I just finished my first ever stint in a pit orchestra, backing a brief run of Once Upon A Mattress at a local high school auditorium. My drummer buddy got me in after they struck out with all the usual suspects from the symphony.

It was a real eye-opener to drop all the familiar conventions of Jazz & R&B, read my arse off and follow a baton. I was impressed by the way classical music seems to flow so organically - it speeds up, slows down, pauses or changes meter completely on a whim (no AABA head arrangements here!)

Brushing up at home, the 50 pages of music seemed kind of dull. Lots of whole notes and 1,5,1,5. :rolleyes: At least just about all the key sig's were represented, including those sharp ones I haven't paid much attention to over the last 12 years. :spit:

At the first rehearsal I immediately got lost in the cut-time section. I thought I was maybe a few lines down then I realized the group was already way over on the next page. Wow... :p (Thank you ears!!) I got it together for the next number and it was exciting to hear the strings, brass and woodwinds responding to my part.

Playing without an amp is quite the novelty. I felt nice and safely buried away. Then a retired pit orchestra veteran covered the last rehearsal & 1st show and everyone was raving to my face about how solid and audible he was. (In other words: newbie quit hiding and punch it out!!) Of course, the bow chose this occasion to give me the finger and have the hair go all smooth. :mad: (But at least I had it in hand most of the time so it also screwed with my pizz.)

Sectional playing sure is a trip. I'm used to herding a small Jazz combo, but sometimes in the pit, I found the strings, the piano, the horns, the percussion, the conductor and the cast were each in their own different spot. Eek. The pitch center could also go haywire.

These kind of musicals aren't my thing at all but the cast really blew me away. I got into their scenes so much, I even missed a few beginnings! :D

Of course, we got through it. I actually felt sad at the end of the final show. All in all I had a blast, it was just the kick in the butt breath of fresh air I was needing and $200 in March is way righteous! This experience has really whetted my appetite to do more orchestral stuff. Probably can't do the symphony - too many other gigs that pay. But I'd love to get called back for this. (The MD did ask for my #. :bassist:)

Hey Jefe,

Glad you had fun. Musical Theatre is a different kind of gig, for sure. Not quite as exciting as having a 100 foot long tree limb almost fall on your house, though!

Jim

My usual gig is blues, but I've done a couple of musicals a year for the past four years. One thing I've noticed is that everybody listens for the bass...even the cast draws on the bass for the beat.

Compared to the rest of the pit, the bass is constantly playing and you learn to listen in phrases to find your place when you make a, um, er, detour.

In any case, I've found it to be a character building experience, and you can't get away with being shy if the conductor is any good.

I played electric bass in my high school's production of "Footloose" this year. The music we played was basically 80's rock, but it was definitely VERY different from anything I had done before. A lot of reading in F#, Db and all that fun stuff;)

With 6 shows in six nights (and it being my first time doing something like this), it became pretty hard to keep my attention and energy up. Even the director leading us missed a few cues on the final night. On the bright side, I was playing with the drummer from my quartet and one of the best high school jazz pianists in the state (probably my only chance to play with a guy like that!). I still want to play in a pit band featuring classical music for the experience.