The Small Theatre Committee has written and produced a brochure entitled “Music Preparation Services, a Primer for Purchasers.” It outlines what orchestrators and music copyists actually do, and will be a valuable resource for employers, contractors and members.

To prepare the brochure, the committee gathered input from dozens of orchestrators and copyists, and hired Chris Pizzoloruzzo to design and lay out the graphics. The union’s Coordinating Advisory Committee (CAC) funded the project from its Special Projects and Services Fund.

The idea for the brochure grew out of the experience of one of the committee’s orchestrator-members, Ned Ginsburg, who had encountered situations where the employer – typically, a theatre producer or general manager – demonstrated little knowledge of what orchestrators and copyists do. Ginsburg and other committee members felt that if prospective purchasers of music preparation services could be better informed about the process and the skills of the musicians providing those services, it might make negotiations a little easier.

The result is a sharp-looking eight-page booklet that lays out in easy-to-read language the substance of what music preparation musicians do and how and why they price their services.

Copies of the booklet are available through 802’s Music Preparation Department. While the target reader is a producer of a new musical, the concepts communicated would help any purchaser of orchestrations and parts.

Frank Lindquist is the chair of the Small Theatre Committee.

For more information, contact the Music Preparation Department at (212) 245-4802, ext. 119.