Ah, but here's the other side of the question. Do Broadway composers still have to write for a set ensemble? I recall that there was a union action about this some time ago when composers were leaning more towards electric instruments (not the orchestra in a box, but guitars, keyboards, etc.).
Mike
Again, I'm outside my own experience here, but I've never been aware of any "set ensemble" requirement. Instead, the AFofM tends to specify a minimum NUMBER of musicians. That varies from one show to another, and probably represents the union requirements in the year the show opened. But the orchestra for "No Strings" had, ... well, ... um, ... no strings! "Man of La Mancha" required Spanish guitar--possibly more than one. There seems to have been about the amount of flexibility that you would expect, given that some shows call for a jazz band with strings and others for a small concert orchestra.
Rock shows do require electric orchestras, no question. Has anybody played "Little Shop," "Superstar," or other rock shows and can comment on the orchestrations? And like you, I wonder whether such shows can negotiate smaller numbers of players, since rock bands almost always are smaller. But when I think of a score like "Cats," along with the 5 Prophet V synths there is a pretty conventional pit orchestra.
John
-- John & Susie Howell Virginia Tech Department of Music Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
