Klarinet Archive - Posting 000141.txt from 2003/03

From: Karl Krelove <karlkrelove@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Fwd: Save Broadway Musicians
Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 20:56:04 -0500

Several years ago I went with my wife to see an ice show that was traveling
through Philadelphia. Although there were musicians in the pit area, it was
obvious from the sound that they weren't who we were hearing. My first hint
was the opening number - the Shostakovitch Festive Overture sounding in its
full, original orchestration while the pit band consisted of fewer than a
dozen brass and reed players. The sound that was playing was pre-recorded
and controlled apparently from a large console I could see from our seats.
The live musicians were probably playing but totally drowned out. That they
were there at all was due, I'm certain, to union agreements with the venue
(CoreStates Spectrum) guaranteeing (requiring) that minimum numbers of live
musicians are hired regardless of the show. The circuses (or at least Barnum
and Bailey) faced the same crisis several years ago and now, I believe, they
travel with the same mix of synthetic and live sound. The wonder is that
it's taken so long to reach Broadway.

Audiences will need to stay away from synthesized or recorded shows to
prevent this threat from becoming a widespread reality in New York. The
stage actors and singers will work because they must (until they, too, are
replaced by some sort of holographic synthesis that is not yet available
beyond the holodecks of the Enterprise). There is little likelihood that the
composers and lyricists will indefinitely withhold their work - they only
get paid if their shows are performed. Refusing to permit their music to be
performed with synthesized or recorded backgrounds may make them
artistically virtuous, but they will need to find other ways to earn a
living.

Karl Krelove

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gary Truesdail [mailto:gir@-----.net]
> Sent: Monday, March 03, 2003 8:00 PM
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: Re: [kl] Fwd: Save Broadway Musicians
>
>
> Look what London Sym. and the studios in which they record have done to
> the movie scores that are written and produced in the US. With the
> quality they put out and the quality of surround-sound theater sound
> systems the average theater goer can hardly tell the difference when
> their attention is on the visual.
>
> I remember when the gambling places in Reno went to electronic music. I
> had attended two shows as a spectator and did not know there were only 3
> musicians down in the basement, playing pool until their next cue. I
> thought the huge sound board in the middle of the audience was just for
> the singers. Little did I know, until I found out from some out of work
> friends, that the guys controling the sound were also controling the
> singers mics, the recorded music and balancing in the 3 live players in
> the basement. It is rare to find a house band any more. Is it the same
> in Vegas and on the east coast?
>
> If it is then I predict Broadway will be going the same way. Pay
> musicians for a weeks work doing the recording and play the tape for the
> next two months, then the tape travels with the show to the next venue
> across the country. It is cheaper.
>
> GaryT
>
> Raycraft wrote:
>
> > Mark,
> > You're good.
> >
> > From: "Mark Charette" <charette@-----.org>
> > Subject: RE: [kl] Fwd: Save Broadway Musicians
> >
> > > > From: B. Rite [mailto:b1rite@-----.net]
> > > >
> > > > Are they basically glorified CD players, or something else?
> >
> > > Something else.
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
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>

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