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PIANO/CONDUCTOR

... 50 They Talked You Into Being
Music Director

KU!

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By ARMANDO FOX

Illustrations by Joanne Romeo

Published by Pogo Press, an imprint of Strawberry Canyon LLC
San Francisco, USA

Illustrations by Joanne Romeo. Cover concept by Tonia Fox, designed by Arthur
Klepchukov.

Back cover photo: A toucan’s help is no help at all, but it’s entertaining. This
is Pogo, our keel-billed toucan, in 2010. She is “helping” the author figure out the
orchestral reduction for Man of La Mancha described in Chapter |7| Sadly she is
no longer with us, though her feisty spirit still pervades our home, and gives Pogo
Press its name. (Photo: Tonia Fox.)

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Fox, Armando.
Piano/conductor : so they talked you into being music
director / Armando Fox ; illustrations by Joanne Romeo.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-9848812-9-1 (pbk.)

1. Musical theater—Production and direction. 2. Musical
theater—Instruction and study. 3. Performing arts—Production
and direction. 4. Conductors (Music). I. Romeo, Joanne, ill. II.

Title.
MT955 .F69 2015

792.602 *33—dc23
2015900925

90 \C
PRESS)

Pogo Press, San Francisco, USA

Contents

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2 Auditions
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2.2 First Round Auditions| ...............02.00004
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3.4 Pitch and Interval Training].................-.-.
3.5 Harmonies and Counterpoint] .................

3.6 Variable-Stress Practice and Long-Line Extraction] ......
3.7 Teaching Tricky Rhythms}..................-.-
3.8 Putting It All Together}. .................--.

3.9 Performance: Putting the Show in Context

3.10 Example: So What (Cabaret)|..........0.0000004
3.11 Example: Dulcinea (Man Of La Mancha)| ...........
3.12 Example: I’m Alive (Next To Normal)}.............

4 Diction, Rhythm, and Dynamics

4.1 Diction Basics}... ......... 0000 eee eee eee

4.2 Vowels and Consonants

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5 The Orchestra

5.1 Instrumentation on a Shoestring

p.2. Recruiting Tips) ¢ 26002482 28s ee a do
5.3. The Mighty Piano, or Pit Piano for Classical Pianists}... . .

5.4 Rehearsal Pianists|...............0..00 000004

5.5 Strings

5.6 Electronic Instruments
5.7__Orchestra Rehearsal Venues

5.8 Preparing the Book for Rehearsal}...............

5.9 Play-Through and Sitzprobe (Sit-n-Sing)
5.10 Tech Week’

5.11 Subs| .

6 Conducting

6.1 Pit Conducting vs. Other Conducting Gigs} ..........

6.2 From Pianist to Piano/Conductor|...............

6.3. Hands-Free Conducting

6.4 The Secret Language of the Piano/Conductor Score]... . .
6.5 Script Cues: Segues and Safeties and Vamps, Oh My

6.6 Warnings and Starts} ..........-...2.0 00 ee eee

6.7 Tempo Changes, Fermatas, Track Marks, Dictated|......

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6.9 Underscoring]... ....... 2... 0. eee ee ee

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Introduction: Who
Am I? Who Are You?
What Is This?

When I served as Music Director for the first time in college, I already
had extensive classical piano training, ear training, ensemble playing, some
choral conducting, and music theory. I had also played piano in three or
four pits, and I had seen dozens of Broadway musicals as a kid growing up
in New York, so I sort of knew how theater scores were put together and
rehearsed.

But I quickly learned that there’s a big gap between musicianship and
Music Director. Conducting a pit orchestra is different from conducting an
orchestra or a choir, and most community productions introduce additional
limitations relating to budget, talent pool, facilities/space, staff/personnel,
and other things they don’t seem to cover in any book. Being an accom-
plished pianist certainly helps, but try doing that while also leading the
orchestra, conducting tempo changes, and giving cues to actors. And that’s
just the performances: to get that far you have to teach actors who may
have little formal musical training how to practice and perform harmony
and counterpoint, and you have to help them understand the relationship
between their characters’ songs and their dialogue. Delivering a great mu-
sical while juggling all of these is the real job of the Music Director, and I
learned those things only by doing.

I’m sure I would have learned some of these skills if I had majored in
musical theater in conservatory. But I didn’t do that. In fact, I didn’t even
go to conservatory. ’m a computer scientist by profession, and while I did
get all the formal training I mentioned earlier, that more or less stopped
in college. Engineering courses didn’t leave a lot of time for continuing all

that formal training. But I still really loved musical theater, so somehow I
found time to do shows, and learned the rest along the way.

If you find yourself in a similar position, I hope you find helpful this
collection of stuff I wish ’d known when I started doing this several years
ago. My primary instrument is piano, and since piano/conductor is a com-
mon dual role for the music director, that’s my basic assumption about you,
but most of this information will apply if you have a separate pianist or
separate vocal director.

I’m also making the following additional assumptions about you:

e You have some musical background and can play an instrument. If
you've played in pits or done some choral conducting McElheran,

Conducting Technique: For Beginners And Professionals| some of what’s

here will already be familiar to you.

e You’re working with production staff who have staged musicals be-
fore (as opposed to plays). If this is the first show for all of you, I
suggest you first read one of the many great books on how to stage

a musical, such as Grote, |Staging The Musical: Organizing, Planning,
and Rehearsing the Amateur Production\or Novak, |Staging Musical The-

then come back and read this, treating it as expanded coverage
of the topics specific to the Music Director’s role. And if this is your
first musical, I hope you’re not starting with Sweeney Todd or West
Side Story!

e Most of your singers aren’t professional; some may have vocal or
other musical training and can read music, while others may be un-
trained “naturals” with good voices.

e You may lack the resources for a full orchestra, due to lack of money,
musicians, or space to put them. Your musicians may or may not be
professional-grade, and some may not have played in pits before.

e Your organization is resource-limited and relies at least in part on
volunteer labor, and everyone must do multiple jobs. Hence, besides
being the music director, you may also be the vocal coach, rehearsal
pianist, orchestra manager, conductor, and perhaps orchestra pianist.

e You don’t necessarily have access to professional facilities like a “real”
pit at the front of the stage, so some creativity may be needed in
where to put the pit and how to coordinate the onstage actors with
the music.

e Your intention is to perform live music at every show, rather than us-
ing a prerecorded music track. To me, a prerecorded show soundtrack
is an insult to the audience that completely defeats the freshness and
energy of live theater. After all, the audience would walk out of a play
if the actors were lip-syncing their dialogue to a prerecorded track.

e Your goal is to put on a show that people will come to because it’s a
great show, not just because they are the friends or parents of the per-
formers. There is a large middle ground between New York or London
productions and “church basement” productions, but I believe an im-
portant goal is to aspire to a higher level of professionalism than may
be strictly necessary for your venue. I hope to convince you by the
end of the book that audiences will notice and appreciate that extra
effort, even if they do so subconsciously.

Musical Examples and Online Resources

The book makes extensive use of short excerpts from real musicals to il-
lustrate its suggestions by example. In most cases, the transcription of the
excerpt is as close as possible to the original show material; in a few cases,
it has been slightly stylized or elided to focus on the point of the example.

On the book’s website you'll find various links
that will help you get information about the examples and the shows from
which they come, including links to the licensing information for each show,
links to purchase the cast albums from which the selections are taken, and
links to playlists containing just the individual songs from which selections
are taken.

There’s also links to other useful materials and for you to leave feedback
about the book.

Disclaimer and What This Book Is Not

This book is not a primer on musical theater. If you’ve never been involved
in any productions before, you and your production staff may want to check
out one of the great books suggested in the Bibliography to get started.
While the book tries to cover everything that is expected of the MD,
from the moment the show materials arrive to the moment the sets are
struck after the closing performance, there are two conspicuous omissions:
I won't discuss how to select a show and I won’t present the basics of con-
ducting. There are good reasons for both omissions. The MD’s contribution
to choosing a show makes use of her knowledge of her own abilities and
limitations as well as those of her musicians and actors: Is the technical dif-
ficultly appropriate? Can the orchestra be staffed? Can the necessary roles
be cast from the available talent pool? There’s no easy way to give specific
advice about this thought process without assuming you’ve read Chapters|1|
through 6] and once you’ve read them, you won’t need the advice. And for
better or worse, sometimes the MD is hired after the show has been chosen!
Regarding conducting, many MDs (or aspiring MDs) are coming to this
book with some basic knowledge of conducting already; and for those who
have none, there are already great books on this topic that I could not

hope to improve on. For example, McElheran, |Conducting Technique: For
Beginners And Professionals| (see Bibliography) is my favorite no-nonsense,

no-condescension, quit-your-whining treatment of the basics of conducting;
it’s a concise gem of a book that gets right to business. This book’s website,
also includes some Wikipedia and YouTube links to
show you the very basics. Therefore we will concentrate on the tricky parts
of conducting that are specific to the Piano/Conductor role, such as cues,
vamps, timing of spoken dialogue to background music (underscoring),
and how to conduct when your limbs are all engaged doing other things.
This book won’t (can’t) give the kind of technical feedback that a voice
teacher could provide. Indeed, most Music Directors can’t give such feed-
back unless they have voice training themselves. But it’s fair to say that
most voice teachers don’t give their students the kind of specific advice
found here that you might pass on to actors, so the two kinds of feedback

should be considered complementary.

Finally, this book doesn’t pretend to be the way to do any of the things
it discusses—just one way, and in particular, a way that has been tested in
the field, by me and by others. Your mileage may vary, and there are many
ways to deal with the challenges of the important Piano/Conductor role. I
hope you find these suggestions provocative and helpful, but it’s your show,
so any variation that works better for you is the right thing to do.

Map of the Book

Music direction involves picking a show, understanding it dramatically,
teaching actors to sing and act the songs, getting the musicians to play the
music, possibly doing some musical arrangements to cope with resource
limitations, and then putting it all together into an actual performance.
Each of those topics is a book unto itself, but if you had time to read all
those books, you wouldn’t need this one. The Music Director’s job in a
community theater is about breadth as well as depth, so if it seems pre-
sumptuous to cover a huge topic like “Rehearsing the Orchestra” in the few
pages of a single chapter, it’s because I thought you would benefit from
knowing something about it even if you don’t become an expert, and that
you’d go read one of the excellent books listed in the Bibliography (none of
them by me) to learn more about that topic.

Assuming a show has been chosen, the MD adventure begins when the
box of rental materials arrives, so chapter[1]covers the basics of unpacking
that box: Will you be able to cover all the instruments called for, and if not,
which ones do you leave out? What can you expect in terms of schedul-
ing? How do you use that material to plan for auditions with the show’s
director? The MD has a crucial role to play during auditions, both in eval-
uating whether an actor can handle the musical demands of a particular
role and whether the actor will be able to take direction to perform the
role in a musical sense. Chapter|2|covers how to prepare to hear auditions,
how to advise your auditioners to prepare, things to try during the audi-
tion if the auditioner’s material doesn’t give you enough information about
her abilities, and what to focus on during first-round auditions vs. during

callbacks.

Once the show is cast, the two major chunks of work the MD then has in
front of her are teaching the singers to sing and perform the songs (Chap-
ters |3| and and recruiting and rehearsing an orchestra to play them
(Chapters [5] and [6). Chapter [3] covers how to teach the singers the me-
chanics of the songs: how do you work with singers who have little or no
musical training? What exercises or techniques can you teach them to help
learn particularly tricky material? How can you setup rehearsal schedules
to make the best use of everyone’s time but still make sure you have allo-
cated enough time to learn all the material? Finally, how do you work with
actors to help them interpret the songs? (This is musical theater, after all,
not just a musical concert!) The end of the chapter covers this topic and
gives a few specific examples from well-known musicals.

Because the songs in a well-crafted musical are integral to the plot, it’s
important the lyrics be understood. To that end, Chapter [4] is devoted to
diction, including a bunch of diction pitfalls that are easily polished away.

Chapter [5] then covers the analogous challenges of working with the
orchestra: How do you read a conductor’s score and decode the markings
specific to theater work (if you haven’t done theater work before)? What
should you be looking for when recruiting/auditioning orchestra members?
If you can’t recruit all the instruments called for in the show’s orchestration,
what do you leave out and what can you rearrange so as to preserve the
flavor of the original score as closely as possible?

Theater conducting brings a number of unique challenges, such as tim-
ing music to stage action and conducting when your hands are busy playing
the piano. Chapter |6| provides tips for handling some of the most common
situations.

Chapter|7]is somewhat advanced: it is aimed at the MD who may need
to do significant arrangement or reduction of the provided orchestration to
compensate for having a much smaller pit due to constraints such as space
or budget. While arranging is a subtle art, and the best arrangers and
orchestrators are highly sought after, I at least try to offer a few general
rules of thumb to help the MD who is trying to squeeze an orchestration
down to a much more modest size.

Finally, the appendix on Resources provides information that wouldn’t
fit anywhere else but is otherwise crosscutting to the MD’s concerns, such
as good ways to use technology to facilitate your job and the pitfalls and
politics of human resources in recruiting the pit.

“And so...on with the show!”

A Music Director’s Tour of the Materials

A Music Director’s
Tour of the Materials

This chapter opens with some advice on evaluating a particular opportunity
you're offered as Music Director, to help you gauge not only the amount
of work required from you but the administrative time commitment and the
likely quality of the end product.

In addition, if you haven’t used theater scores before, this chapter will
help you to:

e know what to expect when the box of materials arrives, and how to
use each kind of book;

e determine your orchestra staffing strategy based on what’s in the
box;

e understand musical symbols and notations in the Piano/Conductor
score with which you may be unfamiliar.

If you are experienced in reading show scores, you can probably skip
this chapter.

The material in this chapter is also useful when evaluating a potential
show, since one consideration is whether you will be able to staff an ap-
propriate orchestra. While the free “perusal” materials available for most
shows do not include the conductor’s score, the information on the web-
sites of the “big four’ agencies that control most musicals—Tams-Witmark,
Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, Music Theatre International (MTI),
and Samuel French—usually show the instrumentation required for each

12 CHAPTER 1. A MUSIC DIRECTOR’S TOUR OF THE MATERIALS

show.

1.1 So They’re Talking You Into Being Music Director]... 13

Gite k hie eheaed cee es 14
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1.5 Instrument Books|.................-028. 22
1.6 Doubling and Cross-Cuing]................ 23

1.1. SO THEYRE TALKING YOU INTO BEING MUSIC DIRECTOR 13

1.1. So They’re Talking You Into Being Music Director

... should you take the gig?

Taking the Music Director job is a lot of work no matter what, but there
are some specific aspects of the job description that can make the difference
between merely a time-consuming job and a crushing one. No matter what,
you'll be called upon to work with the actors to teach the music, to get the
orchestra playing the score well, and (likely) to conduct at least a subset of
the performances. But there is considerable variation in what you may be
expected to do beyond that. Here are some questions I usually ask to figure
out the details.

Is there an orchestra manager? Who will be responsible for identify-
ing, recruiting, scheduling, and paying the pit musicians? Some production
companies have someone on production staff who can do this, either as a
separate role or folded into the Production Manager role. We discuss tactics
for recruiting in Chapter[5]in case this turns out to be your responsibility. If
there is an orchestra manager, you can also find out whether that person is
responsible for finding and scheduling subs when a musician cannot make
some of the dates.

Is there a separate rehearsal accompanist? At many rehearsals, an
accompanist is needed to work on blocking or choreography even though
the actors aren’t learning new musical material. If there’s no rehearsal
accompanist, you'll probably be expected to cover all of these. If there is a
budget for a rehearsal accompanist, you should find out who is responsible
for finding and hiring that person—you or the orchestra manager.

Is the theater technically prepared to stage a musical? Besides the
fact there is music, singing, and often choreography, musicals are techni-
cally much more challenging to produce than straight plays. There are usu-
ally frequent set changes (most plays have few or none); there are acoustic
considerations regarding the use (or non-use) of microphones and how the
orchestra will be amplified (or not), and what kind of sound system will
be used (if any) and who its live operator will be; there are additional
scheduling logistics associated with musicians and orchestra rehearsals. It
can be very painful—and result in a lower-quality production about which

14 CHAPTER 1. A MUSIC DIRECTOR’S TOUR OF THE MATERIALS

the Music Director can do nothing—if the theater is not prepared to tackle
these issues from a technical and resource standpoint. What musicals have
they produced before, and how have they been received by the public and
by critics?

1.2 What’s In The Box

The big day has come! The big box from MTI has arrived! You can start
working on the music!

Yes and no. Keep in mind that orchestrations are rented separately from
the other show materials. This implies several things for you:

e The instrument books are probably not in the box. By default they
arrive later (typically 4-5 weeks before opening night), and if you
want them earlier you usually have to pay more. But you should have
at least one copy in the box of the piano/conductor score or rehearsal
score, which is enough to get started with. We will defer discussion of
the instrument books until Chapter |[5|

If there are multiple orchestrations available for your show, make sure
the correct one is ordered to avoid extra fees and mailing costs later.
In this chapter we discuss the different “sizes” of orchestrations and
how to find out if there are different choices available for your show.

Usually, the orchestration you rent implies something about your per-
formance rights. For example, if you rent only the piano/conductor
book and not the other instrument books, you may or may not be
allowed to embellish the orchestration with additional instruments. I
have seen shows get shut down for this, so read the contract carefully
before proceeding.

You'll have to return all materials in pristine condition when you’re
done (this clause is standard, event though I’ve never received books
that were pristine when they arrived) or else pay an outrageous “eras-
ing fee”. Consequently, most musicians I know work from a photo-

1.2. WHAT’S IN THE BOX 15

copy and never touch the original book. For the Music Director this
makes even more sense.

Here’s what you should find in the box:

Conductor’s book. This is the book from which the conductor actually
conducts during a performance and is usually one of three types. The most
common is the “Piano/Conductor” score, which can be played on the pi-
ano but indicates the most important instrument cues (selected prominent
passages played by other instruments). It may also be a full partitur, like a
classical conductor’s score showing one staff per instrument, with transpos-
ing instruments written in their own pitch rather than concert pitch, which
can be disconcerting (groan) if you’re not used to score reading. A hybrid
Piano/Partitur may be used for a much smaller ensemble: this is just like a
conductor’s score except that the piano’s part is in a larger typeface since
the pianist will play from this book.

Rehearsal pianist’s or accompanist’s book. If the conductor’s book
is anything other than Piano/Conductor, there may be a separate rehearsal
book, perhaps called “Piano/Vocal” or “Rehearsal Score”. It usually con-
tains the lyrics and basic piano accompaniment but doesn’t reliably indi-
cate the instrumental parts. This score is suitable for rehearsal but not
for conducting (and indeed, if there is a piano part written into the show,
it is usually in a separate book that is substantially different from the pi-
ano/vocal score). Note that some scores labeled “Piano/Vocal” are really
piano/conductor in that they include hints about instrumental arrange-
ments. From now on we'll say rehearsal score if we specifically mean a
simplified piano-only arrangement with no instrument cues, and conduc-
tor’s score to mean “whatever the conductor conducts from” (even if it isn’t
actually playable on a piano, though these days that is overwhelmingly the
case).

Script/Prompt Book. The script may be a “Prompt Book” similar to
what the stage manager will use, or if you’re unlucky, a “side” for each
character containing only that character’s lines and one or two cue lines
before each. Happily, such sides seem to be getting more rare.

Vocal Book/Libretto. There will be several copies of the Vocal Book,

16 CHAPTER 1. A MUSIC DIRECTOR’S TOUR OF THE MATERIALS

which includes the lyrics and melody but usually no accompaniment.
Sometimes the script and libretto are combined, other times they are sepa-
rate books.

Snag the conductor’s score, the piano/vocal score if supplied, the in-
strument books if they’ve arrived, and a copy of the vocal book for yourself.

1.3 The Conductor’s Score

Before going further, get a lot of pencils with good erasers, a bunch of
yellow highlighting pens, and a looseleaf binder. Photocopy the entire con-
ductor’s score onto 3-hole-punched looseleaf paper and put it in a binder
in which you can easily reorganize the pages|"| As you make cuts and rear-
rangements in the show, or need to re-photocopy a page that has become
unreadable from repeated markings and erasures, you'll appreciate having
done this. It also lets you strategically insert blank pages to fix tricky page
turns.

As noted above, the most common type of conductor’s score is called
piano/conductor, even if the conductor is not actually expected to play the
piano and even if there’s no piano part in the orchestration. This score is
essentially a glorified piano reduction that preserves some of the most im-
portant instrumental lines present in the orchestration, often notated with
“cue notes” in a smaller typeface alongside instrument names. Depending
on how many instrument cues are shown, in some numbers they may be
shown on the same staves as the piano part (Figure [1.1) whereas in other
numbers there may be one or more separate cue staves to prevent the pi-
ano part from getting visually cluttered (Figure (1.2). This book is suitable
for piano-only rehearsal but may require some creativity on the part of the
pianist, since such reductions are not always easily playable or sound par-
ticularly good as written. If you’re doing the show with piano only, this is
the book to use unless a separate piano-only reduction (see section|1.4) is

1 Many contracts for staging musicals place restrictions on reproduction of the rental ma-
terials. They may require, e.g., that you get permission in writing to make a photocopy for
mark-up use or that you destroy the temporary copy after the run is over. Check your contract
to be sure.

1.4. INSTRUMENTATION: TYPES OF ENSEMBLES 17

Figure 1.1: Instrument cue on the same staff as the piano reduction. The trumpet will play the line

shown in small cue notes in bar 86 one octave lower than written (8vb). Cues may be notated in a

different octave to avoid clutter and get more information onto one staff. (Opening/San Francisco
from Oh My Godmother!)

specifically available for the show.

Older scores and instrument books are basically photocopies of the
sheets handwritten by music copyists, professionals whose job is to prepare
the final musical scores for the performers and orchestra. This includes,
for example, preparing the parts for transposing instruments from the con-
ductor’s original manuscript, which is often in concert pitch. Scores for
newer shows are usually machine-typeset, making them vastly easier to
read and less error-prone, since the publisher can fix errors electronically
and re-print the scores.

1.4 Instrumentation: Types of Ensembles

Instrumentation refers to the complement of instruments required to play
the score. The term orchestration is often used, but technically, orchestra-
tion refers to the actual arrangements, not the list of musicians needed.

The original instrumentation (when the show was staged in New York or
London) is usually listed on one of the front-matter pages of the conductor’s
score. If not, you can infer it by enumerating the instrument books, or by
looking up the show’s information online at whichever of the “big four”
licensing agencies controls performance rights.

18 CHAPTER 1. A MUSIC DIRECTOR’S TOUR OF THE MATERIALS

Figure 1.2: Instrument cues on their own cue staff, usually done when the piano part is so dense
that there’s no room for the cues on the piano staves. In this system, the trumpet plays a melody
doubled an octave lower by the tenor sax in bar 1, with the alto sax joining in a fourth below in bar
2. (Entr’acte from Oh My Godmother!)

SSS SSS

— —
ee > 9 +t ; tm | +» » | pw be ¢ +
* ¥ s

Figure 1.3: Instrument cues: in this system, the trumpet plays a melody while the tenor sax plays a
counterpoint line. (Fabulous from Oh My Godmother!)

1.4. INSTRUMENTATION: TYPES OF ENSEMBLES 19

Licensing agencies sometimes use terms such as “large”, “small” or
“chamber” to characterize the instrumentation (orchestra size) for shows
that they license, but the meanings of the terms are not standardized. In
practice, instrumentation for most musicals falls into one of four categories.

1. The “traditional Broadway pit” (my term) has the same sections as a
symphony orchestra (rhythm/percussion, strings, winds, brass) and
in similar proportions, but is much smaller: a symphony orchestra can
exceed 100 musicians, whereas the Broadway pit is 25-40 musicians.
This was the dominant format through the late 60’s for Broadway
musicals, when budgets went further than they do today. It is also
the most challenging for smaller theaters because the orchestrations
are often difficult to reduce.

2. In the 70’s and 80’s, budget concerns and a desire for a leaner, drier
and more contemporary sound resulted in smaller orchestras of 12-
14 musicians, dominated by woodwinds and featuring few or no
strings. Nearly all off-Broadway musicals and many Broadway re-
vivals use this smaller format. These arrangements can often be fur-
ther reduced and are usually within reach for community theaters.
Smaller arrangements often call for extensive doubling, a term that
refers to a single musician who can play multiple instruments (not at
the same time!). We will have much more to say about doubling in

Chapter

3. Some contemporary shows call for a “chamber orchestration”—8 or
fewer musicians, frequent doubling, and very exposed solo lines. The
1994 Rodgers and Hammerstein revue A Grand Night For Singing calls
for percussion, 1 woodwind (flute doubling clarinet and alto), 1 cello,
and 1 harp (which most small theaters omit or cover using piano or
percussion effects). The 2001 musical The Last Five Years calls for
piano, 2 cellos, violin, string bass, and guitar. This format is within
the reach of community theaters, but requires strong players since
each part is so exposed.

4. Shows with a rock score, such as Jesus Christ Superstar (1970)

20 CHAPTER 1. A MUSIC DIRECTOR’S TOUR OF THE MATERIALS

and Hair (1968), use “classic rock” instrumentation with period-
appropriate guitar effects. Similarly, Rent (1996) relies heavily on
synthesizers, drum machines and other elements central to the early
90s “pop sound”. These scores are realistic for community theaters,
but unlike other kinds of scores, require careful attention to amplifi-
cation and sound, and therefore probably require that the singers be
amplified too. This is not necessarily a showstopper, but be aware that
it can be a lot of extra work (see Sections [4.7|and|5.7). Some scores
like Next to Normal (2008) are hybrid, combining a rock sound with
strings or woodwinds. These sometimes call for unusual doublings
such as guitar/violin.

5. Some very small off-Broadway shows or revues call for piano only
(as in 2007’s Musical of Musicals: The Musical), a “piano combo”
(piano, bass, drums, plus possibly a soloist), or piano plus a single
soloist (such as The Fantasticks’ piano and harp). However, unless
the show is specifically written this way, or you are severely resource-
constrained, my advice in general is not to reduce shows by doing
them with piano only, for reasons I discuss in Section|5.1|

Some shows may also require specialists (musicians who play only one
or a small set of closely related instruments that do not routinely appear in
pit orchestras), such as banjo for Chicago or accordion for Cabaret, to form
the distinctive “signature sound” of those shows’ scores.

By way of example, Figure[1.4]compares 3 typical instrumentations: full
instrumentation from an older and a newer show, and reduced alternative
instrumentation for a (different) older show.

Some important things to notice from this comparison:

e Most of the difference in size between the orchestras of older/bigger
and newer/smaller shows comes from omitting strings. Modern or-
chestrations tend to rely less on strings, in part because it takes 3
or 4 stringed instruments to match the volume and power of a sin-
gle woodwind instrument (unless your string players are solo quality
and the lines they are playing are written as solo lines), making the

1.4. INSTRUMENTATION: TYPES OF ENSEMBLES 21
Oklahoma! (1943)—full | Company (1970)—full | Cabaret (1967)—“flex
instrumentation; 28 or | instrumentation; 9-12 | combo” reduction; 7-9
29 players players players
Percussion/Drums Percussion/Drums Drums

Piano/Keyboard Piano
Bass (2 players) Bass Bass
Guitar/Banjo Guitar Guitar/Banjo
Harp Accordion
Cello (2 players) Cello (solo; optional)
Viola (2 players; divisi) Viola (solo; optional)
Violin A (6 players; di- | Violin (solo; optional)
visi)
Violin B (4 players; di-
visi)
Reed 1: Clarinet 1, Bass | Reed 1: Clarinet 1, Alto | Reed 1: Clarinet 1,

Clarinet
Reed 2: Clarinet 2

Reed 3: Oboe, optional
English Horn

Reed 4: Flute, Piccolo
Reed 5 (optional): Bas-
soon

Clarinet, Alto Sax, Flute,
Alto Flute, Piccolo

Reed 2: Clarinet 2, Tenor
Sax, English Horn, Oboe
Reed 3: Clarinet, Bass
Clarinet, Bassoon, Bari-
tone Sax

Alto Sax, optional Flute
(cross-cued to Clar.)
Reed 2: Clarinet 2, Tenor
Sax

Horn 1

Horn 2

Trombone Trombone Trombone _ (cross-cued
Reed 2)

Trumpet 1 Trumpet Trumpet (cross-cued
Reed 1)

Trumpet 2

Figure 1.4: Full instrumentation for an older show and a newer show, and an alternative reduced
instrumentation for a newer show. Note the extensive instrument doubling in the newer show.
Doubling and cross-cuing are discussed in section[1.5]

22 CHAPTER 1. A MUSIC DIRECTOR’S TOUR OF THE MATERIALS

orchestra larger and driving costs up. (Of course, if you have sophisti-
cated amplification for the orchestra, you might be able to overcome
this, but Section|5.7|describes why I think that’s a dangerous path.)

e Some string parts are marked divisi, such as Violin B of Oklahoma!.
This means that while all the Violin B players are playing the same
notes during most of the show, in a few sections they split up; usu-
ally playing parallel figures such as thirds or sixths. (If these play-
ers were playing different parts throughout most of the score, there
would probably have been a “Violin C” instead.)

