by Jun Yu Phang August 23, 2019

Harmonious Hellos!

Jon of the Chords here! Happy Fall! Isn't it such a wonderful time of the year? Before long, it'll be winter! Who's already itching for Christmas music?!  

 

This update will be just like Christmas! Because we've got whole a bunch of dolce, festoso updates for you:

4 Things in Brief:

1. You can officially order extra piano boxes. Retrieve your survey here to add-it on to your order!

2. Production has begun! So delivery is expected to be by End October. We hustled really hard to get it done

3. We're going to Essen SPIEL in Germany! We are looking for volunteers to help out at our booth! You get a free copy of the game.

4. Personal updates from Jon, Jun Yu and Keith. Get to know the people behind the game!

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4 Things in Detail:

1. You can now order extra piano boxes! Retail boxes are also still available, with an updated design!

Thank you for all your responses after the previous update! We weren't sure if you would want the retail boxes or spare piano boxes, but it turns out that freaking 55 of you got more piano boxes, and 346 of you got the retail boxes! That makes us so happy, to know that we made something that you guys love so much that you were willing to go through the trouble to open up the surveys again just to order them!

I think the only reason more people didn't get the extra piano boxes is that we didn't announce it formally,

 So yes, for the folks who are a little largo, that's right, you can order extra piano boxes! 

Check out the latest prototype that IdealPro, our box manufacturing partner sent us! It's really shaping up:

They're completely unnecessary, but they are beautiful just to sit on your piano (Hah! Piano on a piano! Would that be pianissimo??), under your music stand, on your coffee table, in the bathroom (okay maybe not). You can use it to put all sorts of trinkets! Jewellery, reeds, rosin, wires, keys, coins, toothbrushes, you name it! Even name cards.

Once again, you don't have to get them, but if you do want them, the process for adding them to your order is the same as adding a retail box to your order.

You can check out the previous update for step-by-step instructions (link here!). I put in lots of pictures so it's easy to follow! The short answer is all you have to do is retrieve your survey here, then add the piano box to your order on the Extras tab.

Kinda' funny that one of the most out-of-the-box things we've done... was to put the game into a nicer box!

And here's an update on the retail box design. We're super proud of how it looks: 

And this is how everything might fit into the box, as some of you have asked about it:

We are in talks with our manufacturer to have gametrays in there so that everything looks more presentable. The box is 30cm by 30cm by 9.5cm. 11.8" by 11.8" by 3.7". Again, the retail box is not necessary, as components needed for gameplay will fit into your piano box. Only the rulebook and note skins tuckbox (for major package backers) will not fit into the piano box.

2. Production is underway, so Delivery should be on time!

All 3 of us, especially Jun yu and Keith, have been working insanely hard to get Lord of the Chords to you on time (by Halloween)! Work really hit a fever pitch over a 2-week-long crescendo last month. We were working from 9am-3am on some of the days, it was epic and so much fun. I will always treasure this period working on the first movement of Lord of the Chords in this great symphony we call life.

For many days in a row now, whenever someone has asked me, "How was your day?", the answer has been, "Amazing and fulfilling." I've always wanted to be at this point, to be able to confidently say that I love and am proud of what I'm working on and love the people I'm working with and working FOR (that's you!), and you guys gave us this privilege! So thank you so much (':

I have this memorised as a sales pitch now, but only because it's true. Jun Yu, Keith and I created Lord of the chords, a music theory card game, because I found music theory so boring as a kid, that I once fell asleep in a one-to-one music theory lesson. I hated it so much that I began to feel angry towards my mom (don't judge, I was 15) and my teacher for putting me through it; the thing is, I loved music, my teacher and my mom! So it was a very confusing time.

Years later, I picked up jazz guitar, and my new teacher showed me how cool and useful music theory really was. I thought, "If only I had known then! If only EVERYONE who was learning knew!" Now, we have an opportunity to do just that with Lord of the Chords. It still makes me emotional today to know that my hatred and anger could turn into the joy of discovery for music theory for thousands of you all around the world.  

Anyway, if there are no super problematic hiccups, there's a good chance your packages will get to you in time for Thanksgiving! Otherwise, it'll definitely be in time for Christmas. We don't want to celebrate too soon and jinx it, but Hallelujah! We freaking did it!

3. SPIEL Messe Essen

We're going to Essen Spiel which will be from 24th-27th October! If things go well, we'll have stock to sell right there. If you're in Europe, try to come by! It'll be a blast.

We also need volunteers who can help us to teach folks how to play the game! We'll give you a free copy of the game if you help!

We would also like to know what other cons we should go to. We know where the big game cons are, but we wanna know where the MUSIC Cons are! Please comment down below if you know of any big music conventions.

4. Gettin' Personal with Jon, Jun Yu and Keith

Keith will be going back to school in January to complete his final year project, and will finish school next January. Meanwhile, he'll be joining his batchmates for their grad trip to Taipei (he didn't graduate with them tho because of the Leave of Absence he took for Lord of the Chords so I guess he'll have 2 grad trips! Lucky guy). Speaking of lucky guys, his sister just got married! Aren't they a beautiful couple?!

Here's a clip of Keith dancing at the after party. Smooth moooooves:

 

He has also recently moved into a new house that's a 2 minute walk from his old house. You'll get to see it in the upcoming "Concert of the Chords" update that we'll put out soon! Lord of the Chords will showcase musician/teachers, kind of like Tiny Desk! Our first feature will be for singer-songwriter-actress-teacher Kirsten Long. We filmed it at Keith's new place.

I've (Jon) also recently moved houses, to a place that's a 5 minute drive from the old house. I'm very proud of the music shelf in my room! 

My second sister is also getting married in a month! And my big sister just gave birth to a baby boy! 

Which means I'm an uncle now! Uncle Jon of the Chords HAHA! Please leave your tips for me to be a great uncle in the comments below.

Meanwhile, I've signed up for the Kane and Alessia Mentorship Programme so that we can take Lord of the Chords to the next level as a business. Kane was previously a Sony Record Producer! Now, he's a business guru guy. So I'm expecting to learn a lot. We're trying our best to make the best of the momentum you guys gave us!

Jun Yu has already resumed school at Nanyang Technical University to finish his degree in Computer Science and his final year project. He'll graduate in May. After that, me and him are planning to come to the states, where 50% of you are! We're looking to do a tour in the summer, where we hit all the music/choral/board game conventions around the country! The future sounds so damn exciting. 

Thank you for supporting us! - Jon, Jun Yu and Keith

That's all we have for you today! We would like to leave you with some music. It's not classical music, but it's pretty awesome:

Growing Up by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis featuring Ed Sheeran:

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