On Jun 17, 2006, at 11:44 AM, Chuck Israels wrote:
On Jun 16, 2006, at 5:12 PM, Christopher Smith wrote:
I see it quite a bit in the shows I have done or checked out. Kiss of
the Spider Woman, the Producers, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, all use
violin/viola doublers. I think they really try to squeeze as many
different colours out of the few players they have as is humanly
possible, and make a nice taste for the guys who are making doubling
money.
IMO -and experience, this is a compelling reason. Better musicians
can be kept in mind numbing pit jobs if they are being paid for a lot
of doubles.
Good point.
Another thing I see quite a bit - the single passage (or two, or three)
in each musician's book that is an absolute bear to play. This is the
detail that caused my brother to characterise pit gigs as "two hours of
sheer boredom, interspersed with thirty seconds of sheer terror."
I think Bdway orchestrators put these passages in to keep the musicians
practicing. It is an easy way for the musical director to tell if the
player is in shape or not.
The worst of these I saw (in my book) was in Company. There is a solo
trombone obbligato in solotone mute that sits up around C, and hits
high E (a 10th above middle C) with lots of large leaps to start off
"Side By Side By Side". I am both proud and ashamed to say that I
nailed it night after night for about twenty shows - except for one
night when I crashed and burned so spectacularly that the other
musicians (professionals, all) had trouble keeping from dissolving into
giggles for the rest of the tune. Thanks, guys! 8-(
Christopher
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