Fiddler on the Roof - Music Director Diary Notes

Dear Diary...

The following are just some of my informal "diary" notes on the opening week for Fiddler on the Roof, from my own "Music Director" perspective. These are not intended to be rants or raves nor do I disclose specific names, etc. - I just want to try to capture some of the simple facts and observations from this experience. Often, when doing a show, it's hard for me to recall all the thousands of things that happen - emotions are high, stress is somewhat high and things are constantly evolving. Most will be lost, but here are a few highlights:

Monday May 3 - the highlights from this included my many, many mistakes, notably my disastrous cueing of the chorus in the opening number, "Tradition." This was mostly a communications thing as we weren't all on the same page as far as the first entrance went - but my eye jumping over a few staves and cueing everyone in early on the "dai, dai, dai, dais" certainly didn't help! How strange it was that the entire chorus could be so off - opps, it was ME! Other layers were still evolving too - lights, scene transitions that weren't always timely, tight, etc. It still wasn't entirely clear, musically, what underscoring was working and what was actually taking away. I mentioned that these Monday (first or second time in the pit) were usually the most challenging - this one did not fail to live up to that. I felt a little discouraged, primarily with my own performance.

Tuesday, May 4 - woke up early and wrote out detailed notes (big stuff) to the orchestra. So many great players the problems were primarily just simple communication things (when to come in, etc.) and the context of some of the things we were playing. Although I don't like those types of "Monday" runs, Tuesday was near stellar! Things came together in a big way. We nailed Tradition! And other numbers followed successfully. Trying to get a sense of the overall balance (we only have three pit covers open) - many said the orchestra was too soft - others said too loud? Which was it? Well, as it turns out, probably a little of both, depending on the action on the stage. Oh, one recollection: the Fiddler tripped on one entrance to the stage and that bugged him! But he did an amazing little ad lib when Tevye appeared to be late on his entrance. Speaking of Tevye - Bob is absolutely amazing. I can't imagine a better Tevye in all the history of this show, and that includes Broadway and Movie renditions. (Okay, getting caught up in the fever. I'll keep the raves in check!)

Wednesday, May 5 - (Preview Night), about 150 folks in attendance. A real audience. After the stellar Tuesday night rehearsal I was wary, but things went well. The applauses provided new challenges - still many scene changes and musical transitions a bit rough but getting better. Since we have an orchestra of about 50 (but only 25 or so in the pit at any given time), many musicians are getting the chance to see the show. This helps greatly, as being in the pit can serve to disconnect one from the overall emotion on the stage - even though the music being performed is certainly a key part of that emotional "thing" that makes it all work. So getting their reactions on balance, blend and feel were very valuable. Also got to chat with folks in the audience about the show - very exciting. Director's note: orchestra too loud! Yikes!

Thursday, May 6 - Opening Night! A very good opening night. A couple rough starts ("Miracle of Miracles") and some places were I would swear we were a beat away from total disaster, but otherwise we held it together with grit and brute force. We pulled down our volume in many key places and that seemed to work well.

Friday, May 7 - the day after opening night. This was an "exciting" show! Orchestra did great adjusting to the various unexpected events on stage (very minor line issues, some rushing of songs - I would have to blame fatigue more than anything). Our wonderful Tevye was feeling ill but delivered a fine performance - a dropped series of lines at the top of "To Life" ("to our agreement...err......but most important..") prompted us in the pit to simply go with the flow. It worked too. A bit of trouble in the dream sequence, but a nice recovery by Grandma. It's a long week - only two more shows until week #1 is over. I'm in no hurry to see this production end - enjoying it all. Audiences seem to like it too. We seem to end about 11 pm every night (we start at 8 pm).

Saturday, May 8 - as I recall this was a good show. As of this writing I have let the entire second week go by without detailing anything in this blog! That just means that for the most part the show, by this time, assumed a rhythm that was fairly stable.

Sunday, May 9 - this show was on Mothers' Day. In our family we've actually postponed Mothers' Day until Fathers' Day since things are simply so busy. The one notable event was that we lost a cast member to a broken ankle! Very sad for him, but he will hopefully have a speedy recovery.

