StringTunes

Notices!
Great News! My album Heart Strings is now available on Amazon.com!
Amazon is carrying both the entire album and each individual single on this album. They are available for purchase and download there!
Here is the link Amazon
Both Heart Strings and Dawn of a New Day are available at iTunes.
Here's the link iTunes
Both Heart Strings and Dawn of a New Day are available at CDBaby.
Here's the link - CDBaby
Thank you all ever so much for continuing to support me and my music.
Don
StringTunes - Music to Soothe Your Soul!
Colors of Cello - Coming Soon! Release date 3/21/08.
I am very excited about the upcoming release of the Colors of Cello CD. This is a collection of 12 compositions featuring the Cello as the primary instrument. The release will be exclusive on my official website StringTunes for the first couple of months so please stop in to get your copy.
My Discography - A Free Preview
iTunes link for my CD's - Click - Here - Direct link to the iTunes Music Store featuring my music.
Biography
Donald Rath Jr. – Composer, Arranger & Guitarist
On January 14th 1956, in a small suburb of Cincinnati Ohio, a healthy lad was born to this world. He would later become a Composer of instrumental music. The road is indeed long and contains many twists, turns and detours. Thankfully, there has been a few rest stops along the way!
Don was raised on a Dairy farm in Illinois. As a toddler, he would sit in awe listening while his Mother created amazing music on the organ. It was from this early impression that he began to pursue his interest in music. During his fourth year of Grade School, Don began to play an instrument known as the Flute-O-Phone and later the Cornet. During his freshman year in High School he was introduced to the Guitar by one of his close friends. After a few Guitar lessons, he began to pick out some basic musical ideas that were later to become his first musical compositions. It was from these beginnings that music became his prime passion and interest for personal expression.
He continued to play Guitar for many years until lifes influences caused him to put his musical aspirations on hold. Then in 1990, he began to play again, this time with much more passion and interest. He taught himself to read and notate music and he began the study of music composition.
A left hand crush injury in 1993 caused him to realize the importance of formalizing his original music. Fearing the inability of being able to play the Guitar, he used it to his advantage as Physical Therapy. Not permitting multiple surgeries to keep him from his musical pursuits, Don continued to practice the Guitar, study music, compose and to notate his original music.
Also, in the midst of the 1993 Great Flood in St. Louis, again he was interrupted in his efforts to complete his first goal of recording his original debut album. Then in 1997 he was able to complete his first demo CD titled “Night Wind”. It was a collection of 19 original short pieces for solo guitar. This album was never formally released since his playing skills, lessened by his earlier injury, was never formally released to the general public. For the next nine years he continued learning music composition and to practice the Classical Guitar in his home studio.
The loss of his mother in late 2005 was another turning point in his life. This had a profound influence on Don where he completely changed his focus. His efforts have him focusing on a new goal, to establish himself as a composer of Classical music for the stringed instruments. The emotional impact over the loss of his mother resulted in the completion of over 40 titles in 2006 alone. Additionally, one of the primary resulting effects of this event was that he is now arranging his music for small group ensambles, String Quartet, Quintet while intermixing instruments in the Woodwind family to "dress up the string sound". "I'm still learning," says Don. "When inspiration is there one must act on it now for it is fleeting, whatever is possible to do today should be done so do it!"
Modern computer technologies have played an important role in producing his music for public distribution. Late in 2006 he met Alan “Big Al” Wagner of BigToeStudio on the Internet. Alan expressed an interest in providing CD mastering services enabling Don to complete the production of his first album. Using the East West computer sound sample program as the source for the instruments and arranging the mastering of the CD over the Internet with Alan, both projects; "Heart Strings" and "Dawn of a New Day" were completed.
As Allen puts it, "This is a very interesting project that involved the emulation of an entire orchestra using only technology. Therefore, it features, even more, of the talent and skill of the writer and arranger, Don Rath Jr." Further, "I used some of the very latest recording technology (called "convolution reverb") to place these virtual instruments into a "real" space from an actual physical location. This served to enhance their realism and the overall listening experience.”
The Music
A fan comment on our website reads, “Awesome. Beautifully orchestrated! What you have created here is what music is all about.” It is from comments like this that Dons debut album, “Heart Strings” was completed and released through his website StringTunes and CDBaby on January 3rd 2007.
His second album “Dawn of a New Day” was released on March 21st 2007, on the first day of spring of this year. His extended plans for 2008 include releasing a collection of original compositions for the Cello titled Colors of Celloand a CD of traditional Christmas music, arranged for strings.
His long range plans include a remix and release of short Solo Guitar pieces titled Night Wind, the production of 3 additional original instrumental music albums, music notation books for each.
Don states, "The music is for you. A gift from the spheres. I just happened to catch it and write it down."
Heart Strings is a full length album of twelve original instrumentals for the stringed instruments. Don weaves together flowing melodies creating a pleasing ambience Sure to Soothe Your Soul!
Dawn of a New Day is also a full length album of twelve original instrumentals. Various orchestral sounds create the various moods you will experience while listening to this album. We hope you enjoy! It is considered a sister album to Heart Strings.
If you would like to purchase a copy of either or both of Dons albums Heart Strings and Dawn of a New Day you can do so by clicking - here - Thank You!.
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Don Rath Jr
Composer
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