Pi Pre-Post, Pi Products, and COMPOSER NEWS (Patreon)

I’ve decided that this time is not like any other time. I’ve decided to mark the moment and make some big and positive changes in my own life, and also change up how I relate to the world and all of its world stuff.

So! Where to begin, today on this one and only Friday March 11th, 2022? Here’s the high-level overview:

I decided to leave my dayjob. Patreon is currently my only income, so, extra thanks for being here!

I’m drawn back to my life’s work as a composer and mathemusician. So much has changed since I last did serious composition, but I realized that this is something that would be a big regret on my deathbed if I don’t do it. It was already becoming a life’s regret, to be honest, which was a wakeup call.

Pi Day is March 14th! A video is coming, and it’s one I’ve worked hard on in the past couple months as I re-acquaint myself with what it’s like to write serious music. I don’t know if I’ve ever really shared a “real” composition with the internet before, so, this is kind of an important Pi Day for me!

It’s been a long time since I’ve done any merch, and I wanted to go extra hard to make Pi Day 2022 extra special and do something a little more lighthearted, so SHINY PI DAY 2022 MERCH is available now, and it’s really delightful. (Or at least, I’m personally delighted how everything came together.)

At times it has felt overwhelming as I wrap up work responsibilities and deal with a lot of paperwork and business and finance stuff, not to mention the entire global context. But it’s also a unique and special time for me that is ultimately very good in my corner of the world, and I want to remember this time and be present rather than get caught up in the constant news and my ever-exploding to-do lists for weeks that become months that become years.

So, Pi Day 2022 is my big shout into the universe to mark a special moment in my life, and to revel in music and beauty and mathematics and serious art, on this day that we come together to celebrate every year no matter the circumstances.

But more on that on Pi Day itself! I’ll be posting a Pi Day video, and I also have a couple supplementary videos I'm working on.

Today’s order of business is to test out the Pi Day 2022 mech offerings before they launch to the public on Monday. DFTBA is always wonderful to work with and managed to get everything up in time despite me being very picky about everything being exactly how I envision it and needing to go through a million rounds of reviews and changes. So. I’m feeling good but still ever so slightly nervous, if that makes sense.

Please don’t feel pressured to buy anything, but for those of you do enjoy enjoy celebrating with shiny presents I’m hoping you can help me stress test the system before Pi Day, and also enjoy a sneak peak of what’s coming. And because you already support me here, I got you some discount codes.

1. Pi Day 2022 Piano Composition: Sheet Music and MP3

This year’s Pi Day 2022 composition is dedicated to you, my Patrons, who have supported me these past months as I’ve worked on this video quietly behind the scenes. I have never sold sheet music before, but for this year’s piece I decided to give it a try. That’s what professional composers do, right?

I’ve created a lot of sheet music in my life, but only ever for performances where I’m working with the musicians and can answer any questions or adjust as we go. So this is new for me, plus this is a bit of a weird piece and it was a challenge to notate it in a way that felt authentic to the piece. I’ll be talking through it a bit in this year’s Pi Day piece, and I plan to follow up with a more in-depth “masterclass” sort of video for pianists who decide to give it a go. But it’s a piece with some subtle challenges, especially if you want to make in sound good, and I’m honestly not sure how other pianists would look at it in terms of difficulty. So if any of you are pianists who want to give it a look, I’d appreciate your feedback.

It also comes with a “composer’s recording”, which is not a professionally performed or produced mp3 but is there for reference. So those of you who want spoilers can check it out, or wait until Monday and experience the piece along with the video.

The sheet music is 2 pages and priced at $4, but as it’s a purely digital item you can get it for 90% off with the special discount code “trianglefriend2022” for the next week. https://store.dftba.com/products/piano-sheet-music-digital-download-and-mp3

2. Chromatic Challenge Coin and Challenge Sheetmusic

Ok, so, before writing an entire chromatic Pi piece, the first challenge is to read through the digits of pi translated into the chromatic scale. And I thought this might be a fun challenge to other musicians out there too. Reading through 314 digits of chromatic pi is an experience, and I couldn’t resist the idea of creating a challenge coin so that you can commemorate the moment with a small shiny token of chromatic success.

