Tone Deaf at FMEA next week
By johnb on January 2nd, 2012
If you are attending the Florida Music Educators Association Clinic-Conference next week (January 11-14) please stop by the Tone Deaf Comics booth. We will be located at booth #9005. You can meet me, the creator, and get a signature and pick up some merchandise for your classroom! We will have everything there including our posters, shirts, and books.
Top Ten Tone Deaf Comics from 2011
By johnb on December 31st, 2011
Here are the top ten Tone Deaf comics from 2011 (as ranked by total pageviews)-
10. Intonation Pain Scale
9. Choir Room Rules
8. Tonal Functions of a Major Scale Go Clubbing
7. Marching Band Bingo
6. Top Ten Things Wind Players Do That Annoy Percussionists
5. First Suite in Eb Judge’s Critique
4. Band Room Rules
3. How Drill Charts Are Read
2. Top Ten Things Percussionists Do That Annoy Wind Players
1. What Mahler Symphony Did You Hear
If I’m going to be completely honest, the Mahler comic completely took me by surprise. I thought that one was going to be purely for my ego and that people would not really enjoy it. How wrong I was. As a cartoonist you never can tell what is going to hit and what isn’t. I guess the same goes for wind band music and anything else.
Thanks for reading all of my comics from 2011 and I hope you stick around for 2012! I have lots of great things lined up and I invite you to check it all out. Thanks!
What have been some of your favorite Tone Deaf comics that did not appear on this list? Tell us in the comments section. Thanks!!!
Never the Same
By johnb on December 29th, 2011
Yesterday I was working on a puzzle at one of my wife’s relative’s house. When I do puzzles I always like to separate the border pieces from the interior pieces and do the border first. That’s how I always do puzzles.
However, I could not do that with this puzzle. It was a venticular puzzle (a puzzle that shows two different images depending on which angle you look at it). The other thing that made it difficult was that a lot of the pieces were cut the same exact way, meaning that one piece could fit in many many other parts of the puzzle, but the puzzle would not look right. You couple those two factors and you have a recipe for a difficult puzzle.
After putting the border together I soon realized that my usual way of putting together puzzles was not going to work. There were many pieces that I put in that border which did not belong in the right piece. I had to take it apart and restart. I had to start in one corner and then add pieces all the way to the other corner.
The point being is that you can not always expect your magical method of doing things to always work for everything, and this is especially true for students. What may work for one student doesn’t always work for another. There are no cookie cutter recipes in teaching. Dont’ be afraid to stray from what you know and try different techniques and approaches.
Grow Dammit!
By johnb on December 27th, 2011
Every day, on the way to my son’s bus stop we pass a house that is for sale. This house has been for sale since about April. Now, I know that the real estate market is pretty poor right now, but I have a theory on why it is not selling- there is a garden out front and right by the garden is this big metal sign that says “GROW DAMMIT!”
I would think that if you are selling a house the first impression you don’t want someone to have of it is this big huge sign that says GROW DAMMIT!
But, it got me thinking. Every one of us has a GROW DAMMIT. We all have something that is holding us back from achieving our true potential in something we strive to do, and all we have to do is get rid of this big huge sign in our life.
It could be something as simple as a sticky valve on your trumpet, and you know all you have to do is clean your trumpet and oil that valve. It’s an easy fix, but you just don’t do it, for whatever reason.
For me it has been Coca Cola. Every time I tried to quit it I got this huge headache (which I know can’t be good). I would suffer through those headaches because I knew they eventually would go away, and they did. However, there I was 2 to 3 weeks later drinking more Coke, then trying to quit again suffering through the same miserable headaches.
I know all I have to do is quit Coca Cola and just stop drinking it, but it has been hard for me. I haven’t had a drink of it in 4 months now, and I think I am safe from it (I don’t crave it like I have in the past when I wasn’t drinking it) but it was something so simple that I knew I just shouldn’t drink, but I kept doing it.
So what is your GROW DAMMIT? What is it that is holding you back, and you know it is, and if you stopped doing it, it would instantaneously make you better? Most likely it is something you have grown attached to so it may be hard to get rid of emotionally. Push yourself and get rid of your GROW DAMMIT so you can…well…grow (dammit).
New New Readers Page
By johnb on December 20th, 2011
For anybody that hasn’t noticed, I updated the New Readers page last week with the most up-to-date cast (and a group picture of everyone). I’ve also added a character in there that has yet to appear- Bernard. He is Ed’s doubt physically represented and you can find him this January. Yes, that storyline may be a little weird. Slightly.
Also, I’ve had some questions on how I did the picture of myself on this page. It really wasn’t that hard (it took a while- but not hard).
I started with a picture I took of myself at my desk:
Then I sketched on top of it and took away my original picture while cutting me out and inserting myself in the exact same spot:
Then the last step was just adding color and sprucing up the background slightly:
And no- I did not attend St. John’s University, but my name is John and I am a saint…and the sweatshirt was just $6, so how could I pass that up?!
And yes- that is my Madison Scouts jacket on my chair from when I marched and I do still wear it. And no- I have never washed it…although I think it is time.
December 19th- Last Day to Buy to Get Merchandise Before the Holidays
By johnb on December 17th, 2011
December 19th is the last day to buy merchandise from the Tone Deaf Store if you want it before the holidays! (Orders in the USA only) For International orders you will have to check out what the USPS has to say about those orders, but I believe the day has past already.
