MTG Music Director Guide

By Matt Putnam '09

Updated by Teddy Warner PhD '26, May. 2026.


The Music Director is usually also the Vocal Director or Orchestra Director, though not always. In addition to those duties, the MD should coordinate the following items.

Things you are responsible for

  • As soon as official materials arrive, provide an annotated score to the OD/VD. Annotations should include tempos, entrances, colla voce sections, and anything else where interpretation may vary.
    • Solving any musical logistical issues (entrances that are difficult to find, cues, etc.) in conjunction with the OD/VD

    • Ensuring that technical and stylistic decisions between cast and orchestra are consistent

  • As interpretations in the production change, notifying the OD/VD of all changes.
  • Assisting the OD with setting up keyboard or mallet station patches, if relevant.
  • Requesting vocal and video monitors if needed.
    • Determining the video monitor setup, such as whether the conductor needs to see cast or vice versa.

  • Running the orchestra’s portion of strike, including collecting the books and ensuring that marks are erased from them, if needed.

Schedule

As soon as you get the position

  • With the orchestra director:

    • Look through all of the orchestra parts and determine all technical requirements of the orchestra.  Determine what equipment (keyboards, synths, drums, percussion, etc.) is needed and what will need to be borrowed. There may not be enough room for large percussion setups with timpani and mallets (especially for shows in Kresge Little Theater), and the instruments may be difficult to borrow, so consider synthesizing pitched percussion.

    • Decide if certain orchestra parts can be split (for example, reed parts and drum/percussion parts) and what you would ideally like to do.  Note that splitting parts will cause people to be playing only a fraction of the show, but it may make recruiting easier.

    • Decide when you want to spam for orchestra members (around the time that auditions are happening is usually good) and email the board’s publicity director with all of this information.  Email spam is usually not sufficient to fill the orchestra! You will likely need to harass people directly. Recent orchestra directors will be able to recommend people to poke. Sometimes (frequently) there might not be anyone for a given part who can make all of the performances, so you’ll have to have two or more people trade off.

    • If necessary: help run auditions, either virtually or in person.
  • With the vocal director:
    • Work on a CRB document for auditions. This will list vocal requirements for each cast position and how this will be evaluated.
    • Recommended: go to auditions and evaluate actors with the VD.

Before the first rehearsal

  • Go through the entire score, look for potential trouble spots, and find preliminary solutions for these. Mark up these places so that the OD/VD is aware. Mark up all tempos as well.

  • Find the soundtrack version which is most accurate to the version you have.  Listen to it attentively. Find any discrepancies between it and the actual version you have, and tell these to the cast and orchestra so that anyone who uses the soundtrack to learn their part won’t learn the wrong thing.  If the choreographer needs a rehearsal track and the soundtrack is unsuitable, you might need to record a piano rendition.

  • Send the cast and orchestra the full rehearsal and performance schedule so you can deal with any conflicts early on.

Before put-in

  • If the orchestra will be visible to the audience, make sure everyone knows to wear all-black. If the costume designer thinks it would be “awesome” to dress up the orchestra, veto that shit.

  • If the orchestra will be placed far from the stage and/or with large curtains between them, make sure that there is a plan to get the orchestra a vocal monitor.  Things run massively smoother when the orchestra can hear the cast.

  • If the cast and conductor will not be able to see each other, but one needs to cue the other visually, make sure there is a plan to set up a video monitor.  The Guild owns a suitable camera and several TVs, and more can be borrowed if needed.

At sing-through (Sitzprobe)

  • In conjunction with the OD/VD, devise a schedule for sing-through that keeps people waiting as little as possible.

At runs and performances

  • Make sure the orchestra is called before house opens, especially if you need to spot check anything.  The house typically opens 30 minutes before the show is supposed to start.

  • Orchestra night (typically Tuesday of prod week) is your night to make sure that cast-orchestra interaction is happening correctly.  Don’t let anybody else call stops. It’s very rude to make the orchestra wait while someone fixes tech stuff.

  • Stay calm!  Things *will* go wrong, that’s what makes live theater special.  Just roll with it, smile, and do the best you can to fix things. Let the cast be right and fix the orchestra.  Remember that the audience would rather hear you yell measure numbers to the orchestra than sit through a train wreck.

At strike

  • Get all instruments and personal belongings out of the orchestra space first.  Then get chairs, stands, and stand lights out. Set crew will want to get into that space ASAP.

  • Have all orchestra members erase any pencil marks from their books (feel free to *not* erase typo fixes) and return the books to you.  You will give them to the producer.

  • Thank your orchestra members profusely, and encourage them to stick around for the rest of strike.

Resources

The Guild owns:

  • 3 Keyboards - Yamaha, Roland, Casio
  • Amplifiers/speakers, various kinds
  • MalletKAT (pitched percussion synthesizer) & stand
  • Drum set & hardware
  • Some percussion accessories
  • Video camera and several monitors
  • Various pedals (sustain, volume, patch pedals, etc.)
  • A few music stands (others can be borrowed from CAC)

Where to find orchestra members

  • Spam emails to MIT community (ask your show's pub manager to send one)
  • Previous MTG orchestras
  • MIT ensembles, including MITWE, MITSO, FJE, and Chamber Music Society (be careful of overlapping performances)
  • This Facebook group (you will need to be given access)
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