GridGirl

I’ve chatted with both my colleagues today and am feeling 100% better about the situation; one of them worked in HR for a few years and apparently if they were calling us in to tell us they were making us redundant, they would have a) told us we could bring a support person, and b) would have to have someone from HR there, of which neither is the case. Also, she had spoken to a former colleague who is married to the head of steel fabrication in our workshop (SO useful - he’s built us all sorts of fabulous custom bits of gear!); he was summoned for a meeting today and from what I gather, told that full time staff in his department at this stage will just keep on keeping on, but anyone on a fixed term contract would not have that extended. Also the other member of our team has been called in tomorrow as well, so it seems like they’re meeting with pretty much everyone. I’m now thinking that they plan to talk to us all and hear our thoughts and ideas about how we can improve efficiency (and save money...) before making any decisions. There’s been a media release today about the future of the company, with the primary focus being retaining the artistic standards we’ve attained. My angle on this is that I, as someone who is “at the coal face” looking after the orchestra during performances along with my two colleagues, am the one who ensures that players are in a place both mental and physical where they can perform to the highest possible standard. There’s that fabulous line in Gosford Park where the housekeeper says “I am the perfect servant. I know what they want before they know themselves that they want it.” And that’s what I do - anticipate their needs so that they don’t have to worry about anything and can get themselves into the right headspace to perform at the highest level. They come to us with some issues which we had never foreseen, and are supremely confident that we can solve their problems in the 12 minutes before the show starts - because we do. We tell them not to worry, we’ll find a solution - and do - even if we’re like swans, gliding serenely across the lake while the feet are paddling away madly underneath, unseen! They know us, they trust us, and if we panic around them, we’re very good at not showing it so they stay calm as well! Hopefully I can get that across to the CEO and AD tomorrow...watch this space.

Well, ######. Update from our CEO on Friday saying that even when we can return to business, it will be far from business as usual. The organisation is being restructured and there will be jobs which are no longer required. He said they’ll be starting consultation with both those who will be affected by the restructure but retain their jobs, and those who will be made redundant, this week. My two closest colleagues and I have all been summoned to individual meetings with CEO and artistic director on Tuesday afternoon. So it could be either. As it happens, my immediate boss has already resigned as he had another opportunity come up, but I can’t figure out if this works for us or against us. Good in that our department has already lost one employee, but bad that he’s not there to fight for us, My major concern is that about 98% of the company has NO idea what we actually do. They think we sit in the green room and mark players off as they arrive and don’t do much else, and that other departments could take over our responsibilities, This is of course a long way from the truth, and they’ll find that out very quickly if they make us all redundant - it will end in rehearsals and shows not starting on time because the rehearsal room or pit hasn’t been set properly, gear didn’t make it onto the freight load to the venue, players have walked out because noise levels have risen to an unacceptable level because no one built the predicted sound level exposure graphs for the players that I do twice a year (for each opera season) so the rostering didn’t take noise into account, and so on. Hopefully someone has actually realised this. My gut feeling is that one of the others and I will be kept, but the third is gone - he’s only been with us since March 2019 so it’s going to cost them a whole lot less to pay him out than it would me or our other colleague - I’ve got nearly ten years and my colleague has twelve years and Australia has pretty generous long service leave provisions that we both qualify for on top of redundancy - I’ve calculated that I’d be due about 34 weeks salary as a payout when you take redundancy, long service leave and the six weeks’ annual leave I currently have accrued into account. But I just don’t know and the uncertainty is killing me. It might be that they want to take us down to part time, or take a pay cut. I have had the occasional thought in the last year or two wondering whether I want to be doing this job up to retirement, and I’m not sure the answer is yes. So if I do get the boot, that’s really just made the decision for me a bit earlier than I otherwise might have come to that conclusion. I think if it is the case, it’ll be retraining for me - I’m not going to find another job in the arts right now, at least not full time (I’d be hitting up my counterpart at the symphony orchestra to get onto their casual list, and I’m 100% certain he’d take me on once they start performing again). Still thinking about what I’d study though!

Not forgetting that the BR has members from all over the globe (says the one from Down Under) too! Cloughy, please fill in some more info in your profile and you’ll get much more helpful responses!

It seems that Cam Mack and ALW have two differing opinions on this! I’m not surprised that they’re planning work on the theatre and a completely new set - the set was old, tired and noisy when I saw the show in 2006 so I dread to think how much worse it must have got in the 14 years since then!

