New Years Update: Nearing the end of the 2nd year, and a contest idea

Time to discuss some things I've been needing to discuss. First off we'd like to say happy new year to those whom are reading this on New Years day, or happy day for those reading and it's not! There appears to be an end to the computer problem in sight! After a few two weeks of headaches and frustrations over having a failed hard drive, I have someone working on it for me. Hopefully within the next few days, I'll be able to finish the final discussion post from my previous series so I can post the finale and move on to the next series. Because of this delay I am starting up a new safety protocol for blog articles via backing up on a DropBox and on SkyDrive.

There is a new look in store for the site as well. Here is the new official logo for ASMTB which was given to us by Clayton Daniels. Link to his deviantArt by clicking here. Go look at his manga stuff, it's really impressive. I love his style and his shading technique for his art. There may be a collaboration with him in the future. ;) There will be a new background up once I finish reinstalling everything back to my computer.

ASMTB's 2014 logo

Speaking of collaborating, we are giving an open invitation to anyone who would like to collaborate with ASMTB staff. We have done it before with Hit Me With Music's Anu Pattabiraman and Uni Bram. We are willing to work around whatever you are wanting to do. For example, Anu and Uni wanted to do a theory lesson, so they posted a sample of their book and a link to their KickStart. If you would like to apply for a collaboration then send us an email through our blog email or  a message to any of our social medias (all links in the header bar).

I have been working on bringing back some old classics for everyone to enjoy along with setting up a new series. The first I am bringing back is the music theory lessons! As the name of the site implies, there needs to be a music theory series in a site founded on music theory. Starting at the end of the month, I am going to begin the music theory lessons again. Things will not be the same as before however because I am going to experiment with types of delivering theory lessons in preparation of some projects in hiding. Secondly, I have decided to bring back the practicing tips series along side Faith. This will not be back anytime soon, but before the end of this season of ASMTB (March 2014) I will have them started back. Lastly, I have decided to try a series on only reviews. Once a month, I am planning on writing reviews on things that either I come across and want to give a shot or you recommend and review them. At this time, I am planning on reviewing CelloBello.com by the end of the month. Soon to be followed by "Hit Me With Music" as a copy was graciously donated to me by Anu Pattabiraman (Just so you know Anu, the reason is because I've decided to save it for a very special post but it'll be here soon! Plus I want to make sure I review it as best I can. ;) ), a review of "The Music of the Temporalist" by Andre Pogoriloffsky along with the Free Metronome and ProMetronome apps by EMUlabs.com. Beyond this however, I am out of ideas. This leads me into an idea that I am going to implement.

For those who have topics, items you want reviewed, or any ideas that you would like to share with us we would like to hear them! We at ASMTB pride ourselves on the quality of material that we post and share with you and in order the ensure this quality, we are asking for feedback. We really appreciate feedback and sharing of this site and our other sites (this page, FB, Twitter, SoundCloud and our affiliated groups' website/socials at Team Young Spark). To help promote this request for feedback and getting to understand our faithful readers, we are going to begin a contest series. The will not be an exact day that it will appear but there will be one a month. The prize will range from contest to contest however for the first one, it will be a $10 iTunes gift cards.  I am open to suggestions for more prizes but there will not be a guarantee I will do it. Official rules for this contest will be later in this month but the question will be to review us. Write a review of this site from whatever angle you want. The only requirement is there should be a minimum of 100 words, but should you feel contempt to write more then go ahead. As I previously stated, we pride ourselves on our quality of work and our easy to understand context with our lesson-based writings. This is also why I took forever to replace our last writers, and why I chose Faith to join the team. You have one month to do start so get to writing!

Along with feedback, it would really be appreciative to us and for the people who are wanting to start advertising that you subscribe to us through Feedburner. It is as simple as clicking on the information box on the top right that asks for an email and entering it. We do not spam your inbox nor do we have news letters. Feedburner is here to keep you up to date with our posts and as a tool for us to use for research purposes. So if you like what you've read (minus this... unless you like this then awesome!) then please enter your email.

