I REALLY like doubling fees!

[Merlin]

Did a recording session tonite - first of two such engagements for the Scottish play's incidental music at Stratford this year.

Played flute/bass flute/clarinet/bassoon. That pays 160% of scale. Add to that 3 half hours of overtime, and it's quite a nice little taste.

The music itself was difficult. 90% of the cues were in 7/8. There was a really high Bb (fourth ledger line) on the clarinet part - and it was in unison (not octaves!) with the oboe.

 

[Groovekiller]

Merlin, you earned the money. Most players would provide the producer with hours of headaches.

 

[Ed]

You really earned the cash.

I hate 7/8 . . . well not as much as 9/8. Of course I just played a bunch of music in 7/8 so I suppose I hate it less than I used to.

 

[Carl H.]

I hope it wasn't high Bb at PP!:???:

 

[Merlin]

I hope it wasn't high Bb at PP!:???:

It wasn't...but I can play that.

 

[Carl H.]

It wasn't...but I can play that.

Could the oboe? Unison gets kind of dodgy up there.

 

[Merlin]

Could the oboe? Unison gets kind of dodgy up there.

The guy who did it is one of the other players on West Side Story. He's a terrific player, and a really easy guy to work with. The unison was no problem.

 

[SOTSDO]

I've gotten so that I hate cut time, what with playing so much four to the bar rock and pop and big band stuff. Every year during show season (I play three of them every spring), I have to get reacquainted with 3/4, cut and 6/8, not to mention all of the weird stuff like 7/4 and 5/4 interspersed.

Our local has the pretty much standard 10% spiffs for doubling, but most work down here is non-union, so few are paid it. I used to belong to the Galveston local, and they didn't even have doubling in the contract. (The place was run out of a room in the back of a janitorial supply place.)

For that matter, the Houston contract has extra pay for hauling your own bass clarinet, baritone sax, and a bunch of percussion stuff.