ANNOUNCING the First-Ever tonebase Community VIRTUAL HANGOUT!
Hello, my dear fellow community members! 
During the ongoing virtuosity challenge I asked you whether you would be interested in a virtual hangout with fellow community members - a place where we can all be on the same video call together.
The idea garnered incredible support 
with 95% of people in our livestream voting "yes" to the initiative! Therefore, we are organizing it! 
let's do this!
When?
This Monday (May 24), we will all hop on a Google Meet call together and get to know each other a little better.
Here is the starting time in some popular time zones:
- 12 pm Pacific / 3 pm Eastern
- 8 pm United Kingdom
- 9 pm Central Europe (Spain / France / Germany / Italy / Sweden / Poland / etc.)
- 10 pm Southeastern Europe (Romania / Greece / Egypt etc.)
The call will start one hour after the Virtuosity Challenge Watch Party on Monday! It is going to be open to all community members, not only challenge participants.
If you comment below letting me know you'd like an email invite, the starting time will be automatically converted into your own time zone!
Join here:
Google Meet joining info:
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/rjx-brir-nkd
Or dial: (US) +1 419-718-1372 PIN: 527 308 373#
More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/rjx-brir-nkd?pin=9133885534264
Invite by email:
Would you like to receive an invite to this event straight in your email inbox? Then reply to this thread below ( ↓ ) and I'll make an invite pop into the email address you already use for tonebase.
No need to put your address in your comment! It's already associated with your account. Just let me know you want the invite and I'll make it come!
Etiquette
The meeting will not be recorded, nor livestreamed anywhere.
There is no obligation to have your camera or mic on. I certainly hope that some of you will do so, but there is no pressure to do so whatsoever.
You can be a "fly on the wall" - in the call, but never un-muted. You can contribute by just writing in the call chat! That's fine too.
One thing: try to keep yourself muted if you're not talking - this will prevent barking dogs, fire trucks, helicopters, etc. from being broadcasted into everyone's ears. No pressure if you forget though! I can help with this too, as the host of the call.
Who can come?
Any member of the tonebase Community! You do not have to have taken part in the Virtuosity Challenge to be invited.
What will we be talking about?
Anything we want! Yourselves, your journey with the guitar, your experience in tonebase, your videos you sent in for our challenges, general guitar and music topics, etc. We might even play some "get to know each other" games, if we have time!
What do I need to join?
Any internet-capable device. A computer, a phone, a tablet, a laptop - anything.
Being a Google Meet hangout, you can join right from your browser. No need to install any additional software at all!
If your device has a microphone, camera, or both, that's great! Then you'll be able to be seen and heard by the others, should you so desire.
Where is the link?
The link is above, go to where it says "Video Call Link" or just click this text.
Questions? Comments?
Reply below and let me know!
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Hi all. It was great to see and talk to you all last night. For those that would like to see it, this is the link to the video of the duet that Gokce and I recorded:
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Roni Glaser that is EXACTLY how I pronounce Blaise's name in my head
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Derek Derek and Gokce - that was wonderful - the playing and recording. Great backdrop also.l
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Jack Stewart thank you Jack
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It was an invaluable experience! Meet all of you almost in person. I'm sorry that I couldn't be there until the end, but my Labador doesn't understand that I have an important meeting ... Thanks to my English I didn't say everything I would like and Mircea surprised me a bit
. It was a great pleasure to participate in such a unique meeting! I expect similar ones in the future - maybe I'll be a bit bolder 
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Marek Tabisz I agree it was great and I also hope we'll have similar ones in the future. That's just awesome to hear all those accents and see people moving while speaking!
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Marek Tabisz that was exactly my feeling, Marek! So happy you liked it!
I'm very curious, Marek and Blaise Laflamme , what would you like to see happen in future virtual hangouts?
We're definitely going to do some more, given the success of the first one, but I'd like to know in what direction you'd like for them to go.
Feel free to let me know in this thread or to fill out this survey that is going to out to all tonebase subscribers on Sunday - whichever you prefer!
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It was a great party, I am very happy to meet you all. I prepared a few words to say when waiting for my turn, but suddenly I got very excited and forgot everything, including English
I hope can speak better next time. Looking forward to seeing you again 
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Gokce Turkmendag haha... same for me
I hope to see you next time! -
Gokce Turkmendag I am the same whenever I am in front of a camera and that is without having to speak in a foreign language!
