Orchestration charges killing me
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Theater Administration
Forum Name: Money Talk
Forum Discription: Questions about fundraising and promotion
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3600
Printed Date: 11/22/24 at 12:58pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 8.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Orchestration charges killing me
Posted By: Scott B
Subject: Orchestration charges killing me
Date Posted: 11/14/08 at 8:51pm
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We're going to be doing Bye Bye Birdie in the summer of next year. I thought that I had all the costs figured out, but then I find out from our Secretary that there is some type of strange fee system (strange to me) for the orchestration. It has to do with renting instrumentation. You can rent individual scores for various instruments up to a point ... then you have to get the entire orchestration. The thing is ... you can't get the keyboard part unless you rent the entire orchestration. We're an extremely small group and cannot afford to give up anymore than we have to in terms of rental fees. We can get an accompanist, keyboard, percussion and bass. Adding any other musicians is out of our budget. I guess this is pretty much just venting as I don't know what else we could do. Thanks for listening.  |
Replies:
Posted By: JoeMc
Date Posted: 11/15/08 at 1:20am
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Let the other muso's dovetail in, to augment & fill. ------------- [western] Gondawandaland "Hear the light & see the sound! TOI TOI CHOOKAS {may you always play to a full house!} |
Posted By: jayzehr
Date Posted: 11/16/08 at 2:57am
| Coincidentally, I was just looking at the Tams Witmark page. It says the shows have to be accompanied by a piano or a live orchestra. You can't just get the keyboard part if you're only having a piano? Or is your problem that you have to pay for the whole orchestra even if you're only doing a few instruments? We've got some of our people wanting to do musicals but trying to figure out the budget for one, I don't see how to make it break it even given our average audience and ticket prices. I guess it must be possible. I wish there was some kind of chart available to see how the royalty structure works in regard to ticket price. What do you have to do? Just keep sending in requests for royalty quotes using different ticket prices until you find the one that you think works for your theater? |
Posted By: Scott B
Date Posted: 11/16/08 at 2:40pm
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They allow you to rent a few other parts individually but NOT the keyboard ... which kind of sucks. So what it amounts to is that I have the piano, can rent percussion and bass on their own ... but NOT the keyboard without renting the entire orchestration. I guess they think people are taking advantage of them by going with a keyboard/synth ... but that's all the musicians we can afford ... let alone FIND. We're going to call next week and see if they can be somewhat lenient on this issue. I'm hoping. |
Posted By: MartyW
Date Posted: 11/17/08 at 9:09am
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Piano/conductor usually comes with the librettos. No? ------------- Marty W "Till next we trod the boards.." |
Posted By: Scott B
Date Posted: 11/17/08 at 11:07am
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We're going to call them today to see if they would be willing to back off that just a bit. IF we read or understood them correctly, the keyboard part covers violins and cello, so it's essentially the string section. We would then need to find someone that could play trumpet or find another keyboard player that could play off the trumpet part. |
Posted By: RoseColored Gla
Date Posted: 11/18/08 at 11:44am
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I think what people are missing is the difference between the KEYBOARD part and the PIANO part. I personally wish there were a bigger distinction made in some music. I thought I could get by with 3 musicians for Songs for a New World: Keyboard/Piano, Percussion/Drums, and Bass. But it turns out that if I want the FULL sound, then i need to have a seperate Keyboard player. Life goes on.... you live, and you learn! How much are we talking in the difference between the parts you need (minus keyboard) and the whole shebang? ------------- Dennis Dippary Artistic Director Songs for a New World http://rosecoloredglassestheater.com - RoseColored Glasses May Dionysus smile upon your every performance! |
Posted By: Scott B
Date Posted: 11/18/08 at 5:25pm
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Well the answer came back ... the answer was no. I think the entire orchestration is like $300 +. However, if I were to get individual parts it's something like $22.50 per book. Now granted, $350 isn't a huge amount, but when you live in Hooterville and the squirrels are part of the census ... then it makes a difference. And Dennis ... you're spot on about needing to be able to fill out the sound and that's (of course) why we're looking for a synth/keyboard book. I think what we're going to do is rent the bass and percussion, then get the trumpet, violin and cello books. We'll choose our spots and let the keyboard player go where most needed. BTW ... the musical is Bye - Bye Birdie. Anyone got a keyboard book.  |
Posted By: David McCall
Date Posted: 3/11/09 at 10:56am
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That does sound like a major rip-off. Musicians are getting more expensive to. Our group used to have a big orchestra (before I came along) of 20-30 pieces. Now we are down to 9-10. The other thing that has changed is the ability of the orchestra to play light enough to be able to hear the actors without blasting them through a big sound system.
More and more, orchestras are being moved backstage, or even worse in a completely different room. At that point the audience can't hear any of the direct sound of the orchestra. All they hear is what comes out of the sound system, but at least they have a volume control.
I don't know what they charge for the prerecorded orchestration. I used to be totally against it until I saw Cabaret at the Trump Plaza. To tell you the truth It was way into the show before I even got suspect that they were using playback for the orchestra. It sounded very good and very live.
What's next? prerecorded actors? might as well stay home and watch TV. ------------- David M |