Unlike string or brass players, most reed players are expected to dou-
ble, or play multiple instruments. Section|1.6] discusses doubling and
its relative, cross-cuing.

1.5 Instrument Books

The instrument books (which you probably don’t have yet) are the ones
you actually hand out to the orchestra musicians. Their format should be
familiar to musicians with orchestra or ensemble experience, but unlike
classical music, they may include theater-specific notation such as vamps
and cues, which we discuss in Chapter |6|

Expect to discover errors and inconsistencies between the conductor’s
score and the instrument books as you rehearse, including: mismatched
measure numbers (possibly because a cut or modification didn’t get into all
the instrument books, or because a vamp or safety is notated differently in
different books); missing or extra measures; wrong notes or missing acci-
dentals; missing or different cues; chunks of measures or whole songs in
the wrong key; missing accidentals. In general, when in doubt the conduc-
tor’s score should be considered authoritative.

A common format is one book per pair of parts, e.g. “Violin A & B” or
“Trumpets 1 & 2” in a single physical book of which multiple copies are
provided. A copy may be given to each player, or more commonly, one
copy is shared between two players, so they can also alternate page turns
when one has to play across a page turn. Usually parts for separate players

1.6. DOUBLING AND CROSS-CUING 23

are written on separate staves, but occasionally multiple parts (rarely more
than three) may be written on a single staff. This is most common for
strings and is often accompanied by the notation divisi if it only happens
occasionally (e.g. “Violin I (divisi)” means that although the Violin I players
are usually playing unison, occasionally they divide). The implication is
that when planning your personnel, the Violin I book can mostly be handled
by a single player except for a few parts. (If the divisi parts were frequent,
they would probably be broken out as a separate instrument book, such as
“Violin IT’.)

1.6 Doubling and Cross-Cuing

The exception to the multiple-musicians-per-book rule is the woodwind sec-
tion, which is second only to the rhythm section as the mainstay of modern
pit instrumentation} Indeed, the woodwind books often exhibit the in-
verse relationship, as most woodwind players are expected to double or
cover multiple instruments, which are usually combined into a single book
per woodwind chair.

In earlier shows, flutes were usually a separate chair (flute, piccolo, alto
flute, sometimes bass flute). In modern arrangements, single-reed players
(clarinets and saxes) are often expected to cover flutes. Sometimes single-
reed players must cover oboe, and infrequently English horn. Most oboe
players double on English horn, but bassoons are usually played by spe-
cialists. A few accomplished reed players can handle instruments from all
three categories—single reeds including flutes, double reeds, and bassoons.
The ability to cover multiple instruments is common among pit and session
musicians, but far less common among classical musicians who tend to
specialize in one or perhaps two instruments. In Chapter|7|we'll talk about
selective coverage of material from the books for which you can’t recruit
separate players or players who double.

Two rules of thumb apply when doubling is indicated:

?To paraphrase an old saw: If you don’t have a drummer, you don’t have a show; but if you
don’t have woodwinds, you probably don’t have a pit.

CHAPTER 1. A MUSIC DIRECTOR’S TOUR OF THE MATERIALS

1. The reed books are numbered in approximate order of how critical

they are to the score. So if the books are labeled Reed 1 through
Reed 4 and you have only two players, try to cover Reed 1 & 2.

. Besides being grouped so that a single player has time to switch

among multiple instruments, the instruments grouped into a single
reed book are often cross-cued (see below) to support players who
don’t double.

mw Doubling in other sections

Doubling in the woodwind section is almost a given in modern orchestra-
tions, but doubling in other sections is slowly becoming more common.
Some doublings I’ve seen include viola/violin, ttombone/euphonium, and
even violin/guitar.

Some orchestrations go further and include cross-cuing, which allows

a line assigned to one particular instrument to be played on a different
instrument in case the original player is absent. For example, suppose there
are four Reed books marked as follows:

e Reed 1, Alto sax/Flute/Clarinet
e Reed 2, Tenor sax/Clarinet
e Reed 3, Flute/Oboe (clarinet)/English horn (clarinet)

e Reed 4, Bass clarinet/Baritone sax

This means that while the Reed 1 and 2 players must each play multiple

instruments, the English horn and oboe parts in Reed 3 are both cross-cued
to clarinet so that a clarinet player could cover them if needed. This usually
means they are provided on a separate staff, since clarinet and English horn
are transposing instruments that read in different keys, whereas oboe reads
in concert pitch.

Note that in the above example, there are two ways to use the cross-

cuing. If you have four musicians but none plays oboe or english horn,

1.6. DOUBLING AND CROSS-CUING 25

cross-cuing allows those lines to be covered on clarinet. If you have fewer
than four musicians, Reed 2 can use the Reed 3 cross-cues to selectively
cover some of Reed 3’s material; you'll have to make judgment calls as to
what to omit, and chapter[7]has some hints.

In Chapter |[5|we return to how you can use all this information to plan
orchestra recruiting, and what to do when you can’t recruit enough players
to cover all the books (in my experience, this is by far the common case in
community theater).

Auditions

Auditions are generally run in two rounds. From the MD’s perspective, the
first round determines who is technically capable of learning and singing
the show’s music, and the second round (callbacks) is for making final
decisions. For many shows, rigorous auditions for the ensemble (a more
accurate term than chorus) are at least as important as for the leads.

At callbacks, auditioners usually perform selections from the actual
show. Since first round auditions have pruned away any actors who may be
unable to handle a role’s musical demands, callbacks can focus on artistic
aspects such as interpretation, some suggestions for which are given in
section|3.9]

This chapter will help you to:

e Prepare for first-round auditions by determining what to listen for and
test for

e Suggest some basic exercises you can use to evaluate auditioners
whose audition song doesn’t tell you enough about their abilities

e Determine what nontechnical factors should influence your decisions
to call back auditioners for different roles

e Suggest different techniques to use at callbacks to help with final
casting choices

2.1 Preparing to Hear Auditions|............... 29
2.2 First Round Auditions} .................. 31

2.3__When You Need More Information
2.4 Making Callback Choices} .....

CHAPTER 2. AUDITIONS

2.5 Tips to Auditioners for a Successful Audition| .... . 36

2.1. PREPARING TO HEAR AUDITIONS 29

2.1 Preparing to Hear Auditions

We'll restrict our discussions here to musical elements of the audition only
(vs. spoken dialogue or dance). Great advice on the general running of

auditions can be found in Boland and Argentini, |Musicals: Directing School
and Community Theatre|and Boyd, |Rehearsal Guide for the Choral Director

Before auditions, if you have a cast recording of the show (not of its
movie version! they are often quite different), it is worth listening to the
recording while following along in the score to identify some of the techni-
cal challenges you will have to keep in mind as you hear auditions: difficult
vocal harmonies, tricky timings/rhythms, songs calling for a large vocal
range, and so on Make some notes in preparing for auditions:

e What vocal range is required of each character? Sometimes songs
can be transposed to match a singer’s range, but as we discuss in
Section this is tedious, error-prone, fraught with non-obvious
pitfalls, and usually practical only for solo songs.

Which characters have to sing harmony or counterpoint, if any? This
is much harder than singing the lead, and you will need to test for it
at auditions.

Are the characters with the hardest songs also the ones who have
the most dramatically demanding roles? (You may audition someone
with a great voice, but if they can’t act well, it may remove them from
the running for certain characters.) Surprisingly often, the technical
vocal demands on the ensemble are greater than those on the leads,
in part because show tunes were often written for a pre-cast lead
actor who wasn’t necessarily a trained singer, as was the case with
the material written for Ethel Merman in Gypsy and the song Send In
the Clowns written for Glynis Johns.

In the call for music auditions, you should clearly state what you expect
auditioners to prepare:

e What to sing. Typically each auditioner will prepare one or two song
excerpts of 16 to 32 bars each. Often a single excerpt is enough, but

CHAPTER 2. AUDITIONS

depending on the types of roles in the show, you may want to hear
two contrasting selections, for example an up-tempo number and a
ballad, or a farce/patter song and a torch song. You and the show’s
director should discuss what to hear.

Are songs from the show OK? My preference is usually not to hear
a song from the show, to avoid having actors “pre-slot” themselves
into a role for which they may not be appropriate, and inadvertently
exclude themselves from being considered for a role that is a better
fit. This is particularly true if an actor is auditioning for a part they
have played before in another production, as they will usually bring
the interpretation of that production to your audition, when what
you really want to know is whether the actor can take direction and
interpret the role for this production. (Of course, during callbacks
you will want to hear songs from the show.)

Background. I ask auditioners to answer some background questions
that are not always answered by their résumés: Do you read music?
Do you play any instruments, and at what level of proficiency? (Com-
plex scores like Sweeney Todd are extremely hard to learn by rote for
non-readers, and it’s more difficult for non-musicians to incorporate
your vocal notes into their performance if they don’t have a basic mu-
sical vocabulary.) Have you sung harmony before, and if so, what
kind? (Liturgical? Show music? Barbershop?) Have you sung coun-
terpoint? (Madrigals? Choral music?) My experience is that, espe-
cially among untrained singers, counterpoint is much harder to teach
and perfect than harmony.

Conflicts. I ask auditioners to list all date conflicts they have during
the rehearsal period. Scheduling is more complex than most people
realize, and you'll need this information to put together the rehearsal
schedule.

2.2. FIRST ROUND AUDITIONS 31

2.2 First Round Auditions: Range, Tone, Pitch Reten-
tion, Rhythm

People get understandably nervous about auditions, and you can’t blame
them: not everyone who auditions will be cast. Just do your best to put
people at ease, be friendly, and remind people that the goal is to have fun.
Set a collegial tone: your first and last words to every auditioner should be
“Thank you for coming,” and you should really mean it.

In my view, even “non-dancing” characters must move around on stage,
even “non-acting” (e.g. ensemble) characters have lines to speak or reac-
tions to emote, and even “non-singing” characters must have some sense of
musicality. Correspondingly, your job is to make sure you listen to everyone
sing, even if they say they are auditioning for a nonsinging part. There are
very few truly nonsinging roles in any musical.

m Pre-casting

Some directors have already decided on who will play certain roles, with
or without auditions. As Music Director I insist on veto power if I really
believe an actor is just not strong enough to handle the musical demands
of a particular role, whether pre-cast or during auditions.

The goal of the first round of auditions is to identify those people who
might be able to play certain roles on the basis of meeting some minimal
technical criteria. You will want to listen for people’s range, tone, pitch ac-
curacy, rhythm, and ability to sing harmony, and match these to the “prob-
lem areas” in the score you identified in your preparations.

e Range: what range does the auditioner’s chosen song exercise? Typ-
ical musical theater songs span from an octave to a tenth, with some
songs spanning a twelfth and very few spanning two octaves (the lat-
ter usually calls for a trained singer). Where is the “break” between
the singer’s chest voice and head voice? Songs that have many or
prominent notes right around the break may require transposition.

e Tone: does the singer sound “out of tune” on some of the notes?

32 CHAPTER 2. AUDITIONS

Sometimes this is because they are at the very top or bottom of some-
one’s range, but often it is because of difficulty in “nailing” a note
when the interval (jump) from the preceding note is awkward. Au-
dition songs whose melodies move only stepwise will not reveal this.
Particularly good are songs with weird intervals in the melody, such
as Maria from West Side Story (although that is an unusually demand-
ing song). There also may be issues of “blend”: certain singers have
an unusual vocal character that, while not necessarily bad or unpleas-
ant, may prevent them from blending well with other singers if they
have to sing a lot of ensemble material.

e Rhythm/timing: does the performer have a sense of rhythm? Songs
with really trivial rhythms won’t reveal this; songs with syncopation
and compound rhythms are good, like Gershwin’s Fascinatin’ Rhythm
or other songs featuring hemiolae. I’m surprised how often an actor
will bring an audition song that has tricky rhythms or time signatures
and then perform it incorrectly; that’s often reason enough for me to
listen no further.

Unfortunately people often choose audition pieces that show off none
of these, so I have my own ways of evaluating them, which you may find
helpful. To be consistent and fair, if I use any of these techniques, I ask
everyone to do it, however strong or weak their singing audition was, if
the requirement applies to them. (So anyone who has to sing counterpoint
would have to do the counterpoint exercise.)

m= Background doesn’t always help

Don’t assume that just because someone plays an instrument or has Music
Director experience automatically means they will have good pitch control
and retention when singing; test for it. My own ability to complete pitch se-
quences is only OK, because despite 40 years of piano and musical training,
voice is not my instrument.

2.3. WHEN YOU NEED MORE INFORMATION 33

ay = — > | =
= = Z —ts : 3
Gln a fo ot “tee sed a

Figure 2.1: These pitch sequences, in increase order of difficulty, may help in testing pitch accuracy
when the auditioner’s chosen song doesn’t give you enough information to judge it otherwise. These

are based on the much more detailed treatment in Boyd,|Rehearsal Guide for the Choral Director

SSS ae

Figure 2.2: Having the singer sing moving middle notes in a chord while the outer notes are held,
or vice versa, gives you a rough sense of how stable their counterpoint singing might be. The fourth
and fifth measures show a version you can use to test two singers together; the sixth measure is a
“sanity check” for testing counterpoint skill before throwing a difficult counterpoint at the
auditioners.

Ts
mi

2.3 When You Need More Information

Sometimes the auditioner’s chosen song doesn’t tell you enough about
some technically important criterion, such as their pitch accuracy on tricky
melodies or their command of rhythm. Here are a few suggestions for test-
ing these abilities separately.

Pitch Accuracy and Retention. Play each of the two-note sequences
(intervals) in Figure [2.1]and have the singer sing it back to you with “yah-
yah” or “la-la” or some suitable syllable. They're arranged in increasing
order of difficulty, so most singers won't be able to do all of them. For
singers whose audition song was weak, I start with the easiest interval; for
singers who performed solidly, I start with the harder ones right away.

Harmony. A basic test for harmony singing is to have the singer sing
a moving line while other lines are held, or vice versa. If you can’t find a
passage in your show to test on, Figure|2.2] gives some ideas.

Counterpoint. Take the auditioners 6 or 9 at a time and split the six
into groups A, B and C containing 2 or 3 auditioners each. Find a 3-part
harmony or counterpoint line in which none of the parts is substantially
easier than the others (and make sure it has been distributed in advance
as part of the callback materials). Teach the three parts to groups A, B and
C respectively, and put them together incrementally: just A and B singing

34 CHAPTER 2. AUDITIONS

Group 1 (stems up)

pa rg oe ee
sn on nn

Group 2 (stems down)

Figure 2.3: In Man of La Mancha, there’s actually a section in which this flamenco-like pattern is
clapped by two groups of performers. Some performers without formal musical training had
trouble clapping the syncopated part (Group 2). (Aldonza from Man of La Mancha)

together, then just B and C, then just A and C, and finally all three groups
singing together, so they feel comfortable on the part.

Next, rearrange the way people are standing so that rather than all the
A's standing together, etc., they are standing in the order A, B, C, A, B, C,
..., and have them sing it again. This will expose people who are relying
too much on what their neighbor is singing. Lastly, get subgroups of 3
people (one each from A, B, C) to sing the selection.

Rhythm. If there are tricky rhythms in the show, it’s worth testing for
that. For example, the “flamenco-esque” songs in Man of La Mancha contain
lots of syncopations and hemiolae. I divided the ensemble into two groups
and had them clap the huapango pattern in Figure (the same pattern
underlies the song America from West Side Story). I then listened to subsets
of the groups and moved people back and forth between groups to get an
idea of who was most solid.

Based on techniques like the above, I then categorize the ensemble
singers:

e Anchor: can sing the line correctly even if someone near them is
throwing them off, and can even help strengthen the other singers.

e Teachable: can sing in an ensemble as long as they can rely a little
on someone nearby singing correctly with them

e Weak: cannot be counted on to sing the part reliably, even when
bolstered by someone nearby.

For very large casts, there may be an intermediate category “Teachable,

2.4. MAKING CALLBACK CHOICES 35

but a stretch”. Be realistic about how much a weak singer can be “taught,”
especially if your rehearsals are on a tight timeline (and whose aren’t?).
This is not just about your ability to teach, but the singer’s ability to learn:
counterpoint and harmony singing take time and practice to learn, and
even if the singer has a good sense of pitch (and not all do), it is probably
beyond reasonable to attempt to instill this skill in them and teach them
the songs in the few weeks before production week. You can save yourself
and the singers a lot of misery by making tough choices now. As MD, you
should have the final word on whether someone can handle the musical
demands of a particular role or not.

2.4 Making Callback Choices

As a courtesy to auditioners, you should make every effort to post a call-
back list within a day or so after first-round auditions are over, and make
callback material (song excerpts, dialogue excerpts, and so on) available.
Usually we decide even before first-round auditions on what material from
the show will be used at the callback. It’s only fair to give singers a few
days to prepare and practice these materials; for that reason, first round
and callbacks are usually separated by several days. (See Technology in the
Appendix for some suggestions.)

Given an actor whom you believe can technically handle certain musical
material, the next goal is to identify the actor who can best inhabit each
character. Sometimes actors can be excluded based on being too old or
young, or affecting a manner inconsistent with the character, e.g. coming
across as meek when auditioning for Velma or Roxie in Chicago. Sometimes
particular physical traits are required: in The 25th Annual Putnam County
Spelling Bee, we learn that the school’s “comfort counselor” is serving a
community service obligation (presumably in lieu of serving jail time), so
you need someone whose demeanor and appearance are as unlike a comfort
counselor as possible—for example, a bouncer or a pro wrestler—or else
the sight gag doesn’t work.

One pitfall in callbacks occurs with actors who have played a particular
role before, and therefore bring to the character some preconceived notions

36 CHAPTER 2. AUDITIONS

(theirs or a previous director’s) about how that character behaves and acts.
These ideas may or may not be consistent with your creative team’s ideas,
and it’s often hard to get actors to step away from these, but remember it’s
your show, and the thing that distinguishes one production of a show from
another is the artistic choices that are made.

Similarly, operatic or classically-trained singers with no show experi-
ence may do poorly in callbacks because they perform the song as they
themselves might sing it, not as the character might sing it. This applies
not only to interpretation but also to diction: Ado Annie in Oklahoma!
wouldn’t pronounce lyrics the same way as Adelaide in Guys and Dolls or
Anna in The King and I.

We did an interesting exercise in auditioning an actor for the part of
the Emcee in Cabaret. We liked the actor, but the audition song he had
prepared was a love ballad, and we were looking for someone who could
come across as slightly dangerously off-kilter. So we found a toy machine
gun (a prop from another show being staged in that theater) and asked
him to sing the love ballad to the machine gun. He certainly sold us the
performance and convinced us that he could act his way through a song
(and be creepy).

2.5 Tips to Auditioners for a Successful Audition

This section is for auditioners as well as for the music director, so ’m
putting it on a convenient new page that you can separately copy and post
for your auditioners. (If you’d like to copy and paste the text to edit for

your own auditions call, visit the book’s website pianoconductor .com,)

2.5. TIPS TO AUDITIONERS FOR A SUCCESSFUL AUDITION 37

Putting Your Best Foot Forward At Auditions

Prepare. Read the call for auditions and know what you’re expected to pre-
pare. Don’t just show up and expect that the director will suggest a song
for you to sing. Since many auditions allow you to choose your selections
and prepare far in advance, the auditors will assume that your audition per-
formance reflects your best work. Stick to the guidelines: if the call specifies
a 16-to-32 bar section or “around 2 minutes of singing,” don’t prepare a
5-minute solo selection (or, conversely, expect to be cut off and therefore
unable to sing the whole selection, even if you didn’t get to sing “the best
part”).

Show your best stuff. To the extent possible given the audition require-
ments, select songs that show off the strongest part of your range to its best
advantage. Note that wanting to be (or claiming to be) a soprano doesn’t
make you one; if you’re unsure about what part of your range flatters you
most, find an experienced actor, singer, director or music director to advise
you. Remember: if your audition sounds terrific, even if you aren’t cast the
auditors will remember you in the future.

Bring music. Unless specifically instructed otherwise, bring music for
the audition accompanist to play. An a cappella audition gives the music
director virtually no information about you other than that you have been
watching American Idol a lot. An audition with a recorded karaoke track is
very difficult to judge. Some auditions let you bring your own accompanist
if you wish, but generally an accompanist is provided.

Help the accompanist help you. During a typical evening of auditions,
the audition pianist will accompany dozens of songs, some of which he
may never have played before. His job is to help you sound your best by
providing solid support for your singing performance. Here’s how to help
him help you:

1. DO bring pages that are easy to turn and stand up on the piano’s
music desk on their own. Best is a looseleaf binder that lies flat and
whose pages can be turned easily; you will get extra bonus points for
protecting each page with clear vinyl sheet protectors, which makes
them easier to turn and more durable. “Accordion” fold-outs are OK

CHAPTER 2. AUDITIONS

if they are no more than three or four pages; more than that won’t
fit on the music desk. DON’T bring loose sheets of paper that will
fly around, rolled-up or folded sheets that can’t possibly stand up on
their own, or a bound book that doesn’t lie flat when opened. And
DON’T complain if you do bring such a book and it’s returned to you
with the spine cracked and the pages dog-eared; there is no other
way to get it to stay open upright.

. DO clearly mark any cuts or repeats in the selection you plan to per-

form, with a highlighter or a bright color, making it perfectly clear
what is to be played. If your cuts are substantial, rearrange and copy-
and-paste the pages in advance. Remember, the pianist is thinking
about many things and may never have played this particular selec-
tion before, and might easily miss a small mark that isn’t highlighted.
It is to your advantage to arrange the music to minimize page turns; if
you want to repeat a section and there’s a page turn right in the mid-
dle of that section, you can pretty much count on the music “dropping
out” for a couple of seconds each time through as the pianist struggles
to make the page turn in time.

. DO bring sheet music in the same key as you plan to sing. Most

pianists can’t transpose on the fly, especially more musically intricate
theater songs by composers like Stephen Sondheim or Jason Robert
Brown. If the song’s in the wrong key, pick a different song, find a
different arrangement, visit one of the many websites where you can
purchase sheet music for almost any song transposed into a key of
your choice, or use Craigslist to find a musician to transpose it (many
musicians do this work on the side fairly inexpensively).

. DO use a bookmark or sticky-note if your selection is in a book con-

taining many songs; browsing through the book while others are
waiting is not nice and makes you look unprepared. Even better, since
bound books often don’t stay open on the music desk, photocopy the
pages and put them in a binder.

2.5. TIPS TO AUDITIONERS FOR A SUCCESSFUL AUDITION 39

Teaching the Music

Great! The show is cast, and the actors are eager to start rehearsals. It’s
always a good idea to start working on the music early, because the songs
are so important to the tone of the show that performing them should be
“second nature” to the actors when they start putting them together with
staging, dialogue and dance.

The most important thing in teaching the technical aspects of the songs
is to Know your singers. Trained and experienced singers will learn a lot
on their own, and can even help the less-experienced singers; completely
untrained singers may rely on muscle memory only (you should strongly
reconsider having such people sing—Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady was
the exception that tests the rule). In between these two extremes are the
majority of singers, who are less experienced but do have a sense of pitch.

To help all of them perform at their best, this chapter will help you to:

e Plan vocal rehearsals to make the best use of everyone's time

e Suggest techniques and exercises singers can do at home to prac-
tice material outside rehearsal

e Suggest techniques that can be used during rehearsal to help pol-
ish tricky spots, including harmony and counterpoint, pitch accuracy,
and rhythmic precision, especially for singers in the all-important en-
semble.

3.1 Planning and Scheduling Vocal Rehearsals} ...... 43

CHAPTER 3. TEACHING THE MUSIC

3.2 The Seven Habits of Highly Successful Vocal Rehearsals} 47

eee 49
dake wie ahs @ ere ASS 52
3.5 Harmonies and Counterpoint|).............. 54
2 55
i Sg ie NR Re Ghar ele eho 58
Sorte Be Ors te orb tee Suite eh fe ar. toes 60
3.9 Performance: Putting the Show in Context] ...... 62
3.10 Example: So What (Cabaret)| .............. 65
3.11 Example: Dulcinea (Man Of La Mancha)|........ 67

3.12 Example: I’m Alive (Next To Normal)| ......... 69

3.1. PLANNING AND SCHEDULING VOCAL REHEARSALS 43

3.1. Planning and Scheduling Vocal Rehearsals

The first task is to come up with a comprehensive rehearsal schedule. It’s
never too early to do this: in community theater, the director and cast
usually have day jobs, so we have to schedule very efficiently to make the
best use of everyone’s limited time. It’s not unusual for us to have “split
rehearsals” in which I am working with actors on some music while the
director or choreographer is working in another location with other actors
on blocking, staging or stage movement.

I try to have a rehearsal schedule in place 1-2 weeks before rehearsals
begin (indeed, accommodating people’s conflicts often requires this amount
of advance planning), and an orchestra rehearsal schedule in place at least
4 weeks before opening.

There are many ways to organize a rehearsal calendar. My preference
is to run a number of music-only rehearsals before staging/blocking be-
gins, but even if you don’t do this, you should clearly distinguish music
rehearsals (where the goal is to learn the numbers), staging/blocking re-
hearsals (where the goal is dialogue and stage movement), and if appro-
priate for your show, choreography rehearsals.

Since the ensemble numbers require all or most of the cast to be present,
I schedule music rehearsals for those numbers first to accommodate cast
member conflicts, then schedule rehearsals with soloists around that. I try
to arrange the call schedule to minimize the amount of time people are
sitting around not working; it’s impossible to please everyone, but you will
get a lot of credibility and respect for making a good faith effort to minimize
wasting people’s time.

The schedule template in Table seems to work well as a starting
point. We won’t discuss the rehearsal process in depth (see Boland and

Argentini, Musicals: Directing School and Community Theatre| and Grote,
Staging The Musical: Organizing, Planning, and Rehearsing the Amateur Pro-

|duction| for excellent suggestions on that), concentrating instead on specific
techniques for teaching the actors to sing the songs.

In Chapter|5| when we talk about working with the orchestra, we'll dis-
cuss orchestra rehearsals in more detail; but you should schedule orchestra

CHAPTER 3. TEACHING THE MUSIC

12 weeks before opening

Materials arrive and are distributed to cast
Teach songs to cast
Teach blocking, lines, dances to cast

6 weeks before opening

Start running whole scenes putting singing, dancing,
dialogue together

Music given to musicians (orchestra materials often arrive
only 4-5 weeks before opening night and may require an
extra fee if you want them earlier)

2 weeks before opening

Start running whole acts (all of Act I, all of Act II on sepa-
rate nights) with piano-only

Orchestra-only (“play-through”) rehearsal, allow 2-3
hours

“Sit-n-sing” with cast (see Chapter[5); allow 2 hours

Tech week

At least one, preferably two, dress rehearsals with orches-
tra
Cut sheet finalized and given out to musicians (see below)

“Final Dress” with everyone in costume (including orches-
tra if appropriate); this is like running an actual perfor-
mance and may be a “preview” with a select invited “pre-
view audience” attending

Opening Night!

Break a leg

Figure 3.1: A suggested rough plan for a rehearsal schedule.

