Does anyone know how they’re grouped? Would love to play in it, but I don’t play clarinet. It’s turning into a real pain for most books, but my flute playing is important to me!
The English horn parts are exposed; it’s the first sound heard in the show, solo. Plenty of clarinet, in nice and not so nice keys. The flute parts sit well, and don’t go very high (F, IIRC).
Wondering the percentage of the flute part in the book. Have a player who can cover all the reed instruments, but plays limited flute. Wondering if it would be feasible to also hire a flute player. Thanks!
This reply is likely too late for you, but hopefully helpful for others in the future. In terms of importance (but not necessarily playing time), I’d rank the flute parts lower than everything but the bass clarinet. No more than 5-10% of the playing is on flute. There are 2-3 songs where it’d nice to have flute, but in my opinion not worth hiring a 2nd player just to play flute. On the other hand, for an otherwise competent reed player the flute parts are not particularly high nor challenging, so it could be a good show for one to cut their teeth on a non-reeded woodwind.
Added based on information submitted by Ron Nelson, obtained from Chris Reza, woodwind player in the 2015 Broadway production.
Does anyone know how they’re grouped? Would love to play in it, but I don’t play clarinet. It’s turning into a real pain for most books, but my flute playing is important to me!
Never mind. Wow! Still seems pretty fun!
soooo…..where’s the heat on the chair?
The English horn parts are exposed; it’s the first sound heard in the show, solo. Plenty of clarinet, in nice and not so nice keys. The flute parts sit well, and don’t go very high (F, IIRC).
Wondering the percentage of the flute part in the book. Have a player who can cover all the reed instruments, but plays limited flute. Wondering if it would be feasible to also hire a flute player. Thanks!
This reply is likely too late for you, but hopefully helpful for others in the future. In terms of importance (but not necessarily playing time), I’d rank the flute parts lower than everything but the bass clarinet. No more than 5-10% of the playing is on flute. There are 2-3 songs where it’d nice to have flute, but in my opinion not worth hiring a 2nd player just to play flute. On the other hand, for an otherwise competent reed player the flute parts are not particularly high nor challenging, so it could be a good show for one to cut their teeth on a non-reeded woodwind.
This greatly helped! Thanks 🙂