Well, we’ve just had our November Ring Cycle postponed along with a production of Aïda which would have been on in rep with it. Pushed out to the same time next year - just too many uncertainties. The November/December ballet season is off too although hopefully we’ll be able to do something in December - they had a gala performance scheduled as their artistic director is leaving and I think everyone will want to farewell him properly. I see that Teatro San Carlo in Naples has just done an outdoor concert performance of Aïda which is interesting.

Interesting read here about the Shanghai Symphony starting to return to some vague semblance of normality. This is also interesting - keen to see the results.

Aren't Queensland's borders pretty tied down currently even for residents? Various states have different border restrictions in place. Nobody is letting Victorians in without a permit (you can get a permit for medical reasons/work reasons if you live close to the border and work/see doctors on the other side). Queensland, the NT and NSW are letting anyone in (except Victorians!). WA and SA still have closed borders. Tasmania you can get in, but you have to quarantine for 14 days, but not if you’re from or have been in Victoria.

It sounds like your dimmer has lost one phase of power (presuming it’s three phase). It could be a problem with the supply coming into the dimmer, or it could be an issue within the dimmer. It looks like it’s a model which is hardwired in, correct? If so, I’d be calling Anytronics - you’ll probably need a service tech to come to site and have a look at it I would suspect.

We’re supposed to be producing the Ring Cycle in Brisbane in October. If it goes ahead (which is still a huge IF, obviously), I am very, very doubtful that we’d be allowed to go full capacity. I’m very glad I’m not the one who would have to tell 50-60% of the Wagner-ites that their tickets are being refunded because we can’t seat them. I’ve just noticed that ticket sales are currently suspended though, while “we work with the Queensland Government in regards to the COVID-19 situation and event guidelines.” The other issue is that if we have to socially distance the orchestra, there’s nowhere for them to go. We might get the strings into the pit, but there isn’t anywhere else in the building for the wind, brass, percussion and four harps to go. Then there’s the question of whether we can get the international artists into the country - currently the borders are closed to all but citizens/permanent residents returning. There are some roles that we just don’t have local artists to sing...apparently a decision is being made on the production by the end of this month. We’ll see. The ballet in November/December I think will more likely happen. Their artists are all in the country, albeit in Melbourne which is back in lockdown, but that’s got five weeks to run and they can still go to work (I think they’re back in the studios now).

Plexiglass in front of brass players is an absolute recipe for disaster. There’s some interesting research starting to happen on transmission via instruments though: https://smtd.colostate.edu/reducing-bioaerosol-emissions-and-exposures-in-the-performing-arts/

Divide the box into sections, rather than individual holes for each leg? Four or six or nine sections, depending on the size of the flight case. Legs should stand up relatively upright even if there are only a few in each section. Or can you find reinforcing mesh which has about the right size holes to take a leg, and put two pieces of that into the box, near the bottom and near the top?

Thanks David! I didn’t have time to fix it this morning, your assistance is appreciated! Anna (mods)

Did you copy and paste out of a word processor or notes program? That’s usually the culprit when posts look like this. Also I’ve deleted the duplicate of this post.

We’re wrestling with this at the moment. We can fit 26 people (including the conductor) in our pit with social distancing. No good even for a Mozart opera. We’re looking at whether we can put the orchestra in the Studio at SOH (Tom, I can’t remember if I took you guys in there or not!) which we did some years ago for an opera which had an orchestra too big for our pit - despite all the possibilities of it going badly wrong, it didn’t. As well as a good sized floor space it also has a mezzanine level so we could distance vertically as well as horizontally. Of course this depends on whether the venue is available, be that no one else in there, or actually usable as it’s under the Concert Hall which is undergoing major renos - at one point apparently it was going to be possible to see from the floor of the studio, which is basement level, through to the roof of the Concert Hall (the CH stage is at level 2, and it’s a long way up from there!).

I should have thought of this. Being able to follow a score is so, so, so useful. You don’t need to be able to follow the full orchestral score for the Ring Cycle, but finding your way around a piano score is a very valuable skill. You don’t need to know what every marking or piece of terminology means, just be able to find bar 67 when the MD says that’s where you’ll pick up from, and follow instrumental sections during a dance break.