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46 CHAPTER 3. TEACHING THE MUSIC

rehearsals as part of this process. Most musicians who do pit work usu-
ally “fill in” their free dates with more work, so it’s virtually impossible for
them to add new rehearsals or performances after the initial schedule is
published. If (a) the pit players are experienced, (b) the score is straight-
forward, and (c) the MD is experienced, a single orchestra-only rehearsal
prior to tech week is probably enough. For each of those three conditions
that isn’t true, add one more orchestra-only rehearsal. (In the extreme, an
inexperienced orchestra playing a difficult show with an inexperienced MD
would take six rehearsals ...but you’re probably asking for trouble any-
way if you find yourself in this situation! In practice, two or at most three
rehearsals suffice.)

In some productions, scheduling is done by the stage manager or pro-
duction manager. In this case you'll need to come up with a list of material,
and for each piece of material, who is called and approximately how much
time you will need to work on it. Whether the scheduling is done by the
stage manager or by the director and you, you may find the following rules
of thumb helpful in scheduling rehearsals:

e For complex ensemble work, allow 3-5 minutes per measure of music
to learn, depending on the complexity of the ensemble work.

For solo material, allow 1-2 minutes per measure of music to learn,
and extra time to discuss the performance (section|3.9).

The 90/90 rule: It’s almost a cliché in the world of software (my day
job) that “the first 90% of a project takes 90% of the time, and the
remaining 10% takes the other 90% of the time.” Nowhere is this
more true than rehearsing a musical: there always seem to be 16 or
32 bars in the score that end up soaking up a disproportionate amount
of rehearsal time, and they won’t be the ones you thought would
be hard. Leave some slop towards the end of the music rehearsal
schedule to review and polish the trickiest material.

Figure[3.1|shows an actual music rehearsal schedule for a production of
Next to Normal I worked on.

3.2. THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL VOCAL REHEARSALS47

3.2 The Seven Habits of Highly Successful Vocal Re-
hearsals

With that caveat, here are some time-tested tips for successful vocal re-
hearsals:

1. Make a Schedule and Follow It. Keep the rehearsal moving along
and focused. Use the above rules of thumb to estimate how long each
rehearsal selection will take, but if things are stalled on a particularly diffi-
cult passage, move on and stick to the schedule, and use one of the offline
“learning acceleration” methods described in the rest of this chapter to help
the performers prepare to polish that material at the next rehearsal.

2. Stay Focused. When switching to a new selection or repeating a
section that needs work, minimize the “dead time” to avoid people losing
focus; once focus is lost, it takes additional time to get back to where you
were, and the time adds up fast. Similarly, avoid people wisecracking or
otherwise losing focus. I’ve had directors who want to attend rehearsal and
end up distracting the cast and wasting time. Vocal rehearsals are grueling
and require concentration, so build some breaks into the schedule—at least
one 15-minute break every hour and a half. In my experience, three hours
is about the longest you can rehearse with the same group or on the same
material before people get exhausted and lose focus, or their voices give
out.

3. Bring Extra Copies. People sometimes forget to bring their vocal
book. Admonish them, loan them your extra copy, and move on. If the
rehearsal space has Internet access, you may be able to post rehearsal ma-
terials on the Web so you can access and print them from any browser (see
Section |A.1).

4. Start on time with a 5-10 minute warmup. Warmups are ex-

tremely important to avoid damage to voices. Boyd Boyd, |Rehearsal Guide
or the Choral Director|has extensive advice on how to use the warmups to

get singers psyched for the rehearsal as well as limbering up their voices.
Start on time, even if some people haven’t arrived yet, but don’t let people
get into the habit of thinking the warmup is optional and they can arrive
5-10 minutes late.

48 CHAPTER 3. TEACHING THE MUSIC

5. Include those challenging passages in every warmup. Every show
has a few “trouble spots” that feel like they could always benefit from more
practice: a tough counterpoint or harmony section, an ensemble number
with lots of weird entrances, and so on There may even be two or three of
these. Make a point of making them part of every warmup. Besides more
practice time for the tough parts, this serves another purpose: since the
usual vocal warmup exercises don’t really require a lot of musical thinking,
singing a tricky passage that requires concentration warms up the brain as
well as the vocal cords, so to speak.

6. Play the score consistently. The vast majority of the rehearsals will
be done with a rehearsal pianist only, not with the orchestra. It’s always
a surprise for the actors (usually a pleasant one) the first time they get to
sing with the orchestra. To ease that transition, keep in mind that most
conductor’s scores try to indicate which orchestra cues will be most promi-
nent by notating them in the piano part or as cue notes. Be consistent and
play those cues when you accompany during rehearsal.

7. Write It Down. When you give a technical or dramatic note, voice
a chord, and so on, write it down, and insist that everyone else do so as
well. For example, in a block chord, you may assign individuals to specific
notes in the chord; in a choral number, where the singers are identified in
the score as “Group 1”, “Group 2”, and so on, you may assign individuals
to particular groups. Make sure you capture these notes.

8. Know when to say when. Singers’ concentration is finite, and af-
ter working on the same eight bars for half an hour, their concentration
plummets and it becomes harder to hear themselves critically, even if the
material isn’t polished yet. Sometimes the best thing to do is to suggest
at-home practice using the appropriate technique(s) described in the rest
of this chapter, and set aside time at a future rehearsal to revisit and finish
the material.

9. Remember you are all on the same team. However impatient you
may become, it is unforgivable to be sarcastic, snarky, passive-aggressive, or
sarcastic to the cast while working. If the problem is that they have a poor
attitude or work ethic, it’s your fault for hiring them. If they are sincerely
trying to do their best work, it helps nothing for you to belittle them. Find

3.3. PRACTICE TRACKS FOR AT-HOME PREPARATION 49

ways to help them master the material, and if it’s simply beyond the ability
of some of the actors, find ways to simplify it (ideas in this chapter may
help—see “Sins of Omission”), and make a note for future casting decisions
about those actors’ limitations. Remember that it also puts the actor in a
very uncomfortable position when he realizes he is the reason the rehearsal
isn’t moving along faster. Be sympathetic to that.

mw Resist when people say, “I’ll Remember”

They will not. I have done many shows, and inevitably, as the rehearsal
process goes on, both they and you will be asked to remember a million
more things, and the vocal notes slip away. I recommend that each actor
make a photocopy of the vocal book to mark up, which also helps if you are
double-casting or unexpectedly have to call in an understudy. I have never,
ever, done a show where people who said “I’ll remember that” actually re-
membered without writing it down.

3.3 Practice Tracks For At-Home Preparation

The most commonly used technique in amateur productions is “learning at
the piano”: you play and sing the melody first, then the singer(s) sing along
with you as you play it again, then they sing it without you given only the
accompaniment. However, this is a poor use of time since each singer is
“learning at the piano” while others are probably standing around idle. A
better approach is to have each performer prepare before rehearsal, and use
rehearsal for technical polishing or working on interpretation.

Singers used to bring a portable tape recorder to rehearsal and ask the
rehearsal pianist to record their part for at-home practice. Today you can
do this just as conveniently in advance with a computer or smartphone at
home, and email or post the practice tracks on the Web as MP3 files; see
section [A.3] for suggestions and instructions. You can get a jump on the
rehearsal process by making and distributing practice tracks prior to the
first rehearsal. Actors are expected to study their lines before coming to
rehearsal, so why not their music?

50 CHAPTER 3. TEACHING THE MUSIC
4 b
# JS tee Se
es eet SS ee
if it's con-ceiv-a-ble but un-a-vail-a-ble, Ahhh = ~~) Abhho A-- go-ny! Mis -e-ry!
SS SS St
i = p y y V r
g g
Ae

Figure 3.2: This excerpt from the conductor’s score shows the vocal line and piano reduction

around an ostinato (third and fourth measures) that has a weird key change just before and just
after. The next figure suggests how to make a practice track for this passage, which is also a good
candidate for Interval Training, described in the next section. (Agony (Reprise) from Into the Woods)

What should you record? Here are some useful permutations:

The singer’s melody with block chords, so that less-experienced
singers can get used to how their melody sounds with the harmonies,
especially if the harmonies are weird.

The singer’s melody with bass notes or other obvious notes that they
can use to find their pitch; particularly useful in cases where the or-
chestration is sparse or the harmonies are very unusual. Figures [3.2
and[3.3]show an example that combines this suggestion with the pre-
vious one.

The singer’s starting melody note, then accompaniment only (like a
rehearsal pianist might do), or the song intro from which the singer
should get their starting note, perhaps with emphasis on that starting
note, as Figure [3.4] suggests. This will teach the singer not to rely
on hearing their melody notes played by the piano (or orchestra).
See Chapter|7|for suggestions on doing this if entrances are tricky or
singers would need to remember a starting note for a long time.

For harmonies, a couple of passes of other permutations of voices, so
the singer can practice her own part relative to other voices.

3.3. PRACTICE TRACKS FOR AT-HOME PREPARATION 51

ih STLLT serine — ip tiie thie tae Att
pase ee eee $5 #5

T T z v

ele] ee
z—
ox
™
™
yz
fox
—s

Figure 3.3: In this suggested practice track, the right and left hands in the piano part have been
collapsed down to just the left hand, with the right hand playing the singer’s melody for the practice
track. In the third measure, the original piano/conductor arrangement had a prominent F-natural in
the upper voice of the left hand; we retain it in the collapsed version, because it matches the starting

note of the ostinato and gives the singer something to listen for in the orchestration. Similarly, we
retain the prominent F-flat in the final measure, so the singer can get used to the dissonance he will
hear in performance against his prominent E-flat. (Agony (Reprise) from Into the Woods)

HERR SCHULTZ: You hesitate because you have never been married. It frightens you.
But believe me, it can work wonders!

a a
tee he = epee!
oe Eaet 2 7 aS. F =" ¥ Zz = ==
ee iin PP SCHULTZ: How the || world can change... etc.
: 3———'8. 8 i 2
3 — 8 :

= = se fr

Figure 3.4: “Same note as” cue: The singer can pick up his starting note from the prominent A-flat
in the horn part. The practice track should therefore include this horn line, and you should make
sure if you don’t have a horn player that another instrument covers that line in performance.
(Married from Cabaret)

52 CHAPTER 3. TEACHING THE MUSIC

3.4 Pitch and Interval Training

These are simple exercises singers can do at home (or wherever they have
access to a piano) to help learn tricky melody lines. They require only that
the singer not be tone-deaf, i.e. that she can tell whether the pitch she is
singing is the same or different from a pitch played on the piano.

Pitch training. Play a key on the keyboard somewhere in the middle
3 octaves (roughly, a three-octave interval with middle C in the center).
While holding the key, sing the note using “la” or “ya” or any open-vowel
syllable. The goal is to be perfectly in tune with the piano; the first several
times, the singer may be way off pitch, or on pitch but slightly out of tune.
Ask the singer to “hear” the note in her head after the key has been struck
but before singing; this is surprisingly effective at prepping your vocal cords
to do the right thing. A more advanced version of this exercise involves
hitting a key outside of that 3-octave range, and singing the note that is an
octave above or below the struck pitch.

Interval training. This technique is more advanced and requires some
basic music-reading ability. It is particularly useful when the singer must
get a starting pitch from another note; for example, if the first note of a
sung phrase is G, but the most prominent sound in the accompaniment is
(let’s say) a C in the bass. The singer can use this technique to practice
singing the interval C to G (perfect fifth), so that when the C is heard,
the singer “mentally sings” the C to herself along with the accompaniment,
then actually sings her note G.

Pick an interval to train—this may be an interval from an interior vo-
cal line of a song, or for drilling, just start with the easy ones like per-
fect fourths and fifths and then move on to the more difficult ones like
sixths and sevenths. A melody line, especially interior lines in counterpoint
singing, may contain weird intervals that lend themselves well to this prac-
tice method. (The Agony ostinato in measures 3-4 of Figure [3.2] would be
a good candidate for this kind of practice.)

1. Play the interval on the piano one note at a time, then sing the inter-
val using either “yah-yah” or the lyrics if you’re using this exercise to
work on a specific passage.

3.4.

PITCH AND INTERVAL TRAINING 53

. Play the first note of the interval on the piano; then release it; then

have the singer sing the interval; then play the second note of the
interval on the piano and check the singer’s pitch.

. Sing the interval while playing only non-melody “reference notes”—

say, a block chord or the bass note of the chord—on the piano.

. Once it’s solid, add one or two notes before and one or two notes

after the interval; then repeat that phrase over and over.

. Once that is mastered, have the singer sing the entire phrase con-

taining the interval, but hold each note of the interval and verify its
tuning with the piano.

. Finally, have the singer sing the whole phrase in tempo, but ask him

to mentally pay special attention to the weird interval. My experience
is that once they have mastered the singing of the interval, thereby
demonstrating their ability to tune it, the only thing that causes it to
go out of tune is simply not thinking about it enough. After it has
been repeated enough times with special concentration, it becomes
second nature.

u No, I cannot play you your note!

Many singers, when having trouble with a particular interval, will ask you
to just play back the specific note that they sang off-pitch. Similarly, a singer
who’s been singing a wrong note in a harmony may ask you to “please play
me my note.” You should resist such requests. Instead have the singer
sing their note relative to some other note in the block chord, and have the
singer train the interval between the wrong note and a previous note (or if
part of a block chord, the interval between the correct note and someone
else’s part). Less-experienced singers do not always realize that hearing “a
note” may be useless without such context.

Interval training is also useful when singers have to get their starting

note from a non-vocal cue. A common example is a canon or other mul-
tipart harmony where one singer’s starting note must be cued off a note

54 CHAPTER 3. TEACHING THE MUSIC

sung in a different voice, or if there is no good candidate note for this, a
prominent note in the orchestration, such as the note that’s in the bass or
being played by a prominent instrument, as in Figure[3.4]

The strategy is to treat the interval between the cue note and the open-
ing note as an interval to train using the procedure above. I find that it
helps to have you play the cue note and then have the singer hit her en-
trance note and hold it to get used to how it sounds against the cue note;
the goal is to avoid “sliding” onto the correct pitch due to uncertainty.

3.5 Harmonies and Counterpoint

Books on auditioning and rehearsing choruses, such as Lamb, {Choral Tech-|
suggest “pitch retention” exercises that can be used to strengthen
singers’ ability to stay on pitch when they’re not singing the melody. Inexpe-
rienced singers and those without good pitch retention tend to get thrown
off by other people around them singing different parts, and may eventu-
ally “slide onto” the line being sung by someone else who happens to be
near them.

Part of teaching harmony is teaching singers to listen to each other and
“lock up” on harmonies. Some good warm-up exercises for doing this are

suggested in Lamb, \Choral Techniques| and Boyd, \Rehearsal Guide for the
Choral Director, but here is the general idea. Break up the singers into

three groups (doesn’t necessarily have to be according to range) and have
them sing a simple chord—not a triad in root position, but a chord built
from different intervals, such as an inversion, with each group singing one
note in the chord. Have them listen to each other and lock pitch. Then
shuffle the singers and break them up into four groups rather than three,
and try some additional chords with four voices, working your way up to
six or seven groups, as in Figure [3.5] or alternatively, three or four groups
but with octave doublings within a group to achieve big “open” voicings of
different chords.

Company

For moving lines and counterpoint, start by teaching each inner line
as if it were a melody line using the techniques above, including practice

3.6. VARIABLE-STRESS PRACTICE AND LONG-LINE EXTRACTION 55

aa ee ee ee ee

Bob - by, Bob - by, bah bah bah bah bah bah bah _ bah Bah - - - by.

Figure 3.5: One of the most challenging chords I had to teach a minimally-trained ensemble to sing
is the final couple of bars of the short Overture from Sondheim’s Company. It’s presented here as an
example of what you can work toward using the harmony training outlined in Section]3.5] (. from
Overture)

tracks. One way to practice putting moving lines together is permutations
of voices. For example, in a 3-voice harmony, first have voices 1 and 2
sing together, then 1 and 3, then 2 and 3. Of course, with large multipart
harmonies, you probably don’t have time to try every permutation, but the
idea is to get people accustomed to how their part sounds when combined
with other parts.

Furthermore, pick some key points during the line at which the singers
will stop and hold a chord together (see example below); these serve as
intermediate “milestones” to keep singers listening to each other. Vary the
milestones on different practice runs, so that eventually the singers will
have held at least one “milestone” chord in each measure or so. When they
hold a chord and lock pitch in it, their muscle memory is trained as well,
and this kind of drilling will eventually result in focusing attention on each
note.

3.6 Variable-Stress Practice and Long-Line Extraction

In moving passages with weird passing tones or neighbor tones, pitch ac-
curacy on the in-between notes can be a problem. Even if the melody is
straightforward and diatonic, pitches on unaccented notes (e.g. pickups),
or pitches that the singer must leap onto or away from very quickly, may
suffer from being indistinct or inaccurate. Variable-stress practicd"|can help
fix pitch-accuracy problems in both situations by forcing the performer’s at-
tention to focus on every note.

1The technique is inspired by one that I use for practicing tricky technical passages on
piano.

56 CHAPTER 3. TEACHING THE MUSIC

Hooy-er up in Wash-ing-ton, Is win-ter-time in Wash-ing-ton, too cold for the stom-ach in

Wash - ing-ton, I go down to Mi - a - mi, _ kill Roos - ev - elt!

ies up Wash, Wint time Wash, Cold stom Wash ton Down am kill Roos-velt.

Figure 3.6: Identifying the “skeleton” or long line of a patter melody both accelerates learning to
sing it and improves pitch accuracy, often by highlighting a structurally important melody feature
such as the augmented chord outlined in measures 5-6. (How I Saved Roosevelt from Assassins)

For chromatic or otherwise unusual melodies, it may help to first iden-
tify the “skeleton” or long line of the phrase. (If the melody is straightfor-
ward or diatonic, you can probably skip this step.) Sometimes the long line
outlines the melody, as bars A-D and G-H in figure [3.6] outline the rising
melody line of bars 1-4 and 7-8 respectively. Other parts of the long line
may outline important harmonies, as bars E-F outline the augmented ma-
jor triad spelled out in measures 5-6. Help the actor perfect the pitches in
the long line, singing the appropriate syllables, as in measures A-H.

The next step is to use variable-stress practice to polish the interior
pitches (passing and neighbor tones). As Figure shows, the idea is
to sing the passage a tiny bit under tempo, but “sitting on” (stressing and
holding) different notes each time. Stressing and holding a note forces the
performer (and you) to really listen to it and make sure it’s on pitch; this
trains the vocal muscles to retain that pitch when the note is sung at full
speed in performance. A practice track can be very helpful for a performer
who wants to work with this technique at home.

There are various permutations you can do, depending on where the

3.6. VARIABLE-STRESS PRACTICE AND LONG-LINE EXTRACTION = 57

¥ ibd & 4 ne EE cen a — re
, =
Gna SS ae SSS SS= jo—* +4

lu-na-tics yelling in the streets! It's the end of the world! Yes! Cit-y on fi-re!

Hunch-backs danc-ing! Stir-rings in the ground and the whirring of gi-ant wings!

Variable-stress practice: variation 1
Eee eee

lu-na-TICS yelling IN the streets IT'S the end OF the world YES...etc.

aie — SSF

lu-na-tics YELL - ing in the STREETS _ it's the end OF the world yes CIT...etc

| ipa TS fH

Figure 3.7: Long-line extraction and variable-stress practice can help in learning tricky passages like
this, and can even be combined. (City On Fire from Sweeney Todd)

trouble spots are. For example, you could drill the selection in figure [3.7|by
first stressing and holding every third note (variation 1), then every fourth
note (variation 2). Disregard the original rhythm during variable-stress
practice: all notes should have equal duration except the stressed notes,
whose duration should be three or four times that of the unstressed notes.

Figure shows how to combine long-line extraction and variable-
stress A variation on this technique combines it with variable-stress prac-
tice. The bottom staff of shows the long line of the passage. Have the per-
formers sing the passage slowly but in rhythm, but stressing-and-holding
the notes in the passage corresponding to the long line (syllables tics,

58 CHAPTER 3. TEACHING THE MUSIC

streets, end, world, Cit, etc.) while doing so. This is tedious work, since
the overall practice time can end up being several minutes per measure,
but it’s the most reliable way to really polish these passages (and is a good
candidate for the “90/90 rule” above). Most performers can only do this for
20-30 minutes at a time before their sense of pitch becomes a little numb,
so plan your rehearsals accordingly. Once a passage has been polished with
these techniques, put it together by singing it slowly and speeding up grad-
ually, keeping a sharp ear for any lax diction or rhythm creeping in after
you’ve worked so hard on accuracy and precision.

3.7 Teaching Tricky Rhythms
We'll distinguish three situations that can make rhythms tricky to learn:

1. Syncopations or other difficult rhythmic figures in the context of
“straight” time.

2. Odd or compound time signatures such as 7/4 or 7/8.

3. Switching between time signatures, especially between time signa-
tures whose beat unit is different, as in going from 3/4 to 9/8.

Here’s an example of each, with some suggestions on how to practice
with the actors. What all of the suggestions and examples have in common
is to learn the rhythm first, then sing the notes. This is especially true when
the rhythm involves harmony or counterpoint, as in the first two examples
below.

Figure shows an example of situation 1. It may help to subdi-
vide the measure into the smallest beat unit that will accommodate the
syncopations—in this case, eighth notes—and have the actors note and
mark down which eighth note the syncopations occur, as written over the
staff. Then practice really slowly tapping out every eighth note and ensuring
everyone’s together, gradually speeding it up so you’re tapping only quarter
notes, then only half notes, and so on. Once the rhythm has been mastered,
you can teach the notes.

3.7. TEACHING TRICKY RHYTHMS 59

N —

Sit down, you’re rock - in’ Sit down, sit down, sit down, you’re rock - in’ the boat.

Figure 3.8: For tricky syncopations, like this 3-measure syncopated pattern in double meter, slow
down the practice tempo until you can tap out every eighth note. (Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat

ee ee ce ee ee ee or er

from Guys & Dolls)
1 and_ a__. 2____ and_. a landa 4 5 f and a__ 2 and a landa 4 Sete.
— SS SS =
SSS SSSSSat ae SS =SS> = =

— oe
Su - per-boy— and the in - vis-i- ble girl, Ev’ - ry-thing a kid ought-a
= = 5 2

é Se

=e Ps _§ §
Bars eZ gba hig pS
a = eet ——
oe —#_o¢ _s _# _o _# _y =e o. - o f cod t i
4 ee im-mort - al,___ for-ev-er a - is Then L me | ; =k

—--_—.
|
Vv
Vv

Figure 3.9: A compound 6/8+5/8 can be counted in a “lopsided 2+2”, but in this particular song
we can take advantage of the accented eighth notes in each 5/8 measure to help prepare the singer
for the next 6/8 downbeat. (Superboy and the Invisible Girl from Next to Normal)

Figures is a compound-meter example in which most of the song
alternates between 6/8 and 5/8. A big help in this song is the accented
eighth notes in the orchestra on counts 4 and 5 of each 5/8 measure, which
can help the singers prepare the next 6/8 downbeat. When conducting or
playing, it may help you to think of the count in terms of a “lopsided 2+2”,
as shown above the first staff: count the 6/8 measures in two, and start
counting the 5/8 measure in two but then cut to the two eighth notes on
4-5. Counting in 2 also helps because a few measures later on, the song
goes into a steady 6/8.

Figure shows a compound meter example in 7/8 that is trickier
because the vocals and the orchestra figure are syncopated differently. This
example can also be conducted and practiced in a “lopsided 2,” as the num-
bers above the staff suggest. In fact, when practicing with the actors, you

60 CHAPTER 3. TEACHING THE MUSIC

1& 2& 12 3 1 & 2& 12 3 ee.

S54 === =
is eo Piet Pio ee ee

Plug me— in tum me—— on and | flip the switch, - I'm good as_— gone...
Se 2 ee eS ee
Za Z =e Bi hot a. ee apt “ae sees
ve v we v

Figure 3.10: Both the melody and the bass figure suggest that you should think of this particular
7/8 as “4+3” rather than “3+4”. The numbers above the staff suggest how to conduct it in a
“lopsided 2.” (Wish I Were Here from Next to Normal)

can even count out the “1-2-3” to prepare the pickup for each next mea-
sure. Since the orchestra figure is syncopated differently, it may be best
to practice with the actors while counting straight eighth notes, then add
the bass figure in later. Again, if may help to learn the rhythm first by just
speaking the lyrics in time, and adding the notes later.

One of the hardest scenarios is a change of meter where the beat unit
changes too. Figure [3.11] shows an example. One trick here is to realize
that for all practical purposes the change in feel from groups of two eighth
notes to groups of three eighth notes really begins in measure 5, with the
dotted-quarters in the accompaniment effectively emphasizing two groups
of three. Since the actor isn’t singing during this meter change, he can
listen to the prominent dotted-quarters in measures 5 and 6 to time his
pickup into measure 7.

3.8 Putting It All Together

As you start doing whole-scene, whole-act, or whole-show rehearsals where
all the elements are finally combined—staging, dialogue, musical numbers,
choreography—the actors will be challenged to remember all the tips they
got from the director and stage manager, from you, from the choreogra-
pher...so be patient! It is a lot to remember. The production staff can
make this process smoother—and improve the show—by ensuring that the
work of the director, music director, and choreographer don’t work against
each other.

For example, when actors are singing in harmony or counterpoint,

3.8. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER 61

ors oS aaa a Sa SS

ne
SS J f =
es a =. ae

eh lr Ma
PS a: gis ag —

: i r°

Figure 3.11: In this tricky meter change, the actor can listen to the prominent dotted-quarters in
measures 5 and 6 to time the pickup into measure 7. (Johanna (Judge Turpin) from Sweeney Todd)

62 CHAPTER 3. TEACHING THE MUSIC

choreography matters. It’s natural, and even helpful for the audience, if
actors singing counterpoint or canon (think Fugue For Tinhorns from Guys
& Dolls) are spaced apart on stage or moving in different orbits. Some dis-
tance between the actors can help the audience distinguish the sung lines.
But separating actors who are singing in block harmonies makes the har-
monies harder to lock up and may also sound bad to the audience: the
sound will not appear to be coming from one place, and audience members
much closer to one of the actors will disproportionately hear that harmony
part. This is a risk even when mics are used. Another way to look at it:
what characters are singing—counterpoint vs. harmony—should tell the
choreographer and director something about the relationship among those
characters on the stage.

A similar issue arises when choreographing or blocking a large ensemble
that has a musical number: placing singers close to each other when they
have potentially dissonant lines is risky. You don’t have to arrange them
strictly by section like a church choir, but it helps to be sensitive to who is
singing what.

No matter what you do, every show has some ensemble music sections
that need constant refreshing and polishing to stay in top condition. Maybe
it’s only 16 or 32 bars of a particular number, or the finale of the show, or
something in the opening number. (The opening number and finale are
particularly important, because if you nail those, you will be forgiven for
a lot in between!) Whatever the selection, I make it a point to practice it
during every rehearsal—whether it’s a complete run-through of a full act, a
vocal-only touch-up, or a full dress rehearsal. This also helps get the cast’s
heads into the show and can reinforce camaraderie before launching into
the rehearsal itself.

3.9 Performance: Putting the Show in Context

Just as performing a play is more than reading the lines, performing a
score is more than singing the right notes. The rest of this chapter will help
you work with actors to make sure the songs receive the same dramatic
attention as their spoken dialogue, and suggest specific questions to help

3.9. PERFORMANCE: PUTTING THE SHOW IN CONTEXT 63

guide this exploration.

Most actors are eager to be part of the process of defining and inhabiting
their character; that is why actors love to act. The advice in this section can
be boiled down to a single observation: Don’t stop acting when you start
singing. More precisely, a song performance should call attention to the way
the character sings it, not the way the actor sings it.

There are two variants of this pitfall. In the first variant, the actor is
so focused on technical execution that he forgets to stay in character. This
pitfall can be overcome by practice. In the second pitfall, which occcurs
especially in so-called “star vehicle” shows, the actor temporarily forgets
that the songs are there to serve the show, not vice versa. This can be
overcome by remembering that the song belongs to the character, not to
the actor.

Part of your job, then, is to help your actors “deconstruct” the music
they will perform, just as they would do with spoken dialogue. Part of this
deconstruction comes from the context of the show, part of it comes from
the story, part of it comes from the structure of the music itself, and part of
it—surprisingly—may even come from the orchestration.

= Don’t co-opt the director

None of the advice in this section is meant to suggest that the Music Direc-
tor should take over the Director’s job. Matters of interpretation and per-
formance require agreement among all production staff—Director, Music
Director, Choreographer—and the process by which you reach that agree-
ment depends on the nature of the working relationship you all have.