Advertising have been a rather popular question related to the site. At this time, we are beginning to start a BETA run for advertising (I'm a musician, not a technician or a magician so I have to learn how to code in the ads so I know the stats and etc.). Once I finish this BETA testing and it appears to work, I will open it up to whomever wants to pay for it. I was hoping on not going to the point of charging however life has come to the point of needing to find a job and since I want to make this succeed, the easiest way is to start ads. I will make sure that there will not be a charge for the information we teach or share. Also, there will be a limit to ads so it will not look like a page of ads from a newspaper. I will limit them to a handful of ads at a time, more than likely three or four ads on a page. Donations, however are always open if you feel moved enough to donate. If anyone is moved enough to donated towards this project (say $20+), then we can set up a thank you wall or work out a way to show our appreciation for your contribution.

Anyways, hopefully there was something that interested you in this update. There will be another one to celebrate the success of two years and the welcoming of our third year! Don't forget to share with social media and follow us via email/feedburner and on the social medias if you have one!

Caption Contest and some announcements! There's a great prize this time! :D

Hello everyone! Sulli here, and I have a few announcements:

First off, I caught a cold which led to my voice being completely gone so no Podcast today however I am going to post the interview in the next Podcast along with the next series. If you have a suggestion for the next series, then let us know by contacting us through Facebook, Twitter, or through email. I have something planned for it as of now but after that is open to what the viewers would like to see. For those who want to know the schedule, tomorrow will be a "How to Practice" episode by me, Thursday will have the next episode of "Organ: a Dissertation in Umpteen Parts".  Friday will be the next World Music Experiment episode, and finally after the lack of entries to the "Song of the Week" series, I've decided to put it on hold and will move the Composer's Vlog to Saturday. Keep submitting songs, because it will come back later on just don't expect anything immediately.

Secondly, I wanted to let everyone know how much I love and appreciate the support that you've been giving us. We finally hit the 8,000 viewer mark on May 30th and I have been talking about it on my personal Facebook but not on here, so thank you. If you haven't already subscribed to us then please do! We're working very hard to keep content on here up to date and entertaining.

The last thing is we are hosting a Caption Contest for an ASMTB "ParaChord" Bracelet (picture below). Shout out to Wayne for making it! Using the picture provided and either a meme generator or Photoshop, create a caption to go along with this picture and post it to us on either the Facebook page or the Twitter page. Best entry wins the bracelet and a shout out on both pages. If you can't think of anything, but you still want a bracelet you still have a chance! Just go onto either page (links are at the top on the Nav. bar), like/follow the page(s) and share the contest picture. If you can do that, you will be entered into winning one! So, let's start seeing some entries!! Good luck!

Here's the picture for the contest:

And here's a picture of the prize:

One ASMTB Para"Chord" Bracelet

A Series of Announcements! If you are subscribed, please read!

Hey guys, I'm here with an few announcements for you guys.

First off let's start by saying thank you guys! We've finally hit the 4,000 viewer mark! It's been a few days, and now we're closing in on the 5,000 viewer mark. Also, this is the first time the blog has had 1,000 views in a month! I am going to upload a video that the people on the Facebook page requested. For those who have been following me on Facebook or Twitter you also know of an upcoming contest. This is the official announcement of the 5,000 page viewer contest along with a few other things so keep reading!

The second announcement is I am adding a new author to the blog. Introducing Lester (also known as Distonal), a music education major at Long Island Univ. and a man who I've known for a long time. He will be the main author to the World Music Experiment, and will contribute a lot more to world music than I ever think of. He will also be sitting in on other topics that I will be talking about. I am also working on some cross overs in the near future as well from some other YouTube musicians, so stay tuned! I'm also taking in offers for the "song of the week" series. If you want to have something you've made posted on here, then submit it via the Facebook page, Twitter, or leave me a comment below with your name and the URL. I will consider anything you show me as long as it is music!

The next thing on my agenda of announcements is the fact that I've messed up rather badly. I read over some of the practice episodes and the theory lessons (before the suddenly vanished) and I know of the lack of quality versus the way they started out as. I would rather put a series on hold than give you wrong or very hard to understand topics so I am giving both of those series a temporary halt. Once I get through my end of the year stuff, I will start the series back up and clarify anything that you have to know. If you want me to answer a question before then, then send me a message to either Facebook(http://www.facebook.com/sulliadm) or Twitter(http://www.twitter.com/sulliadm).

