Singing was the catalyst and the foundation that led to creation of TortoiseClimbing™ in 1992. Since then it has evolved into 4 distinct susidiaries, specializing in different products:
Depending on your philosophy of how, or why things happen, you might see the creation and evolution of TortoiseClimbing™ as:
You be the judge.
David began singing in elementary school choruses. (Remember when public schools included music education in elementary, then junior high, -now reorganized as middle schools - and high schools?)
NOTE. The earliest recording released by TortoiseClimbing Audio™ is the historic, nostalgic, amateur recording from when David sang in the Annapolis High School mixed choir. Together with AHS' 2 womens' choirs, in 1959 they gave performances of John Stainer's The Crucifixion. (David sang parts of Jesus in those performances.) A private, monophonic, amateur record was produced from those live performances.
The score for The Crucifixion became Public Domain the beginning of 2023. That allows TortoiseClimbing™ to provide free copies of the 1st ever Mastered and Restored version of that recording. The free downloads are provided from this website, and from TortoiseClimbing™'s Online Store. For details see AHS Recording of The Crucifixion.The mastered and restored file beautifully captures what high school choral performances were and are.
Following high school, David took voice lessons in college and privately afterward. He continued singing in choruses and doing solos through college, and afterward.
The college choir he sang with performed at:
Those incredible experiences occurred because Professor Fague Springmann (stage name Lee Fairfax) facilitated those wonderful choral experiences during David's college life. Fague was born August 22, 1917, and died December 25, 1983. Fague is buried in Cranford United Methodist Church Cemetery in Lorton, Virginia, USA. (Fague Springmann).
He was a graduate of Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. Also studied at the Julliard School of Music in New York City and at the Peabody Conservatory In Baltimore. In 1952, using the stage name of Lee Fairfax, he rented Carnegie Hall and presented his debut recital to rave notices. (See Fague Springmann).
Professor Springmann was a magnificant, operatic, bass-baritone voice sought after as a solo artist for performances of very well-known classical compositions, which also needed a chorus. Mr. Springmann successfully suggested his chorus be used as the supporting chorus for some such productions.
In addition to his duties as Associate Professor of Music at the University of Maryland, College Park, Professor Springmann recorded a number of LPs at the Washington, DC Edgewood Recording Studio before and during David's college years.
In the mid-1960's, David accompanied Mr. Springmann to an editing session at Edgewood Recording Studio. That was before multitrack master tapes became common in the late 1960's, and editing meant using a razor blade to cut the tape, remove the unwanted recording take, and splice in the desired revised recording take. (Today with digital recordings that function is performed electronically with recording software commonly referred to as a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW).
The backstory of why Edgewood Recording Studio even existed for Professor Springmann to take David to an editing session there, illustrates the serendipitous nature of life.
Mr. Ed Greene (some bios say David) was a co-founder of Edgewood. The genesis for that was Ed was drafted in 1956 and served as a recording engineer for the U.S. Army Band and Chorus in Washington, D.C. (That means he had already learned what was then a rare skill before being drafted.) Then for some years after his discharge, he remained in DC before going back to New York and later to Toronto, Canada.
After he mustered out of the army, while still in Washington, DC he co-founded Edgewood Recording Studio in about 1958 with radio and television commentator Charles Osgood and composer George Wilkins. George later went to work for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts where he created scores and songs as Director of Music for Walt Disney Imagineering.
Ed went back to New York in about 1970 as chief engineer for MGM Records. There, in the early 1970's, he was brought into television audio mixing by Frank Sinatra, and became a very successful (22-time Emmy-winning and 61 nominations) audio mixer for television production and post production. He died in 2017 at age 82.
-- End of Accordian Window on evolution of "Hymns and Songs for Living" --
After college David continued participating in various singing activities, including:
These experiences led David to begin thinking about recording. For details on that journey see Duets with Terry
If you wish to comment on contents of this webpage, Clicking the button below will both transfer you to the Contact/Comment page, and pass along that you were on this webpage when you decided to comment.
This is the Interim URL for this New Website
We continue adding and revising pages before migrating to the original .com URL
YOUR INTERESTS/COMMENTS/SUGGESTIONS/CORRECTIONS
Use of this website signifies your agreement to the
Website Terms and Conditions