Percussion Setups for Broadway Shows-The Setup for Wicked-

[@spadds]

This was great, thanks for posting. It opened up my eyes to the variety of rolls the percussionist plays (and is taken for granted!) during a live show! Oh the pressure! Looks like it could be great fun though!!!!!

[@williamkleitsch1153]

Thanks for sharing. I have sat in the pit as a guest for a professional show and as a drummer in high school. Quite the experience. As always Rick, your videos are the best.

[@tannerhall588]

My senior year of concert band, near the end of the overture we were playing there was a single fortissimo open chime note to end the song. My chimes at the school where dampened when you pressed the pedal. I didn't realize the chimes where we were playing were the opposite. I was ready to go and the director queued that final note. CLUNK! Let that be a lesson kids, check our ALL of your equipment before you start that it works as you expect!

[@azaleajanemusic]

I never did anything this complicated in percussion ensemble or wind band, but damn, this is getting me nostalgic for college!

[@dizzolve]

as always Rick, great content. This was fun to glimpse into some of the finer details of a pit set up

[@Negative_Positron]

Excellent demonstration and I appreciate the play-through / explanations! What is your opinion on using a midi keyboard (malletstation or other) in lieu of actual instruments? Low-tuned kick drum in like of a concert bass? They obviously won't have the same sorority, but they take up a fraction of the space and are an even smaller fraction of the cost.

[@jamesconnors5653]

Thank you much.

[@josephnewton9075]

Wow! This is a dream. I would absolutely love to be able to just play pits for a quarter of my income. How did you find out about this? I live near a fairly big city and wonder if after college I can find opportunities to do this.

[@mixedstaples8030]

Hi Rick, bit late but figured this was the right place to ask. How do you get your stuff to the theatre? Do you hire a truck? Cleverly pack your car? Or does the tour send transport for you?

[@rblackw0611]

@rickdior - GREAT STUFF, brother!! Thank you for all the hard work you've put into this!! I'm playing Wicked soon - did you get through the show ok with one tam-tam? Trying to get a second one in the setup looks to be an ordeal.....got to put it somewhere next to the kitchen sink, I'd reckon!!!🤔

[@rickdior]

One 28" gong will do it. You can use a very small 12 or 14" gong for the few times it asks for it or sub the dark lrg sus cym.

[@thomasluttermanndjeventtec3003]

Hi Rick, again thanks for the nice content. Which Mallets for Glockenspiel do you prefer to play a wide Range of Music? Which „ultimative“ Mallets do you use for nice glockenspiel & Xylophone sound if there is no Time to Change between?

[@rickdior]

For the shows, I use a Kelon xylophone just for that purpose. You can pay that instrument with a harder mallet than a wooden xylophone. Usually, I will use the malletech whites or some old musser bell mallets that I like.i think they are the 215's

[@SNDRDRUMS]

Hey Rick, what’s the name of the triangular/pyramid suspended instrument? Regards, Sander

[@rickdior]

That is a Trine

[@thomasluttermanndjeventtec3003]

Hi Rick, nice Video. What is the model/Type/Name of the holder for the red Triangle beater (for one hand use)?

[@rickdior]

That's a Miller Triangle Machine.

[@thomasluttermanndjeventtec3003]

@@rickdior Thank you!

[@irawong]

Is there any other show that you’ve played that comes remotely close to “Wicked” in terms of the complexity of the instrument set-up and musical difficulty?

[@rickdior]

Definitely, Wicked is not a hard show in terms of technique. It's a hard show in terms of concentration and uses lots of small instruments with little time to get from one to the other. Shows like The Producers, Young Frankenstein and especially West Side Story are much more difficult technically for the percussionist.

[@KingstonCzajkowski]

@@rickdior I knew you'd bring up West Side even before I read your reply. What a great show, but terribly difficult - if you only have one player, maybe the most difficult book in all of musical theater. In Samuel Z. Solomon's "How to Write for Percussion," the author says "Bernstein's percussion writing is exuberant and often requires more instruments than are probably necessary" - the understatement of the century.

[@alanduncan1980]

I just show up with a crash, ride, hats, snare, pedal and a pair of sticks. This is like Terry Bozzio level setup.

[@johannesbowman2194]

What trap tables did you end up using?

[@DrummerMike86]

#snaredrumheaven!

[@thomp9054]

It's crazy you're expected to own all the instruments. Talk about gatekeeping

[@bobbyjayjohnson3460]

Why did they cross out the congas and replace them with bongos, what kind of difference does it make between the two?

[@rickdior]

With covid space restrictions there is no room for the congas in the pit. Many times the pits are too small to fit the complete setups and the percussionist is in another room or below the pit. You see the conductor on video monitors in that case.

[@TrainerMysticNC]

I live in Charlotte nc