Author: allencole
Date: 2005-03-14 16:12
I agree that being isolated would take a lot of the fun out of playing a show, but there is certainly a precedent for it in the studios.
I'm not crazy about mixing it up with purely electronic instruments, and have more than a few times played harmony beneath an electronic oboe that I could hardly hear. But that is increasingly the face of most local productions if they still use acoustic instruments at all.
I have been told, though, that some productions do have headphones for a wind player. "Bring On the Noise, Bring On the Funk" was the example presented to me--but of course, that was hardly a 20-some piece orchestra. I seem to recall a similar situation with a travelling company of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." In this case, it appears there was a lead reed, lead trumpet and maybe lead trombone, each heading up its own electronic section.
There is a difference between being uncomfortable physically (cramped, hot, cold, etc.) and uncomfortable musically (isolated or hard to hear). The physical situation may require some help. The second is much of what we're paid for. Outside of Porgy & Bess, and some smaller jazz/rock/blues revues, I don't think that I've ever played in a full orchestra, or even one with well-selected instrumentation. The wind lineup for the last one (Where's Charley) was flute (mostly on picc), me (mostly third register) and a trumpet. But that's the essence of the job. Out here in fly-over country, you do your best not to make the MD wish that he'd stuck with just a rhythm section or canned the whole thing.
Allen Cole
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The Clarinet BBoard
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