Scott D. Farquhar

Some Friends Who Need A Home

scottfarquhar — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:36:14 +0000

Meet Tora and Weezer!

Tora and Weezer are brothers, about 5 years old. They began their lives in back of my brother’s house in Laurel where they lived with their mother and another brother. I was at a point where I was ready to have some feline friends in my life so I decided to bring them home with me. They lived with me for a couple years at my row home in SW Baltimore, and then moved with me to my new home in Pikesville.

Tora

Tora is a long and handsome brown/black/grey striped tabby. My brother’s wife was calling him Tiger as a young kitten, so I just switched gears a bit and went with the Japanese for tiger. Tora is the more outgoing and social of the two. Although I wouldn’t call him a lap cat, he is most likely to jump up in my lap when I am sitting at the computer for big hugs and pets. He *loves* nuzzling, and even tries to do it on the dog here at the house!

Weezer

Weezer has gorgeous and soft grey fur. He is not, as you may suspect, named after the band. This is a bit of a story, but I’ll share. It was quite challenging to figure out Weezer’s name. He was called Ash as a young kitten, and I first tried variations of that in other languages. As a kitten (and still sometimes today) he would curl up next to me while on the bed and knead into the crook of my armpit. His purrs became very loud and vigorous and sounded like an old man wheezing. I was amazed the first time he did this and asked, “What, are you wheezing? Are you a Wheezer?” Since he looked right up at me at that moment, it seemed we had the right name! Weezer (I just think it looks better without the “h”) is a total sweetheart. He is the one who will lie next to you in bed or even curl up on your chest or legs. Even if he is curled up on the other side of the room, he’ll come over and lie with you once you lie down.

Shared Traits……

Both cats share a fondness for belly rubs. Especially at feeding time. This is also a trait they share with their mother and brother who still live outside at my brother’s house! They will stretch out and roll back and forth, and are almost always quite happy to have their bellies rubbed. Other than the very beginning of their lives, they have both lived indoors. However, they are very curious about the outside world. They LOVE going out on the screened porch or sitting in the window. I have no doubts that they will enjoy any safe outdoor environment at a new home.

Health and Development

Weezer and Tora are quite healthy and happy cats. They are both neutered and have had their shots. They are perfectly faithful litterbox users. They have developed quite a bit since their feral-like beginning as kittens. Living in this home with three humans and a dog has been a helpful process for them. Although they may always be described as a bit skittish, especially around strangers, they will certainly bond with any gentle and caring person in their lives.

Why do they need new homes?

My housemates are a married couple, and they have a brand new baby boy here! It’s very exciting. Although Mommy loves the cats, she has always been allergic to them. We have tried everything over the years to allow the cats to be here, but it has reached the point where the negative health repercussions to her, and now indirectly the baby, make it no longer feasible to have these friends living with us. They are so very important to me that my first thought was to move out and take them with me. However, after some soul-searching I decided that my home is here and I can’t let the new business I started become a failure after only 2 years of investment. So the best decision is to find a new and loving home for both of them. Are you that home?! I really hope so!

Weezer and Tora have been together since they were kittens. I would love for them to stay together. However, even if you think you may be willing to adopt one of them I would like to hear from you!

If you think you may be the right friend for my friends and are willing to have them in your home, then please contact me. I very much want to place them with somebody found through my network of friends. I will always care for them, want to hear how they are doing, and maybe even have a chance to visit!

The best e-mail to use for me is musicgeekscott@gmail.com

Summer Lesson Special

scottfarquhar — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:20:25 +0000

Summer Music Lesson Special for New Students

Want to take some music lessons over the summer?

It’s a great way for students in school programs to keep playing during the summer break. It’s also a fun summer activity for adults!

Going on vacation? No problem! As long as we have proper notice we can schedule around your vacation and make sure you get all your lesson time.

Get twelve 45-minute clarinet lessons for less than $33 per lesson, or twelve 30-minute piano lessons for only $20.75 per lesson!

Click HERE to register now for Summer Lessons with me at BigBlueMusicHouse.com!

This offer is available for any brand new student! Lessons may, of course, continue after the summer at our regular discounted tuition rates.

Souvenir

scottfarquhar — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:57:12 +0000

Poster for the show:

This is a big one for me, so I hope folks will choose to come see this one. It would mean quite a lot to see familiar faces during the run!

Tickets are available at:

Vagabond Players

Cheers!

–Scott

Commission Page Updated

scottfarquhar — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 14:56:06 +0000

I just updated my commissions page. Commissions are a strange thing. The details of the process are probably a bit unknown to most people out there today, since they aren’t really as common as they were back in the 1800s.

I think in my quest to be detailed about the process on the old page resulted in a presentation that was too confusing or intimidating.

Fundamentally, it is a very simple concept. You pay an artist to create something for you. I can create music for you, and would be pleased to do so!

If commissioning a new piece of music doesn’t sound like your thing, then I encourage you to buy a painting, sketch, or sculpture from a local artist. Hire a guitarist for a special party instead of just playing CDs. Go to a local theatrical production or concert instead of that blockbuster movie.

