Overly Loud Show Orchestra

[cprted]

Don't know how many of you do play an instrument, but the play quieter things is easier said then done. You can do it, but you lose a lot of the tonal qualities of the instrument when you do that. With a stringed instrument, you get a completely different sound with played with a lighter bow, the amount of resonance and vibrato you can achieve becomes much less. This then "dulls" the sound. There is a reason that musicians want to play loud, it sounds better. Also, when you play louder, dynamics are able to come out more. With brass and woodwinds this become even more difficult.

Now, they should not be obscenely loud, but at the same time they are not going to be extremely quiet as well.

Being able to play quietly while maintaining good tone quality is one of the (many) differences between professional and amateur musicians. It is always the orchestra's responsibility to play under the soloist(s). It doesn't matter if its a 15 piece show band playing under actors or a 110 piece symphony orchestra playing under a single violinist, if the soloist(s) can't be heard, its the orchestra's problem. Is playing soft and delicate while trying to ensure that 850 people in the audience can still hear you easy? No, it isn't, but it needs to be done: In the professional world anyway (I spent the last three years playing in a pro symphony orchestra).

Obviously the OP isn't in the professional world and the goals of putting on a quality show and providing educational benefit to students sometimes (often) conflict with each other. The music director's desire to triple up on parts would indicate that (s)he is looking behind door number 2 while the OP wants door number 1. There is only so much you can do in those situations, especially if the OP is a student and the Music Director is a teacher. There are some good ideas in this thread for you to suggest through the appropriate channels, but at the end of the day, it will be what it will be. There are some things that are going to be out of your control and the only thing you can do is act professional and do the best job you can under the circumstances that you've been given. Keep your chin up, there is life after high school.

 

[arik52]

Okay, so it's pretty much official, the orchestra will be in the pit. They're still considering building some sort of barrier out of pvc piping and medium weight black cloth to absorb more sound, but that's not certain. They're going to be downsizing a bunch of the number to small wind ensembles or one on a part, or as small as just the piano, which is great. We're also moving them as far out in the pit from the stage as possible, because while this will make them louder to the audience, they won't get picked up by the hanging mics as much. Hopefully this will solve a lot of the problem.

 

[elite1trek]

Originally Posted by Footer View Post
Don't know how many of you do play an instrument, but the play quieter things is easier said then done. You can do it, but you lose a lot of the tonal qualities of the instrument when you do that. With a stringed instrument, you get a completely different sound with played with a lighter bow, the amount of resonance and vibrato you can achieve becomes much less. This then "dulls" the sound. There is a reason that musicians want to play loud, it sounds better. Also, when you play louder, dynamics are able to come out more. With brass and woodwinds this become even more difficult.

Now, they should not be obscenely loud, but at the same time they are not going to be extremely quiet as well.

Being able to play quietly while maintaining good tone quality is one of the (many) differences between professional and amateur musicians. It is always the orchestra's responsibility to play under the soloist(s). It doesn't matter if its a 15 piece show band playing under actors or a 110 piece symphony orchestra playing under a single violinist, if the soloist(s) can't be heard, its the orchestra's problem. Is playing soft and delicate while trying to ensure that 850 people in the audience can still hear you easy? No, it isn't, but it needs to be done: In the professional world anyway (I spent the last three years playing in a pro symphony orchestra).

Your both right, but this is a high school, and musicians in high school may or may not be good enough to play softly while maintaining tonal and dynamic quality.

In a perfect world, the pit bands would be 10-20 people, and they would need to be mic'd, because they play too softly.

As for solving the problem, and this is going to sound crazy, but I have seen it done. Build a mattress fort. Put mattresses on 3 sides, and leave the top open, and the back open. I don't know if this would work for your situation and venue, but it worked when I saw it.

EDIT: And then, if you ever do Once Upon a Matress, you will have a head start.

 

[plastical]

Hey,

I had a similar problem recently. We put on Hot Mikado with actors ages 15-19. Very nice voices, but not very mature, and music for mikado is a jazz band playing full blast 85% of the time. We had the band (about 15, with professionals) up on a raised scaffold above the set. The theatre is small (no dimensions, sorry), with little to dampen the accoustics (no curtains, hard seats, etc. Sounds a bit grey, but hard to explain ). You simply couldn't hear the actors. We had 10 radio mics and two crown PCCs. The band was micd for balance, but we only ended up putting out piano and clarinet. The rest was so loud it was impossible to mic. The Director has no idea about sound or music, and the MD (despite being a trained vocal coach) is awkward and refuses to have the band playing quieter, whilst continually demanding more and more into the mixes for his monitors!

So tech rehearsal done, we can't hear the actors. Super. Two days 'till opening night. What do we do? A large plexi-glass style piece of acrylic, 1cm thick, bent in a semi-circle shape across the front of the scaffolding, forming a barrier. It was a lot better! The only downside was we had to get an industrial fan and 30cm dia tube and pump air up there for them XD

Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes.