Kinda Behind the Scenes at Band Camp

I've been working my buttocks to the coccyx getting NYSMF concert DVDs and CDs ready for shipping, but I've also been transforming some of all those little non-concert videos into MP4 format so you can watch those little slices of life from NYSMF this summer.

Like Nick Hart struggling into a size XS tee shirt during the Bass Olympics ...

.. and who can forget that pie-eating contest? Without puking, anyway?

My personal favorite, though, is the rehearsal of "Al Solosha" with David Crone in Festival Choir, session one. The sound of all of you singing that number still gives me chills. Good ones.

Which is the whole reason why I was taking these videos all summer long. When I was a kid attending the New York State Music Camp, we had no low-cost, high-quality means of videotaping ourselves, just ancient, clunky, noisy camcorders. I would have given anything to be able to see what life was like back then, even if I was forced to see my bad teenage haircuts again.

Well, this is just another little gift from me to you. Enjoy them, and I hope you look upon them as fondly in 20 years as I would have for my own band camp experience.

-- Keisuke

http://www.nysmf.org/video/2006/index.html

Keisuke

NYSMF on MySpace.com

Thanks to NYSMF, I may finally use online communities as they were intended. MySpace,Friendster, and Xanga are now actually useful ways of sending NYSMFers information and news about myself and about the camp -- as opposed to being places for lame, shameless, uninteresting self-promotion. (For those of you in the know, just think of how many unsolicited pleas for friendship have come from tiny bands, BS artists, and inappropriate websites disguised as humans? Yuck.)

Friends from NYSMF have tripled the number of "friends" I had at all of these services. The NYSMF group on MySpace has similarly grown -- it will be much easier to stay in touch with everyone with all of this online interest.

What really touches me is the fact that all of these new contacts are completely personal. Everyone who has sent "Friend requests" to me are real people, people that I have actually met and worked with and spoken to about squirrels through NYSMF. People whom I like and respect and who share a love of music.

Thanks to NYSMF, the communities that I belong to on these online networks actually mean something to me. They allow me to stay in touch with people whom I can NOT just phone or hang out with.

It's nice to see the internet being used for something so ... well ... human. I like it.

Stay in touch, all you NYSMFers. I'll be using these sites heavily to keep you up to date with what's happening at our festival during the year!

MySpace
Friendster
Xanga
NYSMF group on MySpace

The Fearless Squirrel Hunter

After-NYSMF: day three

It's 10 am, wednesday ...

Normally at this time, I would be frantically finishing up prep for announcements with Ms. Kim in the main office, hoping I hadn't missed anyone's birthday, and praying to every deity imaginable that it would NOT be another "Wacky Wild Schedule Day".

Instead, I'm packing up my room in Hulbert (yes, I lived in Hulbert, well hidden from prying eyes), wondering just how much extra paper and computer cable I have accumulated during this summer, and worrying about keeping my box of 70 mini-DV tapes safe until I can process them into Official NYSMF DVDs. These will be all the concerts, some of the master classes, and the Yamaha/Silent String documentary that I need to put together this year. Yikes. I need to open a new production house: how does "NYSMF Productions Ink" sound?

This is one of the oddest feelings I've encountered for some time. The entire two months I have spent in Oneonta have taken on a thoroughly unreal quality. "Did all of that really happen?" I have to keep asking myself. It's as if I have been asleep and dreaming for all of that time, and will suddenly awake in my own bed in Los Angeles, struggling with post-dream disorientation.

The intensity and sheer joy of this first summer of NYSMF is the culprit. After doing so much in such a short time, and doing all of it every single day, anything else in life is looking pretty tame in comparison. All of us accomplished something every single day here at NYSMF, sometimes every single hour or minute or second, whether it was prepping a student's file; emailing a parent; talking to a business; teaching a class; playing in an ensemble; organizing an event; everything and anything.

In contrast, I could spend all year in LA doing nothing but watching TV. That's one of the real gifts of being part of NYSMF: it focussed my energies and skills away from reruns of "Sealab 2021" or my dogged determination to watch every last episode of "Dragonball" via Netflix. Instead of wasting all of my time, I was doing something really great every single moment.

I suppose I could set a good example and carry over this NYSMF energy into my regular life. Stay tuned -- I've got LOTS of work to do to get you your concert DVDs, organize all the photos I took, and to take a big part in getting NYSMF 2007 all set up and ready to go next June 24, 2007. And I hope to see you all there again, too!

--Keisuke

Farewell Summer 2006

The final notes of the All-NYSMF Choir's rendition of "You are So Beautiful" sounded just after 10pm tonight. In a surprise and wonderfully sweet gesture, conductor Dr. Robert Barstow presented NYSMF's Executive Director, Ms. Jungeun Kim, with an enormous bouquet, and had her stand on the stage, facing the choir, who then sang the great old standard to Ms. Kim.

The applause ran loud and long, but all too soon it faded. The house lights came up, and I took a step forward for the final time this summer.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," I said, "that concludes the 2006 Premiere Season of the New York Summer Music Festival. Thank you for showing us that there is still magic left in the world. Have a great year, and we'll see you next summer. Good night."

I love you all. Visit here often until we meet again.

Keisuke Hoashi
NYSMF Director of Communications