- The only stupid question is the one you didn’t ask. If you don’t know, ask. If you’re not sure, ask. If something seems not right, ask. - To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, and to be late is inexcusable. - if the stage manager asks you to do something, it’s not a starting point for negotiation. They’ll have an excellent reason for it and probably no time to explain that reason to you. Just do what they ask (this often applies more to cast than crew, but is still important). Sub in chief LX, head mechanist, whichever HOD is appropriate. - Safety first, always. If someone asks you to do something and you don’t think it’s safe, say so, regardless of who it is that’s asked you to do whatever it is. - Never, ever, ever touch a prop unless you’re specifically instructed to do so. I had an episode where I was ASMing an opera and props was my responsibility. We had a props table in a corridor backstage and I came out there at interval one night to find a brass player from the orchestra swinging a prop sword around. I yelled at him and he had the temerity to tell me I should have said “please” when I told him not to touch the props. I did not apologise or say please. - Unless you have a death wish, don’t ever use sewing scissors to cut anything except fabric. Wardrobe will hunt you down and stab you to death with their ruined scissors if you do! - if you’re labeling gel with its number as you cut it, for goodness’ sake write it in big numbers across the middle of the piece. Don’t write it small and neat in one corner, because it won’t be readable from the ground and if the piece has to be replaced, that’s an extra trip up the ladder or going to find the LX plan to find out what colour it is.

Moderation: I’ve merged the two topics to keep everything in the same place. Anna (mods)

Our musicians have been put on leave temporarily, while we figure out where the hell we go from here. Our cello section has not been idle, and have used technology to keep the music going while socially distancing themselves. https://youtu.be/OpNNt1jF0Dc

We use an independent freight contractor (small business - three trucks and four or five staff) for all our orchestral freight, as do the other major orchestras in the city. He’s just lost the next three months’ work but I think he’ll be able to weather the storm by doing just this. Once we get up and running again he will just transition back. At least I hope that’s what happens as he’s integral to our operation.

Ballet season got pulled this morning. So we have three months of no rehearsals or performances, once the month of annual leave (mid-May to mid-June) which was already scheduled is taken into account. We went in this morning and struck the pit, put the covers on the timpani and tucked them in to hibernate, and took all the percussion gear down to our percussion studio, which we do still have access to (the building isn’t closed at this point, just no performances taking place). Very odd to be packing up with no real idea of when we’ll be back in - hoping for the winter season in mid-June but who knows. Numbers of people around the place is way down - it was a glorious sunny day today and normally we would have been elbowing our way down Circular Quay, but I’d estimate under 10% of the normal foot traffic. Boss has given me permission to work from home - too bad if he didn’t as I was going to anyway, given that the other half is immunosuppressed after kidney transplant - I’m not all that worried about catching it myself but I do not want to pass it on to him (he’s also working from home). Fully expecting to get stood down without pay for a while as there’s only so much admin work to be done with no rehearsals or shows taking place. We’re fortunate to be in a position to weather that and if it helps keep the company afloat I will happily do it.

Well, we’ve just cancelled the last two weeks of our summer season, and Opera on Sydney Harbour has been cancelled. No word yet on the upcoming ballet season but I don’t see it going ahead. With any luck we should be back up and running for the winter season, starting in mid-June. I’m fairly sure my job is secure, but I think there’s likely to be some unpaid leave in my future. Luckily we’re in a position to weather that. A lot of my freelance colleagues are not going to be anything like as lucky.

Australian PM has announced that from Monday, they are recommending cancellation of non-essential gatherings of more than 500 people. It’s only a matter of time before it’s an outright ban, I think. We’re going ahead with shows this weekend but I would be exceptionally surprised if they continue beyond then (if nothing else, I’m pretty sure the Opera House will enforce the 500 people rule). The big question is over the Opera on Sydney Harbour which goes into tech week on Wednesday. My gut feeling is that we’ll rehearse up to the General and then hold there until this ban is lifted. Suspect the ballet season scheduled to start in three weeks will be the same.

I think they stopped selling the 300/500 series in the early-mid 2000s, from memory, when they were replaced by the Palette consoles (which in my opinion were inferior!). If it still works, it's a solid console which should serve well - if it's not running software version 2.8.6 it wouldn't hurt to update to that - you can find the software here. I do remember the major problem we had with ours was that the rubber band on the level wheel would disintegrate over time, but I do seem to remember it wasn't very hard to replace it either!

I'd probably use profiles heavily shuttered to create straight narrow lines, and focus them very carefully so they line up as perfectly as possible. And as David said, haze will be vital!

I dragged out our not-often-used Ruhrtrommel yesterday and had forgotten about the label I stuck on the case last time we used it. This thing is a custom field drum, brass shell which is about two feet deep, and it is beyond loud. It can’t be used in the pit because it’s so loud - we’d be talking instant hearing damage, so really can only be used backstage or perhaps on the concert platform. I’m going to have to talk to the stage manager about this if we end up wanting it in this production...