I found this post saved as a draft, so I'm going to post it and update these thoughts.
I thought I'd address the subject of the Musical. Shawn and I have been discussing the music, on and off for years. We stopped just shy of having completed it for a few reasons; the stress of our debates over scoring was one reason, scheduling our work sessions was difficult, but on my end, the realization that an Illustrated Storybook needed to be finished and be put in a position to be sold, before any stage musical could go into production. All these reasons are critical elements that must be addressed Little did I know that it would take over ten years, closer to fifteen (maybe even more) to complete that task.
Update 4/12/23
The Illustrated Storybooks really do stand on their own, they just happen to be based on the Stage Musical. I am certain that once the publishing layout is finally locked in and finished, completely ready for mass publication (meaning no correction, additions, or modifications) and the printer's files are totally locked in, then, and only then, will I be completely free to do the same with the music compositions and scoring.
I spent six months working on the music. I was doing time signatures and modifying the beats to accommodate vocal delivery, while also crafting divisi, only to have been stalled by having hard disc failure steal my material. I put everything on hold after that. I will need to seek out and implement disc recovery. If I am lucky I can get those files back. But I'm not going to get involved in any of that, until after the publishing files are completely finished.
Once that has happened and my mind is free to focus on those music issues, then I will build a new music workstation, which will incorporate both the older systems we were using, along with a new processor to run the upgraded programs. I think in that way, we will have the best of both world; the old established methodology running adjacent to the new systems that will tie more effectively into our use of video, but also into the stage control systems. I will address those control systems elsewhere. Suffice it to say, I'm looking into a lighting control panel, but one system I'm very interested in will run off my Mac laptop. I do think we need a hard board that will sync with that as well. I'm looking into that.
So we (Shawn & I) have discussed getting back to the music and it's almost time to do that. However, I am building a sound studio and sound stage stage in the studio with "a green screen". The stage will be a normal 16' deep by 20' working area. The wings and upstage area are 6'-10'. I think this size stage is sufficient for our in-house development work. I have a few other dramas in addition to the Gnomes musical. Right now, I am upgrading the video capabilities to a three-camera shoot and concentrating on making sure the editing suite is functioning properly. So, working on the music is not quite happening yet.
All the computer systems are older, although not too old. I do have work stations that go all the way back to OS9 and I would like to review all the work stations to make sure they work properly and are networked properly. The workstation we originally used to compose the music was OS10.4 and that worked really well. It did develop a problem, so I switched over to OS10.5 and I maintain a 10.5 workstation, even though I'm now up to 10.15. I am working on networking my storage space through numerous systems. It's not an easy task, but it needs to be done so that an array of workstations can service both old and new systems. This is important because I use programs that require different operating systems, but I need to be able to upgrade the files into newer systems where that is required. It's very tricky trying to figure this out.
Basically, in terms of the music, I'm working on setting up a new set of upgraded programs, which will also need to tie into the video editing suite. My problem is that, I am afraid to disturb my current workstation to upgrade, or even open the music and video programs, because I simply cannot afford to have anything infract my publishing layout (ie: hard disc failures).
I do have other machines available, but frankly, the shift in thinking that is required to set up these other functions (music and video) cannot happen yet. I'm almost finished with the publishing end of things and I need to hang in there until that is all finalized.
But I am endeavoring to upgrade the video equipment (done) and move forward with staging preparations, because doing that will not interject itself into the publishing workstation.
I'll continue with this at another time.
AG
