Broadway & National Touring music director, conductor, keyboardist, and arranger/orchestrator. Currently the Music Director/Keyboard 1 & Conductor for the 25th Anniversary Tour of "Mamma Mia!"
This is just cool on so many levels! I also commend the programmer. I'd like to ask though, since you have in ear monitors (I don't know if the other players too), how do you go about with playing at the proper volume? I mean you can hear the keyboard, the drums, and little of the other players too, but how do you know that you're, say, actually playing mezzo forte (maybe according to sheet/MD instructions), while the brass plays forte? Is it it a matter of getting used to the proper in-ear volume during rehearsals or does the sound guy adjust the volume during the show? Btw, I love the speed at which the patches change. Kudos to you, someday I'd love to do what you do too.
All the patches are programmed into the keyboard/sound module by my feet. I have a footswitch that I'm using to advance between patches - that way I don't have to take my hands off the keys to change sounds. The whole show is programmed from start to finish in order so I can just tap through to the next sound as needed. There were around 400 patch changes in the show though - a lot of programming work.
@@MatthewCroftMusic Okay, I only wondered as I've heard some people use Ableton to produce a click straight out of the DAW or something I think, but I'm not 100% sure. Did your Qlab click track audio files contain the exactly correct amount of clicks for the songs bar's including time signature and tempo changes or did you loop a single click, something that would click forever without external interference? If you can't tell, I'm a technical student lol!
@@ashfieldschoolperformingar7857 our music supervisor built the clicks, so I don't know if they were generated from Pro Tools/Ableton/Logic specifically - but I know that they were built with exactly the correct amount of clicks, and incorporated the time signature and tempo changes - sometimes they'd switch to 8th notes when the piece would rallentando, etc. Our music supervisor was also the orchestrator of the show, so he was intimately familiar with all of the details and so we had it all set up by about 1 week into rehearsal in NYC.
Who are the guys in the band and how do they get the brass and strings in the background besides the keyboard patches being simulated and all that stuff?
He's using a Yamaha S90XS, one of the main keyboards found in multiple broadway / west end / musical theatre pits. However the sounds may be coming from mainstage.
Yup, Eric’s right! S90XS keyboard, Hammond B-3 from MainStage. This was recorded on the conductor setup for the “Something Rotten!” National Tour that I conducted.
Eric Rogers honestly if it’s a complex MainStage thing I’ve simply used the track as a Playback instance at the set level so it plays back consistently over patch changes.
Hi Eric - the keyboard programming on this tour was done with a mixture of on-board sounds on the Kurzweil and a Roland Integra-7 synth module next to the keyboard; we weren't using MainStage for this production. Our programmer, Jim Harp, was the original programmer on Broadway for this show so we were using a similar setup to that. And thank you!
@@MatthewCroftMusic It's pity, that the whole perfect orchestration goes into sounds from pre-programmed keyboards and sampling. It's sounds too cheap. However, it is played with great feeling.
@@patrickfridrichovsky3909 as much as I would have liked to have more musicians, we were lucky to have 9 musicians playing live and nothing pre-recorded or tracked. I’m sure there are more modern sample libraries that would sound even better today, but our orchestra and musicians were top notch.
@@MatthewCroftMusic Thanks Matthew, for your sincere reply. I believe, that's the perfect, right answer of the real musician. I have the same experience, not as musician, but as dramaturge and producer. Incidentally I found your videos and going all through. Thanks, it's great fun. I hope, we'll stay in touch!
Matthew, just fabulous work. Seems to me you have one of the best jobs in the world. I had a couple questions for you: For "Good Morning Heartache," does the P/C just give you slashes and ask for jazz ballad piano, or is all of that RH stuff written out? Also, I know this question usually elicits a similar answer, but what was your path like to eventually lead you to MD'ing this production? Similarly, did you rely on your regional credits to get on the Guys and Dolls tour (I'm assuming that was your first)? Thanks in advance, and I really appreciate you sharing this video! I try to discern every piece of knowledge I can from these types of videos and they're always very helpful.
Hey Doug - thanks for your kind words! For "Good Morning Heartache", that was actually all notated out - our orchestrator was very specific with what he wanted to hear on that tune, so he wrote it all out. As for a path, that's a longer story! It's basically all in who you know and the connections you can make - an MD I had worked with on regional theatre stuff knew people at the production company that put out "Guys & Dolls" when they were looking for a keyboard 2 player/AMD. From there it's been a mix of auditioning for things and connections between folks that have gotten me most of my work.
Matthew Croft Thank you very much for your response. That makes a lot of sense, and helps to demystify the whole process of moving up through the pro theatre echelons. Again, brilliant work. Would love to see more videos like this!
Hi Eric - the click tracks were created by our music supervisor, and are being played back by a program called QLab. I'm firing the tracks from the box on the right side of my keyboard which sends a MIDI signal down to the computer below me in the pit.
Eric Rogers the box was a custom build from our sound rental company - sends MIDI signals for go, stop, advance/back, and has a backup switch to switch between our primary and backup computers that are running simultaneously.
