Hello everyone, and thank you to all who have ordered official NYSMF DVDs and CDs since I put up the order page just eight or nine days ago! The response has been absolutely wonderful -- and to be honest, kinda overwhelming for me.
In addition to my duties as co-founder and Director of Communications at NYSMF, I was also the official videographer and photographer. I made sure that either myself or my video crew (Evan Fleisher, David White, and Mark Turner, all of whom did super jobs and really saved me from overwork) got all of the student ensemble performances taped onto the top pro-sumer miniDV cam around.
Total? More than SEVENTY one-hour-plus-long tapes!
I have finally managed to capture all of that footage into my computer, requiring an additional TERABYTE of storage space. Then I discovered that iMovie on the new Intel Macs does not work properly: there is a well-known bug in Apples movie editing program that makes the audio in transitions unusable, meaning that I had to return to my older G4 model computer to do the actual editing. I've also learned that making "chapter markers" in iMovie does not necessarily create the required chapter stops when you export the film to DV format, and then try to transform it into a regular old DVD using Roxio Toast. This means that I'm using iDVD on an older G4 model computer ... while my new-ish, blindingly powerful MacBook Pro is essentially worthless and totally unusable for video editing work.
I think that i will be able to sequence video on this MacBook Pro, but I can't do any real editing for fear of the transition problem. Sigh.
From my extensive research on the new Apple Intel Macintosh computers, I was certain that this first generation of new systems was NOT ready for release. But of course the company released them anyway, following the long-standing policy of all technology-based companies: let the USERS play the role of bug-testers, and fix the problems for later.
The upshot of all of this? DVD and CD production is proceeding much more slowly than I had ever anticipated. But fear not! the first DVDs ancd CDs are already rolling off my drives, getting new faces printed on them with my new disc printer, and being packed into all of the new storage cases and mailing boxes that are littering my increasingly cramped apartment in Los Angeles.
I need to add "please allow up to 8 weeks for delivery" onto the NYSMF Store page. But it's all worth it. Ya know why? It's because I now get to watch these videos as I edit them -- allowing me to re-live some of the best of our first summer of NYSMF. It makes me prouder than ever to be a part of it all.
Okay, back to work! Keep sending in those orders, and I'll keep working on them for you.
That's right, representatives from the NYSMF brass faculty, staff, and students are all working on a LIVE performace at Yankee Stadium at the end of September!
Dr. Sherrie Maricle is taking her quintet, FIVE PLAY, on tour to Japan next week! She is a terrific supporter of NYSMF, both she and the NY Pops Orchestra, and she will graciously bring along some NYSMF publicity to give away during her Japanese concert tour. Hopefully we'll be brushing up on our Japanese language skills next summer as a result! (Thanks Sherrie!)