Life in the Pit

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This podcast is devoted to the lives and experiences of instrumental musicians who play for musical theatre. Listeners can hear the stories of what goes on in "the pit" and aspiring musicians can learn what it takes to become a pit musician.

Episodes

Tuesday Mar 08, 2022

Bonus Episode 64a: Recent Audition Accompanist Stories

Tuesday Mar 08, 2022

This is a brief follow-up to Episode 64 with Jose Simbulan where we talked about being an audition accompanist. Host David Lane has been doing a lot of audition accompanying this week for two community theaters, and shares some of his observations of dos and don'ts based on recent experiences. You can watch this video at https://youtu.be/dAC33G5mSYs

Please subscribe and follow to our YouTube channel while you're there.

Follow the podcast on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter @LifeInThePitPod. Visit www.lifeinthepitpod.com for more info or to send feedback regarding the podcast. Donations are also gratefully accepted. Please leave a rating and a review on your podcast app. Thank you for listening.

Friday Feb 25, 2022

64. Being an Accompanist for Auditions - Jose Simbulan

Friday Feb 25, 2022

Jose Simbulan has had a long successful career as a pianist, keyboardist, and music director, including a stint on Broadway. He has also accompanied no fewer than 35,000 actor auditions, many of them the high pressure 60-90 second variety such as those for professional divisions at the annual Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC) where he is preparing for his 27th year of work on March 9-13 in Memphis, and the United Professional Theatre Auditions (UPTA).

This episode looks into the skills of being an audition accompanist, and also includes many tips for actors of all levels in working with their accompanist. What we don't dissect here can be found in Jose's blog at https://josespiano.wordpress.com/

This episode is sponsored by Fons, an online platform that helps private teachers of all types (music, yoga, martial arts, academic tutoring, coaches, etc) with smooth, automated assistance such as securing timely automatic payments and scheduling. Click here for more information or to begin your free trial.

Friday Feb 11, 2022

63. The Business of Private Teaching - Eric Branner

Friday Feb 11, 2022

Very very few pit musicians can make the pit their only source of income. A significant number rely at least a little if not a lot on teaching their instrument, and many of them do it privately rather than in a school system. Private teachers often neglect or get overwhelmed at the business side of things and, as we discuss, often undervalue themselves. Today's conversation is an essential one for all teachers.

Our guest, Eric Branner, lives in Seattle, and is the CEO and co-founder of Fons, an online platform that helps private teachers of all types (music, yoga, martial arts, coaches, etc) with smooth, automated assistance such as securing timely automatic payments and scheduling. We talk about attitude, networking, and "perceived value" when it comes to setting up or modifying your studio. Click here for more information or to begin your free trial.

Friday Jan 21, 2022

62. Grad School in a Pandemic - Tanner Harrod: composer, guitarist, hornist

Friday Jan 21, 2022

Making connections, moving to a new community, studying music in a doctoral program, continuing to play for theatre productions: All of these things are difficult enough separately, but when you combine them and then add in a pandemic, you have Tanner Harrod's life. He smiles his way through all of it as we chat about his life in grad school; playing theatre in Texas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska; keeping your musical tools sharp through variety; and the importance of just "being around" events.

Follow the podcast on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter @LifeInThePitPod. Visit www.lifeinthepitpod.com for more info or to send feedback regarding the podcast. You can also donate through the website. This podcast is currently ad-free, so all donations are gratefully appreciated. Please leave a rating and a review. Thank you for listening.

Friday Dec 31, 2021

What’s New in 2022 for LIFE IN THE PIT

Friday Dec 31, 2021

Happy New Year, everyone! Life In the Pit isn't going anywhere in 2022, but the format is changing to add different perspectives that branch outside of theatrical productions. We're not changing what we've done, only growing to include more. In this short episode, David Lane gives you a preview of what's to come!

Friday Nov 19, 2021

61. Touring with the JCS 50 - Joe LaRocca, reeds

Friday Nov 19, 2021

Like so many theatre musicians, Joe LaRocca's path to his first Equity national tour, the currently-traveling 50th anniversary tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, was far from linear. At times, he had to change directions and even gamble on himself before he could even back it up by even owning the instrument he needed for the gig. We talk about tour life for an active tour (a first for this podcast), and the steps he did to make sure he was prepared for such a high-level gig even with very little prior theatre experience!

This episode is sponsored by The Ultimate Music Business Summit, an annual event going on its 2nd year on January 6-8. This is a must-attend event for any professional musician wanting to improve their business skills! Check out https://www.musicsummit.biz for more information.

Friday Oct 15, 2021

A Story of Failure and the Lessons Learned

Friday Oct 15, 2021

LIFE IN THE PIT is full of success stories from musicians around the world! Today's episode, however, is a story of failure. It's a personal story from host David Lane who recently was let go from a high-profile gig. He talks about what happened and, more importantly, the 5 lessons he learned for decreasing the odds of it happening again. If you're an aspiring musician with ambition, setbacks and disappointments are part of the process. How you respond will determine how successful you ultimately become. Today's episode will hopefully give you strategies to improve how you prepare for a show.

Follow the podcast on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter @LifeInThePitPod. Visit www.davidlanemusic.com/podcast for more info or to send feedback regarding the podcast. You can also donate through the website. This podcast is currently ad-free, so all donations are gratefully appreciated. Please leave a rating and a review. Thank you for listening.

Friday Oct 01, 2021

60. The Broadway Trumpeter - Paul Baron, Trumpet

Friday Oct 01, 2021

Paul Baron has had a career in both theatre and in commercial recordings, including the first national tours of Evita, Cats, The Full Monty, In the Heights, Spamalot, and currently Frozen. He is also the author of multiple books including The Broadway Trumpeter and the upcoming follow-up of Volume 2 (coming later this Fall). This series is a comprehensive collection of actual trumpet book excerpts from the most famous shows ever, along with Paul's thoughts on preparation. If you are a trumpeter, this book and our discussion is invaluable, but many of our talking points apply to all pit instrumentalists. You can find out more about Paul at http://www.paulbaron.net/ .

Friday Sep 10, 2021

Interlude: 9/11, Pandemic, and Thoughts on Practice

Friday Sep 10, 2021

This is an improvised, random mini-episode with David Lane giving some thoughts on the 20th anniversary 9/11 and some personal thoughts based on recent experiences with COVID. If you're only here for the music talk, skip to 12:25 to hear David talk about practice preparation specifics for an upcoming show.

Friday Aug 27, 2021

59. Community Theatre Musicians - Jeff Ingle, percussionist, contractor

Friday Aug 27, 2021

Just as Broadway productions and Broadway tours represent a small percentage of American theatre productions, the same is true for pit musicians. Pit musicians and theaters are in every metro area, including Bakersfield, CA. Jeff Ingle is a middle school history teacher by day, and a gigging percussionist with a passion for theatre by night. He coordinates musicians from his area for local productions, and we talk about the community theatre scene, ensuring pay for musicians regardless of production status or size, and more!