Hello Matthew. What keyboard are you using? Is this the typical keyboard used in theatre? I play a bit of keys, but mainly Drums & Bass. Depp'd in for Motown on Drums (in the West End) a while back so have rough idea, but never had a chance to see the MD's area. Thanks a lot, Sam
Hi Sam - it's a Yamaha S90XS connected to Apple MainStage for the keyboard programming. It's the Broadway standard (or one of them) and is pretty ubiquitous in professional theatre.
@@johnascroft8697 keyboard is a Yamaha S90XS running MIDI into Apple Mainstage (computer is down beneath the podium - they programmed it to display the patch numbers on the keyboard display so I didn't need to see the computer monitor), audio out from the Mac into RME Fireface interfaces out to the sound board. Click is programmed into QLab running on a dual-computer redundant system (sitting out of view) - remote on the keyboard is a custom-built MIDI remote that fires go/stop/advance commands plus has a button to switch audio function from the Main to Backup computer. We had click, some instruments that we couldn't travel all coming from the QLab computers (2 mac pros) out through UA Apollo interfaces.
Get ready you have something special on that song there but needs some arrangement mostly to cut repetitiveness awesome evacuation, Dancing in the street not arranged properly but parts can be fused for the first song taking it to the next level good L
[CHARLIE] You were always telling me what I need to be But you never really had enough faith in me Dad, you gave up the factory Well, this time I'm gonna take that chance Leap into the vast expanse This time I'm gonna seize my destiny My destiny [CHARLIE] Lemme hear you say yeah yeah [WORKER] Yeah yeah [CHARLIE] Say yeah yeah [WORKERS] Yeah yeah [CHARLIE] Say yeah [WORKERS] Say yeah [CHARLIE] Say yeah [Workers] Yeah [CHARLIE] You can throw out the old way, ‘cause it's been done [LOLA] We're getting ready for the new [CHARLIE] Witness the future of Price and Son [LOLA] Owww! Papas got a brand new shoe A life of broken heels, got you down [CHARLIE] Well we've got your solution [LOLA] Get up [CHARLIE] Get it on and get in step BOTH] With our kinky revolution [CHARLIE] Lemme hear you say yeah yeah [LAUREN] Yeah yeah [CHARLIE] Say yeah yeah [LOLA] Yeah yeah [CHARLIE] Lemme hear you say yeah yeah [WORKERS] Yeah yeah [CHARLIE] Say yeah [WORKERS] Yeah. Yeah! [CHARLIE] Welcome to our future No longer are we making shoes We are making two and a half feet of irrrrresistable toooo-bular sexxxx So let's do it [COMPANY] I punch the holes. I sew the seems And I pull the leather tight I put the steel inside the heel Now we go off like dynamite [CHARLIE] Can you picture this: A glamorous, fashion exhibition [LOLA] I see flash fog lights and fashion heights [ALL] I see press and television [CHARLIE] Lemme hear you say yeah yeah [Workers] Yeah yeah [CHARLIE] Say yeah yeah [Workers] Yeah yeah [LOLA] He wants to hear you say yeah yeah [Workers] Yeah yeah [LOLA] Say yeah [Workers] Yeah yeah! [COMPANY] Synergy my pets, in patent leatherettes say whoa Whoa! Tell me is this kismet Now if you are witness let's go ooooooh Everybody say yeah! [CHALIE] Everybody! [LOLA] Everybody! [ALL] Everybody [CHARLIE] Say yeah yeah [WORKERS] Yeah yeah [CHARLIE] Say yeah yeah [LOLA] He wants to hear you say yeah yeah [WORKERS] Yeah yeah [LOLA] Hey yeah yeah yeah yeah [WORKERS] Yeah yeah yeah yeah [CHARLIE AND LOLA] Say yeah [WORKERS] Say yeah [CHARLIE AND LOLA] Say yeah [WORKERS] Say yeah yeah yeah yeah! [CHARLIE] Say yeah [WORKERS] Yeah [LOLA] Say yeah [WORKERS] Yeah [CHARLIE] Say yeah [WORKERS] Yeah [ALL] Everybody Everybody Everybody Say yeah yeah yeah!
Honestly the most spectacular performance I saw last week, love the whole production and the atmosphere of the music and live band makes its amazing. Great job! Coming again in April haha loved it that much Also side note, credit to the lady jamming in the Audience!
Hi Matthew when you're playing the score has it been learned or is it sight read. I'm an MD too but doubting myself as I'm unable to read scores straight off the bat for people specifically Sondheim
Hi Danny - We had about 3 weeks of rehearsal in NYC and in tech with the orchestra to get to know the score and be able to play it. After a few weeks of shows it was pretty well memorized, but I kept the score always for reference and for any tricky spots where my brain might have gone blank.
I've seen this show hundreds of times (literally) and it feels completely different from this perspective. Would be nice to see some clips of Reet Petite. Great job man.
