by Ryan Blauvelt
Places. Lights up. Downbeat. It’s the order of things for playing in a pit orchestra for musical theater productions. The culmination of many hours of rehearsals, score study, listening sessions, and custom edits in order to bring together cast, crew, and of course musicians for a couple weeks of “showtime!”
It’s spring and that means musical theatre productions. Playing musicals is something I’m pretty good at, especially when it comes to last minute notice. I’ve been hooked on playing musicals ever since getting picked to play drum set in my high school’s first musical production, “Guys and Dolls”. It was a lot of pressure being in the driver’s seat for a music ensemble. Also, being depended on by actors and actresses for steady tempos, sharp hits, and joke reinforcement adds another layer of complexity. But I loved the thrill of learning so much music very quickly and making quick changes to fine-tune my contribution to a well-performed show. Continue reading ‘Playing in a Pit Orchestra: Anecdotes and Advice from a Percussionist’
Take Note 