 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Camanda
Date: 2004-09-07 23:09
I was setting up for Advanced class today when one of the drummers, Ryan, came up to me. He said the drama teacher had asked him and Danni (my stand partner/section leader) to find people to play in the orchestra for the fall musical, and I was the first person he thought of -- would I be interested? Certainly!
I've never played for a musical before, so I don't quite know what I've gotten myself into. Can anyone tell me what that experience is like? Drama teacher is psychopathic, don't know if he'll treat the musicians that way. I'm pretty sure I will be playing bass clarinet, though there might be a small chance I play soprano. The musical is called "Charlie and Algernon", it's based on the book Flowers for Algernon, in case anyone is familiar with it and knows if the music is any good.
Thank you!
Amanda Cournoyer
URI Clarinet Ensemble, Bass Clarinet
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Author: diz
Date: 2004-09-08 00:23
Amanda ... your first musical, very exicting. Your experience should be one of high energy and fun. Make sure you follow the M.D. and NOT the singers on stage ... it's his/her job to liaise between the stage and the pit.
Also, make sure you have a pencil and eraser with you!! Do not turn up at 1:55 for a 2pm call ... leave yourself plenty of time (20 mins is plenty) to settle and get yourself comfortable.
my two cents worth
Without music, the world would be grey, very grey.
Post Edited (2004-09-08 00:25)
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Author: mkybrain
Date: 2004-09-08 00:24
ive only been in 3 musicals, but haven't seena bass clarinet in one, have u gotten the music for it yet?
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Author: FrankM
Date: 2004-09-08 00:32
I love playing in the pit for a musical and have done many....I think I've done Anything Goes at least 10 times with 10 different groups....all were fun. ....by the way, I often play bass clarinet for a show....quite often it goes along with bari sax.....do you know if any doubling is involved in your book?
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Author: Camanda
Date: 2004-09-08 00:40
Frank/mkybrain -- I have yet to see the music. I have to ask Danni for it tomorrow, both to get the music and to find out what horn I am playing. Ryan implied I am playing bass because we don't exactly have a lot of low winds or low brass, but besides me and Danni, the clarinet section's slim pickings, too.
diz -- Thanks for the advice!
Amanda Cournoyer
URI Clarinet Ensemble, Bass Clarinet
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Author: GBK
Date: 2004-09-08 01:11
Do not mark the book!
To remind yourself of cuts, vamps, tacets, etc... use yellow Post-It® papers.
Any marks in the book are expected to be COMPLETELY erased...GBK
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Author: diz
Date: 2004-09-08 01:21
GBK ... thank GOD for stickie notes ... how ever did we survive the 70s without 'em?
Without music, the world would be grey, very grey.
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Author: mkybrain
Date: 2004-09-08 01:37
hehe, we let the actors erase the marks, the drama teachers and such make them, LOL!
the books ususally have more than one part, i bet they'll be having you play the low brass and ww parts. In the last musical i did, there was just one wind book, piano, keyboard, and drums. Two saxes covered the sax stuff, and i covered the sop. sax part for them since it was difficult for them, and i think i played the oboe part. There was a flute player for...the flute stuff. My teacher was helping the saxes as well. Fortunutatel most of the book was for clarinet, and that was where, at least to the saxes, all the hard stuff was.
Basically all that jibber jabber was a demonstation of only a small fraction of the confusion and chaos, yet high amt. of fun, involved in these musicals. Also don't beat urself up if u mess up b/c ur director doesn't know when the cues are and as a direct result the orchestra doesnt play when they were supposed to. The first few performances, dress rehearsals, are probably to me the worst, b/c the music just doesnt come together since it was all these highschoolers sight reading and a bad director. But i'd say on the actual show nights the music is tighter and youre performing, not practicing, at that point. If the situation is similar where i go to school as it is where you are, this will all make sense when you start rehearsal.
btw, that musical that i was in was Your a Good Man Charlie Brown, the whole thing is practically a clarinet solo, it was awsome.