So if you have any chromatic instrument on hand, consider giving it a go! You don’t need to be perfect to earn the coin, you just need to challenge yourself to do some note reading outside your comfort zone. You can also use these chromatic digits as inspiration for composition or music production.

And here’s where I could use extra help stress-testing: I wanted to make it so you could download whatever clef or clefs you want, so when you order this item a popup should allow you to check off the clefs you want to download. Guitar tabs are also an option. We’ve already fixed a few bugs with this so I’m hoping it’ll all go smoothly now, but if it doesn’t please let me know and we will fix it! The coin + sheetmusic is $15, or $12.75 for you earlybird patrons who know that “TauIsStillBetter”. https://store.dftba.com/products/pi-chromatic-challenge-metal-coin-and-digital-download

I’m personally a fan of challenge coins and coins as symbols of value outside of monetary value. I’ve got a 500 learners coin from donating to Crash Course, and I was impressed with the level of detail you can get on small-ish runs of coins these days. I’ve also got coins from donating to Worldbuilders. So when I heard I could make my own coin, how could I resist?

I want to represent the value of hard work and of focusing attention on new experiences. We know that hard work doesn’t always translate into literal money, but I can live out the fantasy that it does, by creating a non-monetary challenge coin that values hard musical work at Pi triangle dollars, by the authority of a triangle who loves us all. In Trigonometry We Trust.

3. We’re restocking the Triangle Pins!

Speaking of the triangle who loves us all: when I first had triangle pins made years ago, I was skeptical about how they would come out given that my triangle logo is a bit… like something a child would draw, and also, it has thin parts. But they came out amazing and I love them. Other people apparently did too, so they sold out a while back. But we’re doing another order. These are $12.50, or $10.63 with the discount code “TauIsStillBetter”. https://store.dftba.com/collections/vi-hart/products/triangle-pin

4. Pi Day 2022 Exclusive Shirt: Cryptic Edition

This shirt is designed to be a puzzle for the mathemusically inclined. Y’all already know that it’s a Pi Day shirt, but for those who don’t, it’s a puzzle to figure out that this graphic represents the digits of Pi in musical form. There’s no text or hints, except that the design is circular.

This is printed using a metallic copper ink on a maroon shirt, to match the moody serious tone of the piano piece in this year’s Pi Day video. We’ve got 2 options for cut, both in sizes XS - 4XL, It’s $26, but for you it is $22.10 as long as you’re willing to admit that “TauIsStillBetter”. https://store.dftba.com/products/pi-day-2022-exclusive-shirt-cryptic-edition

5. Pi Day 2022 Exclusive Shirt: Shiny Edition

If the Cryptic Edition is subtle, this version is designed for MAXIMUM SHINY. I hadn’t planned to do two shirt designs, but when DFTBA showed me the holographic foil options I could not resist. The foil is rainbow colored on a macro scale, and then holographically shiny within each color. I wish I could show you a sample, it’s super cool.

So this shirt needed to happen, but I also didn’t want to sacrifice the proper moodiness and lower price point I could get with the other design, so we ended up doing both. The Pi Day 2022 Shiny Edition shirt is $35, or $29.75 so long as “TauIsStillBetter”. https://store.dftba.com/products/pi-day-2022-exclusive-shirt-shiny-edition

In Conclusion

I think it is kind of absurd that I have the power to just imagine shiny things and then they become real somehow. I’m accustomed to being able to imagine music or videos or mathematics and make it real, but physical items? So cool. So shiny. And honestly, absolutely no pressure to buy anything. You’re already supporting me here and that is even shinier to my heart than holographic foil. But I do want you to know these items were made with love, and to take advantage of the discount codes if you’re interested.

I’ll leave the other life updates and mathemusician composer soul searching until after Pi Day season is over. I always feel like I'm so behind on updating y'all, because life never stops. And I know I owe some of you messages. But for this month, rather than let this time run into the rest of the chaos of the past years or the years to come, I’m determined to take a minute to let it be March 2022.

So. An early Happy Pi Day, and see you again soon for Pi Day proper!

🐌,

Vi