❄️❄️❄️ Happy Holidays From Peter / LinkedMusicians ❄️❄️❄️

[LinkedMusicians]

I want to wish everyone happy holidays and thank you for being part of LinkedMusicians.

I am very grateful to have you here and for all the shared moments discussing inspiring tools, and our mutual love of making music, the foundation that brings us together. 

I hope for all the best for you and your family during the year ahead.  

Best Wishes, 
Peter / LinkedMusicians

“Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”  
– Berthold Auerbach

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39

[LinkedMusicians]

I have a subscription for my business for a stock image service that allots us something like a few hundred images per month. We never even come close to using them. So I have licensed a bunch of images for LinkedMusicians, including editorial licenses for well-known musicians like Paul McCartney, Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend, Roger Dauhltrey. Jimmy Page, etc, that I thought could be useful for fun quizzes, best of lists, etc., during the year ahead. But lately, I’ve been downloading a bunch of Satnas playing guitar. And the reality is, I’ve spent so much time preparing and posting deals that I haven’t had any time to wok on images. (The stuff on the right-hand side promoting the deals roundup, and the ALL THINGS MUSIC were from licensed stock images and me using AI to do the design rather than spend an hour on Canva (yep, the lazy person’s route to graphic design). So, I think I’m going to share some of my rockin’ Santa collection here.

First, we have a number of metal fans here, like my friends @lastcall and @lamia6, so I had to find a metal Santa. This was amusing to me, because it’s so over the top.

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11

[LinkedMusicians]

This Santa has a very Nordic vibe, right?

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[LinkedMusicians]

This one’s pretty decent, but also very vanilla.

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1

[LinkedMusicians]

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[peter]

I might pop in from time to time, but it’s time to commit myself to my family. Unless something significant appears in my inbox, I won’t be posting more deals. Whatever you celebrate, I wish you the best and hope you spend some quality time with people who love you, whether they’re family by blood, or family by choice. I want to again thank everyone here for every moment of kindness. For every moment of helpfulness. For every moment of sharing a little about yourself, For every moment of sharing your love and passion for music.

Did anyone else here grow up playing holiday music this time of year?

Music was an important part of my life since my earliest memories. I started piano lessons from my music teacher mother at age 3, and by the time I was 4, my three siblings, who all passed on early, decided to start a band and as my sisters were talented and experienced keyboardists and I was the youngest kid — and showed natural abilities with the drums — they decided that I would be the drummer in the band. I really had no choice in the matter! We recall our playing Christmas music at events this time of year. This morning, I was telling my wife and kids about this one gig we had at a nursing home when I was around 5 years old. We were dragging in our equipment to a nursing home to perform Christmas music. As I dragged in a snare drum, a cymbal and bag with percussion instruments and my brushes, the manager of the nursing home said sternly, “Where do you think you’re going with that?!” I told her that I played drums in the band. She told me, “No drums!” She explained that drums were too noisy for the elderly patients. I explained that I would use brushes, which are quiet. She sternly repeated, “No drums!” However, she did let me bring in bongos, a tambourine, and shakers.

For some reason, I always remember that pre-show experience, as meaningless as it was. It wasn’t traumatizing or anything in the least. I was annoyed that she refused to understand that brushes don’t make a lot of noise. It was just a little silly. But I had fun with the bongos and percussion. My parents divorced when I was young. My father was of 100 percent Italian lineage, so when we’d celebrate Christmas, everyone would ask me to play the organ — which I was trained on with a different teacher than my mother. I’d play American Christmas standards and the Italian song, Santa Lucia — which I always believe should give me some Italian cred.

So the point of this story is that playing music was a big part of my and my siblings’ childhoods. I also played concerts with the school band as a percussionist. Primarily on the snare drum, but I once got to fill in on glockenspiel, and found that I enjoyed that more, but the spot never opened up permanently. So, if you’ve heard a lof of glockenspiel in my songs I’ve recorded and shared, it was played on the keys, but I own a glockenspiel. My own kids always either played in school band, and in my daughter’s case, she stopped playing in the band, and moved over to the choir, and it turns out, she is the first very talented singer in my family that I’m aware of. (My mother, siblings and I were all musicians, none of us were very good singers, as anyone who has heard the music I’ve shared already knows!)

