Ethnically and Culturally Inspired Music

Ancient Future Times: Zoom Into Fall and Help Ancient Future Stay Here Now

Sep 23, 2020
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Ancient Future Times
Zoom Into Fall and Help Ancient Future Stay Here Now

View Online With Photos:
http://www.ancient-future.com/newssept2020.html

Fall Equinox 2020 Issue:

Blue Bear Masters
•Masterclasses at the Bear Online: Read Music Through Classical Guitar, World Beat Workshop, Indian Raga
http://www.ancient-future.com/newssept2020.html#workshop

Concertless Cash Crunch Continued: Help Ancient Future Stay Here Now
•Tax Deductible Contribution, Support A.F.A.R., Purchase Music, Vinyl from the Ancient Future
http://www.ancient-future.com/newssept2020.html#coronavirus

Private Online Music Lessons
•Zoom into Fall
http://www.ancient-future.com/newssept2020.html#lessons

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Blue Bear Masters
Matthew Montfort's Masterclasses Return to the Bear Online
https://bluebearmusic.org/classes/online-rhythm-training/

Matthew Montfort taught music at the Blue Bear School of Music for over two decades. This fall, he returns to teach three virtual masterclasses:

1. Have Fun Learning to Read Music Through Classical Guitar Technique

September 29 to November 3, 2020, Tuesdays from 8:30 to 9:30 PM, Have Fun Learning to Read Music through Classical Guitar Technique, Blue Bear School of Music Online. This class by Matthew Montfort will get you started learning to read standard music notation, while at the same time introducing foundational classical guitar technique that you can also apply to other styles of playing. You'll learn simple etudes and classical pieces, great for boosting your fingerstyle skills while actually having fun learning to read music! Tuition: $160 for six weeks.

Buy Tix: https://bluebearmusic.org/classes/online-rhythm-training/
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/782220905869020

2. Got Rhythm?

World Beat Workshop Returns to Blue Bear Online September 30 to November 4

September 30 to November 4, 2020, Wednesdays from 7:30 PM to 8:45 PM, World Beat Workshop, Blue Bear School of Music Online. Matthew Montfort’s Got Rhythm World Beat Workshop is presented in an easy to follow, entertaining, yet educational format for all music lovers. African polyrhythms, Balinese kotèkan and Indian classical music are presented because these traditions cover the major types of rhythmic organization used in most of the world's music. This training from Montfort's book Ancient Traditions -- Future Possibilities: Rhythmic Training Through the Traditions of Africa, Bali and India can help anyone with a desire to improve their rhythmic skills. Tuition: $200 for six weeks.

Buy Tix: https://bluebearmusic.org/classes/online-rhythm-training/
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/608710749816299/

Get Rhythm!
Ancient Traditions – Future Possibilities: Rhythmic Training Through the Traditions of Africa, Bali and India by Matthew Montfort.
http://www.ancient-future.com/atfp.html

This classic "world beat bible" by Matthew Montfort takes the student on a musical voyage through the ancient rhythmic traditions of Africa, Bali, and India with a series of exercises that require no instruments to perform. Interesting, imaginative and fun, these rhythm exercises will be of immense help to all music lovers, not just percussionists. The new downloadable companion set of MP3 audio guide and MIDI groove tracks of the exercises in the book is set up for playback on Mac and PC computers, tablets, and smartphones.

3. Indian Raga for Western Musicians

Improve Your Improvisation Skills Through Melodic Training
October 1 to November 5, 2020, Thursdays from 6:15 to 7:30 PM, Indian Raga for Western Musicians, Blue Bear School of Music Online. World fusion pioneer Matthew Montfort will help you improve your soloing in any music genre from rock to jazz to free improv through melodic training. You'll learn the emotional power of each interval and how to construct meaningful melodies through the tradition of Indian raga. Open to all instruments. Tuition: $200 for six weeks.
Buy Tix: https://bluebearmusic.org/classes/online-rhythm-training/
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/350847699296657/

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Concertless Cash Crunch Continued
Thanks for Helping Ancient Future Stay Here Now!

We'd like to thank the Ancient Future fans who have stepped up to help Ancient Future stay here now! Because of fan donations, we've been able to make some progress on the next Ancient Future record through remote recording, but there's a lot more to do to support this music and the musicians who make it until normal band activities are possible again.

Live concerts will be among the last activities to return because they won't be safe until COVID-19 has been thoroughly dealt with through widespread mask wearing, widespread testing, contact tracing, treatments that are known to work, and a safe, effective, and widely distributed vaccine. Efforts to reopen the economy early are causing outbreaks, further delaying the next concert season. Musicians in Northern California were already suffering from very high housing costs, decreasing support for the arts, and absurdly low payments from the music streaming platforms. With all of this, we very much need your support to survive until concerts return, hopefully by 2022.

If you've been able to return to work or have the means, below are four ways you can help.
1. Make a Tax Deductible Contribution
http://www.ancient-future.com/donation.html#intermusic

Ancient Future was accepted for fiscal sponsorship with InterMusic SF, a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization, and now donations made through them on behalf of Ancient Future are 100% tax deductible to the full extent of the law!

