Pit Orch Experiences

Playing in a pit orchestra is probably one of my favorite ways to experience theater. Working on shows in general is pretty fascinating to me because you get to see all of the behind the scenes shenanigans and decisions that go into the process. Most of the work that the actors and designers put in never makes it on the stage. However, the work that they put in is pretty substantial. Being in the pit instead of on stage or back stage is a pretty happy medium for me.

To start with, you’re a little removed from all of the drama, on and off stage. The pit is mostly in its own world, which is nice when you get to tech week and tensions start running high and everyone is stressed. Usually the pit gets through that ok since they don’t have nearly as much responsibility. And since you aren’t doing much for most of the show, you can get a pretty good view of the action. Having said that, I have played shows where the pit is stuck up in the lighting booth (the fact that we fit was a miracle) and where we were placed on stage. So that one could be luck of the draw.

Also you’re stuck in a pit with a few other people, everyone gets close. I’ve developed so many friendships just from working in the same pit orchestra as other people. And at least in college, usually a similar group of people works on most of the shows, so there’s a good chance that you’ll get to know the other people.

The one thing that I’m not particularly pleased about is the short end of the stick that wind players are stuck with. Pit orchestra wind books are written for several instruments, so one person could be playing clarinet, saxophone, oboe, and flute in the same show. And of course they need to master all of them. This is all while the trombone player only plays the trombone, and the violinists only get the violin. Just comparing the number of instruments being used, wind players have to put in a lot more effort than the others to master their parts. It’s also a small problem if you’re a college sax player and really just want to play sax but the part is written for clarinet. That’s the other issue, if you really want to get the desired sound that the composer wanted, you have to learn all of these other instruments.

Having said all that, being in a pit orchestra is a wonderful experience. The other musicians and everyone in the show are wonderful, and you get to experience a great work of art over and over again. I love it a lot, and would highly recommend it to any musician interested.

Living Life and Texting

One observation that I have had recently is that people who are really active, just in life in general, are usually really bad at texting. And by that I mean that it takes them a while to get back to you, not that they can’t figure out their phone or something.

This makes a lot of sense to me, the type of person who is eager to go out and do things instead of sitting inside is less likely to be staring at their phone waiting for a text all the time. So they don’t always notice when you text them. They also probably don’t care about texting and all that too much, so they probably don’t have the most recent phone that’ll receive texts on a consistent basis.

This isn’t to say that it you’re good at texting then you are bad at life or anything, it really only means that people who live life to the fullest are more likely to be bad at texting, without any sort of judgement attached to it. Could be a bad or a good thing.

I wonder how this will change in the future with evolving technology and all that. Will the trend continue or be eliminated?

Rudy Wiedoeft

My latest saxophone love is an oldie. Rudy Wiedoeft was born in 1893 (died in 1940) but I love his sound and pieces! Personally I would suggest having “Valse Vanite” or “Saxema” playing while reading this, but that’s just me.

He’s virtually unknown today, but back in the day he was quite well known as a saxophone virtuoso. He also used to play a C melody saxophone, which I would love to own today (no more transposing!) but sadly isn’t that popular anymore. Supposedly there were two families of saxophone, the C and F for orchestras and the E-flat and B-flat for bands. Now there’s only the E-flat and B-flat, but they have expanded to soprano, alto, tenor, bari, bass, you name it.

His style is characterized by legato sections and more jazzy articulated notes. His sound reminds me a lot of “An American in Paris” and other Gershwin tunes. I like it, it’s old-fashioned jazz sounding. He also used effects like slap tonguing and laughing or bending notes quite frequently. It’s interesting that he’s so early that he is actually considered a “pre-jazz” musician.

Of course, he had marriage issues and even nearly died when his wife stabbed him in 1937. They somehow made up after that (I have no idea why he would want to). Eventually he died in 1940 from cirrhosis in his liver. (Which I’m guessing is from all that booze but I’m not too interested in that, I’d rather care about his music.)

He has had quite the lasting impression on the American public. He turned a new instrument into a craze both in America and in Europe, and as a result it’s basically cemented into our culture and our history. It’s too bad that not that many people know about the impact he had and the difference that he made to saxophonists everywhere.

“Faithful Place” by Tana French

So this is the third post I’ve written about a book by Tara French. In case you didn’t notice, I’m starting to be a bit of a fan.

Faithful Place centers around Frank Mackey, who was Cassie’s boss in the previous book. Cassie never appears in the novel, which makes me a little sad because I quite liked her, but that’s unrelated. Overall there’s less of a connection to the previous books than before, which makes sense since the two previous narrators were closely connected and Frank wasn’t really.

So of course, this book centers around Frank’s past and his family. One recurring theme with French’s narrators is that they are all haunted by their past in some way. For Frank, it’s his first love, Rosie, and her disappearance. The family sap can get overpowering at times since almost every character is related to Frank in some way, but he also has a pretty dysfunctional family so it’s not that bad. Also the whole “first love” thing I can’t really relate to very well, so there’s that.

Having said that, French does a really good job here of seamlessly connecting the case work and the present with Frank’s memories of Rosie in the past. They complement each other and flow really nicely. She hits that spot where you always know where you are in time, but it doesn’t feel like a transition took place. It’s nice. These memories also provide a backstory for Frank, which elaborates on what we learn about him in The Likeness, which was next to nothing.

One thing I noticed during this book (which isn’t really related but whatever) is how authors love writing about divorced detectives. Case Histories had one, and that’s pretty much Frank’s situation here. The two narrators are essentially the same person. It’s probably people’s tendency to assume that intelligent detectives working on murder cases have been through some rough times, which tends to be a divorce. Divorces also leave kids, which are always something for characters to try and protect and care about. So it gives a good past and future, handy little technique.

Back to the book, Frank is a pretty cool just-doesn’t-give-a-shit type of guy, so I enjoyed his perspective on the case. Especially since he has such a personal investment in it.

This book, like the rest of French’s, stands pretty well on it’s own since it has so little connection to the previous books in the series. So if this is your first French book or if you’ve already read the others, you will almost definitely enjoy hearing Frank’s sass!