We're back!

We realize that you haven’t heard much from Astraios lately. We’ve been busy working on an exciting new project!

We are currently recording a library of instrument demonstration videos, a library that will be made available to schools across the country. These videos will introduce basic concepts about each instrument in the orchestra, such as how a musician holds the instrument and produces a sound. Our goal is to help young students and their parents when they’re selecting an instrument to play in school band or orchestra. Each video will also be linked to another video that demonstrates how an instrument sounds with others: for example, the video about the trumpet will be linked to a recording of a brass quintet.

As you might imagine, this is a huge logistical puzzle for a small organization like ours! For starters, every set of camera angles for each instrument is completely different. Michael’s bassoon won’t easily fit top-to-bottom unless the camera is very far away, and Patrick’s timpani clearly calls for an overhead shot. Here’s a sample of one of our first test videos:

Then there’s the question of what music to perform…We want music that will be appealing to young students, so we’ve been having to delve into copyright issues and getting all of our licensing set up properly with our attorneys.

So, things are slowly rolling along, but starting to gather steam now. Once the videos for students are completed, they will be followed by a more in-depth look at each instrument in a video collection that is geared towards adults.