16 Things Musicians Do in the Pit 

My first pit experience involved me turning around and seeing every. Single. Wind player. All with a glass of wine

Was in the middle of a show and I looked down to see some of the people in the pit playing cards😂

I once did a workshop with a clarinettist who told me a lot about life in the professional orchestra. Apparently, he was part of the orchestra for Mozart's "The Magic Flute". Now, the pit usually had one (1) table full of food in a place the whole orchestra could reach. So, when they played the overture, the wind players immediately started eating like crazy while the string players suffered. When the violinists could finally eat, there were only apples and bananas. They did this. Every. Single. Opera.

No. 17: Collecting things that fell into the pit No. 18: Trying to avoid things that fell in the pit No. 19: Playing on their phone No. 20: Try to compete with other musicians (I've seen a few people do this)

When I was in pit I collected feathers from seagull costumes that floated into the pit.

im the sax player that has a solo in the first 5 minutes then sleeps

As the opera singer on the stage, I can absolutely confirm a lot of these, especially the chips, the accidentally loud videos, and definitely snoring.

Pretty sure Eddy whispered “viola” in Brett’s ear

I can fully relate, I once had a 300 bar break and we were sitting in a spot where the audience could see us. Holy shit it was torture.

that one dislike is the conductor

I heard stories about percussionists who literally left during tacet for another performance, came back for their last bang. Two salaries for one night. :D Why did I chose the violin????? :D

EVERYONE WATCH THIS VIDEO WITH CAPTIONS ON best captions I have ever seen

How about a orchestra edition of "what I think I do" "what my fellow instrument players think I do" "what other sections think i/we do" - you get the gist.

You should also add avoid stuff falling into the pit. I play double bass and was covered in shaving cream pie from a on stage fight. In another I almost got hit in the head from a candelabra.

When I was in the pit, we would assign a different character (from the musical) to each orchestra member and unless you were playing, you had to mime along with them. We switched the characters around for every show just to keep things interesting 😅

No one: Absolutely no one: Not even Bach himself: When you pull on the zip tie to make it tighter: 0:36

I can confirm that every single one of these is true, BUT YOU FORGOT THE PERSON WHO PLAYS MEME SONGS DURING INTERMISSION TO TROLL THE CONDUCTOR!

This perfectly captures the pit mood.... except the lights.... where are your stand lights you sacrilegious bois!

“eating” wind players couldnt relate

1:56 Paganini could play the violin, but Brett can play the bow

Ling Ling practises playing flight of the bumblebee fast in the pit

Why is this so accurate??? Especially the "choking on stage fog" part

Bit late but needed to share this: I played in the pit usually since I played woodwinds, but in one show I had an acting/singing part on stage. And the musicians in the pit kept holding up score cards at me everytime I had lines/songs/dance. And yes they were brutal.

I went to see the Family Addams musical in my local theatre last year and cause I was in the front row, in a small angle I was able to see a small screen that they had put on the other side of the stage, where you could see a pianist in what looked like a small booth (I couldn see anyone else passing by) I dont know why in the hell they chose to put a screen there, maybe see was supposed to signal if something went wrong with the music? And it was half-hidden in the sides and with the courtain. Thing is, I spent half the musical watching how she worded every song, half-danced to the music and acted when apparently she didnt need to play, 10/10 would watch every musical with a small screen of the musicians (tho I kinda feel bad, I dont think she knew some viewers could see her)

1:28 *You looking at me* 1:53 *The reason why you’re looking at me*

I love the splat sound effect whenever they touch an instrument in an ungodly manner.

For those people watching without captions, ya'll are missing a lot. Editor-san's subtitles are AMAZING!! They don't just read what Brett and Eddy are saying, he also makes commentary and writes out their thoughts in the captions, which just makes everything so much funnier.

Is it bad that this makes me want to play in a pit? I miss this kind of thing so much, I was in orchestra in school for 7 years but since starting university I haven't. So any sort of "being in an orchestra" video gives me all the feelings lol

My director for my high school's pit orchestra told us that he once saw a trumpet player in a pit entirely disassemble his instrument, clean it, adjust it, and put it back together just in time for his solo. He had it timed down to the measure!

When your school doesn't even have a pit so everyone is squished between the first row and the stage

I got smacked in the face with a menorah

No. 17: missing their cues when it's their time to play because of the other 16 things! Hilarious video, guys!

#15 is exclusive to strings though unfortunately. Us tuba players just leave the hall and come back. Nobody notices anyways

Yes. All those poor string players. Who don’t have to count 400 million measures of rest. AND WHO CAN EAT WITH OUT BLowing stuff into their instrument. Those poor poor string players...

