I’ve been very fortunate to be a principal percussionist at 3 different orchestras, and while I had a TON of mentorship and advice on the topic, there was so much that I still had to learn. With those experiences, many trials and errors, and a lot of adaptations to different needs for each orchestra, I’ve boiled it down to a few things that may help people.
Essentially, this system is a combination of the Chicago Symphony and Pittsburgh Symphony systems, with a couple of tweaks here and there, and it is the system that I have introduced to my most recent positions, Kansas City and Grant Park. This requires you to have a basic knowledge of Google Docs, excel sheets and email.
The Master Logistics Sheet
Something I noticed about myself is that, keeping emails organized is hard, especially if you haven’t created folders in advance. So, I tried to think of a way to cut down on the number of emails I would receive and send. Behold, the master logistics sheet! Think of this as an excel sheet version of a group chat that the production team and personnel manager receive. Each column has a different conversation thread where people can communicate the most important information for each concert.
My responsibilities here are to insert the concert cycle, number of subs that we need, the rentals that we need (we’ll come back to that), the dates of the rentals, and any information that I am waiting for (letting people know that there may be more info coming later). The personnel manager then hires the subs and inserts who has been hired and sometimes also emails me for posterity. In KCS, there’s a call order as well for different concert cycles that I add, as well way more concert types that are color coded and labeled.
Google Folders
Grant Park
Kansas City
Next is creating the folders containing information for all of the concert cycles. In KCS, we have a few different ones, but Grant Park is a lot “simpler,” thankfully. In KCS, the set up crew prefers a physical version of the more intricate set ups, and don’t require charts on a week to week basis. However, with Grant Park, set up charts, no matter how simple, are SUPER important because of space issues. Assignments are assignments, hah. And then the rentals for each concert cycle are pasted into separate documents for ease of sharing to the rental company.
Assignments
First, I create ALL of the concert cycle documents with their respective titles. Next, I make some templates with different percussion numbers to copy and paste into those documents.
Next, I get to work on filling in as much information on the assignments as I can using multiple sources, like the Principal Percussionist forum, the Raynor Carroll Book, my own records, texting mentors who are principals, etc. When they are finished, I share the master folder containing everything to the entire sub list.
Be FLEXIBLE!
Now this system is pretty fluid and can meet most needs. The better you get with excel, the more options you’ll have (I’m still trying to learn some shortcuts myself). The key is to continue to be flexible and try to make things as easy and accessible as possible. I hope these little tips give you things to consider in your principal positions!