Playing In a Musical Theater Setting

[tptLad]

I'm a high school sophomore hoping to get into the business of playing trumpet in a musical theater pit orchestra setting. I was wondering what specific techniques I should work on and what extra pieces of gear I need. To get better-informed responses, here is a little bio of my musical life...

I started on keys at the age of 5, and have been working hard on that, but, in the musical theater world, keys books are boring unless you are the keyboard 1/conductor. I picked up trumpet because I wanted to be a part of band in 6th grade. That lasted a whole 6 months because then the world ended, and like everything else, band was canceled. I picked up the horn again in the fall of my 8th grade year, this time playing with what is now my high school concert band (I had been invited to play keys for marching season, but had to switch instruments for concert band). At this point, I have been playing anywhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours every day. A portion of that time is typically spent reading the lead books from my favorite musicals. I would just go ask my high school musical director if I could play in their pit, however I am currently performing in the spring musical and the fall musical conflicts with marching season. My current playable upper register stretches from G on top of the staff to D above the staff depending on the day, and I am second chair in concert, jazz, and marching.

Any tips on specific things to work on?
_________________
"Life is a lot like jazz… it's better when you improvise." - George Gershwin

[tptLad]

*Fingers crossed Tim replies*
_________________
"Life is a lot like jazz… it's better when you improvise." - George Gershwin

[acritzer]

Very generic advice....You'll need to be able to play in a wide variety of styles. You'll need to be a good reader. You'll probably need a wide variety of mutes.

Other than that I'd say that normal skills in musicality will be important. Blending with different instruments, different size groups, adjusting to the musical directors requests etc. etc. I'm by no means a pro, but I do play a fair number of paid gigs, usually on the smaller scale.

[kehaulani]

Get as much experience as you can.

And, frankly, if you sacrifice playing for a theatrical situation for marching band, I would question your commitment to "pit playing".

Maybe your choice is to have fun in both, robbing Peter to pay Paul and that's alright. Just, if you want to master one. you better get on with it.
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"If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird

Yamaha 8310Z Bobby Shew trumpet
Benge 3X Trumpet
Benge 3X Cornet
Adams F-1 Flghn

[zaferis]

Lessons, of course, and if you can, find a teacher that does play musicals. - Might get you a sub spot or introductions.

Playing - sight read your butt off! in all keys.. Play in time! ("pit" time may seem different than "band" time - on top of the beat) learn how to count rests. Have a sense of a wide variety of styles - shows often run through a mix of musical genres. Get real fast at learning what's going on around you, absorb a ton of musical information in minimal rehearsal time. (often the orchestra comes in after the cast has been working for weeks or months).. And dynamics, play soft - easy for a trumpet to bury a singer, cast - especially with community groups, and where pit positioning is questionable. Work on transposition skills - sometimes keys get changed to accommodate a singer - nice to be able to just do it without the need of writing out the part.

Work on being consistent and accurate. Show up on time (early), prepared and ready to go.

Scour your area and find some shows to play - there may be community or school groups that would like your involvement (it may not pay at all at first)

As far a gear - your Bb and a set of mutes (good ones) for starters. flugelhorn is an often need, but you can get by without. Piccolo trumpet on rare occasions, but I wouldn't stress about that until you're deep into playing shows. A good trumpet stand, mute rack, and stand light (often provided - having one that is of high quality and variable brightness is adventageous)
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[astadler]

[tptLad]

[tptLad]

[kehaulani]

He said. " the fall musical conflicts with marching season." I assume that has nothing to do with his opting out of marching band meaning that he can't participate in the musical, since they occur simultaneously.

BTAIM, is a compromise possible? What if you explain the situation to your drama teacher and ask him/her to ask the band director to excuse you from marching band during the drama department's musical production?
_________________
"If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird

Yamaha 8310Z Bobby Shew trumpet
Benge 3X Trumpet
Benge 3X Cornet
Adams F-1 Flghn

[Mike Sailors]

[tptLad]

[zaferis]

[tptLad]

[Quadstriker]

Do not worry about going out and buying a bunch of gear as a high school player.

[Mike Sailors]

[Dayton]

My experience with musicals is limited, so I'll limit my input to mutes. As others have stated, you need a number of types of mutes, and those mutes need to be of high quality. Importantly, you also need to know how to use the mutes properly.