Week #2

Since I didn't take notes, I'll just summarize this week with various streams of thought...flashes:

Two days rest - what rest?! Hard to sleep on Monday since we were all coming down from the rigorous week (a seemingly 15 day week!). Tuesday's lecture "An evening with Sholom Aleichem" given by Mike Aronson was inspiring! Learned a great deal about his life and writings. Wednesday - the show resumes its week 2. As I recall, this audience was very perky, laughing everywhere! Were we thin on strings? Yes, but it worked out great anyway. The orchestra and cast performed great - not loose at all; very tight for being off two days. Thursday - another good show as I recall. Friday -another a good show, but some rough spots in various solo lines. Saturday - I captured some photos/video/audio clips from the pit - a good call too because we were on FIRE! S.C.'s clarinet solo on stage was a knock-out! He's truly a pro and it showed! I was having so much fun - didn't feel like I was expending an ounce of energy. The orchestra executed so well - adjusting to the subtle changes on the stage and vocal delivery almost instinctively. This night was indeed a highlight. Sunday - yikes! Very tired. Arms feel heavy - a matinee show to boot! Feeling a bit sick too (cold/sinus stuff but no fever). Just hanging in. By the middle of act I no major mistakes so feeling a bit better. The show overall was excellent and we met at China Delight for food, friends and laughs. I had to leave early though to attend a VB rehearsal. Yikes! My chops? Where art thou? (Monday morning - lots of long tones, Arbans, et al. Gigs coming up soon!)

Week #3 - Closing Week of Fiddler on the Roof

Had a fairly restless two days off - was a bit drained after the second week - I'm certain I wasn't alone as many of the actors/musicians were grinding on.

Wednesday, May 19 - the third week began with this performance that was quite exceptional! The pre-sold hospital audience was very different from "normal" audiences; one of the rare occasions where there were some empty seats - for subsequent years we must tell folks wanting tickets to hang out on this night! Of note: the first bottle to find its way into the pit. Fortunately it pretty much rolled my way - I just snatched it up! Then, as if one wasn't enough, another actor dropped his as the last moment of the dance causing glass to shatter - small pieces of glass landed on at least one string player! From this point forward we switched to plastic bottles for safety!

Thursday, May 20: this show was also quite good - Tevye's hat went missing during the break after Act 1. There was a stuffed toy turkey on his chair. He was inflamed. His hat was found. The turkey was a coincidental joke by Lazar (presumably a reference to the inside joke of "5 chickens for the first five sabbaths of their wedded lives...") - no harm done. Tevye cried like a baby on Little Chavala - a nice way to vent! Orchestra is wonderful. Everyone hanging in there; we're all still adjusting. No two nights are the same, but there's solid consistancy throughout, even with the diversity of the pool of 50 players. I can't see doing a community show with an orchestra that is not "overbooked" like this. The payoff is twofold: rehearsing with a large group provides the power and support that younger/less experienced players can feed from; and second, when it comes to performances, allowing players to trade off/share eliminated a bit of the burn-out that can dampen the old spirits. With only three shows remaining, everyone seems in fine spirits. Oh, I'm aware of the toll on some folks, especially in the orchestra - but overall, I think the memories of the long nights will be smoothed into a feeling of accomplishment and job well done.

One final memory - vocal warm-ups: we did a 4-way round of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" with a fun twist: one time through all together, then break into the round. Once all the way through each respective part, modulate up a half-step (with a gracious and respectful nod to the great Barry Manilow's pop 70's arranging style) - the rub is that for a moment there's some amazing dissonance, but things worked out great. This proved to be a nice way to center in on ones key/tonality and trusting that it will somehow come together and it did.

Friday, May 21: A great show as I recall!

Saturday, May 22: Another great show. Perchik (T.C.) makes his infamous Cool Shoes performance run, misses Tradition. Apologies in the morning though!

Sunday, May 23: Show closes with a very tight performance! It was a great run and everyone seems to be in fine spirits despite the long run. One ghost in the mics somewhere (boom!). An emotional cast, which is to be expected (those new to shows don't realize that they never really end!) - I try to remind myself that the so-called close of one show merely marks the beginning of a new one. Shows come and go - its the folks we get to meet and work with along the way that matter. Friendships and great memories are made. Cast/Crew/Orchestra party at Papas Pizza: funny skits ("Dream Sequence") - got some video clips of this! MJR's words to entire cast. I spoke a bit to ensemble, specifically about the orch. players in attendence, though most weren't there. Never can say enough (certainly wasn't prepared to speak!) - forgot to say some really important things but hopefully the important stuff was conveyed even if not said directly.

I have a memory CD (orchestra oriented) with lots of photos, short video clips and various audio clips that give an idea of what we sounded like. It's quite amazing really and something I think will be special to have. Looking forward to sharing this with orchestra folks and others involved in the show.

