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Music Theatre markings? A lil help?

bigthemat

bigthemat

Jan 25, 2008
1,298
1,814
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Salt Lake City
#1
Hey y'all,

So despite me being a musician for decades on both trumpet and bass, playing everything from jazz to orchestral music, I thought I'd have seen most, if not, everything haha. Got some scores for a broadway showcase next month, and there are a couple things that I'm not 100% sure on. (also wasn't sure if this should be in technique or the notation forum, plz move if in wrong forum)

RS

This appears twice in the score (Miracle from Matilda). Never have seen it, and not sure what it's referencing...
upload_2023-1-18_14-37-7.png
upload_2023-1-18_14-37-17.png


Also in the score is a giant 3 and 9 but my guess is they are page numbers or something else that got printed by mistake, but if this is something significant I'd love to know

upload_2023-1-18_14-38-16.png
upload_2023-1-18_14-38-27.png



Fluff

The score indicates to pay out of tune and then "fluff" a note. I'm guessing just a sloppy attack? Not sure how to fluff haha. This is also in the Matilda one

upload_2023-1-18_14-40-11.png



sul A

In Anything Can Happen from Sister Act. I know that sul means "on the" so in this case, on the A string? But not sure if the diamond means they want it to be a harmonic?
upload_2023-1-18_14-46-32.png


All American Rejects

Ok this one is just a bit of fun, but, I should be good with a fuzz on this one, yah? I've never had a score indicate pedals, but I'm guessing if I were to go clean it would say so, right? Like with mutes on trumpet marked as con sord. or sans sord.?

upload_2023-1-18_14-42-16.png
 
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#3
I just looked through my copy of Matilda and I don’t have any of those markings. Is this, perhaps, from an edited school version? In song 21, Revolting Children, in my score it does all for, “70’s Gentle Flange.” I didn’t have my flanger with me when I played the show, I think I used a bit of chorus or perhaps a phase shifter. The MD never noticed, or at least never said anything.

The “fluff note” I think, just means to play it incorrectly, perhaps a quarter tone out, or maybe to gliss up or down. I’ve seen similar indications in lots of shows, especially if the pit is playing as if a school band or something really amateurish, or for comedic effect.

I haven’t played a full production of Sister Act, only pieces from it. In Anything Can Happen, I believe the diamond head note does indicate a harmonic. In this case, assuming that it is bass clef, and that there isn’t a strong natural D harmonic on the A string, my assumption would be that the intended instruction is to play the “a” harmonic on the A string where you would finger the “D” note. Check the full score harmonies to be sure. Notation for harmonics can be very imprecise. For example, the composer Heitor Villa-Lobos would sometimes notate the actual desired pitch, and sometimes the fingerboard position, sometimes not consistently within a single piece.

I think that Rent was the first show that I played that specifically called for pedals, in that case an octave pedal. That was before 5 string basses were so common. I just played it on a 5 string. It was also the first show that I remember having specific notation for slap and pop. Since then, I’ve seen effects called for in many shows, and increasingly specific playing and articulation instructions for electric bass, double bass has always had them. Off the top of my head I can think of Mama Mia, Fun Home, Next To Normal, the revised Once On This Island, all the new crop of Disney musicals, Avenue Q… all calling for specific effects and articulations. Fun Home takes the prize for specifying 4 different electric basses and upright!

Break a lick!
Dennis
 
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#4
biobass said:
I just looked through my copy of Matilda and I don’t have any of those markings. Is this, perhaps, from an edited school version? In song 21, Revolting Children, in my score it does all for, “70’s Gentle Flange.” I didn’t have my flanger with me when I played the show, I think I used a bit of chorus or perhaps a phase shifter. The MD never noticed, or at least never said anything.

The “fluff note” I think, just means to play it incorrectly, perhaps a quarter tone out, or maybe to gliss up or down. I’ve seen similar indications in lots of shows, especially if the pit is playing as if a school band or something really amateurish, or for comedic effect.

I haven’t played a full production of Sister Act, only pieces from it. In Anything Can Happen, I believe the diamond head note does indicate a harmonic. In this case, assuming that it is bass clef, and that there isn’t a strong natural D harmonic on the A string, my assumption would be that the intended instruction is to play the “a” harmonic on the A string where you would finger the “D” note. Check the full score harmonies to be sure. Notation for harmonics can be very imprecise. For example, the composer Heitor Villa-Lobos would sometimes notate the actual desired pitch, and sometimes the fingerboard position, sometimes not consistently within a single piece.

I think that Rent was the first show that I played that specifically called for pedals, in that case an octave pedal. That was before 5 string basses were so common. I just played it on a 5 string. It was also the first show that I remember having specific notation for slap and pop. Since then, I’ve seen effects called for in many shows, and increasingly specific playing and articulation instructions for electric bass, double bass has always had them. Off the top of my head I can think of Mama Mia, Fun Home, Next To Normal, the revised Once On This Island, all the new crop of Disney musicals, Avenue Q… all calling for specific effects and articulations. Fun Home takes the prize for specifying 4 different electric basses and upright!

Break a lick!
Dennis
Click to expand...

You are right that these are for a school. My good friend does a big broadway review each year for his high school choir and I'm his go to bassist. Been doing this like 8 years now, and it's one of my favorite gigs.

For the Matilda one, I got the reference tracks and it's supposed to sound like a beginner's band, so, I'll be playing everything out of tune for that part haha. And I'll check on the harmonic note to see what the chord is so I don't sound bad. I did ask the MD on a couple of these items, and he just said, "make it sound good"
 
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#9
I've played a decent amount of musical theater, but it's been years. The 3 and 9 printed that large make them look like rehearsal numbers (and the 9 just looks like something got screwy with the printing format). If I remember correctly, some scores and parts will have letters or numbers spread out that also may correspond to the script or stage instructions. So if the MD needs everyone to run a certain section, they can just say "let's start at rehearsal number 3".
 
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