at the Johnny Carson theater has been postponed, due to weather, until tomorrow night at 8pm, immediately following the Bel-Air elementary school program. Tonight’s tickets will be honored tomorrow evening and any remaining available tickets will be sold at the door. Any questions call 841-2578.
Tonic Sol-fa has a limited number grant opportunities provided by the regional and state art boards of Minnesota to be used in particular areas of the state for educational and performance purposes. If you are a Minnesota music educator and would like to see if your school would qualify fill out the form here.
We’re looking for liaisons to help in monitoring our publicity efforts in some of our holiday tour cities. These persons would provide up-to-date information regarding our publicity efforts for our holiday shows. This will include checking on posters, listening for radio ads and interviews, watching for t.v. ads, looking for newspaper ads and write-ups, etc. We’d need you to check in at scheduled intervals with our tour manager, which will correspond with scheduled publicity efforts, etc.
If this sounds like something you’d be interested in helping out with, please sign up for our street team, and complete the order associated with the city of your choice (to receive proper recognition), or contact us via info@tonicsofa.com
Hey musicians and sound-junkies! We’re selling some of our previously used equipment, as we’ve upgraded a number of items in our sound system. The following items are for sale and the product’s specifications can be viewed by clicking on each specific item. Pricing inquiries and additional questions should be sent to mark@tonicsolfa.com . Cold cash is appreciated and preferred, but bartering, indentured servitude, and baked goods are negotiable.
TSF vs. Tough Mudder Not entirely sure what we're thinking when signing up for this event. Sure, last year we jumped out of a plane, but once [...]
Feb 2
Tonic Sol-fa and Wounded Warrior Project For our Tough Mudder run, we've chosen the Wounded Warrior Project as our charity, because only a course this tough give [...]