Think of how much richer of a world we would have if everyone, just once a year, paid a local artist to be creative? This is above and beyond just giving them a meal or two or contributing to their rent. (Although that’s certainly important for all of us!) It’s also about giving an artist that wonderful moment where they can see that what they do is respected and valued as it should be.

Time to get off my soapbox…

Cheers to all!

Firefly Theme

scottfarquhar — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 04:22:54 +0000

Did this recently, and thought I’d share:

Totems of the Grizzlemaw

scottfarquhar — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 22:03:40 +0000

I’ve been a little low key on posting this video so far. I’m worried that Blizzard Copyright Stormtroopers might come after me. However, there’s an awful lot of videos posted of piano versions of music from WoW. I also don’t see a lot of them giving proper credit to the composer, encouraging them to play the game and become Blizzard customers, and clearly stating where the sheet music can be legally obtained. And I purposefully didn’t credit myself or try to reference this in any way as some sort of money making effort. This was done for fun… as a labor of love… and to test the ability of my iPhone to make a decent video recording of my piano playing.

I hope folks enjoy it, and comments are welcome:

New Release! Poem, by Zdenko Fibich

scottfarquhar — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 21:53:33 +0000

Now available at CDBaby, and coming soon to iTunes and other online sources of music!

I almost feel a little funny trying to hawk something that isn’t even quite 2 minutes for 99 cents, but this really is a neat piece of music. I got a little obsessed on it for a week or two, and this culminated in my decision to go ahead and produce a recording.

It is also available on my Get Music page.

I hope folks enjoy it!

Closing Out the Summer Shows

scottfarquhar — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 20:00:53 +0000

Wow, what a ride!

Last weekend was the closing weekend for The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company summer shows. I had the pleasure of playing Snug in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and I filled the role of Sound Designer for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged).

According to an article at broadwayworld.com, almost 6,000 folks came out and attendance records were made. I feel very lucky to have been a part of this, and I look forward to other opportunities in the future.

Now that the shows are over, I have August to focus on getting things going with The Big Blue Music House. Some other work opportunities are coming down the pipeline, but I’d like to get a good handful of students in place before September hits. If anyone out there is looking for some piano or clarinet lessons, please let me know!

Hopefully in the next few days I will be able to announce the brand new release of my latest recording effort. I was skimming through a music book that was given to me as a gift some years ago called The Library of Piano Classics. It is a very thick collection of solo piano pieces. I had dog-eared a page (way back when I first looked through the book) for a piece called “Poem” by a composer named Zdenko Fibich. I must have found it interesting at that time, and so I played through it again and became rather focused on it for a good week. I decided to go ahead and try to produce a recording. It’s a very short work, not even 2 minutes. But it proved to be a good little compact project that would help me feel productive during this downtime. And I had designed a new template of cover art for the Joplin rags I want to do eventually and it seemed like a good way to see how that would look after online distribution.

This is all for now… More news coming soon!

Compleat Works Opens

scottfarquhar — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 14:15:32 +0000

So this weekend marked the opening of (The Reduced) Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s production of The Compleat Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). Two words… Fun… ny…! Go see it!

I had the honor of executing the duties of Sound Design for this production, and this was definitely a lot of fun. I went opening night and decided to take a blanket and a picnic basket so I could engage in the experience as a spectator. I had a very nice moment while waiting for the play to begin…

My recording of Pure Imagination was included in the pre-show music. I hadn’t really thought of including it when the discussion of what to choose first came up, since I didn’t think of it as matching the vibe or mood. It also felt a little cheesy in my mind to throw in something of mine. However the director (thanks, (other) Scott!) asked if I had something of mine to include and after talking about it he was very encouraging.

So I’m there on my blanket relaxing. Eventually my track came on, so I was hearing it in the context of everyone else in the audience. My blanket was next to another blanket with a group of four folks (two couples, it looked like). Since I was still by myself at that moment (my housemates arrived later), I couldn’t help but overhear some of their chat as they enjoyed their picnic and talked about the wine. There was a pause in their conversation, and then one of them said, “This is nice music.”

Although I am always trying to get better at shameless self-promotion, I only briefly toyed with the idea of saying, “You like this?!? This is me!!! I have a download card I can sell you for a dollar!!!!!” Instead I sat, smiled, sipped my beer, and was insufferably pleased with myself in silence.

One of the other things to come to light by attending as a spectator was that I felt like more opening music was needed. I didn’t like the idea that early picnic attendees might have to hear the same track 2 or even 3 times. This is the kind of thing that annoys me when I go to an event. So I compiled another 80 or so minutes of pre-pre show music.

Guess what?

I sneaked my other track in….. I feel so self-indulgently scandalous!

Shhhhhhhhhhhh…. don’t tell anyone!

Midsummer Opens!

scottfarquhar — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 14:11:46 +0000

So last night was the opening night for Chesapeake Shakespeare Company‘s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Wow…

I feel very lucky and proud to be a part of this event. We had a great audience, and the casual outdoor festival atmosphere surrounding the whole thing fits well with me and also makes the experience extremely rewarding as a performer.

I was sitting backstage at the ruins during some downtime playing around with my iPhone, and at one point I glanced up at the sky and the moon. I could hear my fellow actors onstage and heard a wonderful reaction from the audience. I took a deep breath and thought about what a cool place and special moment in time it was.

Everyone should come see this…!