Playing West Side Story with small pit orchestra

[trumpeter27]

I've recently been hired to play WSS with a pit orchestra of less than 10 players. I will be the only trumpet and I believe there will be 2 reeds and one trombone, no horn. The music director has made it clear that she wants "all the important parts covered". I'm assuming that to mean I will have to try to cover any important parts in the other trumpet parts and horn (probably on flugel).

Is there anyone else out there that has performed WSS in a similar situation and can provide advice what parts in the other books need to be covered? I'm also guessing that some of the "screamer" parts would sound pretty ridiculous without the backing of a bigger orchestra.

Better yet, has anyone previously created their own trumpet part for this kind of situation and would be willing to share it? I'm definitely willing to pay. This would save me a lot of work.
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[Arranger-Transcriber]

Perhaps she means "Play the cues." Would she be asking everyone to cover all the important parts? Sounds like a guessing game.

She has a score and should recognize what parts need to be covered. Moreover, it seems to me that if there are important parts she wants covered, she should be the one writing inserts and assigning them to the players she has.

Maybe my remarks haven't helped you in the least, but I'd start with having a conversation with her and asking for clarification.

[homebilly]

I'm with AT on this.

your job description and pay grade is for a trumpeter not clairvoyant horn arranger.

that is something that gets my goat. you get on a gig, well paid or not and the parts if there are parts are just a mess. you have an MD that is completely useless and YOU end up saving the rehearsal because YOU fixed the parts. I sometimes redo my parts in Finale and refuse to hand them over at the end of the gig without being paid for them. they can keep their napkins with scribbled notes and I'll keep my beautifully copied parts for next time.
if there is a next time........

I just don't get it. how can you call yourself a band leader and not have good charts?

sorry about the slightly OT rant

I'll start another thread for that one day but for now I am waiting for delivery of a shipping prepaid $50 trumpet to arrive .......



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[wilcox96]

If your group gets all the books with the rental (and depending on which version of the show you receive), then you'll be able to piece together what you need from both trumpet books. Mostly, you'll be fine with the first book, with the exception being the D trumpet parts that "can" be found in the 2nd book (again, version specific).

As for covering things like French horn...I don't know. I think you'll have plenty to do with the trumpet parts! Just do the best you can with what you have. Yes, it's going to sound thin..no way around it. Best of luck. You'll enjoy some nice music on the journey.
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[cheiden]

I do lots of musical theater with a reduced orchestra. Without a herculean effort the most you can expect to do is incorporate a few of the parts from the 2nd and 3rd books into your own which only amounts to one tiny solo and a couple of entrances where the 1st is tacit.
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[Druyff]

West side story sounds like an awefully fun piece to play.
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[John Mohan]

The 1st and 2nd Trumpet books are one and the same (Double-Staved) so bouncing back and forth if needed should be fairly easy. You'll probably be asked to cover the beautiful French Horn solo (on the "Somewhere" theme) during the Overture so a Flügelhorn would be handy to have along.

Concerning the D Trumpet Parts: For the most part (pardon the pun), the D trumpet parts written into the 2nd Trumpet book should be ignored if you are the one and only trumpet in the pit. The reason is, during those D parts, the 1st book is playing the all-important melody. The D part just has some of the melody notes up an octave from the 1st Book (with rests during the rest of the melody notes). If one was to play the 2nd Book D part in those areas instead of the 1st Book it would sound weird. (Of course, if one is a real He-Man, one could play the 1st part melody up an octave and by doing so, cover the melody and the high notes). Here's the page from the Prologue I'm referring to:



I think the Big Band Shout chorus and the Latin Solo in "Dance Hall Sequence" (D.H.S.) and other "scream" parts from the 1st Trumpet book should be played up in their proper register, even with smaller instrumentation - it'll sound fine (as long as you have the ability and confidence to play those parts without two other trumpet players playing under you). There's some fast, intricate stuff somewhere in Act 2 in the 3rd Trumpet book as well that's important.

One curious anomaly I noticed in the 1st/2nd book is at the bottom of the 7th page of the Dance Hall Sequence, the 1st part is directed to switch to D Trumpet - but unlike the earlier spot where the 2nd trumpet is directed to go to D Trumpet with the requisite key change, the 1st book doesn't change the key on the 8th page where the D trumpet is supposedly supposed to be used. Do they expect the 1st player to transpose? They don't expect that of the 2nd player where he is switched to D trumpet. (Note that in modern times, players use a Bb Piccolo trumpet for the D parts so they have to transpose anyway).

All in all, good luck with this!

My West Side Story experience is from playing the show in Basel, Switzerland at the Musical Theater Basel from 2002 - 2003 (with a full Pit Orchestra - 3 Trumpets and I think 22 total in the Pit). Best Musical experience of my life.

