 The Doublers BBoard
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Author: timw
Date: 2009-05-30 13:10
Has anyone ever played reeds in the musical Barnum? I'll be the only reed player, so I'll probably have to reduce 4 books to one. I play clarinet, bass clar, Alto, Tenor and Soprano and some flute (not a strength). Any info or suggestions would be much appreciated . Thanks
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2009-05-31 17:20
I've played the Reed 4 on this one, many, many, MANY years ago. Not a favorite, music wise. The fact that Glen Close had the female lead in this one may have had something to do with it as well - I'm not her greatest fan...
You're going to have a hard row to hoe if the production is going to dump most of the reed books. The "Come Follow The Band" number is a piece of typical circus band music, complete with shrillin' and trillin' clarinets and octave flute (piccolo). Hard to reproduce the harmony and ornament there with only one player. You might get away with two.
Bass clarinet is critical to the female vocal numbers (as it is in all Broadway shows). The baritone sax part lends bottom to the "elephant" section of one number ("Thank God I'm Old", maybe? Like I said, it's been a long time.) Other than that, the low reeds can be dispensed with.
(I don't recall any soprano sax on this one, but I didn't have much to do with the other players. (I only came in for the dress rehearsal and the production shows), so I don't remember what was what with the rest of them.))
The biggest problem is how you are going to replicate the "circus band" sound (already done with a reduced group in the first place) with only one high woodwind sound. I'd return to the music director and ask if you can be complemented by a "primary" flute player who can also handle one of the saxophones (although sax isn't as critical in this show as in most) and maybe clarinet.
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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Author: timw
Date: 2009-06-02 15:30
Terry-
The director dropped 5 reed books off yesterday. Will be taking your advice and talking to her and the music director. Reed 1 is 98% flute/piccolo and filling that gap would realllly help. Don't know what's possible but you never know.....
Thanks again.
tim
ps I guess glenn close played barnum's wife?
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2009-06-08 17:32
Yup. Her vocal skills were only so-so (the cast album is a real trip, with both her and Jim Dale being a bit weak in pitch here and there), but her part was more acting than singing.
It's a show that I would think twice about before playing it again. The music was not all that entertaining, and all of the use of the circus metaphor in the book was a bit tiresome.
When I did it, the musical group was used as a marching band during the entr'acte ("Come Follow The Band", I think). Everyone else treated it as no big deal, as they had all been through marching band when in school. I, who had never been actually part of a group that marched, had two very real problems.
The first was that I did not have a horn that was suitable for marching. All of the clarinet lyres that I could find fit on the middle of the instrument. As all of my clarinets had full Boehm keywork (and thus could not accommodate the lyre), I was reduced to playing my bass clarinet off of my thumb. Not the best solution, but my other choice (baritone) was hampered by not having a lyre for the horn I was using, and by the fact that the bow of the horn kept hitting the others standing near me.
The second was learning how to do the stunts while playing. I had to color code the bars in the march to cue me to do the various steps (i.e., a red bar meant two steps back), and never really felt comfortable.
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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