If you have never visited our Tone Deaf Store please go check it out. We have lots of great items for you, your classroom, or your friends, family, or teachers (as gifts!).
The First Tone Deaf Compilation- Tone Poems That Rhyme With Orange. This book collects all of the strips from the first year and a half of the comic. A great buy for long band trips.
Music Shirts- right now we have 4 shirts available with one of them being on sale for only $8- the Ravel’s Carpal Tunnel Shoppe shirt!
And Posters- right now we have 15 different types of posters to choose from, including band, choir, percussion, and ridiculous music posters. Also, until December 25th, we are having a Buy 3 Posters Get 1 Free sale so be sure to take advantage of that as well!
Thanks for your support and have a great holiday season!
Narrow Viewpoint
By johnb on December 15th, 2011
“If, every time you ride a bus, you only look out the windows on one side, then you are going to miss out on what is on the other side. Plus, you’ll get a pain in your neck.”
(I had this thought while riding the monorail at Disney a few months ago)
Can anybody word this better? Please? Thanks!
The Case for Self-Publishing, with John Mackey and Steven Bryant
By johnb on December 13th, 2011
John Mackey and Steven Bryant were very nice to take time out of their day and fill us with lots of great reasons why you should go the self-publishing route. Take a listen and learn from two guys who self-publish for a living.
You can find John Mackey’s music at www.ostimusic.com and Steven Bryant’s music at www.stevenbryant.com.
Also, if you have an extra $5 go contribute to the Digital Embrace project on Kickstarter. Every little bit helps out!
Marching Band Arrangements
By johnb on December 8th, 2011
I don’t want to use this blog for this purpose too often, but this is one of those times.
As some of you might know I am also a marching band arranger. I have done this, actually, as my day job for the last ten years, so I have quite a bit of experience at it. I also have 3 concert pieces that are published as well that I wrote within that time period.
But back to to the marching band arrangements. I wanted to let you know, if you are a
high school band director, that I still have a couple of writing slots open for your 2012 marching band show. If you are interested, please contact me and we can talk about specifics and I can answer any questions you might have. Bands of mine in the past have made BOA regional finals and also have won their respective state championships.
While my arrangements do well competitively, my main goal is to make them entertaining, without dumbing them down. A good example is this Mozart show I wrote for a band in Minnesota this past year.
Also, here is a latin show that uses The Firebird as its opener, in true latin form. The rest of the show is original music by myself. The percussion music was written by Clif Walker.
As I stated above, I also write original music. One thing I try to do with my original music is still make it memorable, as if it were an arrangement of a pre-existing concert piece. One show, in particular, that I am quite proud of is the Bent show I wrote a few years ago.
I also really like my Burning of Troy show, which was performed by a band down here in Florida. The percussion is by Kent Hurlock.
So, if you are looking for a marching band arranger for this upcoming year please contact me and let me know what type of show you are looking at doing. I have ten years of experience under my belt of writing quality shows. I can also help you develop a show concept as well, if you are looking for that.
Thanks!
Feeding My Family
By johnb on December 6th, 2011
Last week I mentioned that my family and I are taking a huge step with Tone Deaf Comics by going full time with it starting in January. I can not tell you how appreciative I am of the many many positive and inspirational emails/comments you have sent me. It really means a lot.
In many of the emails people asked what they could do to help. Or, they also mentioned that they could not buy anything right now, which is a-okay. Well, there are many ways to support Tone Deaf. Here are some ways that you can help:
1) Buy stuff at the Tone Deaf Store
If you like Tone Deaf and you want to see if keep going, this is a very good way to keep the operations chugging along. We have many great items in the store including posters for your classroom (or home!), hilarious shirts, and even the first Tone Deaf book which includes the first year and a half of comics.
I would like to say though, that if you can not purchase anything right now, don’t. I know how hard it is being tight with cash so don’t feel like you have to purchase anything. Also, if you have a ton of credit card debt then do not purchase anything! Take care of your priorities first and pay off that debt. Our stuff will still be here later.
2) Visit the website
Even though it doesn’t seem like visiting the site will do anything (since you are reading the comic for free), but it does a lot. The more visitors (and page views) that I have on my site the more I get paid for the ads on my site. And yes, I do agree that the ads are ugly and if I had a choice to not have them on there I would take them off. But, they do bring in a considerable amount of money for me right now so they are here to stay. Again, the more page views the better.
I know some of you use adblocking programs and that’s okay. I totally understand. But, if you visit my site a lot then perhaps show a little love by purchasing something from my store every now and then.
3) Share our comics with your friends
This is probably the best thing you can do to support Tone Deaf comics. So far I have not spent a dime on advertising my comic. All of the traffic has been generated due to word of mouth by you, the fans, which is totally awesome! And, it is so easy to share our comics. Just click on the comic image and drag it to your preferred social networking site. The ease of sharing is already built in!
Another way to share the comic is to post it on a website. If you do this just be sure to include a link back to my website and give credit where credit is due. I love it when people share my comics, but it is really important to have that link back to my site and to give us credit.
4) Donate
Actually, I don’t accept donations. I don’t have a problem if other webcomics accept them, but for me I would rather you get something physical in return for your generosity. If you feel like just giving me money just head over to my store and buy something.
Thanks for everything so far. Again, I can not tell you how appreciative I am for everything you, the fans, have done to support Tone Deaf so far. I really could not be doing this without you guys. Take care and have a great week!