Fiddler on the Roof - what an amazing show. A showcase for such extra-ordinary local talent, great music. I was amazed night after night with the craft that went into the script and score. It's truly a giant of shows. I felt our Corvallis Community Theatre rendition was done right - 14 shows, every single one totally sold out, standing ovations for every performance. It brought many members of the community together in a big way (folks who might never have met forged friendships) and provided an outlet for so many to practice their art/craft.

Well, on to the next show!

Break a leg!

Rob Birdwell (May 2004)

Cakewalk Loops

Cakewalk Loops - a very good source for audio loops. And don't forget to check out Rob's Birdwell's Real Trumpet Audio Loop Library, a great source of Trumpet and Flugelhorn licks and one-shots which also features a wide assortment of mutes.

Here's a demo of Real Trumpet in action (MP3 format).

Rob

Real Trumpet - Audio Loop Library

Real Trumpet - Audio Loop Library - this week's musical blog showcases my Real Trumpet audio loop library. It contains over 500 high quality ACIDized audio loops! Jazzy licks, funky groove solo clips, falls, glisses, sustained notes. This collection also features Flugelhorn (which blends amazingly well on just about any style of music) and various mutes (cup, harmon, plunger).

Listen to the Pumping It (MP3) demo of Real Trumpet in action and you'll hear for yourself. The Real Trumpet audio loop library will compliment and meet the most demanding composer/producer needs. And for the price, currently only $19.95 (and that includes shipping in the U.S.A.) is an amazing deal which probably won't last for long!

View the Flash Demo of Real Trumpet - pretty cool stuff!

I enjoy playing live - but I can't be everwhere. That's why I put together the Real Trumpet audio loop library. Now at least I can be heard everywhere!

Enjoy!

Rob Birdwell - composer and performer of Real Trumpet

Home

My Bad Hair Day - this is a good friend's new site - check it out.

Marsalis and LCJO swing, brother, swing

Marsalis and LCJO swing, brother, swing - review of the March 6 concert in Portland by Marty Hughley.

Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis

Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis - March 5, Hult Center, Eugene, Oregon.

I was there! Enjoyed this concert - click here for a complete review. I tried to take notes, but it was a challenge not to get swept away by the music and performances (or maybe I was just lazy) - alas, I didn't get all the tune names performed or detailed accounts of all the great solo work - but I tried to convey, in words, my own account of this outstanding evening of Jazz.

Rob Birdwell

Dianne Reeves

Dianne Reeves - I'm listening to her CD "Bridges" now and kicking myself for missing her perform live recently.

I did hear her perform live once actually - it was at the U of Idaho, 1985. I performed with a student quartet - we finished our set, and as I walked off the stage, Dianne Reeves and her awesome backing musicians took the stage. She was extraordinary - and seems to only have improved with time!

Jazz Clubs Worldwide

Jazz Clubs Worldwide - wow! This site is an amazing resource for Jazz clubs around the world! I'm keeping a link this - awesome!

Stranger By The Bay - Independent Film World Premier!

Here's the press release from The Stranger By The Bay production team announcing the debut of the film on Friday, February 20, 7:00 pm and 9:30 pm at the Majestic Theatre in Corvallis, Oregon. This should be an enjoyable evening - nice to celebrate finishing this. With so many people involved, it will be nice to finally see everyone together. I hear there's food and wine being served too!

I personally learned a great deal from this experience and look forward to writing my next score!

Rob Birdwell

ProWorks.com - Charting, Graphs, Web Services!

We interrupt this Musical Blog to plug this Corvallis, Oregon based software company, ProWorks.com. ProWorks specializes in charting and statistical graphing software. They also provide consulting services for an ever-growing number of companies, including Hewlett-Packard, NASA, and Battelle.

The ProWorks Flipper Web Service is particularly powerful and flexible. BirdwellMusic.com choose the ProWorks Flipper Web Service because it was easy and powerful enough to serve our needs. ProWorks.com has devised a very powerful "templates" (XML) model. Their charting web service is fast and "real-time" data updates are easily accomplished.

The ProWorks Flipper Web Service can be accessed by a variety of technologies, including Java, PHP, ASP, ASP.NET, and more!

For Microsoft Windows based developers (web or desktop) the Flipper Graph ASP and Flipper Graph Control are must-haves. The useful examples, powerful functionality, flexibility, and ease-of-use of these powerful controls make them excellent choices for enterprise developers.

The ProWorks .NET charting technologies build upon the strong feature set of the ProWorks Flipper based charting technologies, with all the benefits of .NET.

In summary, I'm pretty Jazzed about ProWorks.com - the support team and products really ROCK! and their charting Web Services are serving our needs. If you're considering charting and graphing products, be sure to evaluate the ProWorks.com suite of products and services.

