I'm thinking specifically of doing something like a very small-scale version of something like the famous YouTube Christmas lights + Trans-Siberian Orchestra video.

More generally, what are some resources to get started with sync'ing music and lights? What are the big hurdles? On the music side, I imagine you need to have a decent sense of performance, rhythm, and song dynamics. On the technical side, you have questions of equally distributing the load, thresholds and delays for LEDs vs. incandescent lights, AC vs. DC.

Where does one begin?