Post Edited (2004-09-08 01:39)
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Author: mkybrain
Date: 2004-09-08 01:42
wow, now i can't wait for our next musical, unfortunately it happens at the end of each year
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Author: diz
Date: 2004-09-08 01:49
mkybrain said:
Also don't beat urself up if u mess up b/c ur director doesn't know when the cues are and as a direct result the orchestra doesnt play when they were supposed to.
Nothing slips past THIS M.D. let me tell you ... I study all the parts for my pit orchestras before handing them out and MARK up all important cues in my vocal score ...
Without music, the world would be grey, very grey.
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Author: mkybrain
Date: 2004-09-08 01:55
i strongly applaud you then, b/c ours doesnt, albeit she is the choir director and has to run the actors and the orchestra, and she is busy every day with choir related stuff since she runs an incredible program, but after seeing her direct the orchestra, i don't know how she has such a good choir program. She has no idea whats going on for the first few rehearsals, its quite annoying, even to the teacher that was helping us. It seems like its the first time she has seen the score when i sit down for the first rehearsal.
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Author: allencole
Date: 2004-09-08 06:35
Most of the folks that I play with xerox the book and mark the copies. Once the cuts are finalized, we cut-and-paste in order to make the job attractive to subs.
Allen Cole
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Author: diz
Date: 2004-09-08 06:39
yeah, interesting ... I also work full time in marketing ... I make the time to ensure that I know my scores when I'm M.D. Also, I've played in the pit, acted on stage (badly in Kismet), sung in choruses, worked on a production team (moving sets/props on and off stage), and currently get commisioned yearly for reorchestrations for Australia's oldest running opera company. I think the only part of "putting on a show" I've not been involved in directly is ticket sales ...
Without music, the world would be grey, very grey.
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2004-09-08 15:11
Ah, a choir director who also conducts instrumental music and who isn't prepared at the start...
These come in two breeds:
1) The kind of gal/guy who gives a separate beat to each syllable of the vocal part ("A-mi-tee-for-ter-rus, is-s-our-gawd", for the churchgoers out there), leaving the instrumental musicians trying to figure out just where 1, 2, 3 and 4 fall.
2) Really competent conductors who can keep the words and the music separate.
Get one of the first, and your time in the pit orchestra will be a living hell. I did three productions of Carousel one summer long ago, and two of the three had Type 1 musical directors. In the end, we in the pit followed the drummer who sort of split the difference between the syllabaic baton and a good idea of how the music was supposed to go. Not pretty, but it got us through.
(All three productions sucked, by the way...Billie the carnival barker's death in Carousel is about as great a downer as can be found in "musical comedy", making Sweeny Todd appear as light comedy by comparison. Being part of two clarinets playing in thirds for eight weeks at a time didn't help either.)
Get a Type 2, and you are much better off. My lead trombone player is the "all around music guy" for a Lutheran high school here in Texas, and he can shift between the roles seamlessly. While reasoning with the vocalists, he thinks as a choir guy, and then he quickly translates into instrumental music when talking to the orchestra. Very entertaining to watch it all happen.
(Of course, his school's choice of shows leaves something to be desired...last up was No, No Nannette with a bass clarinet/baritone sax/bassoon double in my book...my bassoon skills were a bit rusty, to say the least. It ended up with me buying a secondhand faggot with the profits, so I guess it was a wash after all.)
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Author: leonardA
Date: 2004-09-09 14:51
I'm rehearsing for my second musical now. The first one was daunting but in the end very satisfying and fun because I worked at my part and was prepared. I have acted in plays and musicals for many years and always thought it would be fun to play in the pit, and now I find that I really love it. Definitely will enhance your ability. I posted a similar post to yours when I was embarking on my first musical. If you put in a search for "playing shows" you'll find it. I got a lot of good comments.
Good luck,
Leonard
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