For mutes where you can shave/file the corks, have you done so appropriately for your trumpet? What happens to your intonation when you use that particular mute? You need to know how to adjust for that quickly.

Incorporate mutes into your practice routine. Work on adjusting intonation on the fly, making fast mute changes, etc. Those are skills that can easily be developed.

Mutes like the Harmon (stem in, stem extended, stem out) and plunger have effects/techniques associated with their use. Learn them.

Good luck!

[trpthrld]

I have a doctors appointment I need to head off to - getting stitches removed from my 6th and 7th trigger finger surgeries. Occupational hazard.

I'll reply to this topic in more detail later today.
_________________
Tim Wendt

www.trumpetherald.com/marketplace.php?task=detail&id=146827&s=The-Best-Trumpet-Lead-Pipe-Swab-EVER--

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPWAJqghk24&feature=youtu.be

[kehaulani]

Isn't this thread just aa little bit of overkill? The young man's a H.S. sophomore who's only looming opportunity is with a school musical that he's not even going to play in. A set of high-quality mutes that you can customize? A flugelhorn? How about learning to play your horn?
_________________
"If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird

Yamaha 8310Z Bobby Shew trumpet
Benge 3X Trumpet
Benge 3X Cornet
Adams F-1 Flghn

[dschwab]

Yeah, basically the most important thing you should be doing is listening to music. And not cast albums, actual music. Shows are usually imitations of jazz or pop or classical, not the real thing. Listen to as much music as you can and soak it up. You need to be comfortable playing convincingly in any style.

You don't need any gear you wouldn't need for any other genre.

[trpthrld]

This is long...but I think addresses the OPs questions.

All of the following are purely my opinion based on my experience, an experience that extends over 51 years of playing in pits. In fact - this Friday I start my 298th musical / opera / review.

At times it may read like I am belittling high school musicians. I am not. I'm just being honest, again based on my experience of having played with multitudes of high school student musicians

Playing in pits can be both very challenging and very rewarding. The majority of my success comes from following the two rules below:

1. Never play at a volume where you can not clearly hear what is happening on stage. When I started (last century), singers had to belt and actors had to project. The only microphones were down by the footlights. These days, everybody wears wireless microphones, meaning everything on stage is amplified. But that rule still needs to be followed.

2. Everything that comes from the pit is intentional to support and/or enhance what is happening on stage.

And because this reply is aimed at a high school trumpet player, I need to add in a 3rd rule:

3. There are no high school trumpet playing heroes in pits.

You must play with complete honesty in regards to your skills and capabilities. If that means playing something down an octave so that it is clean and consistent every time you play, that’s exactly what it means. There’s nothing worse than hearing a high school trumpet player try to play things that are far beyond his capabilities. It detracts from the entire company involved, and it detracts from the audiences’ enjoyment of the performance. Always be honest with yourself.

A couple of musicals that would be ideal to play for your first few times in pits would be The Sound of Music, Camelot, My Fair Lady and South Pacific. If your first pit experience is something like Legally Blonde or Shrek....good luck!

Equipment. First and foremost is a mechanical pencil and a separate extendable eraser. I strongly recommend the pencil be a 9mm lead. The reasons are it marks darker, it marks easier, and it’s easier to erase. PenTel makes the best mechanical pencils and extendable erasers. You must have those in a pit. Don’t even think that borrowing your neighbor’s or your section mate’s will cut it. You need one of your very own - as do they. Sharing wastes time and shows lack of responsibility.

Horn-wise, at this point in your playing career the only thing you need is a B-flat trumpet that plays well and is mechanically sound. That means that the main tuning slide along with your 1st and 3rd valve slides work smooth and easily.

You do not need a flugel or piccolo trumpet at this time. In fact, until you become solidly accomplished on your main trumpet, stay away from piccolo. It will only frustrate you and will compound problems.

Flugel options are mentioned below.

Mutes. When a composer or orchestrator writes the trumpet parts and wants a section to be muted, they have a certain sound in their mind.

Others will have different opinions, but for me, you cannot go wrong with:

1. A metal straight mute. I prefer the Charles Davis straight mutes. Aluminum, brass or copper bottom. Depending on how you play it, it produces many color options, which are very desirable.

