Woodwind Doubling

If you ever need to know the woodwind doubles in any given broadway show, I just found a great resource, compiled by Bret Pimentel (woodwinds):

Woodwind Doubling in Broadway Musicals

Interview with Gene Sholtens, Broadway Woodwind Doubler

Woodwind Doublers on the Web - and their blogs

Music Directing Online Book

Hey, someone's written a book on music directing!  Here's a great online resource for music directors from a man of many talents, Armando Fox:

"So They Talked You Into Being Music Director ( A Cheat Sheet, Survival Guide, and Tales From the Pit)"

Contents
0.1 About the Author

1 Who This Book Is For
1.1 Map of This Book

I Pre-Production
2 Planning And Logistics
2.1 What’s In The Box
2.2 The Conductor’s Score
2.3 Instrumentation: Types of Ensembles
2.4 Instrumentation on a Shoestring
2.5 Electronic Instruments
2.6 Scheduling and Timeline
3 Auditions
3.1 Provide Instructions to Auditioners
3.2 First Round Auditions: Range, Tone, Pitch Retention, Rhythm
3.3 Making Callback Choices
3.4 Tips to Auditioners for a Successful Audition

II Working With Actors and Singers
4 Teaching the Music
4.1 Scheduling and Running Vocal Rehearsals
4.2 Practice Tracks For At-Home Preparation
4.3 Pitch and Interval Training
4.4 Passing/Neighbor Tones vs. the Long Line
4.5 Variable-Stress Practice
4.6 No Obvious Starting Pitch
4.7 Teaching Harmonies and Counterpoint
4.8 Tricky Rhythms
4.9 Tips for Running Successful Vocal Rehearsals
4.10 Summary and Checklist
5 Diction
5.1 Diction Basics
5.2 Vowels and Consonants
5.3 Diction and Rhythm
5.4 Tempo
5.5 Dynamics
5.6 Polishing Away Easily-Avoided Pitfalls
5.7 Microphones: A Blessing and a Curse
5.8 Summary and Checklists
6 Performing the Material
6.1 Putting the Show in Context
6.2 Getting Inside A Song
6.3 Example: So What (Cabaret)
6.4 Example: Dulcinea (Man Of La Mancha)

III Working With the Orchestra
7 A Tour of the Orchestra Materials
7.1 The Conductor or Piano/Conductor Score
7.1.1 Common Musical Notations
7.1.2 Script Cues
7.1.3 Common Structural Notations
7.1.4 Underscoring
7.1.5 Segues
7.2 The Instrument Books
7.2.1 Doubling
7.2.2 Cross-Cuing
8 Working With the Orchestra
8.1 Orchestra Recruiting
8.2 The Mighty Piano
8.3 Strings
8.4 Preparing for Orchestra Rehearsal
8.4.1 Orchestra Rehearsal Venues
8.4.2 Preparing the Book
8.4.3 Mark Up the Book
8.4.4 Practice the Cues During Regular Rehearsals
8.5 Running the Play-Through
8.5.1 Budget 30 Extra Minutes
8.5.2 Polishing
8.6 Sitzprobe or Sit-n-Sing
8.7 Tech Week
8.8 Subs
9 Conducting
9.1 Conducting 101 for Pit Conductors
9.1.1 Rules of Thumb
9.1.2 Hands-Free Conducting
9.2 Theater Conducting Situations
9.2.1 Warning and Start
9.2.2 Tempo Changes
9.2.3 Dictated Notes and Colla Voce
9.2.4 Exiting Vamps
9.2.5 Underscoring
9.2.6 Safeties
9.2.7 Starts and Stops
10 On-the-Spot Arranging
10.1 Part Consolidation
10.2 Doing Your Own Reduction
10.2.1 Who Can Be Recruited?
10.3 Score Analysis
10.3.1 Rhythmic Foundation
10.3.2 Melody Lines
10.3.3 Counterpoint Lines
10.3.4 Embellishments
10.3.5 Obbligato Lines
10.3.6 “Signature Sound”
10.4 Reduction Strategies and Examples
10.4.1 Rules of Thumb and General Principles
10.4.2 Duplication and Substitution
10.5 Example Strategies
10.5.1 Sondheim’s Assassins
10.5.2 Man of La Mancha
10.6 Transposition

IV Appendices: Other Useful Stuff
11 Technology
11.1 The Internet
11.2 Scanning
11.3 Online Documents
11.4 Recording Practice Tracks
11.5 Music Notation, Transposition, Arranging
Glossary

Spring Awakening Research, Part II

Spring Awakening Lead Characters:

Wendla – Soprano. Innocent, but with every passing day, she grows more curious about the world around her. Both vulnerable and a willing participant in her evolution.