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Gokce Turkmendag your English was great, Gokce!
I was so happy to hear yours and everyone's voice!
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Hope to do it again soon!
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David Chidsey me too, David, me too!
I'll be sending out a survey for everyone to let me know what direction they'd like these virtual hangouts to evolve into, but what do you think? Do you have any thoughts about the things you'd like to see in future ones?
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Thank you so much for organizing and hosting the virtual hangout today, Mircea! It was great to see so many faces and hear so many voices.
One idea that I think I might like (and maybe others would too) would be an opportunity for us to listen to one another play pieces we are working on - not for critique so much as encouragement and mutual sharing of our passion. As an amateur with a family that has no interest in classical music, I almost never get to share my music with others. I would also love to hear others in the forum play more. Watching YouTube videos of professional guitarists is great, but regularly hearing players who are more like myself would be such a gift.
I'm not sure how to practically organize such events. Maybe it could regularly be held at a few different times, allowing people from all over to choose a time that works for them.
Any thoughts?
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Eric interesting idea... you would want like a thread with videos we post and then have a meeting and discuss about or we would play live in the meeting? The latter would probably be harder to get good sound and camera angles
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Blaise Laflamme Maybe each person could choose. I know the sound would be an issue for live playing, unless someone had good equipment. The little microphones in the computer are typically not too good.
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Eric Nice idea, it might be nice to encourage us to get into a practice of getting a piece ready for a particular day, a bit like what Steve Goss and Mircea were talking about with competitions.
As for microphones, I've found that when doing online lessons, the microphone in my laptop was actually the best - the other one (Zoom H4n) had difficulty synchronising with the picture or could not adjust so easily when I spoke or moved. There are obviously many better solutions if you know what you're doing, but I think using what we've already got should not necessarily be a hindrance.
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Eric Thank you so much, Eric! So happy to hear you've enjoyed the hangout
It was amazing for me to talk to you all, hear your voices and see your faces in a real event - "in shared temporal space", as they say.
I love the idea of a "performing for your tonebase friends"-type hangout!
If we did this, I would strongly encourage everyone to make their own videos before the show, rather than try to play live.
Good live performance is incredibly difficult to achieve even with the expensive gear I have at home, and I can imagine most people don't have this kind of equipment just lying around.
It would probably be best to organize this via Zoom, where one can share computer sound, rather than via Google Meet, which is easier to get going but not as suited for music.
What does everyone else think about this idea?
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Mircea , Eric idea ,Blaise ,Rony
I think it is a great idea. Indeed I was wishing something like this proposal, when I discovered Tonebase and even I have mentioned this to Chris in our appointement. The issue of the earth time is important, I can not play after 7PM....Maybe small groups as Eric suggested according with time , etc. I participate in a warmup from Baltimore early in the morning ,there with 6 hours difference, that works for me, as an example.
Also the idea of share pieces that we all are playing or did play and we could exchange opinions, and hear each other how we play it, different timbres or sounds etc it is great!
I have my guitar class online with skipe and usually the sound is good enough, with a good connection. Even using the computer microphone. But I can not send him a video with skipe because the sound is horrible.
For the videos I have sent in youtube or Vidyard or just for me to hear what I am doing I have to use an external microphone (I bought one for this purpose), otherwise is not fun...the iphone of Joosly (?) had a very nice quality. Any way... it would be great to be able to play in life, more challenging and "real"....but as Mircea says, and I bet he has a lot of experience on this, it might be not viable. To send a video is already a good beginning and in the meeting in Zoom let`s say, we all can have the guitar there... to exchange ideas or passages ...
and we will see if it works or if it is a mess.
Why don't we do a Zoom meeting with those that have interest? Let's say if we are 10 folks, it could work..if we are 50...more difficult...I do not know really how to organize small groups....you know each other since long time !!!!
Nice project!
hasta luego
Nora
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Nora Torres-Nagel This is a great idea, thank you for sharing it, Nora!
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Eric Phillips Sorry for the late response - my computer was in the shop, it is ok now. I like this idea, though I am probably more inclined to post a video rather than perform live - at least at this time. Having an option is a good compromise. This is a good incentive to 'perfect' a piece and to have a virtual Classical Guitar Society.
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
