The Faces of Melody's - the publishing part
The Faces of Melody’s – The Publishing Part
We represent about 80 composers and arrangers. I’m not really sure how that happened. I believe because John is so stalwart about the business, people like Ray Pool, Kathryn Cater, Pamela Bruner, Darhon Rees-Rohrbacher and more have trusted us to print their music and make sure it is always available to anyone who wishes to purchase it. AP (Afghan Press) music is available from a list of stores that can be found on our publishing website:
Our publishing company and our business are named after Afghan Hounds that first graced our lives: Mastafha and Melody. After they passed we joined a club and were on the rescue team. John got called out to a particularly bad situation which is how we adopted Augusta (bottom right of the dog pictures). After Afghan Hounds we adopted a Golden Retriever who contracted erlichiosis and had heart disease. He died too young and we were devastated. To make up for that void, we adopted more and at one point we had 8 dogs. Since we have a big yard (they only went in the yard supervised by us), we felt it was OK. As we have gotten older, we find that we are unable to handle the “loss” of these beings, and therefore now we have one foster Golden and one cat. They are pictured at the very bottom of this page.
That being said, the role John plays in the publishing portion of our business is that of printer, binder, order-taker, royalty tracker and packer. Oh – and printer repair guy. We have 2 old printers for the color covers and they have run out of warranty, so John is able to patch them when necessary. He also monitors the large Canon printer which we rent, and orders plastic spirals for binding.
When we receive an order (from a store) for music, it is packed the same day and shipped either same day or the next day. An exception might be when Jeannette in The Netherlands places an order, usually it is about 40 pounds and has to be pulled and checked very carefully. Jeannette’s website is here: zingendesnaar.nl
Mary built both folkharp.com and afghanpressmusic.com. Some of you may recall that both sites were hacked early 2020 and needed to be completely rebuilt from scratch. She also puts up new titles and makes sure they are on Sheet Music Plus, Harp Column Music, and the Melody website (folkharp.com), and keeps stores apprised of new publications. Other duties: editing in Finale or Personal Composer, typesetting, proofing, creating covers, making the paper versions into digital versions. Sometimes dealing with copyright issues. Currently in the queue is an ensemble book by Mary Muckle. We are working through the final corrections. Astrid Walschot-Stapp is coming out with compositions for both pedal and lever harp. We are awaiting a cover for her latest effort. We just finished Megan Metheney’s Elles. Making 11×17 inserts is really a challenge, especially for a dyslexic person. Spiral books are much easier. Social media is also on Mary’s list, but it’s not a favorite.
Mary recently gave a workshop at Somerset about publishing. You are welcome to the handout – Somerset Workshop Publication Radspinner June 22.
We also have a very old wordpress publishing blog that you are welcome to look at. Basically the handout above contains the information that is in the blog, but it is updated.
Below is a listing of Afghan Press Music for the Harp Artists and the number of publications they have entrusted us with.
Anderson, Jeanie (8 Products)
Avesian, Holly (11 Products)
Baxter, Becky (3 PRODUCTS)
Berman-Harris, Ruth (6 PRODUCTS)
Biery, Marilyn (1 PRODUCT)
Blevins, Cindy (1 PRODUCT)
Bruner, Pamela (7 PRODUCTS)
Buchanan, Laurie (1 PRODUCT)
Buehler, Jennifer (1 PRODUCT)
Callison, Hugh (6 PRODUCTS)
Castiglioni, Evelyn Tiffany (17 PRODUCTS)
Cater, Kathryn (21 PRODUCTS)
Collins, Lui (1 PRODUCT)
Debrita, Linda (4 PRODUCTS)
Dobyns, Whitney (Cairns) (1 PRODUCT)
Dorian, Pamela (2 PRODUCTS)
Drake, Charlene (1 PRODUCT)
Fickle, Robin Arioto (5 PRODUCTS) Paper Version Only
Govenor, Deborah (3 PRODUCTS)
Griffith, Amy (1 PRODUCT)
Guy, Stanley (2 PRODUCTS)
Hamilton, Rita (2 PRODUCTS)
Harmon, Danielle (6 PRODUCTS)
Hill, Steve (3 PRODUCTS)
Hines, John (1 PRODUCT)
Honey, Therese (3 PRODUCTS)
Hurrell, Nancy (7 PRODUCTS)
Jaeger, Patricia (1 PRODUCT)
Jenkins, Anna Thormahlen(6 PRODUCTS)
Jennings, Jan (1 PRODUCT)
Johnson, Julianne (1 PRODUCT)
Kolle, Beth (8 PRODUCTS)
Koskelin, Susan (1 PRODUCT)
Landy, Mitch (62 PRODUCTS)
Larkin, Linda (4 PRODUCTS)
Lloyd, Mary (Richards) (8 PRODUCTS)
Lunsford, Reba (9 PRODUCTS)
Mahan, William (21 PRODUCTS)
McGaughey, Fran (1 PRODUCT)
Meis, Joanne (2 PRODUCTS)
Metheney, Megan (2 PRODUCTS)
Moring, Delores (1 PRODUCT)
Muckle, Mary (5 PRODUCTS)
Myrow, Beverly (6 PRODUCTS)
Nelson, Ken (2 PRODUCTS)
Ohms, Pam (7 PRODUCTS)
Owens, Dewey (3 PRODUCTS)
Peekstok, John (1 PRODUCT)
Perreten, Sally (3 PRODUCTS)
Perry, I. Mac (1 PRODUCT)
Pershan, Claire (2 PRODUCTS)
Pinet, Michele (1 PRODUCT)
Pinkston, Daniel (2 PRODUCTS)
Pinto, Francis (1 PRODUCT)
Pool, Ray (20 PRODUCTS)
Poppe, Phyllis (1 PRODUCT)
Radspinner, Mary (12 PRODUCTS)
Rees-Rohrbacher, Darhon (38 PRODUCTS)
Rice, Joyce (16 PRODUCTS)
Richards, Sue (4 PRODUCTS)
Riley, Laurie (7 PRODUCTS)
Robertson, Kim (2 PRODUCTS)
Robinson, Meg (28 PRODUCTS)
Rushton, Patricia (3 PRODUCTS)
Schafer, Andrea (1 PRODUCT)
Semmann, Barbara (17 PRODUCTS)
SHSA ( 1 PRODUCT)
Simpson, Alaine (1 PRODUCT)
Staneslow, Sunita (8 PRODUCTS)
Stevens, Lucy (1 PRODUCT)
Stork, Diana (3 PRODUCTS)
Sullivan, David (1 PRODUCT)
Tait, Carolyn (2 PRODUCTS)
Tepper, Ellen (7 PRODUCTS)
Thormahlen, Sharon (20 PRODUCTS)
Trotter, Louise (40 PRODUCTS)
Vidrine, Bette (1 PRODUCT)
Walschot-Stapp, Astrid (2 PRODUCTS)
Weaver, Joyce (14 PRODUCTS)
Wentz, Paula (1 PRODUCT)
Williams, David (1 PRODUCT)
Williams, James (1 PRODUCT)
Wood, Carol (17 PRODUCTS)
Wright, Barbara (2 PRODUCTS)
Our Current Family Members
