West Side Story Tips

March 16, 2009

Well, it's been a little while since I made a post on my blog, but I've been a little busy with multiple rehearsals and performances of West Side Story with the Indianapolis Civic Theatre. The extent of my West Side Story knowledge comes from reading about it, seeing the movie and studying the famous vibe excerpt from "Cool". My appreciation for the music has definitely changed now being in rehearsals for about a week and end the first opening weekend of the show.

My colleague, Braham Dembar, played the symphonic suite to West Side Story late last month with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and did a terrific job playing the multiple mallet parts, with such ease walking back and forth to play each intricit mallet part. Bravo Braham!

I only wish that the same experience of playing in the concert hall to playing in the pit was the same. However, it's definitely not. The version that the pit orchestra is playing is a considerable condensed than the orchestral suite, however it is still very demanding. This show only allows for 1 drummer and 1 percussionist. As you can see, there's a lot of stuff going on with the set up. So, I thought I'd offer a few of my thoughts on playing the percussion parts well, since I know that you or someone you know will be encountering this wonderful music at some point in your career.

• Before your first rehearsal, if you can, stop by the pit and see how much space you'll have to work with. This is a very valuable time that you can save now rather than later by coreographing your setup before you even start your first rehearsal.
• Come to your first rehearsal EARLY to work on your setup and come PREPARED. Know your part(s).
• Use a trap table that you can easily access for your tambourine, claves, ratchet, woodblock, castanets, etc. On my table, I have a lighter for the tambourine (in case it were to loose too much tension), woodblock, claves, finger cymbals, slide whistle, castanets, ratchet and guiro with stick. For the most part I keep my whistle around my head at all times and my triangle beater in my pocket. It sounds like much, but it's absolutely necessary for the immediate segues from one scene to the next.
• Position your music stand in the best way possible so that you can see your music, your instruments and your conductor. Those 3 items don't always line up, but find a way to make it work.
• I can go on and on with each different song, but the last major suggestion-KNOW WHERE IT'S AT! Know where your xylo mallets are, know where your hard, medium and soft mallets are at all times. You will RARELY have the luxury to take more than a few seconds to grab the next thing and play.

I hope some of these thoughts help you out one day. There could be an entire book about this, but it's best to just take a lesson with a professional who has played this show before. They will know the in's and out's of how to make it work. That's the key, we work so hard on getting the gig, but we need to focus on how to keep the gig. Make it work. Work hard. Always be prepared.