Hi! I am Jonathan Best. I am interested in collaborating with organizations in providing music services to communities.
These are my ideas for a musical instrument library, recording studio, and jam room.
I would like to offer my teaching, recording and video skills in addition to a room full of musical instruments and sound equipment in exchange for a space to do the work of comMUSIKey. We can do an equal exchange or I can pay rent with the understanding that we are all contributing to the community.
I have a vision for how it can work which of course is very malleable. I picture three rooms. Room A would contain all the musical instruments of the library. Room B would be the jam room where certain instruments amd audio equipment would live permanently. I have a two green screens that could live in there as well and I have high end video editing software which I could teach students to use. There is a free version that they can put on their computers. Room C would be my studio where I would teach and record and do my office work. That room would be available to students and the community as long as I am present.
The jam room would be available to the community for rehearsals and workshops.
There could also be an instrument repair room where I could keep a large collection of piano and other instrument repair tools. I have a van with a winch to move small pianos.
Here is a list of the musical instruments comMUSIKey has and where they could live. People have already started donating instruments just by hearing about the idea. There is a set of concert recorders waiting for a place to put them. Another part of the vision is that people can not only borrow but lend instruments as well. That way they don’t have to make a commitment. comMUSIKey is a 501c3.
Here is a list of instruments we have. The 2nd column is quantity. The 3rd column is where it can go.
| 39 key MIDI controller | 1 | studio | |
| Acoustic bass guitar | 1 | library | |
| Acoustic Guitar | 2 | library | |
| ashiko drum | 1 | library | |
| Autoharp | 3 | library | |
| Banjo | 1 | library | needs work |
| Bass ukulele | 1 | library | |
| Behringer MIDI controller | 1 | library | |
| Bongo drums | 3 | library | |
| boomerang looper | 1 | library | |
| Cajon drum | 1 | library | |
| Clarinet | 1 | library | |
| Classical guitar | 1 | library | |
| concert C flute | 1 | library | |
| Conga | 2 | jam room | |
| Didgeridoo | 3 | library | |
| Djembe drums | 5 | library | |
| Djun djun drum | 2 | library | |
| Drum set | 1 | library | |
| dumbek drum | 2 | library | |
| Electric Lap steel | 1 | library | |
| Electric piano | 1 | jam room | needs work |
| floor tom drum | 1 | library | |
| Gong | 1 | library | |
| Hammer dulcimer | 1 | library | needs work |
| Lap steel acoustic | 1 | library | |
| Mandolin | 2 | library | |
| Mini keyboard | 2 | jam room | |
| Mrindangam Drum | 1 | library | |
| Osmose keyboard | 1 | studio | |
| portable acoustic Piano | 1 | library | |
| Sax | 2 | library | |
| Shruti box | 1 | library | |
| Sitar | 1 | library | needs fixing |
| tongo drums | 1 | jam room | |
| Ukulele | 7 | library | |
| Violin | 2 | library | |
| Washtub bass | 1 | library | |
| Wax cylinder player | 1 | jam room | needs fixing |
| Yamaha Keyboard controller | 1 | studio | |
| Zydeco frottoir | 1 | library |
Here is a list of the audio and other equipment we have.
| equipment | quantity | where it could go |
| Behringer Monitor speaker | 1 | jam room |
| Bose rechargeable speaker | 1 | jam room |
| Bose tower sound system | 1 | jam room |
| Canon M50 Mark II movie & still camera | jam room | |
| Midas DM 12 mixer | 1 | jam room |
| Music stand | 8 | jam room |
| Mic stand | 9 | jam room & studio |
| AKG D112 bass drum mic | 1 | library |
| AT 825 stereo mic | 1 | library |
| AT blue tooth speaker | 1 | library |
| AT U841a boundary mic | 1 | library |
| Behringer C2 matched mic pair | 2 | library |
| Canon R800 movie camera | library | |
| Carvin stereo condencer mic pair | 1 | library |
| Zoom field recorder | 1 | library |
| AKG 414 large diaphram condenser mic | 1 | studio |
| Apple Mac Mini | studio | |
| ART stereo tube compressor | 1 | studio |
| AT 4050 large diamphram condenser mic | 1 | studio |
| AT 4060 tube condenser mic | 1 | studio |
| DPA 4060 lavalier mic | 2 | studio |
| Drawmer 1970 stereo mic pre compressor | 1 | studio |
| Focusrite Octopre 8 ch. mic pre | 1 | studio |
| JBL nearfield monitors | 1 | studio |
| miscellaneous wires and connectors | studio | |
| Presonus Quantum interface | 1 | studio |
| Rode NT4 stereo mic | 1 | studio |
| shure sm57 dynamic mic | 2 | studio |
| shure sm58 dynamic mic | 2 | studio |
| Sound treatment panels | 10 | studio |
| Green screen | 2 | |
| Movie lights | 4 | |
| Piano moving equipment | ||
| Piano tools | ||
| Projector & screen | ||
| van with winch for moving pianos |
I, Jonathan Best (Ejolis Sidai Pii) have been a fulltime musician, teacher and recording engineer since moving to NYC in 1980. I have traveled the world with rockstars but hit a wall of disillusionment and realized that one way music made no sense. So I followed my partner at the time, Mary Poole to Prescott in 2002. From 2007 through 2010 I simultaneously made many trips to NY and Kenya. In NY I enrolled in a four year program where I learned to facilitate groups of people in improvising music on the spot. In Kenya, I worked with Maasai communities in building a media center and creating documentaries by and for the Maasai people. It was there that I learned the true power of music and dancing (one word: Osingolio) to keep communities strong in spite of drought and extreme poverty. In 2013 I founded comMUSIKey a 501c3 non-profit for the purpose of building community through all-inclusive music making.