How the BSO takes 100-plus musicians on tour halfway across the planet (2017) | Hacker News Reader

How the BSO takes 100-plus musicians on tour halfway across the planet (2017)

wbur.org

30 pointswallflower14 comments

Interesting, but it's nothing compared to a rock'n'roll tour. I've no detailed knowledge of what it's like now, but even 35 years ago we had five 40-foot trailers filled with gear, including 21 cannons and a 3 ton bronze bell, for a tour that did a different venue most nights. Only about 30 people in the tour party, though

AC/DC?

I remember my HS classmate talking about that bell when he saw them play in Boston or Worcester. This would have been 1983 or 84.

It's amazing seeing a band with an enormous stage act -- most notably Rammstein -- packing up after a show.

The last time I saw them, it looked like half of the stage was already packed into cases within half an hour of the end of the show. News reports say they had 60 trucks of stuff, and 200 people to set it up and take it down again.

I'd assume they don't have anything as fragile or intrinsically valuable as an orchestra, but with each show bringing in €3-6M (sometimes more) the value to the tour is greater.

This kind of thing is also the origin of the 'no brown M&Ms' clause [1], after Van Halen's tours repeatedly ran into problems with venues that couldn't actually handle the band's electrical requirements or sometimes even literal flooring collapses from the physical weight of all the equipment.

[1]: https://www.insider.com/van-halen-brown-m-ms-contract-2016-9

I thought just about all bows are made from pernambuco (Brazil tree wood). The article seems to indicate there are travel restrictions with it. I recently bought one for my daughter, and they are not cheap, but they sound much better than carbon fiber.

The species is endangered [1], and trade of unfinished wood is restricted [2].

I strongly discourage buying anything made from endangered species -- most people in America or Europe wouldn't consider buying something made from an endangered animal, but don't consider plants in the same way.

There have been discussions about loosening restrictions on musical instruments using small amounts of endangered wood, where the majority of said wood is used in furniture etc (e.g. rosewood on guitar fretboards and furniture). I still discourage purchasing even that, but in this case the restriction[2] only mentions musical instruments, so that is presumably the majority use of this wood.

(These restrictions can change, so it's important to keep up-to-date. Instruments can be seized by customs otherwise.)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paubrasilia and links from it

[2] https://www.speciesplus.net/#/taxon_concepts/94093/legal

Alas, they just cancelled this year's East Asia tour: https://www.wbur.org/artery/2020/01/30/bso-cancels-east-asia...

Interesting! Why do they bring all of these instruments? For example, are there not timpani available at their destination?

> Why do they bring all of these instruments?

I think people are very personally attached to their instruments.

Indeed, and in a top-tier symphony orchestra like BSO, many (if not most) of the musicians will be playing one-of-a-kind handcrafted instruments that are hundreds of years old.

No chance he’s playing someone else’s drums :)

Source: he was my teacher

Timpani? Sure. A $16,000 set of handmade best-in-the-world timpani with exactly the sound the musician wants? Probably not.

I’m sure that whatever keyboards they have me code on at the new job will be fine.

The article doesn't mention if the musicians are sent in multiple planes, like athletic teams often are.

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