The first step is to contextualize a show by understanding the cultural
references, idioms, slang, and so on in the lyrics and dialogue. Even if your
production has a dramaturg, good book research is the shared responsibility
of all performers and production staff.

For example, during the rehearsal process for the contemporary song
cycle The Last Five Years, I learned that the actor playing Jamie didn’t un-
derstand the significance of “the JCC of Spring Valley is crumbling to the
ground” (in reference to his character, a nice Jewish boy, falling for a non-

64 CHAPTER 3. TEACHING THE MUSIC

Jewish girl), in part because he didn’t know what “JCC” stood for. Without
an understanding of that phrase and its cultural context, it’s hard to inhabit
the song Shiksa Goddess, in which the lyric occurs. (Homework: Go find
out the answer. “Use the Google.”)

Some shows’ action occurs in a different time or place, making them
appear to be period pieces or products of their time. But Company, Hair,
A Chorus Line, and Cabaret have themes that are timeless even if the plot
and characters are not. What was happening in the world then? Can it be
connected to things that are happening today?

When I worked on Company in 2004, same-sex marriage was making
waves in California (where I live) that were being felt in the Oval Office.
We all knew that Company was controversial in 1970 for presenting non-
traditional and nuanced views of marriage and relationships that defied the
simplistic “happily ever after” formula so popular in musical theater at that
time. Indeed, when the show was first staged, some critics and theater-
goers proposed that Bobby was unable to sustain committed relationships
with any of his girlfriends because he was actually gay but unable to come
to terms with it. Although composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim and book
writer George Furth have both denied this, from the vantage point of 2004
it was clear that there must be both heterosexual Bobbies and homosexual
Bobbies: Company shows us that through Bobby’s eyes his friends’ mar-
riages defy simplistic conventions, yet somehow his friends seem to find
the relationships rewarding. Et voila, the stage is set for a 2004 audience
dealing with same-sex marriage to draw their own conclusions.

When I worked on Cabaret in 2005, we saw parallels between the way
Weimar Germany was lulled into a disastrous nationalism leading up to
WWII and some of the things happening in our own country following the
terrorist attacks of 9/11, and we took that as a reference point for the pro-
duction. Although we did not change a single line of lyrics or dialogue,
many patrons told us how intriguing it was that we had made the connec-
tion. In fact all we did was keep the connection in mind in interpreting the
show, through the occasional emphasis or inflection of a line or a lyric, or a
carefully placed “beat” in the dialogue. It was the patrons themselves who
made the connection, based on the subtlest of cues.

3.10. EXAMPLE: SO WHAT (CABARET) 65

In 2010 I got to work on Man of La Mancha. Don Quixote, the mildly
deluded idealist who is initially the object of ridicule but with whom the
audience ultimately identifies, may have inhabited Inquisition Spain, but
he’d be right at home as an activist in today’s America. In a nation rocked
by the Enron scandal and with the news seemingly dominated by stories
of corruption, cynicism, greed, and oppression, there is an opportunity to
really make the audience want to cheer for this idealistic underdog, ridicu-
lous and pathetic though his actions may initially seem. Making these con-
nections gives the actor (and, in performance, the audience) something to
identify with, and they're more likely to “get it”.

In rehearsing the show, I also had the opportunity to point out, as a
native Spanish speaker, that Quijote (alternate spelling of Quixote) is sim-
ply Quijana (the name of the deluded gentleman who believes himself Don
Quixote) with the Spanish augmentative ending “-ote”, meaning roughly
“the big one.” That is, Quijana has deluded himself into believing he’s “the
BIG Quijana”, or “el Quijote”. This simple etymological observation sheds
additional light on Cervantes’s writing and therefore on the character: his
illusions of grandeur extend even to his self-applied moniker.

Let’s examine three specific examples showing how to apply these gen-
eral remarks to individual songs and characters. Spoiler alert: These ex-
amples include possible spoiler details about each show, which are unfor-
tunately necessary to provide the context for the example. So go see the
shows before you read the examples.

3.10 Example: So What (Cabaret)

When an actor approaches an important piece of monologue or dialogue,
he may spend hours deconstructing it, trying to connect what is said back
to the character’s overall “arc” through the show in order to create a per-
formance. To help actors give the same level of attention to song lyrics as
they do to dialogue, I spend a good chunk of an actor’s first rehearsal of a
song (up to 20 minutes of a one-hour rehearsal) discussing three points:

1. Why is this song in the show?

66 CHAPTER 3. TEACHING THE MUSIC

2. How would you read (and act) these lyrics if they were spoken dia-
logue?

3. How will we deal with repetition in the song—both repetition in time,
such as repeated words, phrases, or stanzas, and repetition in space,
such as in “list songs”?

By the time we agree on how the song will be performed, we have a
good answer for each one. Sometimes we even find subtle clues in the
music or in the orchestration that can be used to bolster the interpretation
or the performance.

Our first of three examples is from Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Sto-
ries, in which we meet Fraulein Schroeder, a Berlin innkeeper during the
rise of the Third Reich. Over several pages, we learn that though once
wealthy, she has lost her fortune and her previous lovers, survived a war,
and weathered a depression. Frl. Schroeder embodies both survival and
resignation.

In the musical Cabaret, which is inspired by Isherwood’s work, the char-
acter has been renamed Frl. Schneider, and all of this background must be
presented in two and half minutes during her song So What early in the
show.

Why is this song in the show? It introduces the audience to
Frl. Schneider’s personality by letting her tell her own backstory. This sets
the stage for how she will handle breaking off her soon-to-be engagement
to Herr Schultz, the Jewish grocer, under pressure from the Nazis.

How would you perform the lyrics as dialogue? Frl. Schneider’s body
language, facial expressions and cadence would all be different when re-
counting happy times than when describing the times she managed to just
survive despite everything. So should they be when sung.

The song has three verses, each of which addresses a different sides of
her personality—losing her fortune, losing love, and ultimately survival—
and indeed even the orchestration is different in each verse. In particular,
the last verse, which deals with her much better earlier days (“So once I
was rich, and now all my fortune is gone—so what? / And love disap-
peared, and only the memory lives on—so what?”) has a much more sub-

3.11. EXAMPLE: DULCINEA (MAN OF LA MANCHA) 67

dued orchestration—the rhythmic “oom-pah-pah” waltz figure is replaced
by simple held chords, with the addition of a high, melancholy violin line.
The actor’s performance should work with rather than against such textural
cues in the orchestration.

Where is there repetition and how should we use it? Not only should
the three verses be sung differently despite having the same melody: at the
end of the song, there is a coda in which she sings “It all goes on ...So
who cares? Who cares? WHO CARES? So what?” (emphasis mine). By
this point in the song, the audience has heard these phrases repeated many
times. The coda isn’t there to lengthen the song—it only adds 8 bars. So
why is it there?

Often there is no “right” answer; but what is important is that there be
some interpretation for why the coda is there. Our interpretation was that
while most of the song has been about survival, the coda punctuates her
resignation. Each “Who cares?” can get more and more resigned, until the
last “So what?”

This amount of detail may seem like nitpicking, but with only two and
a half minutes to make the audience really care about this character when
they see her in trouble later, every nuance of the performance counts.

3.11. Example: Dulcinea (Man Of La Mancha)

When Don Quixote first sees Aldonza, the kitchen wench and prostitute,
he believes he has found Dulcinea, his (mythical) noble and chaste lady
patroness, about whom he then sings.

Why is this song in the show? Aldonza is initially scornful of Quixote,
then uneasy when he worships her apparently without guile, then resentful
that his sincerity disarms her toughness, and ultimately, becomes a believer
in Quixote’s ideals and his “quest,” identifying herself finally as Dulcinea. In
this song, seeing her take the first steps on that journey is at least as impor-
tant as hearing Quixote sing the lyrics, which without this deconstruction
come across as overwritten.

lyrics as dialogue. Although Aldonza/Dulcinea is onstage with
Quixote throughout the number, we decided he is not serenading her but

68 CHAPTER 3. TEACHING THE MUSIC

a ee ee ee

1 T T

Now I've found you, and the world shall know thy glo - ry, Dulei - ne-a!___.

Figure 3.12: Even though it’s difficult to avoid some emphasis on the high note of the phrase
(“Now”), we decided to make “found you” just as significant by adding a small tenuto, because it
was the more important lyric in our reading. (Dulcinea from Man of La Mancha)

rather singing to himself; the song then serves to show us Dulcinea’s reac-
tion. The actor playing Quixote and I identified a key lyric:

Let my fingers but see,
Thou art warm and alive, and no phantom to fade in the air!

So far, everything about Quixote’s interactions has been in his head: the
windmill was to him a giant, the inn a castle, the innkeeper a lord. But now
Quixote is telling us, “See, it’s not all in my head. Dulcinea is real! She’s
standing right there!”

In the last stanza, Quixote sings “Now I’ve found you, and the world
shall know thy glory!” Because the word “Now” coincides with the high
note of the phrase, most actors make it the climax of the phrase. However,
given the above reading, the more important phrase is “found you”, so we
decided to emphasize that with some tenuto marks. Indeed, highlighting
“Now” subverts the song’s drama by focusing on the actor’s singing rather
than the character’s thoughts, and by this point in the show Quixote has
already had two solos, so the audience already knows he can sing.

Dealing with repetition. My Quixote actor perceptively compared the
endless repetition of “Dulcinea” in the lyrics to Maria in West Side Story:

Dulcinea, Dulcinea

I see heaven when I see thee, Dulcinea!

And thy name is like a prayer an angel whispers—
Dulcinea!

Maria!
Say it loud, and there’s music playing

3.12. EXAMPLE: ’M ALIVE (NEXT TO NORMAL) 69

Say it soft, and it’s almost like praying
Maria, I'll never stop saying—
Maria!

So we decided that Quixote would use the repeated word “Dulcinea”
throughout the song to savor all the different ways it sounds as he says it
to himself, as Tony does with “Maria”. Indeed, the performance might be a
bit different every night—and that’s OK, it’s live theater!

3.12 Example: /’m Alive (Next To Normal)

In this brilliant and quirky musical about Diana’s struggle with bipolar dis-
order, Gabe is her long-dead son about whom she still has delusions. (Sorry
about the spoiler if you haven’t seen the show.) I’m Alive is Gabe’s first big
solo: he is nominally singing to Diana (inside her head), but he’s also re-
vealing to the audience the relationship between Diana and himself.

Fundamentally, this is a list song, with Gabe enumerating all the differ-
ent ways he has his hooks in Diana, letting us see why it’s so hard for her
to let him go. Some lines include:

I am what you want me to be,
and I’m your worst fear, you'll find it in me...

I am flame and I am fire,
I am destruction, decay, and desire. ..

I’m your wish, your dream come true,
I am your darkest nightmare too...

Interestingly, each couplet opener above can be tied to a specific mo-
ment in the show. The first couplet could refer to the fact that Gabe only
exists in Diana’s fantasy, so he is “what [she] wants [him] to be,” but also
her “worst fear” because the fantasy is fueling her psychosis and tearing
her from the rest of her family. The second couplet could be an allusion to
Gabe’s destructive effect on Diana’s psyche, which will ultimately drive her

70 CHAPTER 3. TEACHING THE MUSIC

to attempt suicide. The third couplet could be seen as a flash-forward to
when Diana reveals near the end of the show (How Could I Ever Forget) the
joy of experiencing the birth of her first child, too soon afterward followed
by the nightmare of being told he had died of an undiagnosed intestinal
obstruction.

It’s true that at the time these lyrics are sung, some of the moments
to which they arguably allude haven’t happened yet. But as with so many
other examples, the important thing is that the audience can tell when
there is depth in the acting, and creating interpretations like this gives the
actors something to work from, even if they later change their minds about
what moments in the show each lyric refers to. And it may even inspire
audience members to return for another visit, to mine the additional depth
they perceived in the performance!

3.12. EXAMPLE: ?M ALIVE (NEXT TO NORMAL)

Diction, Rhythm, and Dynamics

Diction, Rhythm,
and Dynamics

Actors worry about singing wrong notes or dropping a lyric, but the audi-
ence notices only the most egregious such errors. In contrast, since lyrics
are critical to most musicals, and they can go by very fast without giving
the audience a chance to “rewind the recording,” the audience gets angry
if they don’t understand every word—that is, if the performers have poor
diction, rhythm, or dynamics, any of which can keep the lyrics from being
easily understood. Such problems usually reflect lack of effort or lack of
directorial attention, rather than lack of ability. This chapter will help you:

e Identify performances whose diction needs improvement

e Apply simple (usually) practice and performance techniques to ad-
dress some of the most common problems related to diction, includ-
ing some connected to rhythm or dynamics

4.1 Diction Basics|...............20-02+0000- 74
4.2 Vowels and Consonants| ...............-- 75
nk eR ee He RR Se ee eR RS 76
Oa RS Rew 78
Bi bs mints goBicite “ase Re Bese, echo, aSein gs ee eee oe ye Pewee 80
eeadehes 82
ib deh seh 85

4.8 Summary and Checklists|................. 86

74 CHAPTER 4. DICTION, RHYTHM, AND DYNAMICS

4.1. Diction Basics

Each style of sung music has its own conventions for diction. Theater is
no exception. A few specific cases are worth calling out before we go any
further.

Theater diction is not opera diction. Classically trained (“legit”)
singers may need to be reminded that “sing” and “kiss” are not pronounced
“seeng” or “kees”, no matter how long the syllable is held. Furthermore,
tremolo is usually the enemy because it compromises diction; while Bar-
bara Cook can pronounce every word clearly and maintain a beautiful (and
non-overbearing) tremolo, most of us have to compromise. When compro-
mise is necessary, clear diction should be the highest priority.

Theater diction is not pop diction. “Natural” untrained singers with
great voices often need the most help in fine-tuning and polishing their
pitch and diction, because they are used to being told that they sound great
but not that they need to be more precise. In most pop songs, diction is
deemed secondary to “authenticity” (whatever that means when you can’t
understand half the lyrics). In theater songs, diction is just as important as
acting. It is not “second” to anything.

Gratuitous melisma belongs on American Idol, not in a musical.
Melisma refers to varying a pitch while holding a single vocal syllable: it
may surprise you that Idina Menzel’s melisma at the end of Defying Gravity
is actually written in the score, Figure shows. However, if the score
does not indicate melisma or a similar marking such as vocal ad lib., the
performer shouldn’t insert it. Whereas in pop songs melisma is sometimes
added as a special improvisational effect by the performer, in theater songs
it usually sounds cheesy unless it’s specifically indicated because a spe-
cific pop (or comic) effect is desired. Gratuitous melisma is a particular
peril for show tunes that have become famous independently of the shows
they came from (such as “Memory” from Cats), or when burgeoning young
singers try to imitate a performance they’ve heard on American Idol. Unfor-
tunately, combined with the current Broadway trend to feature the “Ameri-
can Idol favorite of the week” in musicals, thousands have been misled into
thinking that those performances represent good theater diction.

4.2. VOWELS AND CONSONANTS 75

194 195 196 197

Gud = - 5 8 8 og —

ENSEMBLE: So_ we've got to bring her down!

baslnegy- oss Ssoce sess ss -sease tosses

Figure 4.1: Until I saw the conductor’s score, I thought the melisma that closes Act I (in measures
195 and 198) was improvised by Idina Menzel, but it’s right in the score! (Defying Gravity from
Wicked)

Hard breaths are for cheaters. A nasal “hard breath” before a word
that starts with a vowel—e.g., saying hyou for you, hall for all, hi for I, and
so on—is a device used by amateur pop singers when they can’t nail the
pitch properly in full voice on an initial vowel. Like melisma, it is cheesy in
the extreme and should not be done unless the show’s score calls for it as a
special effect—that is, to make a song more cheesy.

Now that we’re clear on what theater diction is not, here are some sug-
gestions to help singers achieve what it is.

4.2 Vowels and Consonants

Distinguish the vowels, especially when the lyrics are going by very
fast. Even the lowliest sixteenth note deserves to be heard as a distinct vowel
sound. Remember that “uh” (represented phonetically by a schwa, 9) is not
a proper vowel sound and is rarely the sound called for by the sung syllable.
For words whose vowel pronunciations depend on dialect (roof, either, and
so on), you and the director should make an appropriate choice depending
on the show’s setting, the character’s persona, or other dramatic factors,
and everyone should be consistent about following it.

Emphasize interior consonants (i.e. the ones that occur in the mid-
dle of a word as opposed to ending the word). The vocal warmups on

the book’s web site help somewhat with vowels and

ge se ht AEE ld yh
° ;

kee ono

76 CHAPTER 4. DICTION, RHYTHM, AND DYNAMICS

consonants: for example, when singing “Doo-bee”, the lips should be exag-
geratedly rounded for “Doo” and exaggeratedly cracked on “Bee”. For the
second part of this same exercise, “Too-bee”, overemphasize the dental “T”
and plosive “B” to warm up those muscles.

Close off final consonants by putting a tiny o after them. Trained
vocal performers call this a “shadow vowel,” and it is especially critical for
words that would otherwise be ambiguous. For example, if holding the
syllable “too” on a long note, is the word going to end up being too, tune,
tomb, or tube? Often it is evident from context, but not always. Avoid
the risk and sing too, too-noa, too-ma, too-be accordingly. The final o should
be just enough to allow the consonant to be crisply pronounced, no more.
Remember to have everyone write down the specific beat on which to close
the consonant; if you happen to have a free conducting hand during the
performance, you can use it to give the cutoff cue, but the singers should
not rely solely on this cue as a crutch.

Distinguish double consonants. In Stephen Sondheim’s famous song
Send In the Clowns, Désirée sings the lyric “Don’t you love farce?” Unless the
v of love is closed off before pronouncing the initial f of farce, it will sound
like “Don’t you love arse?”, which is particularly amusing to speakers of the
King’s English. Similarly, consider the lyric “This is my quest, to follow that
star” from The Impossible Dream. Without first closing off the t of quest, the
audience might hear “This is my quess, to follow that star’. Some of them
will be wondering “What the hell is a quess?” and by the time they figure it
out they will have missed the next lyrid"| and they will be angry.

The solution in both cases is easy, as Figures [4.2] and [4.3] show, though
the specific fixes must be applied slightly differently due to the rhythm of
the lyrics.

4.3. Diction and Rhythm

Good diction is particularly imperiled in “patter songs” or up-tempo songs
whose lyrics go by very fast, especially when the rhythm of the lyrics is

1«No matter how hopeless, no matter how far.”

4.3. DICTION AND RHYTHM 77

tf.» a oe Se ee ee ee ee ae ee ee ee eee ee eee
S

This is my ques - tuh, - to fol-low that sta - ruh, no mat-ter how...

Figure 4.2: Literal (and somewhat exaggerated) depiction of placing shadow vowels to
disambiguate closing consonants. In the first lyric, the performer can use an interior beat of the
measure to pronounce the schwa. (The Impossible Dream from Man of La Mancha)

EE) re eee
a SSS SS
a - ee ee ee

Dont you luvwvuh = farce? % fauh, | fear. 1 thought that...

Figure 4.3: When no existing rest is available for a shadow vowel, the schwa must be hurried in
between two lyric counts. If you listen to the original cast album, Glynis Johns puts a tiny pause
before “farce” and turns it into an “actable moment.” (Send In the Clowns from A Little Night Music)

“swung”. This is similar to pitches getting “thrown away” when they oc-
cur on unaccented notes such as pickups, and the variable-stress practice
technique (section |3.6) can be used here as well.

For example, consider the excerpt in figure[4.4]from “Don’t Tell Mama”
in Cabaret. There is a tremendous risk that the diction rules about over-
enunciating vowels and pronouncing interior consonants will go out the
window on the short (16th-note) swung syllables. An easy fix for this is to
have the singers sing the rhythm nearly straight as opposed to swung. A
tiny amount of swing, plus the fact that the musicians are playing swung,
will suffice to give the impression of a swung melody, as Figure|4.5|suggests.

A related problem occurs when diction or pitch accuracy is imperiled
because of a pickup that is shorter and unaccented. Again, the solution

d=112

= Sa

Thinks I'mon atour of Eur - op With a coup-le of my school chums and a la-dy chap-e - rone.

Figure 4.4: Diction is at risk on the sixteenth notes in this swung melody. (Don’t Tell Mama from
Cabaret)

d=112

78 CHAPTER 4. DICTION, RHYTHM, AND DYNAMICS

oe oe o

e
- ma Thinks I'm on a tour of Eur - ope With a coup-le of my school chums and a la-dy chap-e - rone.

Figure 4.5: An easy fix is to have the singers perform the melody nearly “straight”. (Don’t Tell
Mama from Cabaret)

CS SS Sa

Why can't you throw-'em a = crumb?____ What's wrong with let- ting em tap____._ their___._ toes_____ a bit?

Figure 4.6: The pitches on “Why can’t you” were indistinct, because they are both non-accented
short notes and low pitches. (Opening Doors from Merrily We Roll Along)

is to overcompensate: have the singer write in an accent (and if neces-
sary a tenuto mark) over the pickup to remind herself of this fact, and use
variable-stress practice if necessary to drill it. For example, in Figure
were no pitch problems on “throw” because the melodic leap naturally ac-
cents the note, nor on “crumb” because it’s a downbeat. But the pitches of
“Why can’t you” were getting “thrown away”, i.e. not struck with the same
accuracy as the other notes. Figure [4.7] shows a similar problem in a song
from the recent original musical Oh My Godmother! Overenunciation and
applying the occasional tiny tenuto avoid the pitfall.

4.4 Tempo: Jump On the Entrance

Related to diction is precise timing. Left to their own devices, the ensemble
will drag behind the orchestra more and more during long passages. This

== as SS |

I'm no prize in their eyes, just a shmuck they des - pise. Cin- der - Al

Figure 4.7: The pitches on the first eighth notes of each pickup (I’m, in, just, they) are particularly
vulnerable because they’re both unaccented and in a lower register. Recall that tenor melodies are
usually notated an octave higher than sung. (CinderAlbert from Oh My Godmother!)

4.4. TEMPO: JUMP ON THE ENTRANCE 79

DIANA: DAN:
ey =
| ==5=—====2= ——— es
It on-ly hurts when I cry... It on-ly hurts when I work... |_—
NATALIE: GABE:
: ———== = === ====--—
os = a =a a ee
It on-ly hurts when I cry... It on-ly hurts when I play...

Figure 4.8: Singers must anticipate their entrances by counting beats; if they wait to “reply” to the
singer who has the previous line, they will be late. (Just Another Day from Next to Normal)

is human nature. If the orchestra then slows down to match, the ensemble
will slow down even more.

The remedy is to remind singers to mentally anticipate their vocal en-
trances, or “jump” on the entrance. This works because the only way to do
so is by counting on one’s “internal metronome” until the entrance in order
to anticipate it. The alternative, which many singers do, is get their cues
by listening to someone else, for example, in a patter or dialogue, listening
for the line to which they are presumably replying. Figure [4.8] illustrates
the pitfall: invariably the second entrance will be just a hair late, the or-
chestra will slow down just a tiny bit to match the singer, and this will keep
happening until the song grinds to a slow tempo.

Figure [4.9] shows an extreme example of “jumping on an entrance,” in
which each singer must follow their internal metronome and subdivide the
beat as necessary. For example, for an eighth-note pickup in 4/4, ask the
singer to mentally count the pickup measure (“1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and”).
To sing on the “and” of 4, the pickup breath must occur on the ictus of
4. Whereas many singers in this situation would instinctively aim for the
downbeat after the pickup, that would run the risk of “losing” both pitch
and diction on the pickup syllable as described previously. Just as when
practicing tricky rhythms (Section 3.7), it may help to practice speaking
the lyrics in rhythm before adding the melody.

80 CHAPTER 4. DICTION, RHYTHM, AND DYNAMICS

(JACK) to BAKER,
=— — (to : ) — -
oe = x gi tes 2 ad a_¢
Who had the oth-er bean? YOU pock-et-ed the oth-er bean.
(BAKER)
ram tS ="! z = f ts 7 7
Sg fe
The oth-er bean? I did-n’t! Yes, I did. No it is-n’t, cause I...
(CINDERELLA) (RED RIDING HOOD) FS
= a a . 2 2 = rE - z @ 7 z
é 4 oe
The oth-er bean? So it’s your f—!
(BAKER) (to CINDERELLA)

1 ™ i =e = —= = = = = ]
os 7 pt —— i—te a webs te 2 oH
gave it to my wife! No it is-n't! Wait a min-ute! She ex-changed that bean to ob-tain your shoe... etc.

Pi (RRH) , FS (CINDERELLA)

= 2 re — Tp = = |

pe J —
So it’s her f-! Then whose is it?

Figure 4.9: In this patter song, the characters argue about whose fault it is that terrible things have
befallen everyone. Singers should cue their entrances based on their internal metronome rather
than cuing off of other singers, especially for vowel or soft-consonant entrances such as YOU
(pickup to measure 3). (Your Fault from Into the Woods)

4.5 Dynamics

Pitch and dynamics. Whether in solo or ensemble singing, lower pitches
naturally sound softer than higher pitches, especially when there is a large
enough interval leap in the melody that it straddles ranges of the singer’s
voice that have different timbre. The solution is to actively modify the
dynamics to compensate for the difference: sing the low pitches louder
and/or the high pitches softer. Figure|4.10|shows an example.

Ensemble dynamics. When singing in ensemble, the ensemble mem-
bers must understand that everyone’s volume control, taken individually,
contributes to the ensemble’s sound. A small change in the volume of every
ensemble member creates a large change in the overall ensemble volume,
so when something needs to be louder, each individual ensemble member
may only need to be a little bit louder.

Consistency is also important. If you want the ensemble singing f, you
need everyone singing somewhere between mf and f, rather than one or

4.5. DYNAMICS 81

Ev-ry lan-guage ea - sy, Ea-sy as the re-ci-pe for mak-ing Jel - lo.

Figure 4.10: The lower pitches on the first syllables of “Easy” (bar 3) and “recipe” (bar 4) will be
softer by default, so special precautions must be taken to maintain a constant volume. (I Speak Six
Languages from The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee)

SSS See

I am I, Don__Qui-xo-te, the lord of__La Mancha, my des - ti - ny calls and I go!

= t

Tm San-cho! Yes, I'm San-cho! [ll fol-low my mas - ter till the

Figure 4.11: In this duet between Quixote and Sancho, if each can hear the other’s lyrics about as
well as his own, the audience will be able to hear both lines as well (J Am I, Don Quixote from Man
of La Mancha)

two people belting and others singing sotto voce. The latter are simply go-
ing to sound unconfident and wrong (Section [4.6). Conversely, when you
want the ensemble singing p, this means each individual will be singing be-
tween pp and p, but it doesn’t mean “sing indistinctly under your breath”—
it means sing with equally precise (or even more precise) diction, pitch
control, and intensity, but less volume.

Counterpoint. When two or more soloists singing overlapping or coun-
terpoint lines—a duet, as in Figure|4.11] or a trio or multipart counterpoint
in which the lines are all of essentially equal importance—an easy way to
self-regulate volume is to ask each ensemble member: Can you hear the
other lines as easily as you hear your own when you're singing? If the
singers (or groups) can clearly hear each other, the balance will be approx-
imately correct for the audience too. (Needless to say, each vocalist must
master their own line before concentrating on listening for balance!)

Projection. Projection refers to the ability of a vocalist to “sing to the
back of the room” and is a quality that is different from volume. Good
projection consists of applying all of the above polishing—precise diction,

end.

82 CHAPTER 4. DICTION, RHYTHM, AND DYNAMICS

precise rhythm, expressive dynamics—and combining it with just enough
volume to “hit the back wall of the theater” without compromising any of
that precision. Sometimes, simple physical things such as keeping one’s
chin off of one’s neck will help projection, but projection is an active effort
that singers must think about at all times. Many situations of “undersing-
ing” result not from a lack of volume but from a lack of precision in the
other ingredients. (A loud singer with poor diction or imprecise attention
to the details discussed in this section will not be perceived to be projecting
well.)

