Life in the Pit

The first time I ever thought of pit playing was when I read an ad in the International Musician which announced a bassoon opening for a National Ballet tour of the US, which I thought was a great way to get paid to travel. I was 16 at the time and my first tour at age 22 had me hooked. I’ve always enjoyed the repertoire and the National Ballet has a touring mandate which includes a reduced orchestra for most engagements.

Once I was established in the orchestra and we developed a collective agreement, I became interested in the health and safety aspects of pit playing. We have a vital live theatre community in Toronto and about 20 years ago, we had a series of unfortunate mishaps in the pits. That spurred me to join the Ministry of Labour Advisory for Live Performance where we develop guidelines for all aspects of theatre performance.

Working with the National Ballet and as a regular extra with the Canadian Opera Company has allowed me to cobble together a reasonable living performing with a good bunch of people. Of course there are challenges, some particularly difficult, and I’m sure we’ll address a few of them this week.