Insta360 underwater camera enclosure

Here's some underwater video footage of some exotic fish. I used the One X bullet time string to lower the Insta360 underwater enclosure with the One X 360 camera into Gates Pond at the Denver Botanic Gardens. In post I used the Insta360 software to add keyframes and VideoPad for video editing and stock music.

The consistency of the spherical images created by the plastic enclosure make the content nearly unusable for any thing other than reconnaissance footage.

Canadian geese on Grasmere Lake

Here's a couple of framed-up videos of some geese on Grasmere Lake in Denver. I tethered the 360° camera to a drone and used the Insta360 software to add keyframes and VideoPad for video editing and stock music.

I like how the Insta 360 One X gyro keeps everything relatively stable since the camera is upside down on a short string under the drone, but I was disappointed in the artifacts created by the Insta360 underwater enclosure.

360° Video of Blossoms of Light 2021

Here's a 360° immersive video of the Blossoms of Light at the Denver Botanic Gardens. It's a seasonal event that starts in November and goes through January. It's still pretty warm in Colorado and we haven't had any measurable snowfall yet. The complete tour takes about 20 minutes, but I have several scenes on my YouTube channel a little later in the evening for anyone interested.

Apple iPhones require a 360° plugin like VLC.

360° Video on Georgetown Loop Railroad

Here's a 360° immersive video of the Georgetown Loop Railroad in Colorado. We've had a longer than usual Fall this year and the Railroad authority extended the season as a result, but much of the Fall Foilage and colors were gone. The train climbs over 600 feet between Georgetown and Silver Plume and takes about 20 minutes.

Apple iPhones require a 360° plugin like VLC.

360° Video on Grasmere Lake at Wash Park

Here's a 360° immersive video on Grasmere Lake at Washington Park in Denver. I used the bullet time string to hang the camera under the drone and get it out of the picture frame. One nice feature of the Insta 360° is the auto gyro that sets the horizon in post even it the camera is upside down and swinging when shooting the scene.

Apple iPhones require a 360° plugin like VLC.

360° Video on Broadway in Nashville

Here's a 360° immersive video of walking up the North side of Broadway between 4th and John Lewis Way in Nashville. It's amazing how many different bands you can hear on this street on any given night and in the Summer the windows are mostly open. This place is truly Music City, one block North is Ryman Auditorium where Bluegrass was born and one block South is the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

Apple iPhones require a 360° plugin like VLC.

360° Video of the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis

Here are a couple of immersive videos of the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis. The arch was built to commemorate President Thomas Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and was completed in 1963. I stayed at the Hyatt across the street from the complex. WTH...it was so windy, but a perfect contrast to a long day of traveling across Kansas from Denver.

Apple iPhones require a 360° plugin like VLC.

Apple iPhones require a 360° plugin like VLC.

"Hoopla" released on Spotify

We've released "Hoopla" as a single on Spotify. The scene takes place right after April's opening soliloquy and includes the entire cast. She's just told the audience that she's finally finished her Musical and wants to start it off with a big number. Hey, what's all the Hoopla...dressing up it's soooo fun! It's sung by Jessica Sotwick, Tony Domenick & Blake Nawa'a and it was completed in July/August 2021.

Master Track for "IT'S A FEELING"

Here's a master track of "It's a Feeling". This is where April sings a song she has written for Carl online and they start to falling more and more in love...in cyberspace that is! It's a solo song sung by Blake Nawa'a and it was completed in July/August 2021.

April Alsup · Master Track: IT'S A FEELING

Preparing for an audition? WTH...download our public domain Sheet Music for "It's a Feeling" and use SOUNDCLOUD to rehearse for your audition...Good Luck!

360° Video of Lost Eden Canyon at Lake Powell

Here's an immersive 360° video of Lost Eden Canyon at Lake Powell. This particular canyon is only accessible by boat and is across from Halls Landing. The water levels this year were as low as I've ever seen them. I stayed at the Defiance Hotel in Bull Frog, it has 48 rooms and is run by the Utah State Park Service. WTH...it was Hot...over 100, but the water temperature was perfect for cooling off.

Apple iPhones require a 360° plugin like VLC.

We love our WYSIWYG Website Peeps

When you go to a website the operating system collects and stores your IP address in log files. Analytic applications use reverse lookups tables to identify the general location of that address. It does not identify you as a person, but it is relatively accurate at identifying the country/state of the IP address; in any case, we enjoy seeing all the different places our WYSIWYG peeps are from.

Hypnosis Scene Finale

Here's a master track of "In the Harmony". Brandon Bill is the therapist and the singers are Blake Nawa'a, Tony Domenick and Jessica Sotwick. It's the finale of the show and the moment where April and Carl embrace and kiss while under hypnosis. After the therapy session, April confesses to Carl that she is in fact Mary from online and is in love with him too. Carl can't believe it and becomes angry while Mark and Denise try to calm everyone down.

April Alsup · Master Track: IN THE HARMONY

Preparing for an audition? WTH...download our public domain Sheet Music for "In the Harmony" and use SOUNDCLOUD to rehearse for your audition...Good Luck!

New Website Design 2021!

We've refreshed the website for 2021! We're still using the Miracle Mile picture I took at the Edinburgh Festival a few years back. The new website is responsive so it will automatically adapt to your device (laptop, phone and/or tablet). There's still plenty of information about me, upcoming shows and news. To check it out just go to (www.alsup.org) and please let us know what you think.