2. Push A.F.A.R. Past the Finish Line
http://www.ancient-future.com/afar.html

The Archive of Future Ancient Recordings, Ancient Future's fun fan funded recording project, has over 86 minutes of music in it so far. Another set of studio tracks that will expand the project by over 50% is in production.

With all of the concert cancellations, now is a good time to record remotely. Indeed, the bansuri, guitar, tanpura, and MIDI mock up tracks have been completed on a 28 minute suite, plus the guitar and MIDI mock up tracks on a 10 minute piece.

But remote recording can't be done in real time, so hundreds of extra hours of production are required to make MIDI mock ups and tempo tracks for the musicians to perform to. Because many of the master musicians in Ancient Future's collective don't have home recording equipment, we need to raise money for a few professional stereo audio recording interfaces and studio microphones.

Please consider becoming a supporter at one of the levels below, starting at just $15. And if you are already a supporter, you can still upgrade to higher quality downloads until each supporter level is sold out. Once you become a supporter, you will receive all of the tracks in the archive (and all of the tracks that will be added in the future), and you will be eligible to buy a limited edition CD-R of the Best of A.F.A.R. So Far, which includes all of the best tracks that will (barely) fit on a CD-R.

Supporter Levels and Premiums:
Recording Newsletter-$15 (receive 128 kbps downloads)
Download Supporter- $25 (320 kbps downloads)
Limited Edition CD Sponsor- $50 (all previous plus CD quality audio)
Honorary A & R Representative- $75 (all previous plus video and 24 bit audio)
Donor VIP- $??: Make Additional Donation.
A.F.A.R. So Far CD-R- $20 Additional. (SALE $15)

3. Purchase Music to Support the Arts

Ancient Future's 2020 Vision sale on recordings and educational materials has been extended to encourage support. Purchases at the Ancient-Future.Com World Music Store directly support the artists and the music, and this sale offers bargain prices.

http://www.ancient-future.com/catalog.html

Five for Fifty: Five Releases Just $10 Each:
Yearning for the Wind by Ancient Future. Signed Audio/Video E-CD-R. List $17.98. SALE $10.
Planet Passion by Ancient Future. CD. List $17.98. SALE $10.
Sangria by Mariah Parker. CD. List $17.98. SALE $10.
Seven Serenades for Scalloped Fretboard Guitar by Matthew Montfort. CD. List $17.98. SALE $10.
Sympathetic Serenade by Matthew Montfort. Signed EP CD-R. List $12.98. SALE $10.

4. Vinyl from the Ancient Future
http://www.ancient-future.com/visions.html

Visions of a Peaceful Planet by Ancient Future is the band's debut recording, recorded between December 1978 and May of 1979, when all of the members were studying at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, California, under the late sarod master, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.

"The first thing that makes this LP a delight is the magnificence of the instrumental blending. 'Zzaj,' by Montfort, for instance, sounds like music to celebrate the sunrise. 'Morning Song,' on the other hand, is based on Indian instruments, the Bansuri flute of Klein over a harmonic bed of sitar, tabla, sarod, zither, and tanpura; great stuff sounds like a dove whistling in a forest of stringed instruments." – Philip Elwood, legendary music critic, San Francisco Examiner

In the Ancient Future archives are two dozen original vinyl LP copies of Visions of a Peaceful Planet (not a re-pressing). Used previously played LPs have been sold by collectors on eBay for $44 each. But these are unopened virgin copies, and quite a bargain at $40 each until they are gone!

Don't have a record player? Get the enhanced CD version of the recording that also includes the band's first video shot in 1978 at the College of Marin.

Visions of a Peaceful Planet by Ancient Future. Original Vinyl Pressing. Very Limited Stock. LP- $40.00
Enhanced Audio/Video E-CD-R- $19.98

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Private Online Music Lessons
Zoom into Fall

Private Online Lessons with Ancient Future Bandleader Matthew Montfort. Study any of the musical traditions featured on the Ancient Future web site, all styles of guitar (and other fretted instruments including ukulele, bass, mandolin, charango, and sitar), record production, composition, world rhythms, music theory, and repertoire for all instruments.

60 Minute Lesson- $75. (Sale $60 for new students): Custom private one hour online lesson.
45 Minute Lesson- $65. (Sale $50 for new students): Custom private 45 minute online lesson.
30 Minute Lesson- $50. (Sale $40 for new students): Custom private 30 minute online lesson.

http://www.ancient-future.com/skype.html

There are many advantages to online lessons. The lessons can easily be recorded, and it is easier to evaluate a student's technique with a camera than from behind a music stand. The main drawback to online lessons is that recording software is needed to perform duets due to internet latency issues. But duets are possible online via file exchange, digital audio workstations, and a free browser-based multitrack recording platform. Matthew Montfort will return to teaching in-person lessons when it is truly safe. At that time, he will be offering hybrid online/in-person lessons for students in Marin and Sonoma counties, with package deals for three online lessons and one monthly in person lesson to develop ensemble skills.

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