Author: mamashep
Date: 2010-06-07 18:28
I've played in a regional musical theater for years, and unfortunately yes, the first thing to go when the budgets are cut are the "unimportant" books in the pit. Unfortunately, often the musical director doesn't even look at the books that were eliminated, so one of two things happen:
1. Key parts of the melody or big solos are left out, and there is nothing we can do to cover the part because we don't even have the book, or
2. We end up playing a lot of chords as root, octave doubled root, 7th because the III and IV books have the 3rds and 5ths. This is especially egregious in shows that are jazz/sax section heavy in the writing (like 42nd street or Thoroughly Modern Millie).
These have been the least fulfilling experiences I've had in pit orchestras because even though the ww section is stacked with 3 great players, there is no way we can make the parts sound good!
In the past, I've been able to get the conductor to hand over all 5 books a couple of weeks before rehearsals begin. I then spend every waking hour up until the first rehearsal condensing the 5 books down to 3 and cobbling together arrangements that at least are not offensive to the ear.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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