Broadway musicians, members of Local 802 – American Federation of Musicians, have pushed back their strike date to midnight Thursday. Their contract negotiations with The League of American Theatres and Producers have centered on the stipulations regarding the minimum number of musicians that must be hired for a Broadway musical. Show producers have sometimes cleverly worked around the minimums, counting actors who play instruments on stage to get around having to pay a musician who is not needed. The League finds the minimums ridiculous and restrictive. The musicians are trying to save dwindling jobs as electronic reproductions get ever closer to sounding “live.” Talk of using completely electronic music in shows if the musicians do strike is perhaps the realization of the union’s worst fears. The League also is petitioning to eliminate music copyists from the union, preferring to hire them as independent contractors. Music copyists have the often thankless job of transcribing the composer’s score and ongoing edits to new playable scores.