A new URL designation for Musicals

I'm not sure how many people noticed, but last year a lot of new TLD (top level domain) name options were added to the web. I think "the powers that be" realized that the current set of TLDs, (i.e. com, org, net, edu, gov) was just too limited. With all the industry overlap, it was becoming harder and harder to find short, easy to remember internet addresses and many of us had just resorted to using long convoluted names like "www.wysiwygthemusical.com" or "www.theageofsisyphus.com".

In any case, the new TLD "show" caught our eye because Oxford defines the term as "a play or other stage performance, especially a musical". We have several shows in development right now and WTH... with the new year, it seemed like a good time to update and standardize all our shows with the new TLD. These days if your website is secure you don't really need the protocol prefix and the default subdomain is www in most web browsers.

Here are our new URLs:

wysiwyg.show

sisyphus.show

eigg.show

We'll plan to redirect our older URLs for the time being since a lot of people use those addresses in links on their web pages, but at the end of the day, having a similar, easy to remember moniker that accurately describes our various works, was very appealing to us. What do you think? We'd love to hear from you!

WYSIWYG Online Scene Segue Love to Lust

Here's a master track of the online scene right before the finale in WYSIWYG. There are 2 songs (Up to Us and Secret Admirer) with a short recitative in the middle. The scene takes place online and the songs represent the juxtaposition of love and lust on the web. The singers are Tony Domenick, Blake Nawa'a and Anne Jenness and all the segments were recorded remotely in October and November 2020.

April Alsup · Master Track: ONLINE SCENE SEGUE

Preparing for an audition? WTH...download the public domain sheet music for "Up to Us" and "Secret Admirer" from our website and sing along with the SOUNDCLOUD rehearsal tracks to practice your part. Good Luck!

DIY 20 Dollar PDF document page turner

So I’ve been learning to play the accordion lately and I'm now at the point where I can read accordion sheet music arrangements fairly well. There are definitely some nuances with the notation to get used to. Also, it's just not that easy to turn your sheet music with the instrument between you and the music stand. I like reading digital music on my tablet, but it still feels clumsy to swipe the page and get reacclimated all in time. WTH… these accordion arrangements can have a lot of pages! If you're using PDF documents here's an easy, cheap way to make a Bluetooth enabled footpad to go forward and backward in your music. 

 

Accordion Music at the Cheeseman Park Pavilion

Over the last few years I've been working on a new Musical with playwright Mark Sbani about the Peoples Republic of Eigg, as it's been jokingly referred to in the Scottish media. So back in July, I decided to learn how to play the accordion and figure out how to fit it into the ensemble. I had never written for a Ceilidh band, but I love the music, the people and the atmosphere of this little place and WTH...it's just another keyboard...right? 🎭😀

Vocal guide track for the 'Bar Scene Segues"

Here's a guide track for a short segment of the first bar scene in WYSIWYG. There are a series of segues to get from the drinking game to the imaginary worlds found in the characters minds. Here's the Libretto Extract for the Bar Scene Segues to follow along. 

April Alsup · Guide Track: Bar Scene Segues

I'm not much of a singer so if you want to get your version of this segment on the WYSIWYG website? WTH...get a couple friends, download our public domain Sheet Music for the Bar Scene Segues and use our SoundCloud account to access the rehearsal track.  Once you have added your vocal parts, send us what you got. We'd love to hear from you!

Hugs for all those alsup.org website peeps

It's really nice to find out your website is getting visitors from all sorts of cool places around the world. I wish I could have given each of you a hug when you arrived. The site has had roughly 10,000 visits, 5,000 users, 30,000 page views and the average time on the site is almost 5 minutes now. WTH...here's your belated hug! 🤗

"I'm in it for good" with Blake Nawa'a

Here's a master track of "I'm in it for good" sung by Blake Nawa'a, August 2020. The vocal recording, mixing and mastering were actually done remotely. It's rewarding to finish a song, it takes a lot of time and there are a lot of moving parts; fortunately, there's a nice sense of accomplishment when it's all done. Great job everyone...Enjoy!

April Alsup · I'M IN IT FOR GOOD - Vocal Master

Preparing for an audition? WTH...download our public domain Sheet Music for "I'm in it for good" and sing along then use SOUNDCLOUD rehearsal tracks to practice your part. Good Luck!