4.6 Polishing Away Easily-Avoided Pitfalls

An unpolished performance lacks the clarity and energy that the show de-
serves, and nothing saps the energy of a song worse than a bunch of people
mumbling. A potpourri of easily-avoided (through rehearsal) vocal perfor-
mance pitfalls rounds out our discussion of polishing the material. Note
that polishing is even more critical for the ensemble than for soloists—the
only thing worse than someone mumbling lyrics is a whole group of people
mumbling lyrics!

Uncertain or tentative entrances. Less-confident singers may start
a phrase tentatively, and once they’re sure (usually by listening to other
singers around them) that they’re singing a correct note or coming in at the
right time, they get louder. This must be avoided at all costs: in perfor-
mance, tentative entrances always sound wrong, whether they are or not.
Pay special attention to tentative starts when tricky intervals are involved—
everyone seems to wait for someone else to sing it first. If necessary, work
with individual singers or groups of singers by training the entrance pitch
using the “interval method” (Section|3.4).

Uncertain or tentative cutoffs. Cutoffs should occur at the exact same
time for everyone. A bunch of vowels fading out at different rates, or a
bunch of people closing off a “t” at slightly different times, just sounds
sloppy. You should mark what beat (or part of a beat) signals the cutoff of
each held note, and have the singers write it down. If the cutoff is on a vowel,
there should be no decrescendo leading to the cutoff (unless it’s specifically

4.6. POLISHING AWAY EASILY-AVOIDED PITFALLS 83

o = E J mt 7 tee ate 2 = =r a eo— tte

Got my tweed pressed, Got my best vest,__._—- All I need now__—— iis the

Figure 4.12: The stepwise chromatic motion of this melody makes pitch accuracy particularly
important, since each syllable’s pitch must be distinct. (All I Need Is The Girl from Gypsy)

marked as such in the vocal book). If the cutoff is a consonant, everyone
must close it off at the same time. You may be able to cue the cutoff while
conducting, but this should be an “extra help” and not something that the
singers rely on.

Sounds flat/sounds sharp. Some unusual intervals like tritones and
minor seconds (half-steps on the piano) are particularly troublesome to sing
without sounding flat or sharp. Examples are the motif for “Maria” from
West Side Story, which starts with a tritone from C to F't, and the excerpt
below from Gypsy, which has lots of half-step neighbor tones. Furthermore,
some regular major and minor intervals may present tonal difficulty for
whatever reason to less-experienced singers. The solution is disarmingly
simple: if a note sounds slightly flat, just ask the singer to mentally “aim
a little higher” to fix it, and vice versa. (And make him write that down
in his vocal book!) For flat/sharp problems in harmony singing, a different
approach is needed; see Section |3.5]

Goes flat/goes sharp. A related problem occurs when a long-held note
gradually goes flat or sharp. This is particularly common when the har-
monies are changing under the held note, as in Figure [4.13] The problem
arises because of the physics of sound vibration and the relationships be-
tween pitches in diatonic intervals: A note G sung against a D major chord
is a different note than that same G sung against a C major chord. This
difference is formally called a comma, and a surprisingly good way to help
the singer hear it and adjust accordingly is to have her “re-sing” the note
(instead of holding it) with each chord change, as the figure suggests. This
practice technique forces “re-tuning” against each chord change, by pre-
senting each change as a renewed opportunity to re-establish pitch based
on how the note sounds relative to the new harmony.

Sloppy ensemble diction. Singing well in an ensemble is often more

84 CHAPTER 4. DICTION, RHYTHM, AND DYNAMICS

TN TN LN FN FN

fe | |
Gare =e zi = [ee eee |
...and so ea Bah yah yah yah yah
efe ain
ret = e 5 oz =
A He Gas
[Ves] [Vc+Vn] PLAY oe
- | DAD's p
9-4 4 —__= =e
ro eee ee a

Figure 4.13: Left: Diana holds an A while the strings play a figure that transitions between A major
and D major (I and IV in Roman numeral harmony notation). Right: Mentally (or during practice,
physically) re-articulating the A over each change will help re-tune the note. (So Anyway from Next
To Normal)

demanding than singing solo, yet it’s distressingly common for the MD to
treat the ensemble as second-class citizens, giving them less time and at-
tention than the principals. Performers must be aware that the ensemble
is not a place to hide! A strong ensemble is a joy to the audience and
adds tremendously to the music; a sloppy ensemble sounds like a place
where deficient singers are sent as punishment. Drill the ensemble as hard
or harder than the leads—you will be highly rewarded, and they will be
energized when they realize how critical they are to the show.

Inconsistent performance. Singers are human, and they sometimes
forget rehearsal notes. You can minimize the likelihood of this happen-
ing by always telling them to write down things like pronunciation, cutoff
beats, technical notes (remembering to “aim high” or “aim low” on a tricky
interval), and so on Then, if you are able to cue them in performance, the
cue is an added help rather than a crutch. Ideally, once the music starts
the singers should be able to perform the song correctly and consistently
without seeing you or relying on your conducting. This will be helpful in
tricky situations such as when eye contact with singer(s) is impossible or
when you don’t have a free hand to conduct them onstage; we discuss these
situations further in Section

4.7. MICROPHONES: A BLESSING AND A CURSE 85

4.7 Microphones: A Blessing and a Curse

There are two principal reasons that mics are often badly misused. One is
that the tech staff may not realize how hard it is to get the right balance and
sound with mics: it requires a mixer, possibly wireless/body mics, a sound
board, amplifiers and speakers appropriate for the space, and a sound op-
erator who can competently set up and actively operate that equipment for
every performance. In other words, you can’t just turn a mic on and forget

about it. (For an excellent discussion, see Campbell, |Technical Theater For’
Nontechnical People.) More often, though, even when properly set up, mics

are misused by performers who haven’t been taught how to use them prop-
erly. Mics and amplification systems increase the volume of sound put into
them. Under the best of conditions, that is all they do, and they do it to vary-
ing degrees for different timbres and pitches. If the sound going into them
is flawed, the audience will simply hear flawed sounds loudly. And even
if the sound going into them is good, all amplification systems, however
expensive, introduce some distortion and noise. Here are some guidelines
to help actors make effective use of mics.

Mics are not a substitute for projection. A singer with poor projec-
tion will be mumbly and unintelligible through a mic. A singer with good
projection probably doesn’t need a mic unless the orchestra is large and the
house is vast. Good projection is possible even in softer passages. Worse,
the mic can become a psychological crutch that the actor relies on “when
my voice gets a little tired.” This can result in “undersinging”, which can ac-
tually be more dangerous to the health of the actor’s voice than “straining”,
and once the crutch habit is acquired it is very difficult to break.

Mics are not a substitute for diction. I’ve already beaten the dic-
tion horse to death in the preceding sections. Some singers think that a
mic relaxes the restrictions of good diction. This is wrong, and in fact the
opposite is true because even the best sound systems introduce some dis-
tortion. Less-experienced singers may not realize this because they listen
to recorded albums and they think that is how a mic makes you sound. But
those albums are recorded in soundproof studios under ideal conditions
and postproduced by expert sound engineers using thousands of dollars’

86 CHAPTER 4. DICTION, RHYTHM, AND DYNAMICS

worth of electronics. Less-experienced singers may also assume that the
sound of a mic in live performance resembles live performances they have
heard recorded for broadcast or for sale as albums. Again, such recordings
require hundreds of microphones placed hours ahead of time, a crew of
professional sound engineers, and hours of pre-show trial-and-error sound
checks with and without the orchestra. It is extremely expensive and error-
prone, which is why live recordings of stage performances are rarely done.

Finally, no mic can change the fact that the acoustics of a live room
are hard to control and differ fundamentally from those of a studio sound
booth. The close-in “studio sound” of a mic simply cannot be achieved
under live conditions. Using studio singing technique in a live setting will
result in the audience hearing a lot of sibilance (hissing) and unintelligible
vowels.

Mics are not a substitute for good stage acting. Much more than
actors realize, audience members rely on visual cues and even some lip-
reading to catch all the lyrics. If the actor has her back turned to the au-
dience while singing, those lyrics will be harder for the audience to catch,
no matter how loudly they are amplified. This is a particular challenge in
theaters where thrust (audience on 3 sides) or arena (audience all around)
staging is used: vocal numbers must be staged so that the audience is able
to see the singer’s face as much as possible.

Does this mean mics are never appropriate? Hardly. If the staging is
careful, the singers are projecting, and their diction is good, but they are
still not loud enough to be heard over the orchestra, it’s appropriate to
try mics as a way to bring the vocal balance up a bit. But do so with a
realistic understanding of what they can and can’t do, and of the technical
requirements involved in getting it right.

4.8 Summary and Checklists

The following list summarizes the most common diction-related problems
that arise in rehearsal, as described in this chapter. Keep it at hand and
you'll have it memorized sooner than you think!

4.8. SUMMARY AND CHECKLISTS 87

e Emphasize final consonants and cutoffs.
e Make interior vowels distinct.

e Don’t sacrifice diction to rhythm: swing it less, and “sit” on a pickup
or short note to make sure it gets the pitch accuracy and diction it
deserves.

e Use dynamics to compensate/cancel out “built in’ volume changes
due to pitch or rhythm: lower pitches sound softer, so compensate by
singing a bit louder, and vice versa.

e In ensemble counterpoint, cue yourself based on the metronome, not
on others’ lines, and anticipate (“jump on”) your entrances just a tiny
bit.

e When using a mic, sing as if you weren’t using it. In fact, sing as if
you were singing through a handkerchief.

The Orchestra

The orchestra’s main goal is simple: Don’t be mentioned in the review.
The orchestra is there to serve the show without drawing attention to it-
self by being the weak point. Therefore a review that doesn’t mention the
orchestra is a compliment, and a review that praises the orchestra should
make you ecstatic (or worry you, because it means they wanted to pan
the production and were looking for something nice to say to soften the
blow). When in doubt as to whether to simplify an arrangement, relieve a
musician of playing a tricky passage, and so on, always decide in favor of
this goal.

This chapter will help you as you work through the four main phases of
putting up the show with the orchestra:

1. Recruiting: identify which instruments/musicians you'll need; you
may find you have to settle for fewer than the official instrumenta-
tion requires, something we'll discuss in Chapter|7|

2. Rehearsing: perform one or more play-throughs of the score without
the singers. If your orchestra is experienced, this is probably also
the first time the orchestra will be playing together, and may be the
only orchestra rehearsal before tech week. Any technical issues ex-
posed here should be fixed before the sitzprobe. | have found that
if the orchestra consists of fairly experienced pit musicians, a sin-
gle orchestra-only run-through is enough; less experienced pits may
benefit from two or more run-throughs.

3. Sitzprobe (or “sit-n-sing”): the cast performs the songs with the or-

CHAPTER 5. THE ORCHESTRA

chestra, but no staging. This exposes any problems of balance or
cuing. This step is optional, and | often skip it for reasons I'll de-
scribe later.

. Tech/dress rehearsals: full rehearsals with staging and orchestra.

. Production: | usually ask the pit to be prepared for an earlier call

than usual for the first two shows (typically 45-60 minutes earlier) to
fix last-minute bugs that didn’t get nailed down during the orchestra-
only play-throughs.

5.1 Instrumentation on a Shoestring|............ 91
a ee a eee eee 92
94
5.4 Rehearsal Pianists} ................006. 95
Seales Gee SG sare eet Re ee a ee we 96
5.6 Electronic Instruments}.................-. 97
5.7 Orchestra Rehearsal Venues}..............-. 99
5.8 Preparing the Book for Rehearsal)............ 101
5.9 Play-Through and Sitzprobe (Sit-n-Sing)|........ 102
5.10 Tech Week]... 0... 2. eee ee ee ee eee 106

5211 Subs] 2 ee be ee oe a ER a BS 107

5.1. INSTRUMENTATION ON A SHOESTRING 91

5.1 Instrumentation on a Shoestring

Most small theaters can’t cover all the instruments for anything larger than
a chamber orchestration because of budget constraints, lack of space to
seat the musicians, or both. If yours can—perhaps you have access to a
school band or similar and they can sit in a real full-size pit—then all you
have to do is get familiar with the instrument books and recruit musicians.
Congratulations, you’re done!

Otherwise, you have some choices to make.

Before you recruit, get a good look at the pit space and estimate how
many musicians can be accommodated. This is discussed in section|5.7|

First, check whether a reduced orchestration is available from the li-
censing house. These arrangements tend to be quite good because they are
usually prepared by a professional arranger and include extensive cross-
cuing (which was introduced in section|1.6) to allow more flexibility in the
composition of the orchestra.

If a reduction is not available, you can try to reduce the orchestration
yourself. One easy option is “piano combo” (piano, bass, drums). While
using piano only might seem an obvious choice, I wouldn’t recommend it
unless the show is specifically scored that way; even a tiny complement of
instruments will completely change the sound of the show and move you up
into a higher league. Adding bass and drums gives the music a tremendous
amount more backbone and rhythmic “punch” than even the most muscular
pianist can provide. If bass and drum books are provided, you’re done; if
not, the bass can be inferred from the piano/conductor book, and a good
drummer can probably pick up the drum part by listening to the cast album,
notating the important breaks, and discussing the part with you.

If you’re willing to invest a bit more time, the next step up would be
piano combo plus a single soloist—typically a wind player, ideally an ac-
complished one who can cover multiple instruments. Listeners will hear
this as a small “orchestra” even though it’s just one additional instrument
over piano combo because they will hear multiple sound colors in the tonal
palette. If you can cover some but not all of the instruments, another op-
tion is to do some reduction, thinning out, or omission of the orchestration.

92 CHAPTER 5. THE ORCHESTRA

Chapter [7| gives some helpful hints about selecting the most important in-
strument cues when doing this kind of reduction.

Your recruiting may be subject to the talent available in your area: There
are fewer tuba players out there than trumpet players, fewer bassoonists
than clarinetists, and fewer harpists than just about anything. Therefore
one instrument may have to cover another, or several others, as we discuss
in Chapter |7| I’ve had good luck using Craigslist to advertise pit work and
recruit musicians; the Appendix contains a sample posting I’ve used.

5.2 Recruiting Tips

A surprising number of amateur musicians, as well as some professionals
who have a passion for musical theater, are willing to work for minor con-
sideration such as complimentary tickets, returned favors (you fill in when
they need a substitute musician in one of their other bands), and/or a ser-
vice stipend. Where I live, community theaters that can afford to pay such
stipends typically offer from $25 (at the very low end) to $100 (at the high
end) per musician per service (performance or rehearsal). This is lower
than what semi-pro theaters pay and a lot lower than union scale, so be
aware that musicians who rely on their music for a living may find it dif-
ficult to absorb the high opportunity cost of working with you. Whatever
your budget, be up front about it, to avoid wasting your own time and
that of others who are simply unable to justify working for the pay you can
offer. And if your budget is zero—if you expect the musicians to play for
free—say that too. You will still get some volunteers, if not as many or as
experienced as you might have liked.

However you recruit, here are some caveats.

Some technical chops required. While show music is not as demand-
ing as classical symphonic music, neither is it trivial, and some of the older
shows have some pretty killer solo parts (the clarinet part in Fiddler is a
classic example). Be sure the players are technically up to the job, and/or
supplement them with a few “ringers” to anchor the orchestra. Musicians
who have played only as part of a section in a larger orchestra may find
themselves a bit overwhelmed in a small-pit setting where they cannot

5.2. RECRUITING TIPS 93

blend with (euphemism for “hide behind”) other members of their section
when the going gets tough.

Small pits require better players. If you’re working with a smaller
pit of 5-10 people—whether it’s because the show is scored that way, or
because you have to work with reduced resources—be aware that every
instrument is exposed and you really need solo-quality players to make it
sound good.

Ensemble skills help. Playing in an ensemble is a different skill from
solo playing. While pit playing differs from classical ensemble playing in
some important ways, classical musicians with orchestra or ensemble expe-
rience will do well; strong soloists without ensemble experience may find
it more challenging than they expect.

Be cautious with rock drummers. A drummer whose experience is
limited to rock bands may be unable to read drum charts or follow the
conductor for tempo, cues, and dynamics rather than setting these himself.
That is, rock drummers may lack orchestral ensemble skills. A less-virtuoso
drummer who has these skills and can read charts is preferable to a techni-
cally astonishing drummer who doesn’t.

Try to get references. I maintain a “personal Rolodex” (actually just a
big Google Drive spreadsheet) of musicians I’ve worked with. Of course, the
theaters I work with have their own contact information in the volunteers
database, but their information is not as detailed as mine (“This accordion
player can also play harmonica”, “This player has great clarinet chops but
only so-so flute chops”). Their list also doesn’t include my personal black-
list: musicians I will no longer work with, not because of poor playing, but
because they have flaked out on previous commitments and left me hold-
ing the bag at the last minute, or have been difficult for other musicians to
work with. Neither I nor many of the people I work with on these shows
are in it for the money, which in my view means I can justifiably reserve the
right not to work with jerks.

94 CHAPTER 5. THE ORCHESTRA

5.3 The Mighty Piano, or Pit Piano for Classical Pianists

The piano’s role in modern pit orchestras is so important that it deserves
its own section. In arrangements that include an actual piano part (Rent,
Godspell, A Chorus Line, Chicago, Ragtime, Pippin... ), the piano is the back-
bone of the rhythm section. In arrangements that don’t, the pianist may
cover a good deal of what’s in the conductor’s score if you have less than
the full complement of musicians called for by the orchestration. (In Sec-
tion [7.4] are some hints for the pianist who finds herself handed the con-
ductor book and instructed to “fill in the gaps.”) Either way, the pianist
cannot “hide” behind any other instrument and must play with confidence.
Note that sightreading isn’t a prerequisite for pit piano (though it may be
for rehearsal piano; see below).

I was classically trained when I started doing pit work, and I had to
break a number of bad habits. Most of them boil down to the realization
that the piano’s role in a pit is fundamentally that of a rhythm instrument,
not a solo instrument. Even classical ensemble work doesn’t place as much
pressure on the pianist to handle this responsibility. As such, you may find
yourself having to break some habits of your own, including these two:

Beat down, not up. Many classical pianists have a habit of “recoiling”
from playing a big chord by having their head and body move back or
slightly up as their fingers push down on the keyboard. Unfortunately, this
is exactly the opposite of what your musicians probably expect, which is a
rising motion on the pickup and a downward motion on the downbeat (or
ictus). Train yourself so that your head and body make a downward, not
upward, motion when you play on the beat. If your head or body is moving
up or backwards on beat 1, instead of down or forwards, your musicians
will be confused.

Bass and chords trump melody. In fact, unless you’re in an instru-
mental section (overture, underscoring, and so on), the singer(s) are al-
ready singing the melody, they don’t need you to play it, and playing along
with them will probably make things worse because you won’t be precisely
synchronized with them. What they do need is to hear some structure
in the music: rhythm and harmony. The bass line and chords give them

5.4. REHEARSAL PIANISTS 95

this. If you have a bass player, make sure you are “locking up” with her
(tight ensemble) if you’re doubling the bass line on piano; don’t play a bass
line that is in any way different unless you’re sure you know what you’re
doing—instead use the piano to strengthen and solidify the existing bass
part. If you don’t have a bass player, it’s that much more important that
the bassline you play be crisp, rhythmic, and audible. Even in the absence
of chords, the bassline at least suggests harmonies and serves as an anchor
for the singers.

5.4 Rehearsal Pianists

Some productions budget for a rehearsal pianist; others assume that you,
the MD, will do that job (as well as the job of conducting the orchestra).
Still others budget a total amount for all music-related expenses and it’s up
to you to figure out how to spend it. In an case, be aware that a rehearsal
with a bad pianist is worse than a rehearsal with no pianist, and almost
worse than no rehearsal at all. As above, getting the rhythm and basic
chord changes correct are far more important than playing all the right
notes. A good rehearsal pianist is a confident player who can slop her
way through something given a few days’ time with the rehearsal score.
A great rehearsal pianist is a good rehearsal pianist who has played this
show before or is otherwise familiar with it. Good (and great) rehearsal
pianists are hard to find, so if you find ones that you like working with, do
everything you can to make them happy.

Rehearsals where there will be lots of drilling of music or adjustment
of choreography really need a rehearsal pianist, but rehearsals where mu-
sic is not the emphasis—scene blocking, run-throughs, and so on—may be
able to make do with “karaoke tracks” prepared by you in advance, as Sec-

tion|A.3] describes.

96 CHAPTER 5. THE ORCHESTRA

5.5 Strings

The string parts in show scores fall into two categories. “Traditional” scores
call for a string section of 6-12 players. If you can recruit, pay, and seat that
many string players, good for you. If you can’t, please resist the temptation
to have, say, a string quartet stand in for a full string section written in the
score. Besides the volume balance not being right, the intonation probably
won't be right. Tiny variations in intonation actually add warmth to a string
section, but stick out like a sore thumb when the strings are individually
exposed. An exception is the cello: a good cello player can probably hold
down the cello “section” because of the size and warmth of the instrument.

The other category of show score calls for a small number (1-3) of solo
string players, with very exposed parts. For example, A Grand Night For
Singing calls for a single cello, a reed player, and a rhythm section. Next to
Normal includes cello, violin, guitar and piano. In these cases, intonation
problems will be mercilessly audible and you need particularly strong en-
semble players to avoid them. Unfortunately, strings are highly idiomatic
to write for, and inexperienced arrangers sometimes end up writing string
parts that only an extremely strong player can handle.

Because both scores with large string sections and scores requiring a
small number of solo-quality players present real challenges, many modern
show scores (especially for smaller pits) omit strings altogether, as do many
re-orchestrations of revived shows, in favor of a leaner sound and fewer
musicians.

Lastly, accomplished arranger Don Sebesky writes “There have been sev-
eral attempts to get a large string ensemble to swing, but to my knowledge,

none has ever been very successful” (Sebesky, |The Contemporary Arranger,
Definitive Edition). If your show’s string parts involve the kind of com-

plex polyrhythms of jazz and Latin music—The Last Five Years is a good
example—it may be worth the extra effort to seek out string players who
also have jazz or world music experience and are comfortable with such
rhythms.

5.6. ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENTS 97

5.6 Electronic Instruments

Synthetic instruments. High-end synthetic instrument servers designed
for live performance, such as those provided by Apple MainStage and sim-
ilar high-end products, have come to sound incredibly good. However, be-
ware: making them sound like realistic substitutes for acoustic instruments
also requires “playing” them the way the acoustic instruments would be
played. String players pay a lot of attention to bowing and articulation;
woodwind players must breathe; and so on. Unless you are confident that
you can do this, you might be better served omitting those instrument parts,
or assigning them to other instruments, as Chapter|7|suggests.

Synthesizers. Synths are becoming more common not only in small or-
chestras, but in original orchestrations. Synths appear not only in rock/pop
scores like Rent and Little Shop of Horrors, but are also called for to provide
essential effects in modern scores like Sunday in the Park with George and
Into the Woods.

Synths are sometimes used to substitute for string sections, to add
midrange to the sound, or to produce unusual percussion sounds such as a
xylophone or marimba that would otherwise require a specialist. Whether
to use a synthesizer in this way is a matter of taste: to make them sound
truly realistic, you need good sound samples, a very good sound repro-
duction system, and capable sound operators. And as with electronic in-
struments, you must be able to perform the part as a string section would.
Depending on the sound you are able to achieve, omitting the string part
entirely may be preferable.

If you lack a bass player, covering bass on synth is an option, but usually
a bad one. A real bass can provide so much backbone and punch, even
with a small amp and electric bass, that synth bass should be considered an
option of last resort (unless, of course, the score specifically calls for synth
bass for stylistic reasons).

Digital vs. Acoustic Pianos. A lot of theaters are now preferring
digital pianos over acoustic uprights. While not cheap, digital pianos are
maintenance-free, easy to move, easy to make louder or softer, and often
capable of making other sounds (organ, electric piano, and so on) that ren-

98 CHAPTER 5. THE ORCHESTRA

der them useful in situations where space is at a premium. Some advanced
models also have features like automatic transposition, which seems like a
boon but is really an accident waiting to happen when you forget to turn it
back off after playing the one song that was transposed.

The downside is that even a really good digital piano must be properly
amplified and reproduced through an excellent sound system in order to
sound like an acoustic piano, and much of the “liveness” associated with
an acoustic-instrument sound may be gone. I prefer a run-of-the-mill up-
right piano over a digital piano if at all possible, but budget or technical
considerations may dictate your choice; for example, you may need both
a piano sound and an organ sound, and lack room for two instruments. If
you do use a digital piano, make the most of it, perhaps by also using it
for sound effects, other percussion (xylophones, bells, gongs), eerie back-
ground noises, and so on

In a few cases, dramatic considerations may intervene. For example,
both Chicago, which takes place in the 1920s, and A Little Night Music,
which takes place at the turn of the 20th century, require a piano on stage
as part of the action. As there were no digital pianos available back then,
the dramatic rationale of preserving a “period look” may carry the day (as-
suming the stage piano can double as the orchestra piano). Another option
is to have a real but nonworking stage piano and play the actual piano
parts on a digital piano in the pit, but this only works if you can stage so
that there is no way for the audience to tell the onstage player isn’t really
playing. Otherwise it looks and sounds so cheesy that it’s hard for me to
recommend (though that doesn’t stop a lot of theaters from doing it).

Drum Machines. Unless the show specifically calls for one (Rent,
Chess), a tiny, 3-piece trap set, heavily muffled, sounds much more acous-
tically interesting than a drum machine. Electronic drums performed by
a human drummer may be appropriate if the show has a rock score with
which an amplified drum sound would fit.

5.7. ORCHESTRA REHEARSAL VENUES 99

5.7 Orchestra Rehearsal Venues

Make sure you have adequate rehearsal space for the orchestra rehearsal.
Rehearsing in the theater is ideal for working out issues of seating, bal-
ance and sightlines, but sometimes the theater is not available because it’s
needed for stage rehearsal or tech work. When choosing a rehearsal space,
keep in mind:

e Will all the musicians fit?

If a piano is needed, is one present in the rehearsal room or does one
need to be brought in?

Are there music stands and stand lights? Can some musicians bring
their own?

Are there power outlets and/or extension cords for plugging in am-
plifiers, electronic keyboards, stand lights, and so on?

Are the acoustics at least tolerable? (A church is not a great place to
have an orchestra rehearsal.)

There’s also the important question of where the pit is located during
actual performances, which you should investigate early even if you’re not
rehearsing the orchestra in the theater. If you have a real full-size pit in
front of your stage, you’re lucky and probably in the minority of people
reading this. This is logistically the easiest arrangement from the point
of view of doing your job (as conductor and MD), though often the least
popular among the musicians, who don’t get to watch the show as they
play because most of their seats are shoved under the apron of the stage.
It also means your theater is large enough that you probably will have to
use microphones and a sound system to balance the orchestra and singers,
which is astonishingly hard to get right, even in “simple” cases (see Camp-
bell, Technical Theater For Nontechnical People| for an excellent discussion).
Pll assume you are not using microphones and will discuss some ways to
address balance problems without using a sound system.

100 CHAPTER 5. THE ORCHESTRA

More common is a smaller “pit” that is offstage, backstage, upstage, in
a loft, in the wings, and so on Some important considerations for you to
think about regarding the pit space:

e Space: Map out where the musicians will actually sit. An upright or
digital piano’s footprint is about 4’x4’, including the seated player; a
minimal trap set, 5’x5’; seated soloists (small winds and strings), at
least 3’x4’; seated soloists on large instruments (cello, large winds) or
who double, 4’x4 or more if they cover lots of instruments. Also, an
upright bass (vs. electric or “Fender” bass) player needs somewhere
to lean the bass when he’s not playing.

e Acoustics: Is the pit closer to the audience than the actors are (e.g.,
in an overhead loft that is actually closer to the audience’s heads than
the actors are)? If so, unless it’s a real pit, your balance and volume
problems may be severe unless you take many steps to compensate:
install sound damping (big chunks of foam or blankets), use mutes
more often, tone down all dynamics by a notch, and so on Similarly,
if the orchestra is higher off the ground than the actors, this will tend
to amplify the instruments.

e Eye contact: in general, can you see the onstage performers and can
they see you? It’s not necessary to have 100% unobstructed view of
every performer all the time, but in general, someone on stage will
need to see you for cues and you'll need pretty good peripheral vision
to the stage.

