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Re: Broadway shows -- Off Topic
- From: Mitch Bassman <Mitch.Bassman...>
- Subject: Re: Broadway shows -- Off Topic
- Date: Fri 21 Mar 2003 18.32 (GMT)
At 11:32 AM 03/21/2003, Fred Blumenthal wrote:
>I don't think the problem of key signatures of 4 to 6 flats is unique to
>any one show or composer, but rather customary for this kind of
>music. For one thing, it accomodates the woodwind and brass players, if
>not the strings or keyboard. But it also seems to have a "separating the
>men from the boys" effect on who can perform it. My own talents at the
>piano are neither 0% nor are they 100%, so I agree that 5 and 6 flats can
>be a nuisance.
It simply is not true that the keys are selected to accommodate any
particular instruments. The key of a song in a Broadway musical is chosen
to accommodate the vocalist who sang it in the original production. The
composer or arranger may have initially set a song in one sharp or flat.
During the rehearsal process the key gradually shifts up or down by half
steps, so a song initially scored in C Major can easily be shifted to B or
D-flat.
As someone who has played the Reed One book to several dozens of musical
shows (doubling on multiple instruments pitched in various keys), I can
assure you that the wind players on B-flat and E-flat instruments are
playing in remote keys more than half of the time. I played one production
in which almost everything in the book was in four, five, or six sharps, or
in five or six flats. With a little bit of practice, it becomes second nature.
Mitch Bassman
- Re: Broadway shows -- Off Topic,
Mitch Bassman