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Tom Rasely: a short
biography
There are lots of good
stories, and some really interesting photos too...including the one of the
Mouseguitar!
Tom Rasely began playing the guitar in 1964, shortly after the Beatles hit the
American music scene. As a (mostly) self-taught guitar player, Tom had a vast
training in music theory. He studied music at Onondaga Community College in
Syracuse NY and received a Bachelor of Music Ed. from SUNY Fredonia ('73).
Probably the most influential musician in Tom's life was his father Charles W.
Rasely. A Juilliard School graduate ('42), Charles was a teacher, singer,
composer, pianist, violinist, conductor. He was a man who lived and breathed
music.
As a teacher, Tom has taught thousands of players: at his
private studio; at the NPM Guitar Schools all across the country; as Director
of the Norwich Guitar School; and at the National Guitar Workshop in
Connecticut. Two of Tom's songs were featured in Fingerstyle Guitar Magazine:
"Innuendo" in Issue #61, and "La Valse" Issue #64. Tom has
written several guitar instruction books, including the "Chord Chart
Guitar Method" (self-published), and "Types and Uses of the
Capo" (Mel Bay Publications).
As a performer, Tom has toured 26 states and parts of
Canada, and has performed twice at the White House for the Christmas VIP tours.
His live gigs also include basic blues seminars, and a variety of background
music venues. His concerts often include an audience-participation inprov, as
well as many of Tom's original songs. Tom also tours New York State performing
short original theatrical pieces with his wife Cindy as Rasely Productions (see
link on home page).
As a recording artist, Tom has appeared on over 50 recording
projects, many featuring his original music. Tom also plays most of his own
keyboard parts, and quite a bit of auxilliary percussion on his recordings. See
the Tom's Music page for information on how to order any/all of his CDs. Go to The Music Page link to hear some of
Tom's music, or simply click here:
CDBaby.
Tom Rasely Guest Artist appearances include:
* Holiday
Tours at the White House ['98, '02]
* BC Pops [Binghamton NY]
* Buffalo [NY] Festival Orchestra
* Marywood University Orchestra [Scranton PA]
* Syracuse [NY] Symphony Pops
* The Oneida [NY] Area Civic Chorale
He has also performed at hundreds of venues including:
- Caffe Lena [Saratoga Springs NY]
- Eighth Step Coffeehouse [Albany NY]
- Syracuse [NY] Carrier Dome
- as opening act for Christian singer Mylon LeFevre [Binghamton NY]
- shared billing with Hemphills Family Gospel Group [Lake Charles LA]
* Tom is a writer
member of ASCAP
* A member of The Classical Guitar Society of
Upstate New York
* An artist member of The
Chenango County Council of the Arts
* Moderator of the Guitar Theory board on the guitarnotes.com discussion forum;
* and is Music Ministry Associate and Composer-in-Residence at First Congregational Church (UCC)
Church in Norwich, NY.
Artistic Statement from The Raze:
"My music is a neo-romantic statement of melody. My goal is to create
music that is melodically strong and harmonically attractive. Recording allows
me to get a quality performance into the hands (and ears) of a large number of
people. As a Christian, I believe that every note comes from God; every note is
offered as a gift back to God. I hope it is all an expression of my personal
relationship with Jesus Christ (I Cor. 10:31; Phil. 3:12-14)".
Success Story
Roy Coston was one of my first guitar students when I was
teaching full time in Oneida NY in the mid-to-late 70s. Roy started lessons
when he was 11 years old. He has made a terrific career as a lead guitarist.
Roy not only got good, he got a lot taller. Here we are, 30 years later,
getting together to play a "little" guitar. You can hear some of his
music on the Love Bone webpage.
Yamaha CGX171CCA solid cedar-top classical guitar, with
cutaway (Augustine strings).
Yamaha SBG-200 solid body electric guitar (SG clone).
Casio CTK-750 keyboard.
RK-101 35-note key tree.
Scotch C-38 tape dispenser.
- The "key tree" is just what it sounds like: a chime tree made out
of car keys, house keys, padlock keys. It has a particularly light
"tinkly" sound. I got the idea from Lance DeMers, an extraordinary
drummer and Christian brother.
- The Scotch tape dispenser referred to is the molded plastic desk-model,
that's filled with sand. The best way to play it is to remove the tape &
spool, and of course the blade. It has a much softer sound than a cabasa. What?
You thought we were kidding?
TOM SHARES HIS JANUARY 9th BIRTHDAY WITH AN AMAZING LIST OF PEOPLE:
Les
Paul (guitarist, inventor)
Jimmy
Page (Led Zepplin)
Joan
Baez (folk singer)
Crystal
Gale (singer)
Paul
King (Blue Oyster Cult)
Dave
Matthews (D.M.B.)
Bill Cooley (fingerstyle guitarist, lead
guitar with Kathy Mattea)
Rudolph
Bing (former manager of the Metropolitan Opera Company)
George
Balanchine (ballet choreographer)
Gypsy
Rose Lee (Burlesque performer)
Bob
Denver (TV's Gilligan, and Maynard G. Krebs)
Richard
M. Nixon (37th U.S. President)