There is a temptation, especially when you have a few electronic in-
struments like digital pianos or guitar/bass amplifiers, to send only these
few instruments through a house sound system while leaving the others
unmiked or using only their own small amps. This destroys the illusion of
having all the music appear to come from the same approximate location,
whether the overhead house speakers or someplace onstage, and can be
disorienting for the audience. It also makes it impossible to use dynamics
to control the balance among instruments. Don’t do it.

5.8. PREPARING THE BOOK FOR REHEARSAL 101

5.8 Preparing the Book for Rehearsal

Well before the orchestra rehearsal, you should be in a position to collate
your book. This involves arranging the pages to meet several goals. (I
assume here that you’re working from a photocopy of the original mate-
rials; if you’re using the actual book that was sent to you, your ability to
rearrange pages is very limited.)

e Remove material that has been cut.

e If numbers have been moved or duplicated (e.g., re-using a chunk
of scene change music or underscoring), make additional copies to
insert in the right sequence in the book so you don’t have to flip back
and forth during performance.

If there is a tricky page turn, re-photocopy the pages by inserting
blanks to avoid the bad page turn.

Highlight important cues—vocal, instrument cues, scene changes,
stage actions that you need to be aware of, and so on Use a bright
yellow highlighter, because during the performance you'll be glad you
did.

Highlight warnings (so you can get musicians’ attention to start a
number) and segues (so you know to keep their attention when a
number is finished).

You should also have your musicians tell you which entrances in which
songs are uncertain for them, and highlight those entrances. For example,
if the trumpet has 40 bars of rest before her first entrance in a song, she can
write in the last couple of lines the singer is singing before she comes in (or
if there’s no appropriate line, write in something like “2 measures after the
vocals come in,” or “after flute solo,” and so on), and you can highlight her
entrance and mark “Cue tpt” to remind yourself to give her a special cue.
Some instrument books have such cues written in, and many conductor’s
scores have the cues written in so you can give them to musicians while

102 CHAPTER 5. THE ORCHESTRA

playing. This preparation will speed things up a lot during dress rehearsals
when the show has to be stopped (and it will).

Be sure measure numbers are clearly written in the score; as a last re-
sort, you or another musician can stage-whisper measure numbers to a
musician who’s lost. You'll sometimes find that measure numbering is in-
consistent between the books and the conductor’s score, or that certain
measures appear to have been added or deleted in one or the other. This is
less common with modern scores that are machine-typeset, but try to catch
these during orchestra rehearsal!

mg Musicians should collate their books too

This is especially important if a sub may be needed. Under emergency
conditions, a good sub can play a show “cold,” i.e. with less than 1 hour
of preparation, from a well-marked-up book. It’s your musicians’ job to
use the cut sheet to create that markup: cuts, vamps, special performance
markings (fermatas, unusual conducting, going to double-time or half-time,
and so on) should all be marked—you’ll be amazed how often the instru-
ment books display these minor inconsistencies—and where necessary, an-
notated as to how the cue will be given.

5.9 Play-Through and Sitzprobe (Sit-n-Sing)

By the time you rehearse the orchestra, you'll probably have played whole
scenes, if not whole acts, with the cast. This means you know where many
of the dialog cues, stops, and so on all are; which songs may have to be
transposed or have cuts; and so on. You can use this information in various
ways when preparing for the orchestra play-through.

Remind less-experienced musicians that they’re expected to come to or-
chestra rehearsal already able to play their parts; there will be plenty to
fix during rehearsals—tricky entrances, transitions, dynamic changes, bal-
ance, and so on This is especially important in more recent shows with
smaller orchestras where the instrument parts are very exposed, and mu-
sicians who don’t know their parts won’t be able to “hide” behind other
players in their section as they might try to do in a larger orchestra.

5.9. PLAY-THROUGH AND SITZPROBE (SIT-N-SING) 103

Here are a few of the most common problems with the conducting or
arrangements that may be exposed at the play-through, or if you’re hav-
ing multiple orchestra rehearsals, that you can prepare for as you go into
rehearsals.

mw Budget 30 extra minutes

During the first orchestra rehearsal—or at least, the first one actually held
in the performance space—plan to fritter away about 30 minutes futzing
with the orchestra setup: how are the chairs and music stands arranged?
Do you need to run extension chords to plug in amplifiers, synthesizers
or stand lights? Do all the musicians have a reasonable sight line to the
conductor? This all takes time but usually has to be done only once. Add
30 minutes to your first rehearsal to accommodate it.

Tricky Entrances. By now you’ve read a good book on conducting
(right?) and maybe even looked at Chapter |6| and you realize that there’s
no single right way to conduct tricky entrances. The play-through is the
time to clarify how you're going to conduct each one, or to try a couple
of methods and see which one works best. For example, for an entrance
on beat 3, are you going to conduct the whole measure starting from the
downbeat? Or are you just going to give beat 2 as a pickup? Are you going
to conduct a full measure going into any of the songs (“1 for nothing”) or
just give a pickup? Write down (and highlight!) what you’re going to do,
and make sure the musicians do too. Having them write it clearly makes it
easier for a sub to fill in later if needed.

A special case of a tricky entrance is a button, the punch at the end of
the song that signals the audience to applaud. These are worth practicing
because they are the last thing the audience hears in that song, and they
won't likely forgive sloppiness there. For similar reasons, make sure the
overture and finale are flawless! And while scene change music often gets
short shrift during rehearsals, it is one of the few times that the audience is
probably listening intently to the orchestra, so it’s worth doing right.

Vamps and Repeats. Set aside time during a rehearsal to actually time
the dialogue or stage action and figure out how long it will take; you may
have to shorten the underscoring by cutting measures, or lengthen it by

104 CHAPTER 5. THE ORCHESTRA

repeating parts of it or by marking certain measures as vamps or safety
measures (see Section 6.8). They will doubtless change when you go into
full rehearsals, but have a definite plan for every such point. How many
times are repeated sections played? What’s the cue to come out of a vamp?
Are some vamps going to be ignored?

Typos in the Score. Surprisingly often, especially with older hand-
copied instrument books, there are inconsistencies between the instrument
parts and the conductor’s score. These can include differently-numbered
measures, differently-marked cuts and vamps, and just plain wrong notes.
(Although be careful of concluding that a note is wrong without careful in-
vestigation. Some scores, notably Sondheim’s, have eclectic harmonies that
can sound wrong initially, especially if you’re playing a spare orchestration
like Jonathan Tunick’s with only a subset of the indicated instruments, or if
there are minor tuning issues among the instrument sections.)

“Holes” In The Arrangement. Most community theater orchestras are
resource-limited and can’t supply the full instrumentation required by the
score, so you will find yourself making decisions about which instruments
or parts to omit. We'll discuss this in detail in Chapter [7| but you may
find during the play-through that your reduction results in an unpleasant
surprise—a “hole” in the arrangement where some part of the texture just
seems to fall out of the music. You may have to fix this outside rehearsal
and communicate the changes to your musicians before the sit-n-sing. If
you had to do a lot of arranging or reduction, this is a good reason to have
the play-through and sit-n-sing (see below) on different days; if not, it’s
probably fine to have them on the same day, since the orchestra will get to
play the score twice and you'll save on having to schedule another group
rehearsal.

@ No hiding

Holes can also happen because a player is “hiding” or not playing confi-
dently during a certain passage. If she’s having a lot of trouble with a
passage, it may be best to simplify it. See Chapter[7] for some hints.

Bring out important lines. Especially if you have reduced the orches-

5.9. PLAY-THROUGH AND SITZPROBE (SIT-N-SING)

‘DS
z —

=2,Jd-
aye

:
DUD"

(Hi hat] YT p
re 2 Pa

fate 99
se a TOP Pp pt Dp

Figure 5.1: The complex polyrhythm in this example between the bass, piano, and percussion is
particularly tricky since the transition into it also has a tempo and time signature change, but
locking this groove is what makes this part of the song “pick up.” (Have I Got a Girl For You from
Company)

[Vc.2+Gtr]

a
a — A
ee ee ee ee ee ee ee eee eee ee eee ee ee ee ee ee

— oo aT
amin

Figure 5.2: This figure is straightforward to play on the piano, but tricky to conduct in ensemble
because (a) the guitar and cello 2 have the (syncopated) bottom line while the violin and cello 1
have the top line, and (b) cello 1 has that eighth-note pickup. (The Next Ten Minutes from The Last
Five Years)

tration, be sure you know what the important counter-lines are and that
they are brought out. The additional texture of counterpoint lines is a lot
of what makes the arrangement sound full. We’ll return to this topic in
Chapter|7|

Tight Rhythmic Ensemble. Look for the rhythmic figures in the score
that are most audible and will therefore make the ensemble sound “tight”.
Syncopations and polyrhythms are often the place to start looking, as the
examples in Figures and suggest.

Sins of Omission vs. Sins of Commission. Don’t be afraid to leave
notes out if there is a passage that is so demanding that some of your
musicians are simply not quite up to it. In most cases, wrong notes are far

106 CHAPTER 5. THE ORCHESTRA

more noticeable than omitted notes. There is no embarrassment in making
some adjustments this way—remember the First Goal of the Orchestra.

Once the orchestra has played through the score as an ensemble, some
directors like to do a sitzprobe (sometimes called the sit-n-sing): the cast
will sing the songs with orchestra accompaniment, but no blocking, chore-
ography, or cuing, just so that the cast and orchestra get accustomed to
each other. The cast is usually very excited about it, since up to that point
they probably have only rehearsed with piano.

Some singers may get completely lost, off-pitch, and so on the first time
they sing with the orchestra, often because they are subconsciously relying
on something in the rehearsal-piano accompaniment as a cue. (For this
reason, it’s good to have a competent rehearsal pianist who can stick close
to the notes when playing the piano reduction in the piano/vocal score; the
reductions are usually pretty close to the orchestration in terms of bringing
out important instrumental lines that singers may cue from.)

I have found that with experienced casts and orchestras, a sitzprobe
doesn’t add much: the tricky part is putting it all together when the singers
are on stage and moving around, rather than sitting in chairs watching your
cues. But if your singers or orchestra are inexperienced, a sitzprobe is fun
and may serve as a good “dry run” before the full dress rehearsals.

5.10 Tech Week

This is it: tech rehearsals are just like playing the show, though the first
one (or two) may have a lot of starts and stops. This is your opportunity
to identify mundane but important issues in performing the score under
realistic conditions, for example:

e Note stage directions that affect the orchestra (e.g. “Turn off stand
lights prior to blackout”). It helps for the pit to know what’s happen-
ing onstage that motivates the non-musical cues.

e Note places where the orchestra must avoid drawing attention to it-
self, whether aurally or visually. For example, during a quiet moment
or dramatic pause in songs or dialogue, avoid extraneous noises such

5.11.

5.11

SUBS 107

as turning pages, swapping instruments, silent/muted “practicing” of
passages (as reed players do), taking a sip from a bottle of water, or
opening that magazine they brought because there’s a 20-minute gap
in the music during Act I.

Some issues of balance won’t emerge until tech. Be prepared to do
last-minute arranging or adjusting using the techniques covered in
Chapter |7| In particular, you may find moments where singers are
softer/less audible than they were at the sitzprobe, e.g. because they
are far upstage or for some other staging-related reason.

During the first couple of runs with the cast, the orchestra will likely
be too loud. This is because they are thinking more about technical
things (playing the right notes, following cues) than about dynamics,
and the problem tends to go away during tech week. Make sure the
cast understands this so they do not panic or burn out their voices
trying to sing over the orchestra.

That said, when the orchestra really is too loud, it’s usually the
rhythm section, since they’re always playing. Except in very dense
arrangements, horns and other solo instruments usually don’t play
often enough to be a persistent cause of being too loud.

m Keep your chin up

I’ve found that usually the low point is the second-to-last tech rehearsal—I
don’t know why. Often, that rehearsal seems to go worse than the ones
before it. Invariably, things pick up again at the last tech, so hang in there.

Subs

If you can’t get people to commit to all the dates due to schedule conflicts,
or if late-breaking conflicts arise (as they often do), you may have to lo-
cate subs for certain musicians on certain nights. If you have an orchestra

108 CHAPTER 5. THE ORCHESTRA

manager (Chapter[I), it may be their job to advertise and recruit, but you'll
probably still want to vet the sub at some level.

If there is no orchestra manager, then you should be clear with your pri-
mary musicians whether it’s their responsibility or yours to identify subs.
Subs are at a disadvantage because they haven’t been rehearsing with your
ensemble (usually), so if anything a sub needs to be a stronger player than
the one she’s sitting in for. Good subs are hard to find and often more
expensive than the player they replace, especially on short notice. As men-
tioned in Section [5.8| the sub will rely on the musician to have annotated
the book as to how each situation will be handled during a performance,
and the sub will rely on these markings being complete and legible, which
in practice often isn’t the case.

I like to have a sub play at least one rehearsal before playing in a show.
If this absolutely impossible, I ask the sub to attend a performance and take
notes in her copy of the book regarding cues, vamps, and so on. I also try
to have the sub arrive 45-60 minutes before orchestra call to go through
the book with me, using my conductor’s score as a reference and making
sure all their cuts, fermatas, and so on are properly notated.

Some continuity in an orchestra is good: it’s much easier to plug a sub
into an otherwise cohesive pit, so if you can avoid having multiple subs
start on the same day, do so. In particular, having some continuity from
tech week into the first few performances of the run really helps, since that
is when the pace and timing really start to solidify.

5.11. SUBS 109

Conducting

When most people think of the “conductor,” they think of someone standing
on a podium, wearing a tux and waving a stick around. In fact, the con-
ductor is whoever holds the orchestra together and glues it to the on-stage
performers. When the orchestra changes tempo, starts on a cue, starts
or exits a vamp, and so on, one person must set the tempo, make a cue
happen at the same time for the musicians and the cast, or decide when a
vamp is over; the conductor performs these functions.

The piano/conductor role is a particularly challenging combination be-
cause it requires you to constantly alternate between two roles that call
for completely different attitudes towards performance. In the conductor
role, you must make decisions and telegraph your every intention to the
musicians; in the piano role, you must play like a good rhythm instrument.
In other words, you have to switch between leading the ensemble of mu-
sicians through starts, stops, and tempo changes, and playing as part of
that ensemble when nothing is changing. This chapter gives suggestions
on how and when to switch between those roles, and warns of common
pitfalls that can happen when one role spills over into the other.

6.1 Pit Conducting vs. Other Conducting Gigs}. ...... 113
6.2 From Pianist to Piano/Conductor}............ 114
6.3 Hands-Free Conducting] ................. 116

6.4 The Secret Language of the Piano/Conductor Score} . 119
6.5 Script Cues: Segues and Safeties and Vamps, Oh My}. 122
6.6 Warnings and Starts) ................... 126

112

CHAPTER 6. CONDUCTING

6.7 Tempo Changes, Fermatas, Track Marks, Dictated| . . 127
6.8 Vamps and Safeties|..................2. 128

6.9 Underscoring|.................22208- 130

6.1. PIT CONDUCTING VS. OTHER CONDUCTING GIGS 113

6.1 Pit Conducting vs. Other Conducting Gigs

There’s a pile of fine books on conducting, and many bad ones that sound
pretentious. My favorite for down-to-earth concise advice is McElheran,
If you've done some
conducting before, you have a head start. If you haven’t, then please go
read that book, or a comparably good one, before continuing! There isn’t
nearly enough space here to even review the basics, nor could I pretend
to do justice to the topic the way McElheran does. If you’re in a hurry,
you can check this book’s website |pianoconductor . com|for suggestions on
online resources and even videos to help you learn the basics. The rest of
this section will assume that you have basic knowledge of the mechanics of
conducting.

If you’ve done orchestral conducting, you should be in good shape. The
main difference is that you may find yourself having to play piano (or some
other instrument) and conduct at the same time, and/or you may find that
you're both conducting the pit and cuing actors. Section [6.3] explains the
secrets (such as they are) of “hands-free conducting” to help you with this.

If you’ve done choral conducting, bear in mind that the fluid motions
favored by many choral conductors may not work well. In instrumental
conducting, the players need a definite ictus (beginning of the beat pe-
riod) delineated by the “bounce” on each beat, making the beginning of
the beat an unambiguous instant in time. Fluid motions work well for
choirs because of the naturally soft “attack” of an ensemble of voices, but
in an instrumental situation, fluid conducting just obscures where the ac-
tual downbeat is, and makes for a mushy ensemble.

Some people find the image of “dipping your finger quickly in water”
helps make the bounce definite; others swear that this imagery leads to
jerky and difficult-to-follow conducting and should be avoided. A surefire
way to evaluate yourself is to watch yourself in the mirror, or even better,
constantly ask your musicians how you could improve—after all, they’re
the ones who have to follow you.

Whether you have previous experience or not, the new ingredient in pit
conducting is that the music has to follow the stage action, so there are

114 CHAPTER 6. CONDUCTING

probably some new conducting situations—vamps, safeties, starts/stops,
underscoring—that you may not be familiar with. In all such situations, I
find these three guidelines particularly useful to remember:

Precision. The musicians must know exactly where the downbeats are,
as described above. This is largely a matter of technique—practicing in a
mirror or with your musicians is the best way to improve.

Confidence. Don’t be wimpy. Entrances must be absolutely unambigu-
ous to distinguish them from conducting through rests, setting tempo be-
fore a cue, and so on; use whatever body language you have to. It’s better
to err on the side of too much and adjust later.

Consistency. Once you’ve identified a particular way that a certain cue
or entrance in the score will be conducted, do it the same way every time.
This means every time the cue is played is one more opportunity to further
tighten your ensemble.

Of course, the most important uber-guideline is: Get feedback. If your
musicians have trouble following you, it doesn’t matter whether you think
it’s your fault or their fault: you must change what you’re doing. Ask them
for constructive criticism frequently and use it as an opportunity to improve
your skill and your versatility.

6.2 From Pianist to Piano/Conductor

Piano/Conductor is a common dual role because of the piano’s role as a
rhythm instrument and a substitute for missing instruments and because of
limited personnel budgets.

mg Other combinations

Drummer/conductor and other combinations are possible too; in commu-
nity theater, you have to be willing to improvise a little.

The piano/conductor role is challenging because it is really two roles
that call for quite different attitudes towards performance, and a pi-
anist/conductor must be constantly alternating between the two. In the
conductor role, you must telegraph every intention; in the piano role, you

6.2. FROM PIANIST TO PIANO/CONDUCTOR 115

must perform like a good ensemble rhythm instrument. Sometimes you
have to do both, for example, holding down a vamp on piano while also con-
ducting and telegraphing when to come out of the vamp. In most scores,
neither the piano part nor the cues to be conducted are technically exhaust-
ing, but constantly switching back and forth between the roles certainly can
be.

In the role of conductor, the most important task is to telegraph every
intention. This is most challenging for pianists coming into the conductor
role. The players cannot see your hands to know where the beats are, nor
should they have to. This means you should more or less “perform the
score” with your head, eyebrows, limbs, or other body parts marking the
beats. (See Section [6.3] below for some specific ways to do this.) It’s not
too much of an exaggeration to say that a deaf person should be able to
more or less figure out where you are in the score based on such cues. And
musicians need time to react; if you’re going to cut them off, give a full
count of preparation before the cutoff gesture; to give them a pickup, make
sure it’s a full beat unit in the current meter; and so on.

Bear in mind you need to be “performing” the beats even when you are
not playing them (such as when the piano is tacet or just playing long held
notes or “footballs”), since other instruments may have rhythm and they all
need to be together too. This is especially true when there are temporary
tempo changes like ritards, fermatas, or accelerandos. You may be playing
half notes through those measure, but if the cello is playing eighth notes,
she cannot follow your ritard unless you’re conducting quarter notes, either
with your hands or using other body language.

Once a song goes into “time”—that is, once it’s underway and there
aren’t any cues to worry about for awhile—the pianist/conductor must now
assume the piano role, which as Section|5.3|describes is the role of arhythm
instrument. The rhythm section now owns the tempo, and the pianists’s job
is to listen and form tight ensemble with them. In modern pits, the rhythm
section is usually piano, bass, drums, and possibly guitar. In older scores,
the strings may be keeping time (see Section|7.4), although even then, the
drummer is the best rhythmic reference.

There are two big pitfalls that can occur when you are trying to do both

116 CHAPTER 6. CONDUCTING

tasks at once:

e Don’t speed up in vamps. In a vamp, your “conductor brain” is con-
centrated on the stage action so you can come out of the vamp at the
right time. Unfortunately, it’s easy for your “rhythm brain” to thereby
be shortchanged, and a typical side effect is that you will speed up.
If you were just the rhythm instrument following another conductor,
this would be caught early, but accidentally slowing down when you
are the conductor is a risk. The remedy is to devote some fraction of
your energy to staying in time.

Don’t get louder as you speed up or vice versa. In fairness, many
classical pianists have this fault even when they don’t also have to
conduct, but again, when the pianist is the conductor, the stakes are
higher. Practicing with a metronome helps check yourself.

6.3. Hands-Free Conducting

Although we'll discuss several strategies for hands-free conducting, giving
cues, and so on, all of them are based on the same fundamental “body
language” as conventional conducting with your hands. So even if you
expect to have to do a lot of hands-free work, it’s worth developing a solid
conventional conducting technique as the foundation. If you don’t have
such experience, some experience playing piano in an ensemble will help.

Many musical theater conductors use one hand to conduct the orchestra
and the other to help conduct or cue the singers. If you have the luxury of
having both hands free and can teach yourself to do this, great, but in the
piano/conductor role it’s limited to stretches where the piano doesn’t play,
which are rare. For the vast majority of times when you have one or zero
hands free, here are some tricks that can help.

One hand conducts, one hand plays. As described in Chapter|7| many
older scores rely on a large group of strings as the “rhythm section”. By
conducting with your right hand, your left hand is free to play some of this
rhythm on the piano. This is a tricky but useful skill to develop. You may
find yourself sometimes conducting with one hand while playing the piano

6.3. HANDS-FREE CONDUCTING 117

with the other. Sometimes you can do some re-voicing of chords to free up
one hand for conducting if need be. You'll be a real hero if you can learn to
use either hand to conduct while the other plays.

Conducting with your head. Conductors already rely on body lan-
guage; you just have to take it to a greater extreme when you lose the use
of your hands for conducting. Think of your nose as the baton and conduct
with your head. Use your whole body for emphasis: rise up off the bench
somewhat in preparation for a downbeat, e.g., and then use smaller bobs
of the head to keep the beat. (Think of it as “bouncing to the beat,” as you
might do in your car when a really good song is on the radio.) But keep
these movements subtle or they become distracting; my experience is that
even when the musicians are pretty far away from you, subtle movements
are surprisingly effective.

A particularly good use of this technique, even when a song has al-
ready gone into time, is conducting tricky or compound rhythms. Referring
back to Figure[3.9] a slight pickup before the two accented eighth notes on
counts 4-5 of each 5/8 measure may help the orchestra stay together the
first few times they play the song together.

m Play on the ictus, not before it

Remember that the point where you “bounce” (change direction) defines
the ictus of the beat, so if you’re playing the piano while bouncing, be sure
that your playing matches the ictus. The tendency is for the playing to
slightly anticipate the ictus because most pianists are accustomed to using
the downward portion of the “bounce” as momentum to start playing, as
opposed to playing at the moment of the bottom of the bounce. If in doubt,
play a tiny bit later than you think you should.

You can similarly suggest dynamics by rising up or lengthening your
posture to indicate “more” and crouching or hunching down to indicate
“less”. It’s all about force of will—use your eyebrows, shoulders, facial
expressions, or whatever else conveys the dynamic you want (louder, softer,
more intense, mellow out, slow down, and so on) Don’t overdo it; you'll
find your sweet spot eventually.

118 CHAPTER 6. CONDUCTING

Setting initial tempo without using your hands. Since the drummer
or rhythm section can hold down the basic beat very well once things are
underway, one trick is to set the tempo well before the song starts. During
pre-song dialogue, start conducting full measures in the target tempo, in a
subtle way that all the musicians can see. Then, when it’s time to play, you
can just conduct a pickup beat with your head.

A major pitfall for conductors is setting an inappropriate initial tempo.
If you err on the side of too fast, the singers will be in trouble; too slow,
and cues may be in trouble. Metronome markings help (if you have a silent
metronome!), but you can also sing the lyrics to yourself to make sure it’s
not too fast. It’s hard to recover from an inappropriate starting tempo since
you won’t have the use of your hands to call attention to slowing down.

Giving vocal pickups. Silently mouthing the words for onstage singers
may be helpful now and then, but if the conductor’s face is in full or partial
view of the audience, it’s very distracting to the audience. (Also, you don’t
want the singers to rely on this as a crutch.) If you do it, give a visible
(but not audible!) “pickup breath” in rhythm, giving it a full beat unit
if at all possible, whether it’s a true pickup beat or just the beat prior to
the vocal entry. For example, for a vocal entry on count 3 in 4/4, the
preparation breath is on count 2. (This is the same technique you should
advise singers to use for themselves to come in strong on entrances, as
Section |4.4]describes.)

The rest of this chapter has some hints on how to conduct the various
constructs that are mostly unique to theater.

6.4. THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF THE PIANO/CONDUCTOR SCORE 119

m Practice the Cues During Cast Rehearsals

When you're rehearsing piano-only with the cast, pretend the orchestra is
there and is expecting to be conducted and cued: Give the drummer that
starting tempo. Cue that trumpet player who’s been resting for 40 bars.
Slow the players down at that tenuto or cut them off after that fermata. To
do these things, you’ll need a free hand, an eyebrow, or some other bodily
motion; practicing these during regular rehearsals will make you aware of
which limbs are available. If you’re playing the piano as well as conducting,
you may have to do some planning in order to have a limb or other bodily
feature free to give these cues. Now is a good time to start thinking about
how you will do it.

6.4 The Secret Language of the Piano/Conductor Score

A key goal of the music copyist is to achieve clarity of what is to be played
using the minimum possible number of marks on the page. Various short-
cuts have evolved to serve this purpose, as Figure |6.1]shows.

If you’re lucky, your score will have measure numbers or letters, for easy
reference during rehearsal. Even if you have measure numbers, don’t be
surprised if there are gaps in the middle of the sequence (such as jumping
from measure 55 to 88) or measures inserted with a different numbering
(such as inserting measures 16A through 16H between measure 16 and
17). These edits usually reflect changes made very late during the rehearsal
process of the original show.

Here’s a brief review of theater score terminology to anchor the rest of
the chapter:

e Vamp: A few bars of music during a song (typically 2-4) repeated
while an event of indeterminate length is going on—spoken dialogue,
dancers getting into position, or whatever.

e Safety: Similar to a vamp, a safety is a measure or a repeat to be
played only if needed; it’s up to the conductor to come up with a “call
sign” indicating whether it’s needed during a given performance.

120

CHAPTER 6. CONDUCTING

Ky
a a
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.Sail - or has a ship - mate while at sea, - - - - - There's a
cb
5 Zz Zz Z Z F = Fe
Bor Bb9 Bb6 Bb7 Eb 7 —_ z
= = be
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é ob K
= t ~ — —
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Mic - key has a Min - nie who can keep him sat is - fied. 2 Ev' ry
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7 i i 2
Bb Bbaug Bb6 Bbaug

Nhe

_ ———
ee ==

Figure 6.1: Top staff: Slash notation accompanied by chord names give the accompanist some
freedom in voicing the specified chords and setting the exact comping pattern; rhythmic notation is
used when the rhythm is important, usually because everyone in the orchestra has that rhythm.
Bottom staff: Two-bar repeats economize on notation and usually apply to both staves. One-bar
repeats (not shown) are also common; the same symbol is used but it sits inside a measure rather
than straddling a bar line. (Somebody For Everybody from Oh My Godmother!)

