If you’re curious, here’s the percentage of the book on each instrument. I only counted measures with actual notes (ignoring long rests):
Bass clarinet: 58%
Bari sax: 33%
Bb clarinet: 9%
There’s also a bunch of “alternate” cues written into the part, so that the Reed 3 and Reed 5 books can be totally covered by the other players. Here’s the split if you play all the alternate notes:
Bass clarinet: 45%
Bari sax: 34%
Bb clarinet: 19%
Flute: 1% (55 measures — nothing too critical, though)
Overall:
There’s a LOT of low C (bass) and low A (bari) in this book. It’s playable without them – that’s what I did, since I was using borrowed instruments – but it just wasn’t as good. Try as hard as you can to get the right instruments!
I have recently played this in a community theater. Reed 2 also has bass clarinet, but it is very minimal. Reed 4 also has flute, put it is also very minimal.
Updated per information received from Alex Preston
Updated per information received from BJ Perez III
Updated per information received from Richard Krishnan (reed 4 baritone saxophone requires low A).
If you’re curious, here’s the percentage of the book on each instrument. I only counted measures with actual notes (ignoring long rests):
Bass clarinet: 58%
Bari sax: 33%
Bb clarinet: 9%
There’s also a bunch of “alternate” cues written into the part, so that the Reed 3 and Reed 5 books can be totally covered by the other players. Here’s the split if you play all the alternate notes:
Bass clarinet: 45%
Bari sax: 34%
Bb clarinet: 19%
Flute: 1% (55 measures — nothing too critical, though)
Overall:
There’s a LOT of low C (bass) and low A (bari) in this book. It’s playable without them – that’s what I did, since I was using borrowed instruments – but it just wasn’t as good. Try as hard as you can to get the right instruments!
A couple of corrections for the Reed 3 book:
#6, measure 93 – A# not A natural
#8, measure 99 – the last note of the triplet on beat 3 is A# not A natural
#10, measure 128 – the bar only has 3 1/2 beats. There is a C natural 8th note missing from the and of 4
#13d, measure 158 – C# not C natural
I have recently played this in a community theater. Reed 2 also has bass clarinet, but it is very minimal. Reed 4 also has flute, put it is also very minimal.