April Alsup Website Design (www.alsup.org)

Thank You Wayne Dyer!

It was a sleepless night long long ago, I turned on the television and watched a late night motivational speaker named Wayne Dyer on PBS. The episode was mesmerizing and relevant for me at the time and it provided a lot of the inspiration for the song "Some Things Never Change". I always wanted to thank him for that. 🎭

April Alsup · Master Track: SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE

Preparing for an audition? WTH...download our public domain Sheet Music for "Some Things Never Change" and use SOUNDCLOUD to rehearse for your audition...Good Luck!

"All Men Want Is S.E.X." released on Spotify

We've released "All Men Want Is SEX" as a single on Spotify. This is where Denise let's April in on a little secret she has, that "ALL MEN WANT IS SEX!". The possibilities intrigue April, but she wants to know more too. It's sung by Jessica Sotwick and Blake Nawa'a and it was completed in April/May 2021.

Colorado Shoutout Interview

I was recently selected by Los Angeles based Voyage Group for the Colorado Shoutout series. They focus on topics that are relevant to the general public and do it in a way that puts artists and creatives at the center of the conversations. The article is about the inspiration behind someone who writes music theater works. I find it difficult to articulate my past, but it was pretty painless this time around. To read the interview and see all the pictures select the link below.

Read the Interview at:
https://shoutoutcolorado.com/meet-april-alsup-composer-of-musical-theatre/

It's just the Web...The World Wide Web!

Here's a master track for "The World Wide Web". It takes place online as the characters exploit their inner desires. It's sung by Tony Domenick, Jessica Sotwick and Blake Nawa'a. You can download the sheet music and/or the libretto from the WYSIWYG website to follow along with all the different parts.

April Alsup · Master Track: WORLD WIDE WEB

Preparing for an audition? WTH...download our public domain Sheet Music for "The World Wide Web" and use SOUNDCLOUD to rehearse for your audition...Good Luck!

"Dreaming Again" single released on Spotify

We've released "Dreaming Again" as a "Radio Mix" single on Spotify. It's actually a collection of songs that get going after the therapy group gets a bit too inebriated at Frank's Tavern. It starts with the end of the Drinking Song and works its way through Secret Emotions, Dreaming Again and Some Dreams Come True. It's sung by Blake Nawa'a and Tony Domenick and it was completed in February 2021.

Preparing for an audition, need the libretto and/or music. WTH...check out out the blog post "WYSIWYG Six-Minute Performance Teaser" on mounting the scene "Dreaming Again" and use SOUNDCLOUD to rehearse...Good Luck!

"For the Best" single released on Spotify

We've released the single "For the Best" on Spotify. It takes place at Frank's Tavern as Denise and Carl wait for the therapy group to arrive for some after hours fun. Denise is really putting the move on, she tells Carl he should get out more, enjoy life and "smell the roses". It's sung by Anne Jenness and Tony Domenick and it was completed in February 2021

Forbes article features yours truly

Here's an article in Forbes that describes my music like the memories of an enchanting voyage. It mentions several of my shows and the affect they have on people; for what it's worth, once you find a compelling story, it's really pretty easy. Just stick with it and let the fruits of your labor coalesce.

"Traveling along the inspiring wavelengths of music"

"I'm in it for good" single released on Spotify

We've released the single "I'm in it for good" on Spotify. It was our first attempt at coordinating all the various aspects of a recording studio virtually. We didn't want a lot of complexity so we picked a solo song from WYSIWYG to test the concept and it turned out great. It's sung by Blake Nawa'a and we completed it in August 2020.

Distributing your Musical's soundtrack "Indie" style

"Indie" is short for "independent" and independently released music is not financially associated to any of the three major labels (Sony, Universal and Warner). "Indie" does not refer to a style of music; it refers to the financial circumstances of its distribution.

Creating an "Indie" label or brand is pretty easy, but you need to get a GTIN from GS1 US so your brand can be uniquely identified online before your Musicals' soundtracks will be available on Spotify, Apple, Google, Amazon and the plethora of other streaming music sites. For example, our newly-formed "Indie" label name is April Alsup Records. The good news is that most of the streaming services will pay the artists royalties directly for each time someone listens to your Musical's songs.

Online Scene Segue - Spotify EP Release
February 12, 2021

We've been using Soundcloud for a variety of music theater applications. Their platform is very powerful for music theater composers because not all music is suitable for the airwaves; for example, we provide rehearsal and master tracks for theater companies, casting directors and actors that are preparing for auditions and/or performances.

Unfortunately, Soundcloud doesn't have significant market share for streaming commercial music tracks and if you plan to monetize your Musical's soundtrack with a radio mix then you'll want to look into their distribution functionality called "Repost". It supports all the major streaming channels and it is free for Soundcloud premium members.

"WYSIWYG Online Scene" EP released on Spotify

We've released the EP "WYSIWYG Online Scene" on Spotify. There are 2 songs (Up to Us and Secret Admirer) with some short dialougue 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 we completed it in November 2020.

Flying a Drone Indoors

Flying a drone indoors can be challenging, but WTH...if the space is large enough and your drone is smart enough it can be a lot of fun and take the place of a boom shot for some applications.

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!