RB

Jamey Aebersold's Summer Jazz Workshops

Jamey Aebersold's Summer Jazz Workshops - I would LOVE to attend this workshop - the price seems very, very reasonable but, dang, unless it starts raining time and money, dang again, I'm going to have to save it for a "Rainy Day" or maybe when "My Ship" comes in...I'll stop there (the "Someday My Prince Will Come" analogy would definitely be going too far!).

From what I've read on the website about this workshop (and the info is wonderfully laid out; they cover all the logistics from travel to curriculum), it's really quite unique. I especially appreciate that this workshop is oriented for players of all ages, particularly adult players!

I've been jamming with various Aebersold books for a long time! I have many of his recordings on vinyl/record but am now re-purchasing new volumes on CD. It's still very satisfying to play this way - to improvise, imagine, experiment, etc.

Although nothing can take the place of playing and interacting with other musicians in person, playing along with some of the greatest rhythm section players on the scene (as Aebersold play-along records always sport) the Aebersold materials are a wonderful way to supplement the never ending learning process of improvisation.

Most Jazz musicians (be they students, pros or hobbyists) have an Aebersold record/cd or two - if you don't have any, I highly recommend them!

Rob Birdwell

P.S.: if there was any way I could swing it, I'd be at this workshop! It seems like it would be fun.

MSNBC - Justin, Janet not only boobs at Super sleazefest

MSNBC - Justin, Janet not only boobs at Super sleazefest - my sentiments exactly! What a silly thing - but was it really an accident?

I have no problem with these particular entertainers - I even thought Justin displayed some depth and talent on his recent SNL appearance. Unfortunately, none of that was evident from his performance at the Super Bowl with Janet Jackson.

Why on earth would these two allow themselves to be put into such a situation? (Money? A good cause?) Why would they ever agree to showcase such a mockery of dancing and singing?

Let me say that I only tuned in to the super bowl for only 5 minutes (but why would I need to see anymore?); in between "gigs" I guess you could say - just long enough to see what the score was. I was vaguely interested (I used to enjoy football as a kid) and since a bass player friend had a small wager on the game I wanted to see if he'd be $100 richer or poorer (might affect his mood at a future gig!).

So at the time I tuned in, Janet and Justin were doing their little dance (but "dance" is far too generous of a word as there was nothing artistic about it), the mob was cheering and, well, since I don't really watch much TV, it all seemed very spooky to me. But I watched on with amusement to see where this monstrosity of an excuse for "entertainment" (masquerading as a tribute to literacy?) was going and awaiting a display of the score.

As the number seemed to come to a close (what a relief), I couldn't believe what I saw...it truly looked to me like the incident was planned though; that the intent all along was for this very thing to happen. It happened very quickly, without time to see any reaction of course, since the camera cut away, but that was my impression. But come on folks - if you show up to a swimming pool in your swimming trunks, someone's probably going swimming - right?

The damage control from the armies of attorneys, advertisers and executives was entirely predictable. Anyone over 6 years of age could predict that words like "malfunction" and "unplanned" would be offered.

Anyway, not a big deal, but it's in the news and seems to be at least one dimension in the very broad world known as the "arts."

Beam me up quick Scotty!

Rob Birdwell

CreateBands.com - Create A Band Online

CreateBands.com - Create A Band Online - Wow! This is a very cool and creative offering!

One note: the band did seem to fall apart after about 5 minutes of jamming without switching loops. Ah, but that's entirely forgivable as it happens all the time with most "real" bands anyway!

My highest recommendations to CreateBands.com - well done!

Rob Birdwell

JAZZ MUSICIANS' PROTOCOL (by Ken Watters)

JAZZ MUSICIANS' PROTOCOL (by Ken Watters) - a very nice reminder list - after reading through this I found myself saying "opps" as I've stepped in a couple of these blunders once or twice (especially playing a solo again after I've already taken one! nothing like trying to redeem oneself - some of that may be slightly forgiveable though, depending on the venue, audience, or lack of one!). I loved the suggestion about trying not to develop a contempt for the audience - ha!

Wise words of advice and insight for the working musician - and not just Jazz musician - I think these comments and advice are applicable to just about all gigging musicians regardless of the style of music they play.

Rob Birdwell

iRiver iHP 140 Jukebox

iRiver iHP-140 Jukebox - I've been looking long and hard at the specs on various Jukebox audio (MP3) player/recorders. I had a brief moment to experience the iRiver iHP-140 for myself and was impressed with its sleek look, small size, great sound and it's amazing features, especially the ability to copy files without any special software (just drag and drop your audio library/files to the HD via USB), and ease of navigation options.