6.4. THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF THE PIANO/CONDUCTOR SCORE 121

e Underscoring: Music that plays while other stage action, usually di-
alogue, is occurring. As such, it must usually be played very softly
to avoid drowning out the dialogue. Sometimes underscoring is a
standalone piece of music, such as when it plays throughout a whole
scene. Other times it occurs in the middle of a song, where some di-
alogue or other action occurs between verses. Underscoring is gener-
ally of fixed length, although it may include vamp or safety measures
to allow some stretching or shrinking of length.

e Scene change: A particular type of underscoring that covers the
movement of actors and scenery between scenes.

e Playoff: 8-12 bars of additional music to get the actors off the stage
at the end of a large “production number.” Sometimes it’s a separate
piece of music in the score; other times you can simply repeat the last
8-12 bars of the number itself.

e Segue: Pronounced “SEG-way”, Italian for “continue”, it means “go
on”: during or immediately after the applause for this number, go on
to the next number, which will probably be a scene change, play-
off, or similar. Attacca is like a segue, but even faster and more
aggressive transition—barely time to turn the page and go. Segue as
one means go right into the next number without breaking rhythm,
i.e. the audience will perceive the whole thing as a single number.
Sometimes a long number will be split into multiple sections with all
but the last marked segue as one; other times a scene change may
lead directly into a musical number, and so on

e Colla voce: From the Italian “with the voice”, indicates a section of
music where the performer will take considerable rhythmic freedom
and the orchestra must follow him.

e Time (sense 1): A song is said to “go into time” when you enter that
part of it that is in regular rhythm rather than rubato or colla voce.
Markings such as light time in the piano/conductor or percussion
part mean “play rhythmically, but don’t clomp the notes out.”

122 CHAPTER 6. CONDUCTING

e Time (sense 2): At the end of a song, it means that spoken dialogue or
other action follows the number, so you can relax for a bit. Sometimes
also marked scene continues.

No rest for the weary?

At the end of a number, your immediate concern is whether you can take a
breather (“time” or “scene continues”) or whether you have to go straight
into more music (segue, segue as one, attacca, playoff). Highlight any kind
of segue in yellow highlighter so you know what to do during rehearsals
(and while conducting!). It’s remarkably easy to be so relieved at finishing
a difficult number that you forget you have to immediately go on to the
next one.

6.5 Script Cues: Segues and Safeties and Vamps, Oh My

In a song recital or concert, the singer and conductor make eye contact, the
song begins, the song is played through, and the song ends. Since theater
songs are interspersed with dialogue and stage action, and the actors often
cannot make eye contact with you because they are playing to the audi-
ence, there are techniques and corresponding notations for starting a song
(warnings and start cues), getting into and out of a “holding pattern” dur-
ing the song while waiting for a line of dialogue or stage action to happen
(vamps and safeties), and getting out of a song and right into the next one
(segues).

The beginnings of songs will usually be marked with a start cue, which
tells you when the music starts. The cue may be a line of dialogue
(ADELAIDE: It says here in this book...) ora stage action (SALLY
sits down). There may also be a warning, which is a dialogue line or stage
action that occurs a couple of bars before the cue line; this lets you get your
musicians’ attention, or if it’s just you, lets you get ready to play.

6.5. SCRIPT CUES: SEGUES AND SAFETIES AND VAMPS, OH MY 123

g Early warning

If no warning is written, look at the prompt book or script and write one
in. I usually want a “pre-warning” as well, especially when I’m still getting
familiar with the pacing of the show.

Sometimes the singing starts right away, but frequently the music starts
before the singing does. There are three variants of this situation:

1. Timed underscoring—you control when the singing starts
2. Vamp—you control when the singing starts

3. Vamp—actor(s) start singing, you follow them out of the vamp

In the first, timed underscoring, you have a fixed number of bars of mu-
sic before the singing starts, though some of those bars may be marked as
vamps or safeties to give you more time if needed. If the underscoring is
more than a few bars long, write specific dialogue lines or stage actions
into your score at the approximate points where they occur. These “land-
marks” will help you figure out where you are in the underscoring when
conducting the scene, and allow you to slow down or speed up your con-
ducting to compensate for minor variations in timing from performance to
performance. (However, since staging can be in flux up until and during
tech week, don’t try to fix this in stone too early in the process.)

The second scenario is a simple vamp until the music starts. In this case,
The vamp will usually be annotated with Continue on or Cue to continue
indicating the spoken line or other event that should cue you to exit the
vamp. You are responsible for picking up on this cue and indicating to the
musicians, that it’s time to move on and play past the vamp’s repeat bar.
Section|6.8|describes suggestions for how to conduct all these types of cues.

The third scenario is a vamp with the marking vocal last time or vocal
last x, meaning that the actor starts whenever she’s ready, and when that
happens, everyone in the orchestra agrees that was the last time through
the vamp. This marking is especially important for musicians who are not

124 CHAPTER 6. CONDUCTING

playing during the vamp, because hearing the vocals lets them know when
to start playing or when to resume counting measures.)

If other dialogue or stage action occurs during the song, there will be
vamps, safeties, and/or underscoring to cover it. A vamp til cutoff marking
means to play until some specific cue happens, at which time the music just
stops; usually it'll be your job to watch for the event to happen and then
stop your musicians, and wait for the cue to restart.

The famous opening of Fiddler on the Roof ties these concepts together.
The curtain rises in the dark to the sound of a solo violin playing the motif
that has become world famous. After a few bars, a light comes up and we
see the fiddler perched on the roof of a house. A few more bars, and Tevye,
the dairyman and narrator, appears and introduces the show with these
words:

A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy, no?

But in our little village of Anatevka, you might say every one
of us is a fiddler on the roof, trying to scratch out a pleasant,
simple tune without breaking his neck.

It isn’t easy!

You may ask: Why do we stay up there if it’s so dangerous?

We stay because Anatevka is our home.

And how do we keep our balance?

That I can tell you in one word—Tradition!

As Figure [6.2] shows, Tevye’s monologue starts approximately at mea-
sure 10, but depending on the production and even the particular night,
it may start a measure earlier or later. There are then various vamps and
safeties to get from his monologue into the song:

1. The vamp in 33 is repeated until Tevye reaches the line “how do we
keep our balance?” in his monologue; and then,

2. The vamp in 34 is repeated under Tevye’s phrase “That I can tell
you in one word—Tradition!” On the original cast recording, Zero
Mostel takes quite a bit of freedom to imbue this phrase with gravitas,
requiring four times through the vamp to cover it. Then,

6.5. SCRIPT CUES: SEGUES AND SAFETIES AND VAMPS, OH MY 125

No. 1 Prologue/Tradition

Vin. sol

; —— da a 2

_ e on fiddler] dad | Fl feck a. ing ia comes forward]
, FI. solo agg f Pet F r tite
pd dd dt Say
Sm par? oT Tor er
TEVYE: A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy, no? But in our little village
ad bly TTI led) ld
e 2 is ro >

of Anatevka, you might say every one of us is a fiddler on the roof, trying to scratch out a pleasant,

yd JUds ST, pop ey
° repr

ee breaking his neck. It oie You may ask: Why do we stay up there...
Pris air on or ar a

That I can tell you
33 ..keep our balance? in one word—Tradition! [vocal last time]

= AE: = == ae = |

a eS =
Pno a ‘ P . f = sept
Poet: = ss -— 1. t— — x x

Figure 6.2: The opening of Fiddler, illustrating underscoring, vamps/safeties, and “vocal last time”
marking. We wrote in dialogue “landmarks” corresponding approximately to Zero Mostel’s
performance on the original cast recording, following the suggestion in Section|6.5] Copyright
1964, 1965 by the Times Square Music Publications Company. Used for commentary only.
(Prologue/Tradition from Fiddler on the Roof)

126 CHAPTER 6. CONDUCTING

3. There is a safety in 35, to allow the other actors to get into position,
or to provide a bit of buffer in case you exited the 34 vamp a tiny bit
early.

In the original score, the vocal entrance in 35 is actually marked “2nd
time”; in this transcription, I’ve marked it “vocal last time”. Note that the
musicians as well as the cast need an advance cue for this entrance, since
the orchestra has additional material starting in 36 (clarinets divisi, ex-
plained in Section |1.5).

Why didn’t the orchestrator simply include the vocal cue and “vocal last
time” notation in 34, and omit the additional repeated 35? Because 34 has
the dynamic marking p (since it’s still under Tevye’s dialogue), whereas 36
has the marking f, which also serves as a signal to the cast that we’re out
of the monologue.

6.6 Warnings and Starts

Conducting the opening four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth is terrifying for
many conductors. Happily, most show music isn’t this demanding to con-
duct, but cuing an entrance can still be tricky.

First, get musicians’ attention. Allow 5-10 seconds for this, and write
in (and highlight!) a warning cue (stage action, dialogue, or similar) that
occurs 5-10 seconds before the music must start, if one isn’t already pro-
vided in the score. A typical “warning” gesture is raising the baton to chest
height and holding it still, or if you’re not using a baton, raising your hand
to higher than the highest it gets on a normal upbeat.

To actually get the music to start, the most common techniques are giv-
ing a pickup only (1 or 2 counts) or conducting a full measure of silence
before the downbeat (“one for nothing”). In a fast 2-count tempo, “two for
nothing” may be more helpful. The best choice depends on the particular
situation, so you'll have to experiment. But whichever you do, the beat that
corresponds to the entrance of the orchestra must be absolutely unambiguous.
In other words, if you’re conducting 1-for-nothing, there should be no con-
fusion among the musicians about whether that first measure is the “for

6.7. TEMPO CHANGES, FERMATAS, TRACK MARKS, DICTATED 127

nothing” measure or the cue to play. One common way to do this is that
the “silent” measure is conducted with small, almost rigid (straight-line)
motions, until the pickup and subsequent downbeat which are conducted
using the larger “normal” motion.

Of course, as often as not, the orchestra must come in on a beat other
than the downbeat. While the remarks above generalize to those cases, I

strongly urge you to read through McElheran, |Conducting Technique: For’
Beginners And Professionals| for a much better and very concise treatment

of such cases. The executive summary is: experiment, work it out with
your musicians (and make special note of cases where you have agreed on
a specific kind of cue, so that you can inform a substitute musician about
them should you need to), and don’t assume there’s a single right way to
conduct an entrance.

6.7 Tempo Changes, Fermatas, Track Marks, Dictated

Abrupt tempo changes aren’t too bad as long as (a) you have previously
established what the tempi are, so the musicians have some idea what to
expect, and (b) one person sets the new tempo. This can be you, if you have
the time to give a pickup (ideally more than 1 count) in the new tempo, or
it can be (for example) the drummer—that’s how we handled the tempo
change in Figure[5.1]the last time I worked on Company.

Be careful to distinguish between fermatas (hold the note) and track
marks (cut off the note). I usually do fermatas by “holding” my hand (or
head, or whatever) in the same location for the duration of the hold, and
cutoffs by either making a hand gesture or (if no free hand) physically
rising up away from the keyboard.

“Dictated” refers to the conductor conducting every single note in a
passage; this is common if the notes are fermatas, if the notes are tied
to stage cues, or if some special musical effect is required that can’t be
easily expressed in terms of conducting a fixed beat. One trick for cleanly
conducting dictated notes is to treat each dictated note as a downbeat, and
make the pickup beat the same duration or an easy multiple. This gives the
musicians (and/or the cast) a natural way to figure out when the actual

128 CHAPTER 6. CONDUCTING

oe —_ = ; £42 =

i a ae —

—_ a -)

4 : : = s =
CS =

Ree ci g LUCY: “You're [DICTATED]

ees: = Chane Brown" ee
Dae ieee ——— =

een S vs

Figure 6.3: After a dialogue in fermata, the last three notes are dictated. Give pickups that are
rhythmic with respect to the timing of the dictated notes. (Happiness/Finale from You’re a Good
Man, Charlie Brown)

dictated note is coming: they can observe the timing of your pickup (from
beginning of stroke to top of stroke) as the duration of one beat, and come
in with you on the chords. For example, as Figure|6.3|shows, the last three
notes of You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown, in the clarinet/violin parts, are
dictated. One possible strategy might be to give a 16th-note “pickup” to
each of the two eighth notes, giving the pickup exactly half the duration
of the eighth notes and using the size of your pickup gesture to indicate
that duration. If your hands aren’t available, you can easily do this by
conducting with your head, as section [6.3] suggests.

6.8 Vamps and Safeties

Vamps allow matching the music to the timing of dialogue or other stage
business, as Figure shows. Conducting through a vamp requires two
simple tasks. The preparation consists of making sure your musicians
know, unambiguously, which measures are vamped; The execution con-
sists of committing to getting out of the vamp when conducting the song.
Deciding when to come out of a vamp is always a judgment call. If
you come out too early, the actor may miss jumping onto her next lyric.
If you come out too late, the actors may be standing around awkwardly
waiting for the music to come back in. You should practice the vamps
with the actors, and their timing should ideally be pretty consistent from

6.8. VAMPS AND SAFETIES 129

[VAMP under stage action] [VAMP - vocal last x]

nor RP PPP OP nr PIP

= = 4 ee eet 3
(jh f: REE:
Paes aise a5s eee a
F :

SSS :

ya
x * ¢F . 2 7

Figure 6.4: In this textbook example of a vamp from A Chorus Line, on stage the dancers are being
sorted according to who will be cast; there are 17 dancers, so it’s a long vamp. Curiously, in the
original conductor’s score, the vamp we have marked as measures 1-4 is written out as 24
measures, with measures 17-24 repeated; our measure 5, which is measure 25 in the original score,
preserves the “vocal last time” marking (described later in this section) in the original score. (One
from A Chorus Line)

performance to performance, but variations (and mistakes) will happen.
The important thing is once you have made the judgment call to come out
of the vamp, follow through. You can’t go back on your decision or your
musicians will get confused and so will the actors.

How do you indicate to musicians that they should exit the vamp? De-
pending on your preference and what limbs you have free, you can do as
many bands do and hold up a closed fist to mean “This is the last time
through the vamp.” If a fist isn’t available, do a very obvious pickup using
one of the “conducting with your body” techniques described in Section|6.3]
during the last time through the vamp. Be sure you give the musicians
enough time! Use body language to “prepare” the pickup as early as you
possibly can in the vamp.

A special case of a vamp is often marked “Vocal last time” or “Vocal last
x,” as in Figures |6.4] and [6.5] In such cases, the vamp measures also serve
as the beginning of a sung phrase, and when the phrase is sung, it’s time to
exit the vamp. Make sure your musicians know about this and you won't
have to do much.

Tricky vamps. Some vamps make the judgment call harder if you’re
trying to time coming out of the vamp and there’s no obvious vocal exit.
The longer the vamp unit, the harder it is to make a judgment call: if the
vamp is a 3-count measure, the “cost” of misjudging the exit is at most
3 counts of idle awkwardness, but if the vamp is four 3-count measures
as in Figure [6.6] the cost is up to 12 counts of idle awkwardness. That’s

130 CHAPTER 6. CONDUCTING

DIANA: I want to remember DIANA: How DAN: He
everything, Dan. a did he die? was — Vamp (vocal last x)
ay" any ae
ry —="
Cues == = & ss ee =e ge i =
@
= Some-thing the doc - tors all issed, the...
a 2
om AN | % ff +f £ 1 we 4 =
——_—_———= Ede a
Je eS: SS a
_s ee oa = re a fee

Sa Ces aeeees

Figure 6.5: This vamp serves as a safety between a timed-dialogue underscoring and going into
another verse. It’s important for the musicians to know that when the vocals start, that’s the last
time through the vamp. If you’re cuing the vocals, it’s important that the musicians know that the
vocal cue you’re giving the actors comes one measure before the orchestra cue to continue out of
the vamp, so that they don’t confuse the vocal cue with the cue to continue. (How Could I Ever
Forget? from Next to Normal)

probably one reason the orchestrator of A Chorus Line reduced the actual
vamp in Figure [6.4]to just a single measure.

If youre having trouble syncing up a long vamp or extended under-
scoring with the dialogue, you may end up in an awkward pause while
the orchestra finishes the vamp or underscoring (if the dialogue ends too
early) or rushing the actors out of the vamp before they’re really ready Cif
the dialogue ends too late). You have a few options in such cases:

1. Insert a safety near the end of the timed phrase, similar to how the
vamp measure is used in Figure[6.5]

2. Decide that it’s OK to exit the vamp on any measure even if the vamp
is longer, as directed in Figure|6.6

6.9 Underscoring

Unlike a vamp, underscoring is nonrepeated music that must coincide with
dialogue timing. Depending on how the director has the actors speaking the
dialogue, underscoring may need to be cut or extended. When cutting, look
for “seamless” cuts in which connecting the two parts across the cut doesn’t
result in a drastic harmony or texture change—this would be distracting
to the audience. When lengthening, consider repeating a subset of the

6.9. UNDERSCORING 131

DR. FINE: Goodman, Diana. Second adjustment...etc. Vins}
DIANA: ...which, you know, is just not fair. (GO) £ “I >
cc a a a ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee — 4
[Guy Play last bar before out — any bar , Ld te bl
May cause the fol_- low - ing...

Gm9 An7/D Gm9 D+ D7(#5) i
[Bs. Drs] > #£ ool oe ii fit
= ez

i ee 2 ee a ae a ae ee ee eae

oe
>

Figure 6.6: This vamp is at the end of another long piece of underscoring, so the dialogue indicated
between Dr. Fine and Diana start after we’re already in the vamp. Although it’s a 4-measure vamp,
the cue direction says that as soon as Diana says her line “... is just not fair,” we immediately finish
whatever bar of the vamp we’re in and jump immediately to the violin cue in measure 5. (My
Psychopharmacologist and I from Next to Normal)

measures, or turning the last couple of measures into a vamp, whichever is
more appropriate. Also, in some situations the underscoring need not be in
tempo—you can slow down or speed up as needed during the underscoring
section in order make the timing work out.

The key to doing this is to write in “dialogue landmarks” that you
can use to vary your conducting speed in performance to match the ac-
tor. (If the underscoring accompanies stage action without dialogue, write
in “stage action landmarks” instead: ADELAIDE smacks NATHAN with the
back of a spoon.) The opening of Fiddler on the Roof (Figure il-
lustrates this nicely: I have written Tevye’s monologue in such a way that
certain dialogue words line up approximately with the music, but there is
a safety at the end, in case the actor speaks the dialogue more slowly than
usual during some performances.

Of course, in that example, there’s still a nice safe vamp at the end in
case the timing doesn’t work out, and it’s a short vamp (1 measure) so it’s
easy to use it to compensate for dialogue timing. When that’s not possible,
you can sometimes insert a fermata in lieu of a vamp before the song starts.
For example, in Figure [3.4] the fermatas over the half note and rest in the
last measure before the double bar line can be milked a little if Herr Schultz
doesn’t finish his cue line in time.

Finally, some underscoring doesn’t lend itself to either of these tricks, as
in Figure|6.7} you have some latitude in the last couple of measures to do a
ritard., but there’s no easy way to extend the underscoring. In these cases,
there’s nothing to do but practice with the actors so that their dialogue is

132 CHAPTER 6. CONDUCTING

——<— SS [Viola —solo obbligato]

Figure 6.7: The underscoring under Charlie Brown’s final monologue gets us from the previous
up-tempo song (Snoopy’s Dinnertime to the serene night-scene mood that sets up the lovely closing
song of the show. (Night Scene/Happiness from You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown)

delivered with consistent timing, and you can mark dialogue landmarks
and adjust tempo as you play.

6.9. UNDERSCORING 133

7 Emergency
Arranging

Arranging (and its big brother, orchestration) are specialized and demanda-
ing crafts. Reading these few pages won't make you an arranger, but in
community theater, sometimes you are forced to do some minimal amount
of arranging: reduction of the number of instrumental parts to be played by
consolidating or eliminating parts, substitution of an instrument you have
for an instrument you don’t, or using the piano to cover missing instru-
ments. This chapter gives some rules of thumb for how to approach such
scenarios and a few examples of those rules in practice for shows I’ve
actually reduced.

S Rite hed tahoe 136
Ged 6 Cae id ne ba eis 137
een ee Reaees 138
pt die thdie BIE Aaa dnd 139
aid aon ts 146
eee iaeh wn Lk bees 147
Nah db inp ohoed as 148

7.8 Example: Gypsy|.............2.220000058 149

136 CHAPTER 7. EMERGENCY ARRANGING

7.1. Transposition

Transposition is arguably the simplest change you can make to an arrange-
ment, and it may be needed to accommodate the range(s) of singer(s) or
to improve continuity around a cut. At its most basic, you are simply taking
each instrument’s part and moving it up or down by the chromatic interval
between the original key and new key, which seems like the kind of tedious
job that can at least be done by brute force. If you’re doing piano only or
piano combo, this is is not too bad.

Sometimes transposition can’t be avoided, but other things being equal,
it’s a bad idea to cast a show oblivious to vocal ranges and assume you
can “just transpose” troublesome songs later. Besides the fact that well-
crafted songs won’t sound good if sung far outside the range for which
they’re written, transposition is more perilous and fraught with caveats
than most people realize. Most nontrivial arrangements for multiple in-
struments are surprisingly sensitive to transposition, since part of a good
arranger’s job is to use each instrument in its most effective range for that
piece. Some passages may move out of the playable range of an instru-
ment if transposed. Other passages may become very hard or impossible
to play because of idiosyncrasies of the instrument, for example, a trill re-
quiring major changes of fingering between the two trill notes on a valved
woodwind instrument, or certain glissandos that are impossible on a slide

trombone. Donald Sebesky’s book (Sebesky, |The Contemporary Arranger,
Definitive Edition) does a great job of explaining all these cases, but the

bottom line is that transposition should be undertaken with caution, kept
to a minimum, and announced as early as possible so that transposition-
related problems can be identified early and fixed.

If you must deal with multiple instrument transposition, music typeset-
ting programs like Finale and Sibelius (see Section |A.4) can save you a lot
of time because they can basically do transposition automatically. They also
take care of the inherent transposition required for instruments that read in
non-concert pitch. (If you don’t know what this means, then you probably
shouldn’t attempt transposition of a multi-instrument arrangement.) The
only downside is that you have to first enter the music into the program,

7.2. PART CONSOLIDATION 137

which can be time-consuming. The “pro” versions of music typesetting pro-
grams like Finale and Sibelius (see Section|A.4| Technology) now allow you
to scan printed score pages into them and play melodies in real time using
a MIDI-capable keyboard, but both methods usually require manual fix-ups
and may not save you any time over doing it by hand. Also, scores for
many older shows (anything written before about 1975) have often been
written out by hand by music copyists, which makes automated scanning
impossible.

MD’s I know have varying opinions as to whether it is the MD’s respon-
sibility or each musician’s responsibility to write out the transposed parts.
My musicians tend to be accommodating and able; your mileage may vary.

7.2. Part Consolidation

Before diving into doing a reduction or arrangement, check whether a re-
duction is available from the licensor, as discussed in section The
quality of reductions varies from lively to abysmal, but if you have lim-
ited orchestra resources, this will save you a lot of work. Flex combos and
other reductions already make heavy use of cross cuing (section[1.6), which
allows the arrangement to be played even if some instruments are unavail-
able.

If no reduction is available, you can apply the same basic ideas used
to create them to shrink an existing orchestration (or to further shrink a
flex combo or existing reduction). In a recent production, the orchestration
called for a 7-piece flex combo (piano, bass, drums, alto sax/flute/clarinet,
tenor sax, trumpet, trombone) but we had room for only 6 players. Since
we really wanted to include the trombone for reasons of tonal color, we
consolidated the two reed parts into a single part. Specifically, we discov-
ered that most of the tenor sax lines were well within the range of the alto
sax (even though they were not all cross-cued to it), although in some cases
where both saxes were playing, we had to choose the “best” line.

Sometimes such arranging exercises come down to losing one or an-
other solo line; other times it’s a matter of consolidation, deciding which
counter-lines we were willing to lose in the process. If you are short on mu-

138 CHAPTER 7. EMERGENCY ARRANGING

sicians even after exhausting the above strategies, you can use cross-cues to
cover some lines on piano. The decision process includes trial and error, lis-
tening to the recording, and looking at the conductor’s score. Fortunately,
I had help from our toucan during this process, as the picture on the back
cover of the book shows.

Synthesizers. Some scores have synthesizers written in, usually for spe-
cific sound effects that can’t be achieved on acoustic instruments or to sim-
ulate other electronic instruments such as Hammond organs and Rhodes
electric pianos. I tend to stay away from using synthesizers as stand-ins for
acoustic instruments (see Section [5.6), but they can be used effectively in
other ways. For example, we performed Company with a rhythm section,
a single violin (to play some important counterpoint lines), a reed player
who covered 5 instruments, and a synthesizer used for a Hammond or-
gan sound and some marimba-like sound effects. We used the Hammond
sound to play certain chords that actually had been played on the organ in
the show’s original 1970 orchestration but were re-scored for more reeds
(which we didn’t have space for) in the revised orchestration; using the
Hammond sound allowed us to pay tribute to the original orchestration, so
it made sense to us. We also used the synthesizer effectively for sounds like
electric marimba and glockenspiel. Your listeners will thank you, though,
for resisting the temptation to use synthesizers to cover string parts; better
to omit them or handle them on piano, since only a high-end synthesizer
played by an experienced synthesist is likely to even approach the sound of
real strings in a live setting.

7.3 Doing Your Own Reduction

If the reduced orchestration is unavailable or still exceeds your resources,
and you don’t want to go all the way down to piano-only or piano combo,
you can do even more of the above tricks and produce your own reduc-
tion. This is a lot of work and you will probably want your (experienced!)
musicians to help you with it, but it can be done. The key to a success-
ful reduction is to pick out the elements of the original arrangement that
are most prominently audible and try to preserve them (or preserve their

7.4. SCORE ANALYSIS 139

spirit, at least), even as you change and thin out the instrumentation. The
first step is to determine what kind of pit you can actually recruit, and
then match that up with what each instrument or section is going in the
score. Here we discuss some reduction strategies and I include some real
examples of reductions I’ve done using these strategies that have worked
well.

One motivation for doing your own reduction is that you’re constrained
in who you can recruit to play in the pit. Do some musicians play mul-
tiple instruments? This is common for single reed players, less common
for double reed players (except that Oboe/English Horn is a standard dou-
bling), occasionally true for brass players, and rarely true for string players.
Are the tone colors appropriate? A tuba makes a beautiful sound but your
possibilities are limited if it’s your only solo brass instrument. Do the in-
struments blend well? Clarinet blends with almost everything; saxophones
can be made to sound either “more brassy” or “more reedy depending on
how they’re played and what they're blended with; but strings can sound
thin and brittle if they're competing with brass or with a big woodwind sec-
tion, or if a small complement of strings is being counted on to carry a lush
string part. The arranging books in the Bibliography, particularly Sebesky,

The Contemporary Arranger, Definitive Edition| have a lot to say about this.

7.4 Score Analysis

Your first goal is to identify the “bare bones” elements of each song in the
score and come up with a strategy for it: assign it to one or more instru-
ments, omit it, or change it. Covering the third is way into the realm of
orchestration so we'll stick to the first two.

The elements of most “traditional” show tunes orchestrations are:

1. Rhythmic foundation
2. Melody lines
3. Counterpoint lines and Embellishments

4. Solo/obbligato lines

140 CHAPTER 7. EMERGENCY ARRANGING

5. “Signature sound”

Not all songs have all features or fit this template, but it is a good start-
ing point.

Rhythmic foundation. This is what keeps the song moving. Especially
in older shows, the percussion/drums part is less critical to this than you
might think; commonly, the rhythmic foundation will be assigned to a full
string section, which you probably don’t have, sometimes with flutes or
other instruments doubling the strings. For example, the famous opening
of Fiddler on the Roof, an excerpt of which we saw in Figure |6.2| has the
rhythmic foundation carried by the strings, mandolin, and guitar (measure
34). In smaller pits, depending on the character of the song, you can usu-
ally assign such a rhythmic foundation to the piano or, if appropriate, a
guitar or similar percussive instrument.

In the modern score for The Last Five Years, there are no drums at all,
and rhythmic movement is left to the guitar (for pop-like strumming-based
rhythms) or the piano (for syncopations and more complex rhythms); such
scores are difficult to reduce because in these cases those instruments not
only provide the rhythmic foundation but provide a distinct sound palette
for each song.

Melody Lines. In a large orchestration it’s common for one or more
instrument sections to double the melody that the singer is singing. I’ve
found that you can usually dispense with these lines altogether. However, if
the song also includes some underscoring or other non-sung sections where
the melody is expected to be heard, someone will have to cover melody on
those sections. The piano may get called on for double duty in this case:
covering rhythmic foundation throughout the song, and also covering a
melody line here and there.

