Klarinet Archive - Posting 000778.txt from 1998/06

From: Jacqueline Eastwood <eastwooj@-----.EDU>
Subj: [kl] Notes from the Ring Part I
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 15:01:05 -0400

Well, I'm back in the real world, at least physically, and I know a few
people out there wanted to hear about the goings-on at the AZ Opera Ring
Festival. So much to tell, so little bandwidth. My thoughts are not
terribly organized, but are more or less chronological.

We started with double rehearsals in Tucson for 5 days.....that means 2
rehearsals of 3 hours each per day. This may sound like a lot at first,
but realize that on each opera we got 1) one full orchestra reading, 2)
about an hour of string sectional work, 3) one sitzprobe or wanderprobe
(with singers), 4) one dress rehearsal, and 5) two performances. There
was no time to stop, back up and address every issue, every mistake. It
was up to the individual or section to fix things on their own.

Physical set-up then became an issue once we got to Flagstaff. We
rehearsed in a large hall for about a week before getting into the pit
because risers had to be built and safety issues addressed for an 85-piece
orchestra to fit into it. Then the horns (damn, why is it always the
horns?) started agitating about the seating and we got into this whole
musical chairs thing. As it was set up when we started:

bcl cl3 cl2 cl1 eh ob 3-1 fl 1-3 picc

bsn3 bsn2 bsn1 horns 1 - 5

horns 6 - 9

with the other brass configured further back around this set-up. Well for
whatever reason (contrariness?) the horns wanted to be set up in a
completely different fashion. Unfortunately, the poor clarinets were the
ones to suffer. The flutes and oboes stayed put, clarinets moved behind
them, bassoons moved over two chairs and horns occupied the entire left
side. Anyone who knows anything about Wagner's orchestrational habits
wouldn't put the bass clarinet behind the piccolo and 5 miles from the
bassoons, but that's what happened. I also had the fine privilege of
trying to see the conductor between a pillar and a flute player's head.

So there were now lots of complaints about sight lines and not being able
to hear people one was supposed to be playing with. I was fortunate in a
way because I was somewhat of an unofficial liaison for the orchestra with
the tech crew. We ended up with a sound monitor in the pit (playback of
what was being heard out in the house) on each side. Acoustical stuff was
put in certain places on the pit ceiling (I don't remember what it was,
but it worked wonders) and the sound in the house was really tremendous --
clear to the back row. The monitors also helped us to hear the singers
better for cues. Extra microphones were also set up to enhance
instrumental cues for the singers.

But all this hassle took a couple of weeks to work out, and probably cost
extra money besides. It sounded great, but I never could see particularly
well, and I'm sure others couldn't either. And on top of all that, we
were directly in front of the timpani (2 sets). I had two spots in
Rheingold and one somewhere else where I had to jam my fingers in my ears
because the timps were tutta forza and maestro always wanted more! It
would have been tough to use earplugs though because we already couldn't
hear across as it was.

Well, that's it for idiosyncracies of musicians. Next posting will be
soon, I promise!

Jacqueline Eastwood
University of Arizona/Arizona Opera Orchestra
*and now* Double Ring Cycle Survivor
eastwooj@-----.edu

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