The iRiver iHP 140 looks very promising, especially for a musician who currently records gigs with a MiniDisc unit. Although I'll need a powered mic, it just may be possible to take this unit to gigs. The built in mic seemed plenty good to my fairly discriminating ear. Like MD recording units it seemed to be picking up everything (room/computer noise) - nothing like listening to one's own music library, only to be inspired. What a great way to capture those little hummers of ideas (that's how I do a lot of writing, by singing riffs, licks and often strange musical fragments into my cell phone voice notes - one can't have enough devices to capture those fleeting gems!).

The key purchase points for me (and I haven't purchased yet but will strongly consider it) are ease of use/reliability, storage capacity (40 GB seems pretty good), ability to record audio, small size. This device meets those demands with high marks - plus it sports the ability to navigate in a way that works best for me, either from the ID3 tag data, or by the file folder, and I believe by various other categories. Nice. The FM radio is also nice. The optical IN and OUT are very nice. Noticing a theme here?

The price (rhymes with "nice" but currently around $450 US, or maybe even a bit higher as of this writing) is probably worth it. But when the price comes down (hopefully), that will be even nicer!

However, it's time for me to hang hang up my red sweater, take off my white sneakers and head up to bed...please sing along with me:

"Would you be mine, could you be mine - won't you be...my jukebox!?"



Rob Birdwell

Fixing scratched CDs

Fixing scratched CDs - I found this article to be interesting. I presently have a CD of music tracks and backups that I can't access! ARG! I'm going to try this for one of the less important CDs to see if I can recover the data!

Clinic with Bobby Shew

Clinic with Bobby Shew - this is a good article. I'm especially interested in the reference to the yoga book, "The Science of Breath."

Yep, air, air air.

Musical Web Jam over the Internet

Web-jam - over the holiday break I've had a bit of time to enjoy myself, time with family, and even time to practice (I love to practice, really!). Over the holiday (December 27, 2003) I was thinking how cool it would be to jam with friends or other kindred spirits on-line. The trouble with that, besides time zone, stylistic, and language logistics, is that musical "jams" are often fleeting. When playing or rehearsing in person we have the liberty of eye contact, dialog, etc. So although in-person is the way to go, the mere idea of being able to play with musicians around the world is enticing.

Undaunted, I found a place to Web Jam! I navigated to The Web Jam site (a German site with parts in English) and dowloaded the backing track, got out my flugelhorn, loaded up SONAR 2, and began the process of jamming along.

I emailed a link to my MP3 file (it was about 8 mb) and the result, after some very nice mixing by the "Web Jam Master," was this groovy little Web Jam Mix with Rob's Flugelhorn!

I really liked the backing track chord changes - they were challenging to play over and that made it fun too. I'd like to produce some play along tracks like this too and host some of my own web jams or whatever I end up calling them. Meanwhile, I'll look foward to the next Web Jam offering to hear how the tune evolves.

Rob Birdwell

Happy New Year from Rob Birdwell and BirdwellMusic.com

Just wanted to thank you for being a valued BirdwellMusic.com visitor and wish you a happy, safe, and musical new year! In celebration of the new year to come, I wrote a new tune, "Los Compadres," which is in the style of what I affectionately call "cool, Latin funk." If you're a gigging musician or just enjoy playing new tunes, here's one you might like to explore!

Download an MP3 recording of Los Compadres - MP3, 1.57 MB (a spontaneously recorded on the final day of 2003!)
Download the B-flat Lead Sheet for Los Compadres - PDF, 70 KB
Download the C Instrument Lead Sheet for Los Compadres - PDF, 73 KB

Consider this your late stocking stuffer! My hope is that you will enjoy playing the tune and possibly even performing it - I hope to be performing it as well with the groups that I play with. Let me know if you perform it and/or any comments you have - naturally, I'm very interested if you record it on your next CD (yes, I highly recommend that by the way) - just let me know so I'm sure to get my $0.03 royalty check!

Happy new year 2004! Here's to peace, tolerance and friendship everywhere!

Sincerely,

Rob Birdwell

Sonny Rollins: Blue 7

Blue 7 - nice article on this solo, the players - I highly recommend it. When I was listening to this track early today on the radio Sonny's solo and his mastery blew me away. I don't know how many times I've heard this track and even played the tune - but man, a 1000 times would never be enough. This group is stellar. The Jazz equivalent of a slam dunk, grand slam and possibly even lunar landing - and beyond.