For example, in Figure[7.1| how would you cover the important clarinet
line if you didn’t have a clarinet? One strategy is to observe that while the
clarinet plays the melody (measures 125-127), the rhythm part is domi-
nated by eighth-note arpeggios that are split between the harp and electric
piano; then at m128, the (electric) piano takes over the melody, and the
remainder of the phrase is split between the electric piano and the organ

7.4. SCORE ANALYSIS 141

p.C 5 he FmMne€ (Fe.

{
lg
cx i Rites S5_EFEFEe__ETFEHFE_EHFOTC Hee eoeTOHT+OmmaarT>?T HY
a et ES: | SPE SEI RIPE IIE I IT TE TE BROT GA LEE REE ELE TOE 1 55
(ae =

Dm \

A rg pg or rh

Ll Se ee ese -— et
—————————————— ps ———
(TF RANE an NATIT LEE EES LENE EEO EE LOSE, fe A RO 5 RT ESAS STR A * - TRNANTSTS RE TE TMESEERR |
) —————_———————————— SS eee Sa oe ee
\|
8,

N b Ig
es Oo oe 7
a ae So oe oe
er ui SY ee 2 a SSS eee
r. 1p ee

Figure 7.1: This 7-bar excerpt comes between two sections of the finale that are sung; the melody in
the clarinet represents the continuation of the sung melody, so this line needs to be heard. (Pippin
copyright 1972 by Stephen Schwartz, copyright 1975 by Roger O. Hirson. Rights controlled by
Music Theatre International. Used for commentary only.) (Finale from Pippin)

142 CHAPTER 7. EMERGENCY ARRANGING

man: Bam oo
ose = = 1s 2 2 =
P - Pp P = F -

ges ee ee

rae Beret
oz pit gete Oy ite zmae

— >

Figure 7.2: Possible piano-only reduction of Figure|7.1] (Finale from Pippin)

(m129-131).

Most reasonably accomplished pianists should be able to play the piano
reduction in Figure This “implosion” of parts preserves the flavor of
the arpeggios by bringing the harp part down an octave so that the piano
can cover it with the left hand, gives the clarinet melody (and the oboe
counterline in m126-127) to the right hand, and combines the piano and
organ parts more or less as written in m128—131 to preserve the continuous
eighth-note motion that moves this section forward.

Throughout all of this, the strings are holding tremolo chords (top staff
of each system in Figure (7.1), but with only a piano we don’t have the
luxury of including that element. Depending on how critical the director
judges this lost “texture” to be, one possibility would be to substitute sotto
voce ensemble singing for the strings.

Counterpoint Lines and Embellishments. Counterpoint lines provide
a stable legato line against which the rhythm can play. In traditional large-
pit orchestrations, these lines are often given to cellos or horns; this has
led some people (including Stephen Sondheim) to call them “thumb lines,”

7.4. SCORE ANALYSIS 143

6H 4 o 5 25 = = =e Sa = — Ee
roeooip ow PP dP POP pe

eat g— FoF 4:44 4 $$ $4 ss 4s
Tht p op op te pe pty Pp pep TT
Se. = 2 =r ee = Bes o

rary

oye $448 pe
rr pr" ee reer

Figure 7.3: In this piano reduction, for clarity we show the bass and accompaniment on the lower
staff and the melody and thumbline on the upper staff, except that the thumbline moves to the
lower staff in measures 9-12 for notational convenience. In the orchestration it’s played by
clarinets and cellos. (One Wonderful Day from Saturday Night)

since a piano reduction of such an orchestration would probably require
the pianist to use her left or right thumb to play those lines (since they fall
in the middle register right around middle C) while also playing the bass
and rhythm chords. Figure[7.3]shows an example.

The other job of the counterline is to keep the general motion of the
song going (and give the audience something to listen to) when the singers
are holding a long note or have a long rest. Depending on how playable the
figure is, you might have the pianist try to cover the entire line or only the
exposed “fills.” A skilled orchestrator will feature the counterlines when
there are rests in the melody lines, as in Figure[7.4]

Obbligato Lines. Obbligato is a term from classical music that describes
a musical line that is “indispensable” (the word is, unsurprisingly, Italian
for “mandatory”). Obbligati are tricky because by definition you can’t omit
them and still retain the original characteristics of the orchestration. Fig-
ure [7.5] shows An excellent example: the woodwind obbligato underlying
the Night Waltz in A Little Night Music is a signature element that the song
won't sound the same without.

Ideally, you should keep as many obbligati as you can and assign them
whenever possible to the instrument for which they were originally written.

144 CHAPTER 7. EMERGENCY ARRANGING

! el Dek ee Ns See SSeS eee Og ae ae ee he a ee ee eee eee ee ee ee ee
= a 1 — Pay ati
ats 5 ae Z f F at Pe aa a iz Ere fat e
eo Strings f
2 3 # 6 \7 9
Melody (Br., WW) 1
te =
oy) 2 f = 9 a 7 =o Se a —
10 (8™)- ~ To Sen eeererrs sete ro See ST PSP res eee ses
. = Coe See eee
= z te», = ae SSeS ==
et = cA cA fo= -
yer

i
i"
x!

She :

Figure 7.4: A schematic of one of the counterpoint lines in Robert Russell Bennett’s classic
orchestration of Oklahoma!. During the statement of People Will Say We’re In Love in the overture,
the famous melody (lower staff) is carried by brass and horns. Violins and high woodwinds have a
lovely counterline that only calls attention to itself with movement when the melody is sitting on a

long note, in measures 4, 8, 12, and 15-16. The counterline therefore serves to keep the pulse of
the song moving during the whole notes. (Overture from Oklahoma!)

a ee
pbb = ==
— ae z 2 =a ft is be ol
a
Sun sits low, ——_____ Dif -|fus - ing its u - su - al glow.

G 2 g [Fl] (FJ =
iS oe raises —— =
a ie * oe aie 2 eres Jane gore soe oe

(c alia = jee ery

Figure 7.5: In this example, the obbligato is split between the clarinet (stems up) and flute (stems

down). The melody and lyrics are shown for clarity; other instruments are omitted. This obbligato

is doubly important because it also outlines the harmonic structure in a way that makes a “strong”
chordal accompaniment unnecessary. (Night Waltz from A Little Night Music)

7.4. SCORE ANALYSIS 145

If that instrument’s not available, you have three choices:

1. Assign the obbligato to a different instrument. See Section [7.5] for
ideas.

2. Assign the obbligato to its original instrument, and decide what to do
with the line that instrument would otherwise have played (cover on
another instrument, or omit).

3. Omit the obbligato. Your ear will tell you if the result sounds funny.
Also, consider whether this obbligato line is part of an important vocal
cue (i.e. some singer is getting either the timing or the pitch of her
entrance from this obbligato).

“Signature Sound”. When a score has a “signature sound”—a timbral
color that people will remember as distinct, because it pervades the score,
because it’s not often heard in musical theater orchestration, or both—you
should latch onto it as a “non-negotiable” element of the orchestration. The
“signature sound” can take many forms:

e A solo instrument sound or texture that pervades the score, such as
the flamenco acoustic guitar in Man of La Mancha.

e A particular instrument that gives unique color to “period piece”
scores, such as the accordion in Cabaret or the vaudeville-style banjo
in Chicago.

e An instrument that plays solo line(s) strongly associated with the
show, like the solo violin in Fiddler on the Roof or the bassoon
basslines in Into the Woods.

e An instrument whose use in the orchestration is unconventional or in
memorable contrast to how it’s usually used, such as the “rock cello”
in The Last Five Years and Next to Normal

In all cases, the benefit of retaining the signature sound is its distinc-
tiveness: the pit may be a fraction of the size of the one used in New York,
but the audience will remember that accordion or Spanish guitar simply
because they don’t hear those sounds as often.

146 CHAPTER 7. EMERGENCY ARRANGING

7.5 Reduction and Substitution Strategies

A full treatment of choosing instruments for an arrangement could be the
subject of its own book (and there are many good ones; see the Bibliogra-
phy for some), but in general the key in getting a “big” sound with a small
orchestra is to augment the rhythm section with a few instruments that
span different ranges and timbres.

The rules of thumb I use are these:

Look for duplication. Who features a line vs. who reinforces it? In
larger pits, common reinforcements (having multiple instruments play the
same line) include flutes/violins (or high woodwinds/violins), horns/low
woodwinds, cello/low woodwinds, cello/low brass.

Move lines to another instruments, including the piano. For midrange
solo lines and harmonies, I like clarinets because they blend with pretty
much everything and 2 clarinets together sound remarkably full without
being overpowering. Saxes are also good because they can be played softly
to get a mellow intonation or powerfully enough to blend well with brass
instruments (or beef up the sound of a small brass section). Also, since
sax often shows up in pop music as well as jazz, sax players may be easier
to find than other reed players. On the other hand, my experience is that
more clarinetists double on sax than vice versa.

Flute or violin are great for counter-lines (and are often interchangeable
when a reduced orchestration is provided, as the flute’s volume and agility
are comparable to the violin’s, especially in the higher registers). Viola can
often substitute for violin in solo work unless the range is extreme and/or a
very specific sound is required (the viola sounds “woodier” and less bright
than the violin, especially in the upper registers, to my ear anyway). Some
accomplished reed players can also cover flute.

If the score calls for a traditional string section, you would need 8 or
more string players to sound even halfway decent. My advice would be
not to attempt that: understand how the string section is being used, and
cover those parts on other instruments. For example, if the strings are used
to provide a rhythmic foundation, that can be covered on piano. Pizzicato
strings and moving block chords can sometimes be covered on a synthe-

7.6. EXAMPLE: ASSASSINS 147

sizer. Low string counter-lines (e.g. cello lines) can be handled on clarinet
or bass clarinet, and so on.

When I say “the rhythm section” I usually mean piano, bass and drums.
In most shows, upright or electric bass will work, especially if the score
is “jazzy”; a few shows really call for one or the other (e.g. Bye Bye
Birdie’s rock and roll songs call for electric bass and electric guitar, whereas
Chicago’s vaudeville style calls for upright bass if at all possible). However,
Ive heard nontraditional rhythm sections that sound great; for example,
substituting a tuba for the bass, or ditching the trap set in favor of some
other percussion.

To give you an idea of how to proceed, the rest of this chapter gives
sketches for taking some shows that normally come with full orchestra-
tion and reducing them to “shoestring” orchestration while maintaining
the character of the piece.

7.6 Example: Assassins

The signature sound of this eclectic Sondheim score is the American-folk
sound of many of the songs, which can be suggested by the use of folk in-
struments like fiddle and harmonica. A good solo violinist can play both
fiddle and “straight” violin material, and I use an accordion since it can ap-
proximate the harmonica sound very well but also provide rhythm, texture,
fill, and cover some woodwind solo lines. It can also make the “calliope”
sound that opens the show.

A solo violin is necessary for the folksy “fiddle” sound in The Ballad of
Booth, Guiteau, and other songs. Finally, I know a multi-instrumentalist
who plays drums and banjo (among many other things), so he can strum
the banjo in some of the folk songs where drums aren’t necessary.

With all of that in mind, here’s how we performed Assassins with a 4-
piece orchestra; I would have liked to include bass, but there just wasn’t
room (the orchestra was onstage with the cast).

1. Piano/Conductor

2. Accordion

148 CHAPTER 7. EMERGENCY ARRANGING

3. Drums/banjo (banjo played when no drums)

4. Solo violin

7.7 Example: Man of La Mancha

The signature sound of this score is clearly the flamenco-esque feel of many
of the songs, which makes the Spanish guitar a must. The guitar is one of
the few instruments that is as capable as the piano in carrying the rhythm
section—fortunately so, since a piano would sound out of place in this
score.

Similarly, the flute/piccolo solos that combine with the guitar to give the
“Spanish troubadour” sound are indispensable. A good flute player gives
me clarinet coverage as well, and on this show I was lucky enough to work
with woodwind players who can play both single reeds and some oboe,
letting me keep some of the beautiful oboe solos in songs like Dulcinea and
The Impossible Dream. But most of what I assigned to the oboe could have
been covered on clarinet as well.

The show also has a number of “knightly” fanfares scored for one or
more trumpets. The original score calls for 2 trumpets, 2 trombones and
2 horns, but the trumpet sounds so distinctive when doing fanfares that I
decided a single solo trumpet would be enough to characterize the fanfares.

Two horns provide a nice full texture for some of the other songs, and
make a lovely backdrop for clarinet and oboe solos, as well as having a no-
bler brass sound of their own (for brass passages that sound more thought-
ful than fanfare-like). My horn players also double on trumpet, so some
parts of the show have 2 horns and other parts have 1 horn plus 1 trumpet.
(The original score calls for 2 of each, but in a small space, one of each is
more than enough.)

So the final complement is:

1. Spanish guitar

2. Acoustic Bass

7.8. EXAMPLE: GYPSY 149

3. Percussion/Conductor: bass drum, snare drum, floor tom “tympani”,
crash cymbal, castanets. (I found some great YouTube videos that
teach how to play castanets, and as a percussionist and pianist I had
the dexterity to more or less do it.) We saved some space by using a
“cocktail” trap set in which the bottom head of the floor tom doubles
as the bass drum. (I jury-rigged it using an angled kick drum pedal
for about $20.)

4. Horn 1/Trumpet
5. Horn 2

6. Reed: piccolo, flute, clarinet, oboe

7.8 Example: Gypsy

This is a traditional score for a 20+ piece orchestra, and representative of
doing a “conventional” reduction. The strings were first to be cut: in songs
where the strings carried the rhythm, the piano took over that job, and
string solos were given to woodwinds (usually flute). The horn’s extensive
range (the largest compass of any woodwind/brass) and variety of timbres
allow the horn players to also cover important cello and bass clarinet lines,
as well as trombone solos or trombone parts in fanfares. Although my
horn players generally double on trumpet, there was enough trumpet solo
material in this show that it needed its own chair, and the horn players
were busy enough doing all the other stuff. And as usual, I counted on my
woodwind players to be superheroes. So we have:

1. Piano/Conductor (covers most string rhythms)
2. Bass

3. Drums

4. Reed 1 (alto sax, flute, clarinet, oboe)

. Horn 1 & 2 (covers parts of horn, cello, bass clarinet, trombone
books)

150 CHAPTER 7. EMERGENCY ARRANGING

6. Trumpet

7.8. EXAMPLE: GYPSY 151

Technology Resources

Technology
Resources

In the last 10 years, technology has streamlined almost every aspect of
the MD’s job—recruiting musicians, creating audition packets, running re-
hearsals, and creating practice tracks for singers. This appendix suggests
some of these uses.

ies ore @hareadre oa Oa eae aed 154
eo waiesirane pou weted 154
Babu gues 155
banetiars 156

A.5 Recruiting Musicians}................006. 157

154 APPENDIX A. TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES

A.1_ File Sharing

For keeping the cast and orchestra informed, as soon as the show is cast
I set up a free Google Group to which all
cast and crew subscribe. The group alias serves as a mailing list, and the
messages are automatically archived in case someone claims you never sent
that reminder about the upcoming rehearsal agenda.

I also create a folder in Google Drive to
post PDFs and MP3s of practice tracks, arrangement sheets, and the cast
contact list as a Google spreadsheet; conveniently, you can grant access
to the folder for the entire Google Group all at once, rather than having
to add each individual. (That’s one reason I use Google Drive rather than
similar services like Dropbox for this purpose; also Google Drive gives you a
generous amount of space for free, which is important when storing media
files that can get big quickly.)

For maintaining the rehearsal schedule and cast/crew contact list,
Google Drive documents are vastly superior to mailing around copies of
documents: you have a single online copy of each document that is always
up-to-date, and can even be viewed on cell phones when people are away
from their computers. If you rely on emailing schedules as attachments,
and sending a new email with a new attachment each time the schedule
changes, you will have at least one incident in which someone misses their
call time because they have an out-of-date copy of the schedule for some
reason. I am so sure of this that if you have a nontrivial rehearsal period
that avoids this problem despite relying on emailing attachments, I’ll give
you a free ticket to any show for which I’m Music Director or send you a
free copy of this book for a friend. OK, that’s not a huge prize, but still.

A.2_ High Speed Scanners

Many heavy-duty workplace copy machines now offer the option of scan-
ning a document to PDF or a similar format. If I need to mark up a copy
of something for an actor’s use, I find this method more convenient than
making physical photocopies, especially if my own copy of the book is al-

A.3. PRACTICE TRACKS AND “KARAOKE” TRACKS 155

ready marked up. If you don’t have access to such a machine, you can scan
documents using a flatbed scanner (slower), or, remarkably, take pictures
of document pages with a cell phone camera, which is slow but results in
very readable copies. Of course it would be tedious to capture an entire
score this way, but it’s great for making a “callback packet” consisting of a
few pages from the Conductor’s Score or script that can be uploaded as a
PDF file to the Google Drive folder, where auditioners can download and
print it at home. The Preview app on Mac computers lets you move pages
between PDF files by showing the Thumbnails view of each document; this
is a handy feature if you’ve scanned a handful of sheets from different songs
(for example, to make a callback packet) and want to put them into a single
PDF file that auditioners can download and print.

A.3 Practice Tracks and “Karaoke” Tracks

For recording practice tracks ahead of time, you can use a program such as
Audacity, which is an excellent open-source (free) audio recording program
that runs on Mac and Windows and lets you record from the mic built into
your laptop or from an inexpensive mic plugged into your PC. Or you can
just record to your smartphone. Either way, I always post the tracks as MP3
files in Google Drive so actors have immediate access.

I also use this method to record “karaoke” tracks, which can be used
during rehearsal when no pianist is available. A karaoke track contains
exactly what the rehearsal pianist would play for particular songs. If there
are tricky sections of songs, such as a 32-bar dance section that is likely
to require a lot of rehearsal, you can split that karaoke material into its
own track for convenience. If music is needed simultaneously for a vocal
rehearsal and a dance rehearsal, karaoke tracks are lifesavers; more than
once I’ve ended up recording an entire karaoke CD that could practically
be used to run the whole show in rehearsal if I’m absent. It takes the same
or less time than playing a full run rehearsal, and it can be used over and
over again.

Music Theater International, one of the “big four” US-based licensing

156 APPENDIX A. TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES

companies for musical theater works]"] now provides a “RehearScore” with
many of their shows—a MIDI file which, combined with a software-based
sequencer, can be used to generate karaoke tracks and certain vocal practice
tracks. I haven’t used these but my understanding is that the process of
turning the RehearScore disk into usable practice tracks is nontrivial and
time-consuming, so I’ve stuck with this lower-tech approach to date.

A.4 Music Notation, Transposition, Arranging

For notating arrangements, I use Finale (http://www.finalemusic.
\com/)—indeed, I used it for the examples in this book. This extremely

versatile program is available in a variety of levels, including a free
entry-level version (“NotePad”), a $50 intermediate version, a ridiculously
overfeatured professional version, and a free viewer program that can
view, play and print (but not edit) files created with any of the others. Even
the entry- and mid-level products are fine for the kind of work discussed
in this book. I have colleagues who use Sibelius, which is Finale’s main
competitor; I haven’t used it myself and I am not making any attempt to
compare the two, but it is likely that for the relatively straightforward
applications I’ve discussed, either would be fine. These programs have the
side benefit that you can simply generate PDF files of your arrangements,
and email these to musicians/actors or post them on a groups service. In
general, if you have just one simple arrangement (or transposition) to
do for one or two instruments, it may be faster to do it by hand, since
both Finale and Sibelius have steep learning curves; however, for anything
but the most trivial tasks, using such programs will save you time and
frustration in the long run, so it is worth getting familiar with them. The
most recent versions of these programs can even generate MP3 files of
your arrangements using synthetic instrument sounds. They also allow
you to connect a MIDI-capable keyboard and play melodies into them in
real time for transcription, but a lot of settings have to be tweaked in order
to get a usable result, so don’t assume this works magically.

1The others are Tams-Witmark, Samuel French, and Rodgers & Hammerstein.

A.5. RECRUITING MUSICIANS 157

A.5 Recruiting Musicians

At least in the Bay Area, Craigslist is pretty great for finding musicians when
you need a player who’s not in your existing social network. Since musi-
cians with pit experience are often reachable through my social network,
when I do an “open posting” I tend to target musicians who don’t have pit
experience but would be open to trying it out. Below is a sample posting
I used several years ago when I was just getting started MD’ing in the Bay
Area and didn’t yet have a large network from which to draw musicians.
(For that reason, I went out of my way to say something about the show.
When recruiting experienced musicians, my target recruits would not only
be familiar with the show but possibly also have played the book.)

SUMMARY: MUSICIANS WANTED (must be able to read music) for a
community theater staging of Stephen Sondheim’s "Company".
Drums, bass, 1 reed/wind, 1 string. Shows every weekend in
April, production week 3/29-4/1, orchestra rehearsals TBD
based on musicians’ availability.

THE DETAILS:

If you like musicals but have never played in a pit
(actually in this case, more of a "loft"), it’s a lot of fun
and this is a great opportunity. The Altarena Playhouse
(www.altarena.org) is a long-established (50+ years!)
community theater in Alameda and this spring we’re staging
Sondheim’s breakthrough show "Company". The show follows
permanent-bachelor Bobby, in his 30’s, who can’t seem to
make a commitment to anyone. Surrounded by his married
friends (who are always trying to set him up, but never seem
to approve of his girlfriends), Bobby defines the marriage
experience both in terms of what he sees in his friends’
relationships---good and bad---and in terms of his own

158 APPENDIX A. TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES

aloneness.
You can hear clips of the show’s songs at:
<I inserted a URL to Amazon.com album page here>

Since this is community theater, we all have day jobs so
this isn’t a for-pay gig (mine is
http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~fox), though we have modest
amounts of money to cover actual expenses, buy some dinners
for the orchestra, etc.

TIME COMMITMENT: 2 (or 3 if needed, which is unlikely)
orchestra-only rehearsals of 2-3 hours each, to be scheduled
at the convenience of the musicians; dress rehearsal Mar 29,
30, 31, and Apr 1; performances every Fri & Sat in April at
8pm, plus afternoon matinees on Sunday Apr 4 & 18.

If you have to miss 1 or 2 shows, we might be able to work
something out. If you can only do part of the shows, let me
know, since I may be able to split the shows among two sets
of musicians.

All performances and dress rehearsals are at Altarena
Playhouse in Alameda; we can arrange transportation from
Fruitvale BART. Orchestra-only rehearsals may be held at
another location in the City or East Bay if that’s better
for all of you.

4 MUSICIANS NEEDED (in addition to piano/conductor; that’s me)
to play a reduction of the full score:

Bass - electric preferred. Bonus if you can strum simple

A.5. RECRUITING MUSICIANS 159

chords on acoustic guitar.
Alto (pref.) or tenor sax or clarinet. A plus if you can
handle both sax and clar; a BIG plus if you also play some

simple flute lines.

Drums - there’s room for a fairly compact 3 or 4 pc set.
Must be able to read drum charts.

Violin or viola

160 APPENDIX A. TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES

A.5. RECRUITING MUSICIANS 161

Closing Thoughts

The modern musical is a quintessentially American art form. While its roots
lie in opera, it was the English-language light-opera works of Gilbert & Sul-
livan that were economically viable to produce in colonial America, starting
musicals on the path to attracting a popular audience. The subsequent in-
fluence of vaudeville and jazz (themselves American contributions) made it
acceptable and even expected for musical theater to feature popular music
styles. The “book musical,” foreshadowed by Show Boat in 1927 and defini-
tively established by Oklahoma! in 1943, made it acceptable and even ex-
pected for the songs to serve a story about characters and situations, rather
than the other way around. Since then, the combination of music acces-
sible to a popular audience but driven by the needs of a good story has
produced eight musicals] that have won the Pulitzer Prize for drama—a
distinction historically awarded to “serious” plays—and many others that
have won dramatic acclaim. When I started Music Directing, I missed out
on this combination by focusing almost entirely on the technical aspects of
getting the music right; only later did I become involved in the dramatic
aspects of the job, by working with enlightened stage directors. Great mu-
sicals, in other words, not only have something substantive to say, but (in
my opinion) they can say it more potently because they can employ music,
lyrics, and dance as well as spoken dialogue.

Of course, not every show you do has to be a Pulitzer or Drama Desk

2 Of Thee I Sing, 1932; South Pacific, 1950; Fiorello!, 1960; How To Succeed in Business
Without Really Trying, 1962; A Chorus Line, 1976; Sunday in the Park with George, 1984; Rent,
1996; and Next to Normal, 2010.

164 APPENDIX A. TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES

contender with a serious message; some shows are just plain fun to do.
I hope this book makes those shows even more fun by smoothing the re-
hearsal process and helping you polish the performances to perfection. And
when you do get involved with a show that has something substantial to
say, I hope the information in this book not only helps you appreciate the
ability of musicals to carry such a message, but also inspires you to com-
municate that message to audiences for whom “musical” is perhaps synony-
mous with “jukebox” or “revue.” When you do that, you will have created
something new, and the audience will remember it.

Look, I made a hat ... where there never was a hat.

—Stephen Sondheim, Sunday in the Park with George

Bibliography

Boland et al.: Musicals: Directing School and Community Theatre

Robert Boland and Paul Argentini. Musicals: Directing School and Commu-
nity Theatre. Lanham, MD, and London: Scarecrow Press, 1997.

Abstract: A good step-by-step to putting together a musical, aimed primar-
ily at the same kind of audience I’m aiming for. The kind of book to which
the present one would be a good companion. If you’re interested in what
your counterparts on the production staff have to do for “the show to go
on,” this is a good overview of the problems that arise and practical ap-
proaches to solving them.

Boyd: Rehearsal Guide for the Choral Director

Jack Boyd. Rehearsal Guide for the Choral Director. West Nyack, NY: Parker
Publishing Co., Inc., 1970.

Abstract: A book that attempts to do for the high-school choir director
what mine attempts to do for the first-time Music Director. Full of great
ideas about running rehearsals, auditioning singers, teaching singers, and
keeping their attention focused during the learning of difficult pieces. An
essential for the Music Director’s bookshelf, in my opinion.

Campbell: Technical Theater For Nontechnical People

Drew Campbell. Technical Theater For Nontechnical People. Allworth Press,
1999.

166 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abstract: If you want to understand the technical aspects of putting a show
on, this belongs on your bookshelf. Realistically, very little of it will di-
rectly impact the Music Director’s work (unless you need to mic the orches-
tra), but I find it’s useful and interesting to understand what is involved in
putting on the whole show.

Grote: Staging The Musical: Organizing, Planning, and Rehearsing the
Amateur Production

David Grote. Staging The Musical: Organizing, Planning, and Rehearsing the
Amateur Production. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1986.

Abstract: A great starting point for the creative team staging their first mu-
sical; does for the rest of the production staff what I’ve tried to do for the
MD. The material in the present book can be considered a supplement to
Grote’s book. Also contains excellent suggestions on selecting a show given
your talent and budget constraints, and so on.

Lamb: Choral Techniques

Gordon H. Lamb. Choral Techniques. Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown Company
Publishers, 1974.

Abstract: Aimed at the director of a semi-pro choir, but has some good
suggestions for vocal warm-up exercises and for auditioning singers. I tried
to capture the highlights of the audition techniques but this book is well
worth a read.

McElheran: Conducting Technique: For Beginners And Professionals

Brock McElheran. Conducting Technique: For Beginners And Professionals.
2nd Revised Ed. New York, 2005.

Abstract: This is a great no-nonsense concise book on conducting, covering
both the basics and tricky situations. If you read only one book on this topic,
this is the one. The original 1966 edition is just as good.

Novak: Staging Musical Theatre

Elaine Adams Novak. Staging Musical Theatre. 1st ed. Cincinnati, OH: Bet-
terway Books, 1996.

Abstract: This is a good all-around guide to getting your first show up, since
it covers show selection, production, direction, choreography, the audition
and rehearsal process, and more. It also has an extensive bibliography on
various aspects of musical theater production and a useful glossary of terms
used in musical theater production.

Sebesky: The Contemporary Arranger, Definitive Edition

Don Sebesky. The Contemporary Arranger, Definitive Edition. Alfred Publish-
ing Company, 1984.

Abstract: With a focus on arranging for medium-to-large bands, this book
discusses both the artistic aspects of arranging—voicing, combining instru-
mental timbres, and so on—and the technical ones, such as what figures or
notes are hard or impossible to play on certain instruments. Unique to the
book is a handful of annotated anti-examples explaining how NOT to do
something.

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