[Blgspops] Seating (humor!)

[Jacquie Ziegler]

Got this from Carol Critelli today, and HAVE to share! Enjoy!

*/A Guide to the Amateur Orchestra's Seating Arrangements/*
by Harold Schnitzenhauer, conductor of the Noogal-Retsnom Symphony

The brass must ALWAYS be nearest to the exit and first to the bar, or 
there will be trouble!

One general principle of orchestral layouts: the louder it can play, the 
farther back it goes.

...Woodwinds are generally tucked toward the middle.
This isn't an acoustical concern, however. They tend to
escape too easily if not surrounded


The reasons for boxing in the violas between the basses, trumpets and 
woodwinds is that they tend to forget why they're there and wander off 
otherwise.

There is a story of the viola player who replaces the conductor when he 
falls ill. He manages to make a great job of it and conducts the 
orchestra for two weeks until the conductor is better. When he sits back 
in the section next day the guy next to him says, "So, where have you 
been for the last two weeks?"

  By the mid-20th century it had become accepted for the winds to be 
arranged by sections directly in front of the conductor. This seating is 
by now almost universally accepted, except by amateur orchestras which 
generally seat players by the order of arrival for the rehearsal.

Jacquie
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