Project: Bill Robinson Tunebook

Bill Robinson is a great friend and mentor of mine.  He inspired me to learn to play the dulcimer, and I've been fortunate enough to have him as a teacher.  He is a master of his trade and a world-class musician who has composed dozens of tunes which he's passed along aurally to thousands of dulcimer players.  In 2008, he told me of an idea that he had to get all of his compositions written down and compiled into a book.

Since Bill doesn't read music, I offered to transcribe all of his tunes for him.  I arranged it so that I would get honors credits in my music theory class.  Learning the notation software and then transcribing all 24 tunes by ear was only the first leg of this project.

I compiled the entire book layout and designed the front and back covers for the book.  The cover of the book is a photo I took of an instrument that was built by Bill with a fixed sequoia soundboard. It was my instrument and is still one of my favorite photos that I've taken of a dulcimer (and there are many).  There was a certain time of day that the sun would shine into my office and make everything in it's path look stunning.

Along with transcribing the tunes, laying out the book, and designing the cover, I also used this opportunity to do a bit of production managing. I had the booklets printed.  Produced a master CD and had it professionally replicated and printed.  Then ordered tamper-proof disk sleeves and sealable cellophane booklet sleeves.

The final step was assembly.  I recruited the help of family to package the books in assembly-line style. This project was complete in May, 2009. I've done a couple more runs since then.

This was a great project for me to hone my skills on and I am very happy that Bill put his trust in me and allowed me to be such a big part of making it happen.