Melchior - Baritone. A smart, headstrong boy who refuses to bow down to society's rules. An atheist. Struggles with his intense feelings for Wendla.

Moritz - Tenor. A troubled student who desperately tries to please his father, but always seems to disappoint him. Melchior's best friend.

Supporting Characters:

Georg – Tenor (MTI says The bulk of his range is between Ab2 - A4, and he needs to be able to sing up to an D5 in falsetto). A schoolmate of Melchoir's who is overcome with his feelings for his piano teacher.

Otto - Tenor (MTI says 'baritenor'). A schoolmate who dreamt of his mother, as Melchior humorously reveals to Moritz in an effort to help him relax.

Hanschen - Tenor (MTI says 'baritenor'). A schoolmate of Melchior's who is comfortable with being gay and uses his looks and intelligence to manipulate Ernst.

Ernst - Tenor. (MTI says 'baritenor') A naive classmate of the boys who falls deeply for Hanschen's seduction.

Martha - Alto. One of Wendla's friends who is abused sexually by her father.

Ilse – Mezzo. Martha's sister, who shares her dark secret and has run away from home to live in an artists' colony. 

Anna – Alto. One of Wendla's friends, who cannot wrap her head around Martha's trials.

Thea - Mezzo. Wendla's best friend. A schoolgirl who tries to stay innocent and pure.
And several adults (spoken only)

*Middle C = C4

Songlist, Characters and Ranges 

1. Mama Who Bore Me -- Wendla: G3-A4

2. Mama Who Bore Me (Reprise) -- Anna: B3-C5, Martha: A3-E5, Thea: A3-E5, Wendla: E4-E5, Ilse: E4-E5,   

3. All That's Known -- Melchior: C3-E4

Spring Awakening Research, Part I

Today has been devoted to Spring Awakening. The Levine School is doing it in the fall, and I've spent several hours researching the show.

Composer: Duncan Sheik

Lyricist and Librettist: Steven Sater


Broadway Premiere
 Theatre: Eugene O'Neill Theatre
Opening Night: Dec 10, 2006

Performance Length: 2 hours, 15 minutes

Total Performances: 859

Original Cast: Skylar Astin, Gerard Canonico, Lilli Cooper, Jennifer Damiano, Christine Estabrook, John Gallagher Jr., Gideon Glick, Jonathan Groff, Robert Hager, Brian Charles Johnson, Lea Michele, Lauren Pritchard, Krysta Rodriguez, Stephen Spinella, Phoebe Strole, Jonathan B. Wright, Remy Zaken 

Director: Michael Mayer
Choreographer: Bill T. Jones

Producer: Ira Pittelman, Tom Hulce, Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Atlantic Theater Company, Jeffrey Sine, Freddy DeMann, Max Cooper, Mort Swinsky, Cindy Gutterman, Jay Gutterman, Joe McGinnis, Judith Ann Abrams, ZenDog Productions, CarJac Productions, Aron Bergson Productions, Jennifer Manocherian, Ted Snowdon, Harold Thau, Terry E. Schnuck, Cold Spring Productions, Amanda Dubois, Elizabeth Eynon Wetherell, Jennifer Maloney , Tamara Tunie, Joe Cilibrasi and StyleFour Productions

Musical Director: Kimberly Grigsby

Orchestrations: Duncan Sheik

Scenic Design: Christine Jones
Costume Design: Susan Hilferty

Lighting Design: Kevin Adams

Sound Design: Brian Ronan

Online Information:
The libretto is at Scribd.com

Show info @ MTI  
If you are doing this show with students, check out these: Study Guide 1, Study Guide 2

Sydney Theatre has a page of neat resources for teachers on Spring Awakening, as well as interviews, etc from their production 
Spring Awakening Undressed is an interactive online study guide
This site discusses tropes and Idioms found in Spring Awakening
Bio of Frank Wedekind
All Playbill Spring Awakening Articles

Just for fun, a May Wine recipe
A blog completely devoted to Spring Awakening performances

Creative Team Articles
Costumer Susan Hilferty's website - link to her Spring Awakening Portfolio
Dance article about Spring Awakening's Choreographer Bill T. Jones, NYT Spring Awakening dance article
Lighting Designer Kevin Adam's Website, Interview with Kevin Adams on Spring Awakening
Director Michael Mayer Playbill Brief Encounter interview, 