As usual, don't forget to subscribe to Facebook or Twitter if you prefer! Between the admins (Yuki, Kyte and soon to be Lester) and myself, we try to keep fresh material on there daily. Also, if you have ever had something you want to ask Lester, to the other admins or to me directly, then I will be taking questions for an admin interview once the Facebook Page hits 100 likes! We are almost at 60, so if you want this to speed up then click the link above! And another note on communication; don't be afraid to comment on the articles themselves. I don't know a lot about your past when it comes to bloggers but I love interacting with the community I'm working hard to establish. If you want to say something, as long as it isn't offensive or spam I don't mind it. I love feedback, because it helps me get an idea on where my audience is and if something isn't to your liking, I want to improve on it. That's why it took so long to catch the problems with the episodes, I didn't know about it until one of my professors start pointing stuff out to me.

And finally, the moment you've been waiting for... the contest! I am offering a package consisting of a poster out of any 1 of the 3 pictures I've created in Photoshop and a black/red para cord bracelet to one lucky viewer. The bracelet was graciously donated by a fan, and is considering making them to sell as a way to show support for the blog. That leads me to a discussion for you guys later on, but for now it's just a thought for everyone to think about. The poster will be around a medium sized poster; I'm thinking about a 16in X 12in... but I'm not 100% sure on the dimensions yet. If you want the poster autographed, I will happily do so but if not then I understand. I will cover shipping in the US and possibly international shipping. I may need a little help shipping them internationally, but I will let you know what I've worked out once I completely announce it and get the bugs worked out. I will let you know what the contest rules are once we hit the 5,000 viewer mark so keep sharing if you want it to happen sooner. The reason I'm telling you guys now is so you get ready for this instead of just dropping it out of nowhere! Here is what is for the give-a-way:

Picture 1:

Picture 2:

Picture 3:

Bracelet:

Finale 2012 Tutorial Episode 2 Pt. 1 & Announcements!

For those who haven't checked out the YouTube page, here's the tutorial series I'm working on now. It's on Finale 2012, and this is the first of the next episode (more up throughout the rest of the month). Don't forget to subscribe and please give me some feedback! I tried to mix up the editing this time, and if you click the annotation, you'll see what it was like on the last tutorial. If you have any questions or ideas for future episodes, then don't be afraid to let me know. I will do my best to help if you need help or talk out an idea for more videos.

Also, I am here to announce the blog has finally hit 4000 views today! I am so happy to see that there are regulars that are continuously reading these articles, and give me more chances than I deserve when I screw up! I am announcing that when we hit 5000 views mark I am hosting a give a way of something really cool (and isn't from 80's pop culture!). I will post more about what I will be giving away once we hit around 4500. Along with that, I am having another thing for the Facebook Fan Page and the Twitter Page. Once we hit 100 likes on Facebook, I will start taking questions for all the admin on the page over Facebook and Twitter. In case you don't know the admin here's what we have:

Sulli (myself): Manager of the blog, blog related posting and general posting of anything.

Yuki: Posts about Asian Pop music. She keeps us up to date on music trends in the Asian music community.

Kyte: Posts general music memes.

(*Undisclosed*): The newest member to be added in the next few days. He will be posting series on the blog and will cover European music trends.

Facebook Fan Page: www.facebook.com/sulliadm
Twitter Fan Page: www.twitter.com/sulliadm
YouTube Page: www.youtube.com/sulli00700


If you stay savvy on Latin music trends, want to take the place for North American music trends or have something unique that you want to put on the table then let us know! I'm looking for more admins for the page! I know I have a large Russian audience (about half my international views come from Russia), so if any of you guys would love to talk then I know everyone else would love to hear! Nothing will be denied an offer. The same also goes for my fan series. If you have something you have written or covered then send it in and I'll take a listen to see if I will post it. Have a good day guys, and again thank you for all the support!

Sulli's Song of the Week #1: Nocturne by Steven Chen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjKATs7SAx4

Hello and welcome to the first ever "Sulli's Song of the Week" series where YOU (yes, you... Right there in front of the monitor) can have your music posted on here! Our first ever song goes to a really good friend of mine Steven Chen. He is a cellist who likes to compose music and his latest song "Nocturne (for) Cello and Piano" caught my eye. If you want your song posted on here, send me an email with it attached and we'll do this around once a month. Also, you can submit fan art if you want to! Not a lot to draw, but if you have something you want submitted then feel free to send it!