Me: accidentally has the captions on The person who did the captions: :>... I swear to God it was hilarious. They kept mentioning ling ling lmao

As someone who used to be in performing arts I can confirm this happens every time we wait backstage . 😂 the most hilarious one in my experience was trying to make a tower of stage props or how far we can push the limit of edging towards the stage before we get caught 😂

As a horn player, number nine is my life. I usually have to make hand signals to my violinist friend from across the pit to get an answer.

Can confirm. Was a percussionist for a pit orchestra. Snare drums make amazing card tables. Have done all of these, would do again.

I'm in pit for the musical at my hs every year (we have a really good music department so our musicals are very impressive) and one of my favorite stories to tell is this: My freshman year we did Shrek (which did involve an awful amount of trying, AND FAILING, not to laugh), and the two trumpets and one of the trombones, who were all guys (the other trombone didn't participate because she was Responsible), had a stash of cookies back there. I never actually saw it even though I did have to crawl back there occasionally to grab a water bottle out of the huge bin that was behind them, but it included a lot of fortune cookies and probably a couple boxes of cupcakes and other cookies they snagged from the musical brunch or something. Anyway, our conductor had been getting on the first trumpet's case a lot for moving out of the window he'd created so he could see him, and one rehearsal fairly close to opening night our conductor turns to look at the first trumpet - whose mouth was ridiculously full of cookie. Obviously our conductor gets mad because we are NOT allowed to have food in the pit. He's like "WHAT ARE YOU EATING????" and the first trumpet can't talk because of how full his mouth is. Our conductor goes on at him for a little, you know, like "I TOLD YOU YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE FOOD IN HERE!!!!!!" and stuff, and of course, in response to this, the second trumpet and first trombone both shove cookies into their mouths. Our conductor's reaction was basically the surprised pikachu meme. It was pretty great. So yeah that's the story of how my freshman year the brass got their pit cookie stash confiscated.

eddy: offers brett a pretzel brett: *just sticks his nose in the bag*

15 should be changed to “flexing on the wind players”

Stopping other players from eating from your giant bag of food that you brought

Okay, so, i did lighting for a few shows my school put on and for musicals we’d have our band and orchestra in the pit. For high school, they didnt out me in orchestra like I asked and like a baby frsshman I didnt ask about it and went on not playing for high school.But that meant I didnt go down there. On the night of our last show, all tech ppl were playing hide amd seek beforehand and like 4 of us hid down there and I found so many phone chargers, empty cans of soda, bags of chips, cereal, and a damn can of almost gone soup. And I believe like 2 pillows and a blamket😂 Pit people really be out here thriving😂

The percussionist who has to remember when to use each of the 27 sound effects/instruments. And has to improv some vocal percussion when one of the instruments is lost

0:07 Eddy: this sheet is so sad, let's invent something new Brett: what about singing/acting weirdly? Eddy: great idea!!!

My friend was brass in this mostly string related thing so he was just eating and chilling while I was dying cause I'm playing the cello

Queen Of the Night Aria was as accurate as ever.

2:10 Brett is me on a diet

*the content we all signed up for.*

Me an my boyfriend where stand partners in the pit doing swan lake. And during the rests we ate trail mix and watched twoset.

One time my friend on stage and I had a specific scene where we secretly played rock paper scissors every performance.

*turns on captions* Me: *cant stop laughin*😂😂😂 Salute to the person who made these subtitles😎🙌🙋😂

I have done a lot of that. Our orchestra behind the scenes is just wild.

0:36 honestly me and my friends during class tho 😂

I’m doing a double program (classical guitar and theater), and I can tell you, if there’s one thing actors and musicians have in common, it’s the amount of dumbassery that happens in the pit or backstage/makeup and dress up rooms

"Brass/percussion who's been tacet for 300 bars" LOL omg I died that is great

2:16 i’m literally eating the same brand of pretzels as them 😂😂

Once some guy in the trumpet section ordered pizza for the entire pit Best pit experience ever

Stage fog in half the room Brett and Eddy: Stage fog fills another cubic centimetre: Brett and Eddy: suddenly and simultaneously both start coughing violently

I used to pity the orchestra in the pit, but now that I see it's an absolute rave I'm cool with it.