Online Videos:
Entire OBC on Youtube
Another one on Youtube, starting with Part 1 of 9
Spring Awakening Tony Performance

Instrumentation:

Bass - Acoustic and Electric

Guitar - Acoustic and Electric

Violin

Viola

Cello

Drums

Keyboard 

Harmonium

Music Directing Resources - New Masters Degree

Penn State's School of Theatre now offers a Master of Fine Arts degree in music directing for musical theatre. The program features practical training in all the skills specifically required to pursue a career as a professional music director. Each candidate will serve as music director for numerous productions, including a fully staged musical in their final year. Additional opportunities include the summer London Program and additional international travel, an internship with a music director of a professional production, and exposure to the Broadway pits in New York. Students will gain experience playing auditions, as well as performing at and arranging music for revues, tours, and our NuMusicals Festival. They will assist and/or perform in all mainstage musicals, learn repertoire and vocal technique while accompanying voice lessons and juries, and work closely with stage directors in our MFA directing program.

Contact Dan Riddle for more information

Playbill Articles & Resources

Playbill.com is a great resource in general, but they have a couple of specific sections that I wanted to call attention to:  

Ask Playbill.com is a weekly column that answers questions about theatre. 

Casting and Jobs: Job Listings is a job database for job-seekers. 

Here are links to some articles that address some aspects of music directing:

ASK PLAYBILL.COM: Music-Related Jobs

Question: Can you talk a little bit about the music department of a musical? What happens to a musical score once it is written by the composer?  How many people get involved (i.e. orchestrator, musical director, arranger, etc.) and how important is each position?  Can you compare today's practices with the way they were done in the "Golden Age" of Broadway (50s and 60s)? Can you also talk about what happens when a show is revived and how that show's score is dealt with?

Answered by: Seymour "Red" Press, musical coordinator of Passing Strange and the current revival of Gypsy.

ASK PLAYBILL.COM: The Vocal Arranger

Question: Regarding the artistic staff of a Broadway musical, what exactly does a vocal arranger do? If a vocal arranger writes harmonies for the songs in the score, why doesn't the show's composer write them?

Answer: Carmel Dean, the 28-year-old vocal arranger on The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

ASK PLAYBILL.COM: The Dance Arranger

Question: What does a dance arranger do?

Answer: David Chase, the dance arranger for the current Broadway shows Cry-Baby, Curtains and The Little Mermaid.

ASK PLAYBILL.COM: Rehearsals

Question: What makes an Equity rehearsal different than a typical community theatre rehearsal?

ASK PLAYBILL.COM: Length of Broadway Rehearsals

Question: How long is the rehearsal process for musicals before their opening night, and how often does a cast rehearse after a show opens, if at all?  

ASK PLAYBILL.COM: Rehearsal Schedule

Question: What are the attendance rules for professional performers during the rehearsal process? How much notice must they give for a conflict and does the union provide for a certain number of absences? 

ASK PLAYBILL.COM: Those Broadway Swings

Question: "Could you tell me what is the exact role of a swing in a show?"

Music Directing Resources

The American Theatre Wing is a great resource on information about working in each specific discipline of theatre. I gathered together some interviews that addressed different aspects of music directing:


SDCF Masters of the Stage
Working with Dance Arrangers - 2010
Broadway choreographers and dance arrangers discuss the role of the dance arranger.

Career Guides 
The Musical Director - 2001
Ted Chapin interviews Paul Gemignani, who has received a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement for his career as musical director for over 35 Broadway musicals.

In The Wings
Interview with Music Director Carmel Dean - 2010
Carmel Dean has worked closely with William Finn and Tom Kitt.
Interview with Orchestrator Christopher Jahnke - 2010
Christopher studied with William Brohn, orchestrator for Miss Saigon and Wicked, and worked closely with David Bryan on Memphis.
Interview with Sound Designer Robert Kaplowitz - 2010
Robert is a Tony Award winning sound designer
Interview with Voice Teacher Linda Benanti - 2010

Downstage Center
Interview with John McDaniel - 2004
John was the Music Director for Brooklyn The Musical

Its fascinating stuff, check it out!!

Music Direction info

Arizona State University now offers a Master of Music in Music Theater Performance: Music Direction.  It seems like a cool opportunity to learn by doing.

The only other degree I've found that's similar is at Shenandoah University, which offers a Bachelor of Music in Music Theatre Accompanying.  The rest of the learning opportunities mainly take the form of 'internships', or brief workshops like the Goodspeed Opera House's Music Direction Intensive.

Another source of info:  

Peter Hilliard's blog, Music Directing the School Musical