With the spring production of “Fiddler on The Roof” opening soon, students are working hard to guarantee everything’s ready for opening night. However, the actors and technicians are not the only ones preparing or highly anticipating the performances on April 3, 4, and 5.
The pit band for “Fiddler”, which will feature the best musicians from both band and orchestra classes, is an integral part of the musical. It is composed of 29 players and over 30 different instruments, making it the largest pit orchestra in school history. With its record-breaking size, this pit band has proved to be a learning experience for all involved.
“We began with just listening to them first,” junior Brogan Johnason said. “Then we would go through each song, fix some major things, and then move onto smaller ones later.”
A lot of moving elements and players in a musical also means there is likely to be a larger number of songs in the show. With 35 songs, background pieces, and transition music, the band is playing consistently throughout the night.
“It takes a lot of time to actually get the parts together, because there’s so many cool pieces,” senior Adrina Smith said. “It’s really fun, though, because there’s just a lot of stuff going on.”
With a large number of songs, there also comes a larger number of parts for everyone to learn. The pit itself combines musicians from band and orchestral backgrounds.
“It’s interesting working with both strings and the band,” Smith said. “Since they’re in smaller sections now everyone really has to know their stuff.
Having to play with a different set of instruments has been a learning experience for most of the players. The musicians not only have to be able to balance with each other, but they also have to match the actors on stage. This interactive timing has also proved to be a new experience for many of the musicians who have not been in a pit orchestra before.
“A lot of it’s learning how to work with the cues,” junior Samantha Gloe said. “Because for this [kind of playing], a lot is based on what the actors are doing.”
The music within “Fiddler on the Roof” has lots of vamps, or repeates, in songs to make room for dialogue or dancing, where the band has to be ready for cues at a moments notice. Every musician has to be aware of their cues as actors respond to them on stage.
Senior Claire Lee, who is playing The Fiddler, will be a recurring character within the show who plays the violin during symbolic moments. Not many shows have a role for an orchestra member on stage, so this production provides a unique experience for Lee and those who depend on her role.
“It’s a little intimidating because I play the songs on stage,” Lee said. “Since I’m doing it with actors, it’s a lot more improvising and going with the flow…I’m really excited to hear everything come together with the cast and pit at the end.”
