[Trombone-l] UrineTown

[George Carr]

I am loving this discussion, and am finding lots to agree with in
everyone's statements.  Just to keep the mixture lively, it's also
worth looking at the situation from the perspective of the original
composer and/or orchestrator.  There are lots of practical
considerations that influence their musical judgment, including
orchestra budget, pit size, etc.  It's not a bright yes-no line to me,
that a composer/orchestrator who writes a book that can be played with
a smaller ensemble is automatically doing a service to the producer
and a disservice to the music; there's a grey area there, too.

I recently finished an excellent Bernstein biography that indicated
that many of his orchestration choices for Broadway shows were based
on Union rules at the time each was written.  For instance, one show
was scored without violas because the handful of viola players who had
first-call Union contracts at the theater where the show was being
produced were awful (!).  So there's musical judgment interacting with
practical judgment, at many stages of a show's lifespan.

Take a final example: suppose we successfully lobbied the producers of
Pajama Game to score the touring show for twelve-piece trombone choir
with drums and keyboards - plentiful work for trombonists, right?  But
some potential tour stops might turn down the show entirely out of
fear that they couldn't find enough good players to fill the pit, and
now none of the trombone players in that town get the call, where one
or two might have gotten hired for a more conventional touring pit
book.

I don't mean to disagree with anyone in substance; I love shows with
lavish live orchestras, and have seen several members of this list
playing in the pits of shows I've enjoyed.  But I'm not sure that the
complex interactions of union rules, reasonable expectations of player
virtuosity, and show budgets are easy to resolve.

George


On 9/20/06, ALEX ILES <alexiles at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Thanks for your thoughtful comments on this discussion, Jim. You have
> made the point clearly as a professional dealing with this stuff all
> the time. There is a LOT of grey area in our profession. In fact, I
> find lot of the most exciting musical situations are lurking there in
> the grey.