Best wishes,

John Mohan
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[cheiden]

I just did run of WSS recently and the version from MTI had 3 separate trumpet parts. No D trumpet in the 1st part. The 2nd part does call for D in the Prologue, the Mambo, the Rumble, 2 changes of Scene, and the Taunting Scene but Bb works just fine. Our lead tried them on a D and it really didn't add anything so he abandoned it.
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Bach 3C rim on 1.5C underpart

[Craig Swartz]

I played lead in a month's run 30 years ago and would love to do it again, with the full number of winds and brass. Last summer I did Guys and Dolls in a very reduced pit gig and had to cover both parts since there are important solos going on in both all the time. In some of the dances it'd be horn on the face for quite a while, pop in a plunger here, take it out and change staves to cover another, then plunger back in. The director was talking about WWS next summer but I don't think I want the hassle of this again. There was no pay consideration for covering both parts, as well as faking in other missing things that sounded like crap on the keyboards alone. Anyone know if there is a reduced version of WWS by now? Ought to be popular- there are plenty of gangs.

[Brian Moore]

It depends on the show and the MD as to how helpful I'll be with trying to cover other parts. If it's a boring show then I'll often ask for the horn book, and sometimes the oboe, if I'm on 2nd tpt. Worst show of the lot was Thoroughly Modern Millie, where I ended up with tpt 2, tpt 3, tromb 2, french horn and oboe, but generally if the MD needs stuff cuing in, I'll expect him to help with the task of knowing which book to check.

Sometimes it just feels like a day off to play from one book, and not have to negotiate cuts and reprises from previous numbers for the bows and exit music.

[John Mohan]

One more tip: There are some fast mute changes in the 1st book. At times I used a second trumpet with the mute already in it in my lap. Then I could play with one trumpet one-handed and bring the other trumpet up next to my face ready to go - faster and easier than trying to switch mutes.

WSS in Basel:



That's my good friend Kerry Hughes next to me. He nailed the daylights out of the 2nd Trumpet book 8 times a week. Among his other credits is playing 2nd trumpet for Yanni. Yanni seemed to go through a lead trumpet player a week at times, but Kerry always held his job. Another Claude Gordon student, by the way...

[trpthrld]

Assuming that you have not yet received the book, there's a good chance you'll get the published "reduced score" version of WSS. This will have Trpt 1 & 2 in the same book. It will be clearly copied (I think on Finale and not the hand copy like in John's post), and it will have all the important 3rd trumpet cues already written in, along with cues from other instruments.

I did that version 14 years ago, where not only was I the sole trumpet player...I was the sole wind & string player, too! That show was piano (a real one, not a synth), bass, drums, and me. So I played all the cues + the trumpet stuff.

Had a BLAST doing it, too.

it was all Bb trumpet, the "D" part had been transposed already.

This is from another threat on WSS, but the "D" trumpet was purely Bernstein's idea. He thought he would like the sound, but during rehearsals he decided he didn't care for the change, and everything was then played on Bb.
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[trpthrld]

[american boy]

I just finished a bunch of weekend shows of "And the world goes round"..the music of Kender and Ebb and the company I did it for had a budget for trumpet only..the original had trumpet & sax/clarinet/whatever double ,and man did it feel lonely playing that stuff..I like a challenge but even when nailed,it sounded like sh...lonely..I subbed a few times for Liza over the years,and had a lot of those tunes in my head with 3 or 4 tpts,3 t bones,sax section.. SAD!!!

[ktag]

I've played 3 different productions of WSS over the years. The most fun one, by far, was the first one I did with the full original instrumentation at Elgin Community College outside of Chicago. They put together a great orchestra (it's a small music program, so it was almost all pros) and it was a awesome to be part of all that great music.

My most recent production was ... thinner. Keys, guitar, drums, and 1 trumpet. No strings, no woodwinds, not even a second keyboard partier. It was NOT fun. Haha

I've also played LOTS of regional theater productions where they want you to piece together a part from all the brass books. I always start with the trumpet 1 book and then add in solos from the bone and horn books on flugel. It doesn't have to be too big a chore, especially if you transpose well.

Another thing to think of as you put together your book is that you DON'T need to play every note in the trumpet book. Especially things like upbeat "rhythm" parts are probably going to be covered by the keys and can sound silly without the harmony. In these small pit scenarios I try not to play things that aren't melodic unless it's really necessary for some reason.
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Kevin

[trumpeter27]

Thanks everyone for the great input! I haven't received the book from the MD yet because I'm out of town on vacation. The MD doesn't seem to know if they rented the full orchestra version or the reduced version from MTI (not a good sign). The first rehearsal is a week from today. We'll see how that goes before I decide if I need to make any demands of the MD about the consolidation of parts. Fortunately I have an old copy of the original 1st trumpet book to practice from.
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Gene Boyle
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[RandyTX]

[bike&ed]

I played 2nd on a reduced version a few years ago (with 2 trumpets, 1 trombone, no horn), it was fun. For some reason it was even more "screamy" than the original score, with the 1st part going up to written 4-line G's in moving lines in a few numbers that I had definitely not heard in the movies. The 1st player was excellent though! He tried picc in Bb and A for the dance solo, I don't recall which one he settled on, but he sounded great on both sides. I got to do some nice flugel pedal lines to cover what had been horn parts, I found that quite enjoyable as well.

[John Mohan]

Here, all you need to know about WSS:

http://youtu.be/j3aegrEZc_8?t=1m27s

I recorded a bunch of excerpts from several Musicals a few years ago. The above ques right to the WSS stuff.