Sammy232 said: "buffalospeedway said: "Caught this a couple of weeks ago. Thought that Adjmi's script was very strong, but musicians will be able to tell that these are actors who learned to play their instruments specifically for this show. Not that there's anything wrong with that! It is a play and they were hired primarily for their acting abilities. But because the show is so hyper-realistic, certain details stuck out.
For example:
Click Here To Toggle Spoiler ContentSimon is holding his sticks in match grip, but his palms face out instead of down. Also, the scene where Grover kept telling him to adjust his snare drum seemed odd and protracted. A professional drummer would have dampened their snare drum right away, though it seemed like Adjmi was showing that Simon was off his game because of his divorce. I also found myself missing the virtuosity of the musicians of the era.
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I was in the very last row, so it was hard for me to see hands/fingers (and guitar is the only instrument I play). But I could see the drum set fairly well and there was a lot of hi-hat in those songs, and I could not see one on the stage, so my guess is they are using some recorded tracks to supplement what they are playing live. Not suggesting they are not actually playing, but my guess was there were some additional pre-recorded tracks underneath."
I hadn't considered that they might have used pre-recorded tracks - that's an interesting point! I thought I saw a hi-hat onstage, but I don't recall seeing it open or close at any point. I think these details are NBD to the average theatergoer, but as a percussionist, Simon's grip stood out to me in particular.