Synthesizers on Broadway

MIDI technology gives the listener the ability to have whatever acoustic instrument, among other instruments, to be imitated as closely as possible to the real live sound of the instrument.  For example: if I want the sound of a French horn, I can get the sound of a French horn by picking the proper interface for it, whether it's through the interface number, or through picking the name of the sound on an outside application, like Garageband.  It's very beneficial to have an idea of what these live instruments sound like together without having them there, but it's not always beneficial in every situation.

It's become increasingly popular in professional pit orchestras to have a MIDI synthesizer replace real acoustic instruments, such as a string section or a harp.  Due to budget limitations, it's easier to hire one person who can cover all the parts than to have the real live musicians who play the instruments.  The woodwind section already has it hard enough on broadway, because one needs to know how to play all of the instruments presented in a book in order to be hired for a gig.  A person that plays the bassoon, saxophone, oboe, flute, and clarinet will be hired over someone that just plays the flute, or whatever that book calls for.

A synthesizer is normally not used for the woodwind instruments, but they are replacing string sections and harps.  If this continues, then maybe all of the instruments will be replaced by synthesizers.  I find it fantastic that technology has advanced music into this direction, but if it potentially takes away jobs from other starving musicians, then this advancement in technology could also be harmful.  I respect any gig that is presented to me, and I do not want my opportunity to make music and make a show, whether it's in a high school auditorium or on the broadway stage, taken away by one piece of metal that is able to do it all.