I used to run the green room bar for a local amateur theatre company, the trombonist was *always* the first of the musicians to the bar at interval and end of show 🤣😎

For this music camp i went to pre-covid, there was these plays at the last two days of the camp that everyone had to do. If you weren't in one of the plays, then you'd be down in the pit. During the second day, I was in the pit and there was a part where only the clarinets played. Lo and behold, during our ONE SOLO OF THE ENTIRE DAY, this group of people were dancing over a section of the pit (there was a wooden roof thing cause the stage was sorta small) and dropped all this GLITTER onto everyone in the pit. Most of us clarinettists started either choking on glitter and trying to not get it in our clarinets. After the play, our conductor started yelling at the dancers lol. Apparently the most of the glitter on these props they were using got shaken off and fell in the pit. Oh, and, they were dancing on they roof so a lot of people kept losing count during rehearsals so we barely made it through the concert XD

1:04 YES. I once had time to go out of the pit ( during rehersals), tall to the actors backstage, go to the washroom, and get myself an aero bar before I got back to the pit with 50 more bars of rest.

I played in a pit for community theater/orchestra. this is totally spot on. There were a few shows where things would get thrown across stage and it was very important to watch the conductor during those parts cause if her eyes got really big, it meant something pointy/heavy/unplesant was probably going to fall into the pit.

OMG you guys should do a quiz that decides which instrument you should play. Could be a viola you never know 😏😏

Stage smoke = yes but it's too dark to read :( #13... Playing an entire piece upbow One time, during an especially long tacet, we snuck out for sandwiches next door...

In Finland brass players go to sauna during tacet :D

0:12 that happened to me, but I play a wind instrument so...

1:24 when you bite down on something cold

0:31 when your mum says she wants you to play the viola and not the violin.

When our university wind symphony plays for the graduation ceremonies, the rule is be quiet but basically anything is fair game. My favorite thing was the people who brought nintendo DSs and Switches and were just playing those together the entire time. We literally would play for 10 mins at the beginning and 5 mins at the end and we'd have a whole 3hr ceremony with nothing to do. But we got paid, so it was worth it.

I’m really sad because my art school put on Addams family this year and I got picked to be the cellist in the pit, but because of covid-19 it was cancelled. :(

I’m not a classical musician so whenever you say pit I imagine you in the mosh pit of a metal concert

1:23 this is what all pit musicians do: watch twosetviolin

honestly, I do more socializing in the pit then I do in the rest of my life.

A easy guide to playing instruments: Brass: blow into a chunk of metal and make it sound good Strings: make an overpriced piece of wood with strings sound good by sliding a overpriced wooden stick over it Woodwind: blow into a pipe and make it sound good Percussion: hit stuff with sticks and make it sound good

you can do so much in the hard ball inside a cherry

0:26: our entire brass section at every rehearsal

I’d always see a couple sax kids playing smash during a dress rehearsal

Next time I got to opera, I just wanna vibe down in the pit with the orchestra

Correction: 10. Watching TwoSetViolin Videos

My first pit experience was a the low brass book in a high school production of Mary Poppins. Like 5 instruments, but still had time to do all the shenanigans. Another time in the South Pacific pit the trumpet player I was sitting next to looked at me, reached down and grabbed a beer out of a cooler he had at his feet and like a pound bag of m&m’s. Damn, pit is so fun...

Number 6 is so freaking true for French Horns in Mozart's Early Operas

No one: The subtitles: * sipipipipipip *

I’m a dancer and I sometimes dance with a live orchestra in the pit and it’s so interesting seeing what’s going on right underneath me and my friends when we dance

Next video: 19 Things musicians talk about edit: im bad at making jokes so this is the most likes i got

I work on the stage but I constantly see people in the pit doing work during intermission😂

im obviously the doodle one... i love drawing so much that my whole accolay concerto is covered with doodles

There's usually a guy with vodka in a water bottle, or a girl with a starbucks mug full of irish coffee.

17) decorating the pit Man i wish i had pit everyday tbh rip

My high school band director caved one year and finally allowed us to have our phones/books/entertainment at graduation. We play in the very beginning and at the very end, with at least an hour in between just sitting in the sun. I listened to an audiobook and my stand partner and his neighbor watched basketball. Good times.

My most fun pit experience was when there was some smoke effects that covered the stage and also our lil musician hole. Couldn’t see in front of my face let alone the music or conductor. Didn’t mind though as I found it fun.

No. 17. Switching from a B natural ... to a B flat

When you’re a pianist fighting for a position in the pit and failing

There was one scene where we didn’t have to play, It was so funny and everyone else in the orchestra looked so serious and I was CHOKING of laughter. the scene was deleted from the script the next day 😂😂

I love playing in pit! I’m totally the person who mouths along with half the lines. It keeps me from getting lost/distracted.

Love how this is so over the top, at the same actually very accurate.

I have played in exactly one orchestra that was in a pit, and all of these happened

2:09 When I visited the musical Phantom of the opera I once looked into the orchestra pit before the beginning of the show and saw that several musicians already placed gummy bears at their places XD

When Eddy went to whisper in Brett's ear I legit thought he was going to kiss him lmao