<p>Does anyone know if there are good schools for instrumentalists to go to where they would get a lot of experience playing in pit orchestras and the like? I've been looking at schools that have musical theatre majors, just because that means there are more opportunities to play. There really aren't any schools where you can major as a studio musician or something. Thanks!</p>
<p>Ithaca College (upstate NY) has a good MT program, and when we visited in the spring, my violinist D was told that instrumentalists have lots of opportunities to play in the pit orchestra.</p>
<p>Lots of pit work for instrumentalists at Cincinnati, to the point where some teachers will not send their string players there for study, too much repetitive playing for no technical gain. Any school with lots of MT productions will necessarily take advantage of the instrumentalists....probably part of scholarship service duties.</p>
<p>Schools that have opera programs also use pits. My S usually plays in atleast one opera per semester at Juilliard.</p>
<p>I know that while at Hartt, my son was involved with the pit orchestra for the vocal divisions opera performances, usually one per year. </p>
<p>I asked him about why through five years he never was involved in the pit for any of the musical theater productions. His answer surprised me: the first year or two, they actually paid the students to sit in the pit, and the spots usually went faster than he could move. After the first two years, they eliminated the pay, and the orchestra director assigned it to those students he felt needed the extra playing time, and then filled the remainder of the pit with underclassman. He normally did not feel the need to assign any extra playing time to the principal players.</p>
<p>Violadad - interesting approach. My S says that many kids hate playing in the pit, and therefore, the performances are not as good as they should be. Every year they get lectures on taking the pit performances seriously. Kids don't give it their all, and grumble about assignments. My S, though, enjoys it. Although he would prefer a "regular" orchestra job, if someone offered him a place in the Met pit, he'd jump at it. ;)</p>
<p>It's a strange dichotomy. My son said the pits were far better when they paid the kids, the spots were limited, and grad students, upperclassmen, and the principals were the bulk of the pit. Assigning it as an additional performing obligation selectively seems to have diluted either the talent or desire of those students mandated to play.</p>
<p>Looking back at high school, his pit experience was wonderful. The spring MT production was always exceptionally done, the school had a wealth of vocally talented student actors, and the orchestral director had years of professional pit experience. The situation did get so bad senior year with adequate violin talent that my son sat as concertmaster on viola. He still remembers that pit as the most unmotivated orchestra he's ever been in.</p>
<p>Interesting post.
I'll have to ask my son about pit orchestras at his school.</p>
<p>My son always enjoyed the pit orchestras in high school, playing electric bass rather than his 'real' instrument, tuba. He even began to get gigs in other school districts that apparently lacked the in-house talent for the planned shows. Now, in college, he's still doing a few of those HS shows and finding the pay is quite good. The pit is peppered with ringers, some older players with lots of talent and experience. He loves the whole deal.
His father has played the pit in community and school shows forever. I wonder if that influenced him to see it as a desirable gig.</p>