2. Cup mute. The Humes & Berg “Stoneline” cup is the sound you want. One with a fixed - not adjustable - cup.

3. Harmon mute with stem. Ya can’t go wrong with a JoRal aluminum or copper Bubble mute. Those create the “shimmer” that orchestrators want to hear when they mark the section for Harmon. And they sound like a true Harmon mute should. Keep that stem! The majority of your Harmon work will be without the stem, but there are shows that call for Harmon with stem, and both Harmon with and without stem. Harmon with stem is also a nice option for something marked for Solo Tone mute.

You will most likely need to adjust your main tuning slide when using a Harmon.

Using a rubber stopper or cork (both with a 1/4" hole drilled thru) in your Harmon will make an ideal practice mute.

4. Plunger. Home Depot / Lowe’s / Harbor Freight / Walmart are where you want to go. Go to the plumbing section and get a plunger that is about five inches wide at the bottom. As far as plunger goes - that will do you perfectly for the rest of your career. Should be less than $10.00.

5. Bucket Mute. The EZ Bucket is what you want. This will also cover anything marked for flugel. www.theeazybucket.com/

6. Solo Tone. IMO, Frank Huber makes the best Solo Tone available. You will most likely need to adjust your main tuning slide when using a Solo Tone.

Frank Huber Mutes. Although above I mentioned a metal straight and the Humes and Berg cup mute, in place of those I would strongly recommend you get a set of Frank Huber mutes. Those are what I’m using now. The prices don’t reflect how well his mutes play.

https://www.fhubermusic.com/

I think his straight has an ideal sound and the pitch is spot on. Both models of his cup mutes - fixed and adjustable - have the desirable sound. I would suggest get the fixed cup - less things to worry about in the pit.

And of the three options he gives, get the cup with the flat rim. It most closely recreates the Stoneline cup sound.

You need a mute rack. Highly recommend the Broadway Mute Mate, available on eBay. You can expand the number mute rings as needed with that particular rack and the rings are adjustable to fit the mutes the way you want them to fit.

I personally do not care for the Hercules mute rack.

A trumpet stand. There are many many options on this. I prefer the Pack-A-Stand trumpet stand and the Spyder stands for both my flugel and piccolo. Don’t get the Spyder with a flugel top-knob. The trumpet stand will work perfectly AND you won’t get the opportunity to mistakenly try to put your trumpet on the flugel stand. No matter how much you push down on it - it will not fit. You’ll only damage your trumpet.

Often horn changes come fast and furious so you don’t want to be thinking about “Where is my specific-for-flugel stand?”

How to prepare for playing in pits.

One of the big things I enjoy about playing in pits is the variety of musical styles that I might get the chance to play. Familiarity with different styles is an absolute must. How do you get that familiarity? You need to listen and listen hard.

The best teaching tool probably ever invented has been youtube. You can listen and watch just about anything you want. Almost every Original Broadway Cast Recording (OBCR) is available on youtube. But be aware that those recordings are purely to show off the singers. Other than the Overture, seldom will the pit be featured on an OBCR. The tunes from a show will most likely have been edited down for time. The chance that you might get to hear an extended dance break on an OBCR are very slim.

But fret not! Also on youtube are many complete productions of musicals. Some will be better than others. And some will use pre-recorded tracks. Any of those would give you an idea of what the music is supposed to sound like. You’ll get to hear tempos and hopefully correct style played.

Playing correct style means paying very close attention to articulation, phrasing, dynamics, balance and blend.

You’ll also need to learn how to properly mark any edits in the book. I have yet to have played a perfectly "pure" show with absolutely no marks in a book. Every production I’ve done has had their own little things they’ve wanted to do, and that meant making changes to the book . Clarity/legibility and brevity are the keys to correctly marking a book. I won’t go into the details - that’s for another topic thread.

All of the above having been said, the biggest thing you can bring with you into a pit is a good attitude towards playing the music (and playing it correctly), being part of a team and getting along with everyone involved with the production. This extends far beyond the edge of the pit.

All of this is what I tell my students when they ask about playing in pits. Feel free to Zelle me $100 for this lesson.
_________________
Tim Wendt

www.trumpetherald.com/marketplace.php?task=detail&id=146827&s=The-Best-Trumpet-Lead-Pipe-Swab-EVER--

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPWAJqghk24&feature=youtu.be