I’d love to hear stories from any of our members who grew up performing holiday music with their family or for their family as a kid. FTR, this thread is not public; it’s members only, so we’re the only ones seeing these posts. I like to keep the personal stories within our community.

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

4

[zoukiman]

*<|;-}

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[lastcall]

On LinkedMusicians said

I have a subscription for my business for a stock image service that allots us something like a few hundred images per month. We never even come close to using them. So I have licensed a bunch of images for LinkedMusicians, including editorial licenses for well-known musicians like Paul McCartney, Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend, Roger Dauhltrey. Jimmy Page, etc, that I thought could be useful for fun quizzes, best of lists, etc., during the year ahead. But lately, I’ve been downloading a bunch of Satnas playing guitar. And the reality is, I’ve spent so much time preparing and posting deals that I haven’t had any time to wok on images. (The stuff on the right-hand side promoting the deals roundup, and the ALL THINGS MUSIC were from licensed stock images and me using AI to do the design rather than spend an hour on Canva (yep, the lazy person’s route to graphic design). So, I think I’m going to share some of my rockin’ Santa collection here.

First, we have a number of metal fans here, like my friends @lastcall and @lamia6, so I had to find a metal Santa. This was amusing to me, because it’s so over the top.

The official LinkedMusicians account

Merry Xmas to you too.

And to all ofc. Thanks for making this site, posting deals. And the talks.

And this pic is awesome, should be the new logo (maybe with different clothing for the whole year, or ever changing through out it (the year)).

I mean, this pic I think portrays how we feel inside: PASSIONATE! Right?

21

[joegyork]

Merry Christmas Peter and to all here who celebrate. Thanks for making this such a friendly place to be!

1

[LinkedMusicians]

Merry Christmas. Unfortunately, I feel super under the weather, and I’m not sure of the quality of anything I’m writing.

I am so very grateful for all of you. I hope in the year ahead, this can be more than a deals forum, but a place where we can have deeper discussions — or even light-hearted discussions — about what music means to us, about the music that inspires us, about the role of music in our lives and our musical journeys.

I really haven’t considered myself a musician since 1999 when I had the injury that resulted in lifelong tendinitis. The pandemic and the encouragement of a friend, our own Greg Schlaepfer — and later Thorsten (he goes by Thor here) — gave me the push I needed to decide I would attempt to take up music as a hobby, even though I could never play like I once could. And I found the nerve to share what I made when I knew it wasn’t great, but it represented what I could do. And when I found encouraging people over at Cakewalk’s music sharing community, it made me think about the importance of people encouraging one another when it came to music.

I have plans for making this place more encouraging to get others to take that first step and share a little of what they make during the year ahead. And to find ways to get us talking more about the thing that we all love so much, music, and making music.

I wish those who celebrate Christmas a Merry Christmas and I wish the best to everyone, whatever you celebrate this time of year. Thanks for being here.

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[patrickwichrowski]

Merry Christmas 😉

New album soon!

[url]https://linktr.ee/patrickwichrowski[/url]

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[LinkedMusicians]

BTW, here’s my reality when I make posts at this forum, so you can understand the level of distraction!

Right now, as I’ve been posting deals, I’m in my living room with my entire family with my cat on my lap and my laptop on a weird angle as we binge watch the latest episodes of “Stranger Things” and I try to balance watching the show, following the plot, while typing out deal posts and posts like this one — all while making jokes back and forth with kids about really off the wall silly stuff, which is my habit and a tradition my kids have continued.

So, if you see I’m making a ton of typos, or a sentence doesn’t make sense, the underlying reason could be that something happened on the show or my wife or one of my kids just made a joke, I responded, and completely lost track of what I was writing! That is really what’s going on. This site is my passion project. I would never let this go out the door if this were my business. But I intended this site to be fun, joyful, and passionate. I also want it to be real and human, so I am less focused on refined writing.

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[gregjazz]

On LinkedMusicians said

Right now, as I’ve been posting deals, I’m in my living room with my entire family with my cat on my lap and my laptop on a weird angle as we binge watch the latest episodes of “Stranger Things” and I try to balance watching the show, following the plot, while typing out deal posts and posts like this one — all while making jokes back and forth with kids about really off the wall silly stuff, which is my habit and a tradition my kids have continued.

