Orchestra Timer

May 23, 2006 1:00 PM

Some time ago I went to the Boston Pops reformance. My seat was on the far wing of the first balcony that overlooked the orchestra. One of the performers was operating a large darkroom timer in addition to his instrument. What was he doing with this timer?
posted by Raybun to media & arts (8 comments total)

Could it have something to do with getting an accurate timing of the musicians' performance for determining their pay per union rules?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 1:17 PM on May 23, 2006

Were they playing John Cage's 4'33"?
posted by La Cieca at 1:47 PM on May 23, 2006

What instrument was it? That could give a clue.
posted by mikeh at 2:01 PM on May 23, 2006

All I can think of is it being a dial metronome/tuner and he was checking pitch.
posted by Sangre Azul at 2:23 PM on May 23, 2006

Wild and probably unlikely guess here --

Were you there on one of the evenings when PBS was filming for the 'Evening at the Pops' television program? If so, could it have to do with tracking time constraints?
posted by ericb at 2:26 PM on May 23, 2006

Was the guy with the "timer" the timpanist? (kettle drum player). If so, it may have been a tuner that (s)he was using to adjust the drums. It's unlikely, though. Timpanists usually don't use tuners, especially in performance.

As Mikeh said, an indication of what instrument the person was playing (or even the general family) would be helpful.
posted by rossination at 4:02 PM on May 23, 2006

Was Haydn's Symphony No. 101 on the program?
posted by rob511 at 11:53 PM on May 23, 2006

If the performance was being recorded for broadcast, he may have been timing the movements and pieces. Timing information is essential for radio and stations, so that they know when the breaks will come.

It used to be that a human would hear the music stop and push a button to start the commercials. Now, it's all preprogrammed into a computer, which therefore needs the exact timing.
posted by KRS at 11:26 AM on May 24, 2006