Klarinet Archive - Posting 000536.txt from 1998/10
From: Mitch Bassman <mbassman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Will Roger's Follies
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 17:02:28 -0400
At 06:51 PM 10/9/1998 EDT, Chris Hoffman wrote to KLARINET:
>Our high school drama department is doing the musical "Will Rogers's
Follies."
>Because it is educational, the director wants as many people in the pit as
>possible doing instruments separately, as opposed to having five people for
>the five reed books in which you switch instruments constantly. I grabbed
>Reed 2 to play the clarinet parts on, because Reed 1 has hardly any clarinet
>parts, nor does Reed 4. I gave 1 and 4 to the third clarinet player, gave
>myself 2. The second clarinet player grabbed 3. I didn't get to see 3, so
>I'm wondering if the book I grabbed was suitable for the principle
clarinetist
>(me). The second clarinetist isn't as advanced, so I'm wondering how 3
treats
>clarinetists. Did we distribute the parts equally for our abilities?
>Also, any little stories or tips people would like to share are welcome!
>Thanks!
>Chris Hoffman
I apologize for repeating Chris's entire message before my reply, but it's
been several days since he asked and no one else has responded. This was
really my first opportunity to take a shot at it, and I'm afraid I don't
know as much about the woodwind requirements for this show as I do about
others I've played. Here's why.
Several months ago (in late May and early June of this year) I played a
production of _Will Roger's Follies_ for one of the local community theater
organizations. Following is the instrumentation of the five reed books (as
explained to me):
1. piccolo, flute, clarinet, alto sax
2. piccolo, flute, clarinet, alto sax
3. flute, clarinet, oboe, English horn
4. flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, tenor sax
5. bass clarinet, bassoon, Eb contra-alto clarinet
(I believe the bassoon and Eb contra parts in Reed 5 are double-scored in
an alternate staff for bass clarinet or baritone sax; but I didn't get a
look at that part, so I cannot be certain. That's what our Reed 5 player
used.)
My situation was that at least six of the many, many local theater groups
scheduled musical productions during the same time period, and competent
doublers were spread thin. I know there were at least six, because I was
called to do six shows during that period! I actually did two of the shows
with a one-week overlap and subbed in a third. Because of the overlap, I
missed the opening weekend of Follies and most of the rehearsals; that's
why I'm not certain about the details of the clarinet requirements.
Here's what we had to do when I was there. I played piccolo, flute,
clarinet, and alto sax, and I shared the Reed 1 and Reed 2 books with a
woman who played only flute and piccolo. She played the flute and piccolo
parts from the Reed 1 book (and I played Reed 2) when both called for flute
or piccolo. That happened a lot, and I know I played a lot of flute and
piccolo solos from the Reed 2 book. There are also clarinet solos in both
books. Obviously, when one of the books required clarinet or sax and the
other flute or piccolo, we played from the books that allowed both parts to
be covered. When both books called for clarinet or alto sax, I played the
one that had the lead (sometimes 1, sometimes 2) and she sat out. Yes, that
left an unfortunate hole in the sound, but often the two sax parts were
playing the same line.
In any case, Chris, you asked about clarinet in Reed 3. There were quite a
few places where Reed 1 and 2 were both playing flute or piccolo, and Reed
3 had the clarinet lead and clarinet solos. Because of the many concurrent
musicals, the players who could have handled that full book were not
available for this show; the musical director used two players: one playing
clarinet and the other covering the flute, oboe, and English horn parts on
only the oboe. (Sad, but sometimes in community theater the director does
what s/he has to do.) The Reed 3 clarinetist was busy.
Our Reed 4 player used clarinet, bass clarinet, and tenor sax. I don't know
what happened to the flute parts in Reed 4, but I suspect he just left them
out. I also suspect there weren't very many. Our Reed 5 player used bass
clarinet and baritone sax.
There were several places where all five books called for clarinets (of
various sizes) at the same time.
Selecting from members of your high school band, Chris, you ought to be
able to find players who can cover all of the parts as written. It's common
in school productions to use multiple players per book -- either to provide
experience to more musicians or because there are fewer doublers at the
stage of development. As I recall, you'll find clarinet solos in each of
books 1, 2, and 3. That's typical scoring for a musical using woodwind
doublers. When 1 and 2 are busy with flutes, 3 gets the clarinet solos.
Every player is expected to be competent enough to cover his or her parts
as written.
Yes, this show is educational and a good one for a school production. The
music wasn't as much fun to play as other shows I've done, but I learned
some new "facts" about Will Rogers that I hadn't known before I played this
show.
Sorry I couldn't be more help, Chris. I'm sending a copy of my reply to a
very helpful musical director I know from the Flute mailing list. If she's
done Follies and has any further advice on distributing the clarinet parts,
I'll let you know.
Mitch Bassman
Burke, Virginia, USA
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