At 1:38 PM -0400 6/17/06, Raymond Horton wrote:
Like I said, we are getting a bit smart-ass for
the original poster, who has a community
orchestra that goes down to middle-schoolers.
Some shows are published with school editions,
but obviously this one isn't, or hasn't been
yet. But John is used to making adjustments,
and will have to make one sort or the other for
the English horn.
Thanks for that, Ray, but I don't consider any of
the answers smart-ass and I've appreciated them
all. Thank you all for taking my questions
seriously and answering them (mostly) seriously!
As a matter of clarification, my regular oboist
just graduated as a performance major, owns an
English horn and plays it beautifully, started as
a flutist and plays it beautifully, and learned
sax for marching band when she was a music
education student. She'll cover the Reed 3 book
by herself, once she picks up clarinet. (Which I
have no doubt she can!) My problem is that she
has turned to other interests for grad school
(specifically oceanography!), and has a job this
summer with a professor who has contracts for an
environmental impact study to search streams for
mussels that are endangered species where a new
natural gas (or maybe methane?) pipeline is going
in. Their work is weather-dependent and she
could be out of town on very little notice.
Therefore, I'm lining up subs, and the only other
decent oboist in town (not counting the
professionals whom we can't pay) is a band player
rather than an orchestral player, and does not
own or play an English horn. I've already
transposed and adjusted the necessary passages
for oboe, just in case. For those who pointed
out that oboe is no substitute for English horn,
as an arranger I absolutely agree, but when push
comes to shove we do what we have to.
Part of my orientation is that we've been pretty
conservative and done mostly shows that are
older, sure-fire, and will draw good audiences.
"Annie" may be the latest we've done, and that's
approaching 30 years old. And even though "Kate"
falls into that category (opened in 1948), this
is my first experience with a modern Broadway
orchestration. That's why the naïve questions.
Most (all?) of the Rodgers & Hammerstein shows
are scored for orchestral woodwinds with normal
orchestral doubles and no sax doubles, and they
do have alternate parts for the oboe to cover
English horn parts.
Here's what it's like out in SW Virginia. We've
done shows with the oboe part played on soprano
sax and the English horn part played on alto sax.
And with the bassoon part played on bari sax.
(Awful on "King & I," losing the exoticness that
the show really needs, but necessary at the time.
I've put together good string sections for the
last several years, but we've had summers when
they weren't very good at all. We're at the
mercy of who is available and willing to
volunteer their time. We've got some VERY
competent community and semi-pro players, plus
advanced students who have been studying
privately, but it's always a challenge to fill
the oboe, bassoon, harp, horn, cello, and
surprisingly the bass chairs. Even the
professional orchestras here (specifically the
Roanoke Symphony and the Southwest Virginia
Chamber Orchestra) have been importing the oboe
professor from Ohio State and his wife.
Yes, this discussion has shown the difference
between professional expectations and community
expectations, and I've learned a lot from it. It
isn't that my violas CAN'T double violins, just
that our pit is small and the danger to the
instruments is very real. (And I should know
because I are one!)
Darcy wrote:
"Yes, of course -- any cellist good enough to be
playing in a B'way pit can read treble clef
without any problem. (Are there a lot of working
cellists out there who *can't* read treble clef?)"
Yes, there are. They're called students, and
what they've been exposed to depends on their
private teachers. Some are much better prepared
than others. And someone who hasn't studied
privately and has been playing educational
arrangements in school orchestra may be stumped
by tenor clef as well. When you cite "working
cellists" I'm sure that you mean professionals,
and I'm sure that for them you're quite correct.
John
--
John & Susie Howell
Virginia Tech Department of Music
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
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