 The Doublers BBoard
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Author: Jeff Markgraf
Date: 2009-12-22 01:04
If you had to use 4 reeds instead of 5, which book would you cut? I would guess reed 4 (clar/tenor). (standard orchestration, not the revival)
Freeing up one body might allow a string reduction player, which I think might be better in the long run than another reed. Thoughts?
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Author: Merlin_Williams
Date: 2009-12-22 14:48
Arbitrarily dropping one book is rarely a good idea.
Take the saxophone writing typical of shows like this: It's often in 5 part - in reality, four notes plus the doubled melody note at the octave.
That means that if you drop the tenor, you may have an incomplete chord.
If you're going to drop a book properly, you need to consider re-voicing the reeds to make things work properly.
OTOH, so many groups are doing "productions" of this show every day with bands of 6 or less players, that yours should sound amazing in comparison. Even with a compromised orchestration.
I've often thought G&D would do well cut down to the size of a niteclub band of the period. Chicago is done that way.
G&D would sound great rescored for 4 reeds, 5 brass and a four piece rhythm section. Maybe one solo violin.
Jupiter Canada Artist/Clinician
Stratford Shakespeare Festival musician
Woodwind Doubling Channel Creator on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/WoodwindDoubling
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Author: oboesax
Date: 2010-09-25 02:16
How significant are the oboe and English horn parts in Reed 3? Which Reed book has the more significant alto sax solos?
Which part is better/more fun to play, Reed 2 or Reed 3?
Thanks
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Author: Jaysne
Date: 2010-09-27 02:27
I did an analysis of the reed books for a few of the G&D tunes recently. Much of the playing in Reed 5 (bari) doubles the lead alto (an 8va lower) or the Reed 3 (Tenor 1).
Quite often, however, the bari does some nice rhythmic work apart from the rest of the saxes, and in this case, Reed 4 (tenor 2) doubles the lead alto. It's probable, though, that the stand-up bass is playing the same line there as the bari.
But then there are times when the Reed 4 (tenor 2) is playing cool color tones.
So no matter what you do you're going to lose something in the translation. It probably would sound fine with just one sax, the lead alto. But then you lose the big-band quality of the show.
If I had to choose, I would drop Reed 5, but make sure I had a good bass player. And I certainly would check for solos in any book I drop and make sure somebody else plays them.
Post Edited (2010-09-27 02:28)
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2010-10-13 00:02
The Reed III book contains the iconic Fugue for Three Tin Horns english horn solo, so you would probably want to make sure that someone covers at least that particular tune. (It is scored for both english horn and clarinet, and sounds just fine if you do it on a wind synth (I've even done it on a Casio DH100). Other than that, and a couple of oboe fragments that stand out, Reed III is the one to drop.
The baritone part in this show is not particularly vital save for a couple of hokie parts in the Bushel and a Peck number, and about twenty measures in Take Back Your Mink. The bass clarinet part, in the same book, is critical in three or four numbers, particularly Marry The Man Today. I'd never want to drop a bass clarinet book from a show, simply because they are so deeply involved for their tone color.
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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