To Help Ansgar Schroer in his medical Mishap

Update Jan 3, 2022: a thank you note from Ansgar: before the message just saying that I will be taking him a pre-owned iPAD to connect to his DM48X in the late afternoon, along with the neck rack to hold the DM48X... So here is the note from Ansgar:

"Hey Mike,

Thanks for delving into that ipad thing!

Here's a wee thankyou message:

Dear friends,

The Lekholm DM48X was such an unexpected and delightful gift.

My good friend Gim Ardal informed me of the development of its precursor, the DM48. I was immediately seduced by its impressive technology, and was tempted to use some of the inheritance from the passing of my mother to buy one. But in a moment of responsibility, I decided to devote all the inheritance to buying a new car, and paying off my ever-mounting credit card bills, even though Mother would have been very pleased had I used some of that money for my pursuit of music.

The DM48X will allow me to practice harmonica silently (with headphones) at all hours, without disturbing Michelle or my neighbours. It will allow me to easily produce musical notation. I am hoping to use the DM48X to teach some music online.

So this will raise me to the next level in so many ways.

Coincidentally, I was trying to design a MIDI harmonica synthesizer controller as my Ryerson thesis project back in the 70's. I had some great difficulties completing the project, partly because the air sensors were not sensitive enough, in those days. They gave me a mercy-mark of B+. I bow my head in deep respect to Erik Lekholm and his design-team for this landmark invention that has changed the world of so many harmonica players!

Thank you so much for your kind generosity. It is such a blessing to have some good luck mixed in with all the bad luck that I've experienced lately.

Much love,

Ansgar"

Update Jan 2, 2022, Hi Everyone, well Happy New Year, so I went to see Ansgar on New Years day yesterday, to present our gift.

I went intentionally yesterday so as to start his year off with a "bang". My son took some video clips of the presentation, but I will need to edit them down to a size that can be shared, which I will do. The bottom line was that Ansgar, was pretty stunned, surprised, delighted, without words; except, he kept reiterating "holy shit"...;., his enthusiasm and gratitude was through the roof, and I think he found it a bit overwhelming . He mentioned "being launch padded to a new stratosphere" for example. I did manage to have it play for a bit with the software that I took him that Jaron Freeman helped me install, but the software crashed. Now I will start to (as previously mentioned), search out the best hardware interface to match the DM48X up with, so that it is fully functional and can play while he is in the hospital and when he returns home. Your generosity and support for our friend Ansgar is greatly appreciated and will surely manifest itself in adding a whole new dimension to Ansgars life as it is... He is beyond grateful and I will do my best to post not only his thank you videos and the ongoing investments of the funds so you can see where they are going, but also ultimately I look forward to everybody being able to hear his future musical compositions if he bites into this the way that I am confident he will. Again, thank you so much for making this a success and a Happy New Year to all.

PS the fundraiser will be kept open for anyone who wishes to contribute that wasn't able to because of the busy time of year.

Update 12/31/22; Happy New Year everyone, so the latest is that the main gift for Ansgar the DM48X https://www.lekholminstruments.com/ arrived early (yesterday), I took a long trip down to Toronto to meet with a musical acquaintance of Ansgars (Jaron Freeman-Fox), who helped me to patch the software required to the device this afternoon. Bottom line, I will be presenting the gift(s) to Ansgar tomorrow on New Years day to start his year off in an inspiring way.

I can not do the joint Webinar, group presentation, BUT I will video the presentation and sent to all of you as long as I have your contact. Of course you are all free to call him to discuss it, but please wait until the afternoon after we all surprise him.

So again, Happy New Year and thank you all for all your generosity, I am keeping the fund raiser open so that anybody who would like to can still contribute. HNY, Mike

Update 12/29/22, well as some of you may know we have passed the goal, and as indicated the surplus will be used to likely select peripherals to enhance Ansgars experience with the main gift of the DM48X MIDI harmonica, if you haven't googled the Youtubes of the device I certainly recommend watching some of the videos, here is the manufacturer's site https://www.lekholminstruments.com/ the videos are towards the end. below you will see the accounting thus far AND a picture of the first enhancement of a "harness" to make it more ergonomic and to help Ansgar to maximize the use of the device. The device ETA is Jan 4th, I will need to travel to Toronto to get some assistance from one of Ansgars past musical friends (Jaron Freeman-Fox) to install software on the computer, he is familiar with these types of things and has offered to help me to ensure that the device is functional when it is presented to Ansgar.

