It’s the Pits!
It’s musical season at the high school, and I have once again been tapped to play the drum set for Shrek: The Musical!
The drum set is at the school, and I finally found a place to set it up. AHowever, the pit has an issue of sorts. The orchestra is typically housed in the pit, but of course, this means that the pit must be opened. I had the opportunity today to attempt and lift a smaller portion of the pit floor with the assistance of one of the members of the staff who have helped with the pit before. Let’s just say, these pit floors are by no means light.
My friend let me know that there are several pieces that need to be installed first, as well as installed precisely, or else the entire structure will have to be removed in order to set the pieces back in proper orientation for the whole structure to fit in the opening. It’s almost like setting a cornerstone.
One of the problems is that the clips that hold these panels in place have broken over the years, so the last three or so boards are just going to be left as is so that the rest of the pit cover can be installed correctly. On the plus side, the floor can be reinstalled. The downside is that there will be less room for the orchestra.
Guns ‘n Roses, or Hooves ‘n Noses?
Shrek is a play about the plight of fairy tale characters, so of course, you have to have a great cast of characters with over the top costumes. A few of the ideas tossed around were hooves for Donkey. The hooves have handles on the inside. I had to make it fit my build plate. One set of donkey hooves worked out to be around $40 which I think might have been too steep for the drama department, but it was quite a large piece!
The other part that did end up getting printed was a Pinnochio nose. Below is the face plate. The nose itself can grow and shrink, similar to a star wars light saber toy. This print wound up being around $20 for the mask and nose combo.
Orchestra Practice
On Thursday, we finally got the orchestra together and held our first practice from 6-9PM. 3 hours is a long time, even longer when this is the first time you have seen the music! Also, some of the notes I was looking at were not making much sense. We’se got slashes, eighth notes with no notes, all sorts of made up time signatures…. It’s like whoever wrote this musical thought they were writing it for a fairy tale orchestra!
If you don’t know how to read drum set sheet music, you are not alone! Its a little different compared to other instruments that have notes on a scale. Here is a summary of how to read drum set notation from School Of Rock for orchestra or bands. The trick part is that it is not very consistent. Sometimes the X means high hat. Other times, shakers! Oh, here the X means to play the bell of the ride cymbal! You honestly never know whats coming sometimes, especially when the song is 6 or 7 pages long, and switches instruments after a furious page turn.
Life is not easy in the pit, y’all.
If you have ever participated in a play or a musical, either as a actor, stage crew, musician, director, or anything else, let me know down in the comments which ones you were in, or let me know what your favorite was!
