Musical Director

Hi all. I'm studying Performing Arts at University and we have just been given an assignment that I would love to receive your input on. We each have to write a job description for a member of the production team working on creating a piece of music theatre. I am focusing on the role of the musical director. I was hoping that I could get your opinions on the role of the musical director including how much artistic input they should have and whether they should be focused more on the performer or the orchestra.

Thankyou so much, in anticipation.

Adam

Adam, the fact that I am in no way interested in musicals except Grease (Yet somehow i always seem to be involved in them) will not affect my answer. I feel that the MD should cohort with the director on how he/she wants a song to look and sound like and help each performer accordingly. They should be there basically to guide the performers in their singing. Thats really all an MD can do.

Thanks Gambler for your response. Just one question to clarify, do you think the MD should focus more on the performer or the orchestra? Does the MD even have to be the 'one ' to conduct them?

Thanks

Adam

Adam earnestly advised:

"They (MDs) should be there to basically guide the performers in their singing. That's really all an MD can do."

To which my response is "Piffle!!".

The above description is for a vocal coach- NOT a Musical Director; and you betcha there's a difference.

The MD should (and I emphasise the word "should") be given input into the dramatic context of each of the songs- much in the manner that a choreographer is given licence. All too often the MD is relegated to "that weird guy who makes the noises happen". In other words, Director and MD should be equals. Just as a director will agonise over the sub-text of a script (or not, as the case all-too-often is) the MD's job is to bring the MUSIC to life- and Music isn't just the singing! This includes the orchestration and arrangement of the score, and how that sonic texture helps or hinders the total work.

This is heavily dependant on the muscial itself- Pacific Overtures is a far more demanding score in terms of orchestral texture as a driving force of the action than, say, South Pacific- where the texture of the music is entirely secondary to the songs themselves. The songs of South Pacific exist well on their own- as they are written as "hits".

All this is in the realm of the MD- however most MD's do not consider these aspects due to lack of time (the show's rehearsal schedule is three months- the MD gets five weeks to teach the entire score) and lack of resources (anyone know a shakuhachi player??).

All in all- it's FAR more than just teaching singers the dots on the page.

Eliot