Notes: if any contributors want to be included in the presentation, I will do it by Microsoft "TEAMS" by sending a group invitation, BUT please send me your email address to [email redacted] if I receive an email, that will be my clue that you would like to be included in the invitation.

We expect Ansgar will be transferred to a rehabilitation facility shortly, so his phone number will change, I will inform of that change. His outbound phone calls don't work so you just need to call the Barrie hospital, hit "0" and spell out his last name for now to the switchboard attendee.

I need to post the update in multiple locations to ensure it reaches everyone concerned who are interested, so please don't feel inundated as there is only one update at at time, it just appears in multiple locations. I am relatively available for anyone who would like to contact me directly up and including Jan 2 at [phone redacted], after this time I will become a bit busy as I go back to work, but after 5PM would be fine as well from the 3rd on.

Thank you for all of your generous contributions to Ansgars cause, and again, he is not aware of this so please let's keep it a surprise, of course, the list of contributors will be given to Ansgar for anyone who is not able to attend the presentation. If the device lands on time, I expect to do the presentation likely around 6PM on either the 5th or 6th of January.... Blessings, Mike

Update 12/26/22 So I visited Ansgar in the hospital yesterday, we had a long chat, I passed on the salutations from both the contributors and non

contributors, I did not tell him about the gifting that we will be doing. It seemed to me that passing the salutations to him from everyone brought him so much light and inspiration that the gift we are funding could wait until it is here. (it was hard NOT to tell him though LOL). Now that Christmas is over and we all have some more time, and if you do, his number "currently" [phone redacted] currently extension 38475, they will be moving him to a rehab unit in a number of days. His spirits were good and he was very communicative, unfortunately, there was no internet so, I could not read the exact wording of the salutations everyone gave me. I DID write a Christmas card and put everyone's name on it and read all the names to him and he asked about how each and every person was doing and what they had said. Where comments were not made to me, I took the liberty to say that, we ALL collectively, want him to have a speedy recovery, a Merry Christmas and above all, that we want him to keep his "Spirits UP!" and that is going to be the key. Although I did not reveal the "gift" endeavor, I did say indicate that all the current contributors, sent "special" regards to him that were "above and beyond" all the many good wishes of everyone. There are still contributions coming in, and even though we are nearly at the goal, any funds above the goal will be used to (as mentioned) make the DM48X device fully functional so that he can "plug and chug", I have much of the techno babble sorted out with the help of the harmonica community of other users and some of his ex musical associates that I did not know previously who have also made generous contributions. So far we are on budget, and in the end I will personally make up any overage myself. If there is a funding overage, it will be presented to Ansgar and I will help him decide and inform on where and how to deploy the additional funding. For instance, a number of months ago, when I force him to come with me so I could buy him a new computer to get him back in touch with the world, he really wanted and apple i product, he informed me yesterday that the reason was so that it would interface better with MIDI or musical apps "when" he was better able to delve back into computer aided music production. We wound up settling for a basic pentium-style computer which he has in the last while really taken to and is re-discovering what is out there. His prior hardware was essentially broken and obsolete, so although not ideal, the Pentium PC fit the bill at the time. That being said, smallish community of DM48X players out there usually gravitate to iPads, or the like again for software reasons, most of the users in NAmerica, are professional musicians and some very famous users like Stevie Wonder etc. are "avid users", so perhaps we grab a refurbed iPad to accentuate the DM48X device or in the meantime, with the assistance of others, I have been advised that the PC will/should work. It will be important for maximum result that the end solution package is both friendly AND Ergonomic so he can "squeeze" every drop of technological juice from this wonderful innovation. Essentially it is what we would all know as a synthisizer, BUT that would normally take the form of a keyboard, this unit will allow him to have the power of a syntisizer while taking the form of a harmonica "his weapon of choice" lol. This again will not only be for playing in the hospital or at home before he can walk again without disturbing anyone, it will also allow him to compose, record and produce music, which we can all look forward to hearing going forward. So it is not too late to contribute whatever you are comfortable with so your name can be added to the list of 17 now official contributors.... If you are not in the position to do so, don't worry about it and your good wishes will be passed to him as well. I will plan to call him tomorrow to read each and every salutation from everyone on top of what I passed on from you all yesterday.

