The Pit is the group of students who play instruments behind the curtain of the musicals at Lincoln High School. The member of the Pit are chosen by Ricky Hall who is an adult volunteer for the jazz department at Lincoln. There are no minimum requirements to play the instrument because it is up to the discretion of Ricky Hall.

Josh Walker a senior at Lincoln describes the responsibilities of being in the Pit as “showing up to rehearsal , practice on off days.” The thing is, it sounds really simple but there is a lot of music. rehearsal is going over the music but to learn it is an individual at home task. For the show Matilda I have 90 pages of music to play when normally in Jazz band its 2 or three pages for a performance.” rehearsal are “once a week for 3 to four hours long. Its just doing it without the cast. Once it gets closer to the show we work with along side the cast then its most days of the week that we practice. ”

For senior Bryan Gonzalez it is his first time in the pit. “music in pit is different from jazz and classical music. It’s more like you have to look at conductor and band is usually just for my friends. It’s totally different music ” says Bryan. When asked if he would return if asked he said yes. Bryan has been playing the alto saxophone for 7 years.

When you walk into the Black Box Theater you don’t see the Pit, but you can hear them. The Black Box Theater is a 360 experience for people in the audience. The curtain is the only barrier between the audience and the Pit. The Pit orchestra conductor, Ricky Hall explained how the cast and Pit work along side each other seamlessly. “I  have headphones on that I listen to all of the cast and I also have a TV here that has a camera of the stage. So I have to watch what the cast is doing and what they are saying. I have to match it up to what the orchestra is doing

Ricky Hall started as a musician in the orchestra pits 6 years ago and later started to volunteer.  He got the role of conducting the musicals when the previous conductor left. “I asked Mr. Manthe and Ms. K if they needed someone to conduct the shows and I was interested [in the position]. This is my third year doing the shows at Lincoln.”