Current TortoiseClimbing™

TortoiseClimbing™ is now a multifaceted undertaking with 4 informal subsidiaries:

• TortoiseClimbing Audio™;
• TortoiseClimbing Publishing™;
• TortoiseClimbing Webservices™; and
• K's Pet Care.

There are various envisioned projects in the "pipeline" for recordings and/or companion books. As those projects evolve, additional information about them will be added to this website.

Current activities of TortoiseClimbing™ are:

Recordings

The Crucifixion

The score for The Crucifixion became Public Domain the beginning of 2023, removing copyright restriction. That allowed TortoiseClimbing Audio™ to master and restore the 1959 recording, creating a digital audio file, which it is making available as a Free download.

TortoiseClimibing Audio™ was able to take advantage of this opportunity because:

• Producing Hymns and Songs for Living taught it how to use various Digital Audio Workstation capabilities of the software used to augment work done by SlippedDISC™ studio;
• TortoiseClimbing Webservices™, had built the extensive website for TortoiseClimbing™

Therefore, it applied those capabilities to:

• Develop the mastered and restored digital audio file from the 1959 recording, and
• Add the website download pages.

The end of January 2023 Tortoiseclimbing Audio™ completed mastering and restoring of the digital audio file of The Crucifixion and posting it on download pages of this website.

It will also be made available for Free download from the Online store for TortoiseClimbing™.

Hymns and Songs for Living

Finishing touches are being put on the draft master for this very long album of 26, mostly nostalgic, traditional hymns and songs drawn from my parents favorites. Target for completion is late Spring 2023. The online store for TortoiseClimbing™ is being set up.

Advance Podcasts

In late 2023, we plan to begin recording advance podcasts of chapters from the eBook, History through 26 Hymns and Songs. The advance podcasts will be made available both as:

• An advance subscription podcast series, with the audiobook being free to subscribers of the advancd podcasts; and
• Standalone podcasts will be available for individual purchase and download.

Audiobook

When the podcast series is completed, the parts will be assembled and augmented as appropriate for an audiobook. Target for availability of complete audiobook is end of 2024.

eBook (Publishing)

TortoiseClimbing Publications™ is working with Ms. Ingrid Bartinique as editor for the eBook, History Through 26 Hymns and Songs. Her editing has been slowed by some health issues, but target for completing is latter part of 2023.

Website

TortoiseClimbing™ completely replaced its initial 2003-4 static website. The initial website was built with HTML3 when CSS2 was new and not widely supported by browsers, because it was only in its infantile stages. No server-side programming was used supporting a contact page, and only rudimentary client side programming was included as offered by the FrontPage web building software.

In contrast, TortoiseClimbing™'s new, interactive website is built using:

• New enhanced HTML5;
• Extensively uses the now dominant CSS3, evolving into CSS4;
• Server-side programming. Language chosen was PHP7, because it integrates so well with websites. (A more enhanced PHP8 was released in November of 2020.); and
• Client side (browser based) programming with Javascript.

TortoiseClimbing™ was able to obtain bio information for most artists involved in Phase I and Phase II of Hymns and Songs for Living.

• While the artists in the 1998-9 chamber orchestra provided contact addresses and phone numbers at the recording session, it was 20 years later when efforts were made to contact them, and many had moved on to other things in life, and in some cases living in different places, plus the orcestrator had died;
• Contacting those artists 20+ years after the 1998 or 1999 recording session, and constructing a bio for the deceased orcestrator, required considerable research and outreach efforts;
• Most Phase I musicians were successfully contacted. Fortunately a number are still involved in aspects of the music business in some way. They reviewed and commented on their bio summaries. Information for a few was found via internet sources. Between those sources, information about most was pieced together. (For the few not yet contacted or found via the internet, placeholder pages are included. That includes: one artist from phase I and a couple from phase II for whom biographical information is still being pursued.)
• There was also the need to gather and edit similar biographies for the new artists (vocalist and instrumentalists) involved in Phase II for finishing the album. (A few have thus far chosen not to provide any bio materials as of 2022.)

Tributes

TortoiseClimbing™ continues to have very simpatico working relationships in the audio world with Mr. McElroy and Ms. Gerber-Salins, and in the editing world with Ms. Ingrid Bartinique. They were and are:

• Wonderful working experiences fondly remembered;
• Highly educational on how to create quality recordings and written publications; and
• Good friends.

K's Pet Care

While a far different activity than recording, publishing, website building, etc., this is another aspect of TortoiseClimbing™, also representing a somewhat serendipitous or otherwise evolution. K is friends with a then neighbor who established a Pet Care services company. At one point the neighbor needed assistance with her Pet Care business, which caused K to review her situation. Namely, she:

• Liked and was very knowledgeable about cats;
• She is comfortable with dogs;
• She is comfortable with miscellaneous other pets people sometimes have, such as: ferrets; snakes; parrots; fish; etc.; and
• She has training to provide various levels of special care, including: injections; pilling; giving fluids subcutaneously; etc.

So, K volunteered to help out the neighbor's company providing such services. Just as other aspects of TortoiseClimbing™ evolved, K's efforts evolved into assisting her friend and other friends, acquantiences and then others. As part of this service, K acquired a variety of additional specialized training and skills in providing care for animals needing special assistance.

Thus, over time the initial volunteering to help grew into K's ongoing Pet Care services, with its own webpage on TortoiseClimbing's™ website, and David assisting.

-- So --

After all these, and more, TortoiseClimbing™ was created and evolved into an independent:

• Recording label (TortoiseClimbing Audio™);
• Publishing house (TortoiseClimbing Publishing™);
• Web content creator (TortoiseClimbing Webservices™); and
• Providing Pet Care services in central Southern Maryland (K's Pet Care).

What Do You Think?

Were all these: logical evolutions; serendipitous happenstances; destined; or maybe some combinations?

That's the story!

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