As Ringo says "Peace & Love, Peace & Love"

Update 12/24/22, 5:20 PM, for those who are watching you can see that the incoming contributions are going very well, so thank you to all that have contributed. As we near the amount, I will order the device from Lekholm, it will take some time (I guess) to deliver from Sweden. In the meantime and at the end of this, I would like to get all willing participants permission to share their face book account so we can all potentially join in presenting the gift to Ansgar, we "might" will do it virtually before it comes, OR perhaps wait until it is here, I am open to opinions. I would like to set up a "group" on facebook for all contributors, so we can all share in the new developments Ansgar makes with this amazing piece of technology. If you know anything about Ansgar, it will be hard to imagine what he does with this. So if you see a friend request from me and are not already a friend, please accept. I will also help Ansgar to retrieve his email account and gently suggest that he open a FB account so that he can keep us all informed of things and be a bit more communicative. The whole idea is to open him up to make the most of what he has and to know there are many that care and are fond of him.

I really don't know the exact cost of the device AND I am trying to make sure I have all the necessary software hardware costs taken care of, so that when the gift is presented to him, I will have the whole interfacing aspect figured out. (that is the MIDI synthesizer to PC or Android note pad. So if we go over the amount, the additional money can be given to him or pay for additional required hardware/software (but I "think" I have it solved and am talking to the manufacturer and other "rare" experts on this. Otherwise, the funds will go to Ansgar, I will publish the invoices for you all to see, all I am hoping for is that I don't have to take out a second mortgage to cover all the costs... thats all for now, Merry Christmas and thank you for helping me to make one of the best Birthdays I have ever had.... Hugs, Mike

Hi Mike Hamilton here from Cookstown Ontario, for those of you who knew my good pal Ansgar Schroer and for those who had the opportunity to work with him either in his recording studio, musically, as a Mathematics student of his, or through his engineering achievements, I am extending this fund raiser to help Ansgar get over his latest medical mishap. For those who knew him as I have since public school & high school, we knew him as one of the most accomplished "natural" musicians AND one of the most academically brilliant people in our circle. in the last number of years Ansgar suffered 2 consecutive strokes that left him quite paralyzed in his legs and the loss of use of one of his arms. This was followed by the early death of his older brother Oliver Schroer in 2008, then the passing of his other older brother Andre Schroer in 2018, followed by the passing of his Mother, dear Irene Schroer in 2019. Ansgar managed to re-teach himself how to walk, although with great difficulty, but his one arm and hand did not recover. His passion in music began to lean towards the harmonica many years ago, however, with the loss of one arm, he had to move to a "chromatic" style of harmonica that can be played with one hand. As well after the 2 strokes he has lost much of his aptitude acuity, leaving him with predominantly one single and focused passion, his harmonica playing, along of course with 4 yr old son Nathaniel and his caring wife Michele and nothing much else to give him a reason to be inspired. Since these events and as of last Friday, December 16th I was informed by his wife Michele that he had taken a terrible fall on the ice and suffered a broken hip + a broken pelvis, and was admitted to the Barrie hospital with an expected stay until the end of Jan 2023. This being the case and state of affairs, Ansgar can not follow his passion of his advanced playing of harmonica at all while in the hospital nor after returning home can not play. This is where the funding comes in whereby, I have found a "digital harmonica" designed and manufactured in Sweden, perhaps the only one that exists that is actually digital that is silent until plugged into headphones or a computer. It is amazing technology but due to the high tech nature and rarity it is very expensive and must be shipped from Sweden, the value is approx $1700 CAD, I believe would cover the product, freight, duty/brokerage and taxes. Ironically while Ansgar was in Ryerson University, his thesis was done based on development of this exact engineering feat, a digital harmonica. For those who wish to breathe some life into Please contribute, I ALREADY HAVE 3 PARTIES WHO ARE DONATING $100, INCLUDING MYSELF, SO PLEASE STEP UP AND DO WHAT YOU CAN. Here is the link to the product in question, google Lekholm watch the videos AND please pass this along to others who have been touched by Ansgars delightful and generous character, ps, he knows nothing about this venture.

XO Mike