Replace posting deals with replying to customer support emails, and that was totally me yesterday evening, too–cat and all. My multitasking is pretty poor, though, so I kept having to pause to catch up with what was happening in Stranger Things.

Happy holidays everyone, and Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it! I hope the new year is full of creative musical exploration for you all, and I’m excited for the ways that this community will provide opportunities to collaborate on new music and encourage and learn from each other.

Greg Schlaepfer
[url url=https://www.orangetreesamples.com]Orange Tree Samples[/url]

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[lang]

I hope you’re having a great holiday season and wish you a Happy New Year!

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[andrewfly]

Dear friends at Linked Musicians, wishing you a wonderful holiday season and a fantastic New Year.

2025 has brought major change to our industry—economic pressure and the rapid rise of AI have left many musicians feeling uncertain, and I’ve seen how that can sometimes turn into frustration.

As a sample library producer, I’ve felt these shifts firsthand. I joined Linked Musicians for the genuine people here, and I’m truly grateful to this community and to the platform’s founder—it’s great to see more colleagues joining too.

That said, I’ve been disappointed by political disputes that too often drain creativity and create unnecessary hostility. I believe it’s time to bring positive energy back, strengthen communication between developers and users, and make this a healthier space for everyone.

For 2026, my wish is simple: to hear new music from friends, clients, and fellow composers. I’m also open to initiatives that support composition—and while I can’t share details yet, I’m working on something that will bring great news to Cinematic Alpha.

A warm hug to you all, and to your families. Thank you for being here.

• This reply was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by andrewfly.
• This reply was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by andrewfly.

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I’m a film composer and sound designer, and I love my job. I strive to give my best every day. If you need anything, you can reach me here on the forum or at andrew@cinematicalpha.com.

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[jorge]

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year 2026 to Peter and all the LinkedMusicians family!

I wish you all the best for the new year that is in the corner.

Computer scientist by profession, and musician as a hobby
https://jorgeserranomusic.com/

2

[fretman]

Everyone stay safe tonight!

Old Lang Syne

Studio One, Windows, RME UFX, Yamaha MSP7

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[LinkedMusicians]

On fretman said

Everyone stay safe tonight!

Old Lang Syne

That’s one of yours, right @fretman! Great job! I wish there was a way to embed it here (if there is, using the code tab — please embed it!).

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[LinkedMusicians]

Here’s a cover I did of “Happy Christmas (War is Over)” from last year. Now that I found a singer / collaborator, I’m probably going to delete a lot of the songs where I sing. I did cover a bunch of songs John Lennon sings because people have told me that my voice works on his songs.

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[LinkedMusicians]

Happy New Year, everyone!

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[lastcall]

Happy New Year, may you achieve the highest success in your endeavours.

So are you gonna die today or make it out alive? You gotta conquer the monster in your head and then you’ll fly Fly, phoenix, fly It’s time for a new empire Go bury your demons then tear down the ceiling Phoenix, fly (From League of Legends song Phoenix).

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[joegyork]

Happy New Year everyone!

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[fretman]

Yes, that’s me, although it’s not entirely original (I often steal ideas from others). But this implementation is mine. The instruments I used are:

• Orange Tree Evolution Mandolin
• Indiginus The Resonator
• Indiginus The Fiddle
• Amplesound Guitar M (Martin)
• Amplesound Bass Upright
• Amplesound Ethno Banjo

I’m honored you’d like me to embed the piece here, but I’m hesitant because this is a piece I’d like to submit to sync some day. Most of the libraries are very hesitant to consider pieces that are “published” (for lack of a better word) online.

I have already submitted it once but it got rejected. They thought band was great but the vocals were too “quirky” (who would have thought you can mess up a song like this?). I need to find a more professional voice. I may play with my newly acquired SoundID VoiceAI to see how well it works for a bluegrass piece like this.

But thanks again for your interest! That’s quite the compliment.

Studio One, Windows, RME UFX, Yamaha MSP7

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[LinkedMusicians]

@fretman It’s off topic (but I think Brian and Joe will give me a pass — we don’t penalize people for being off topic and friendly! We encourage it!), but do you follow Produce Like a Pro? I’ll share the video Warren Huart recently did about the rising popularity of AI in sync licensing. I’ll share in the All Things Music forum.

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[fretman]

Thanks. I DO follow him. The whole sync industry is in flux right now.

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