Rehearsal Techniques for Success
Are you leading your next rehearsal, awesome. It is always great to lead and work together with your colleagues!
However, it is important to ensure that things run as smoothly as possible. This means making sure time is being utilized at its full capacity.
Before the rehearsal
Check your calendar to ensure that you have the correct dates, times, and locations.
Have all the member’s contact information (phone and email) to reach out with possible questions or issues if they should arise. Know how to get to the location from where you are coming from. Also, set a protocol if anyone is going to be late so everyone can work productively while that person is out.
Know your rehearsal space specs
Keep in mind that some spaces might not have music stands or not enough. When you choose your rehearsal space know as much as you can about the facility and what accommodations need to be made. Anticipate unfavorable temperature and humidity levels by bringing the appropriate materials/equipment to handle these sorts of things. For us clarinetists, it might be additional barrels.
Percussion or piano in your rehearsal? Give them a heads up on the facilities with a separate email. Most of the time percussionists have their own personal setups and spaces they like to go to and you should be in close communication with them to ensure you have everything needed for the rehearsals. As for piano, try to pick spaces that are reputable and have good pianos. Nothing worse than going to a space where the piano is grossly out of tune. As with percussionists, many pianists have their ideal places to rehearse so ask them upfront.
Don’t forget yourself while tending to others
Make sure you have all of the equipment you need. Reeds, barrels, (if you’re a clarinet player) tuning mechanisms, slide oil, cork grease, drying paper, pencils with erasers, cup for reed water, tuners, metronomes, scores are usual staples for rehearsals. Keep in mind to remember what personal things you need, such as water or lip balm. Make sure that you have all of your materials set for the rehearsal the night before. Nothing worse than preparing for a rehearsal and you forgot your music or even an important accessory such as your strap, thumb rest, additional reeds, pencil, mouthpieces, sheet music, etc.
Anticipate challenges to have an effective rehearsal
Before the rehearsal, consider what areas in the music will be challenging for you personally and what can be challenging as an ensemble. Keep note of this and be ready to address these issues in the rehearsal. Have the measures marked on the score and consider what order you want to take. This will make sure that the rehearsal runs smoothly and efficiently.
During the rehearsal
Rule number one, be on time.
Rule number two, be cordial.
Rule number three, have all your materials ready.
It is important for everyone to be on time but it is even better if members of the ensemble are a bit early, this ensures that the setup and tuning won’t cut into too much of the rehearsal time. Time is money. If for whatever reason you are running late or feel that there is a possibility of being late make sure you contact the members.
If the piece is unfamiliar, pick a practice tempo that allows everyone to play accurately and hear the gestures clearly. The aim should be for accuracy and clarity as a whole. Keep in mind that it can be helpful to play at a softer dynamic to hear all the lines if the music is unfamiliar to the group.
Verbal communication and behavior. (Be productive, not destructive)
Be flexible and ready to try all suggestions, even if you do not agree with them. Keep the mindset that everyone’s ideas are valuable and you would want your suggestions to be taken seriously and attempted during the rehearsal. Be encouraging, sensitive, and diplomatic when speaking to your colleagues.
When musical changes need to be made, be diplomatic about suggesting a change. Do not accuse players of being wrong (rushing, dragging, poor intonation, etc.) just speak, as a matter of fact, you can be respectful and informative while correcting someone. For example, you can say “ Juan Doe you're getting before the beat on measure 15 before me, can we try it again.”
The more you know your colleagues the more you can challenge or confront them, however, being aggressive towards others doesn’t produce great performances and is totally unproductive and meaningless. Also, never blame anyone for your mistakes. Each player is responsible for what comes out or doesn’t come out of their instrument. If you do things like this people will avoid wanting to work with you and it’s irresponsible and unprofessional. Trust me they will not forget what you said so just don't do it and don’t be a jerk (you will be doing everyone in the universe a favor by being civil). If someone is woefully unprepared for rehearsal, be respectful but address the situation gently and privately (again, don’t be a jerk and if the person is not able to fulfill their duties you should replace them as soon as possible).
Some possible ways to speak to colleagues:
Starting a comment with “Let us try ____, to see if we can capture the beauty of sound.” or “This can sound better, shall we try _____.” or “I would like to bring out the melody more, is it possible to ____.” Be diplomatic and neutral. Knowing the score allows you to ask the right questions and make the right demands and the right time.
Practice as an ensemble
Many think of practicing as a solitary effort - this is incorrect. It is essential to practice as an ensemble. String quartets know this best. Focusing on intonation, rhythm, phrasing can only happen if the group practices with each other. However, time constraints can really change the dynamic and trajectory of how you rehearse. Taking the time to practice as an ensemble can be a huge challenge in the “real world” as opposed to school. In school, the structure of time is inherently built-in. Once you’re out of school, people don’t have the time or money to rehearse properly.
This is an unfortunate reality. The largest companies can afford to do this but most freelance musicians will find that they might lose money if they take too much time with one gig, especially if the pay is not significant. So we have to deal with the environment of having to be super efficient and produce results in a short period of time. Not ideal but not impossible, most of the time.
Practicing as a group will help the ensemble become more unified. Practicing some passages with a metronome can help clear up disagreements or confusion. Accuracy will lead to greater performances. If you find that time is an issue be dogmatic about what passages to work through in detail.
The fastest way to learn the music - Take your time to get it right.
Slow practicing can be essential for the early stages of rehearsals because intonation and beauty of sound can be confronted and cleaned up. In addition to this, ensemble playing (lining up the voices) will come much easier. It’s important to remember that the mind can absorb but so much at a given time. Playing slow allows a greater chance of accuracy and the ability to work on details.
It is more of a burden to address intonation issues and ensemble issues in the later stages of the rehearsal, which also makes it difficult to work on nuances and musicality. Once everyone achieves the sound that is desired, lines up together you can gradually build the tempo. Note: For the ensemble to move along people need to know their music, if Juanita Doe cannot play close to the tempo of the piece she will not be able to progress as fast as her other colleagues. Give your players the music in advance along with the score so there are no excuses.
Timeframe will guide your progression level
Consider how much time you have during the rehearsal and how many rehearsals you can have.
If you are renting the space or have the room signed out you will not be guaranteed your full scheduled time if another ensemble is exiting the space, plus remember setting up and tuning will take up time too. Make sure you know what you want to prioritize so you can communicate that in the rehearsal right from the start.
When you prepare your ensemble to rehearse, take the time to think about: How much time can you allot for fixing passages? You will have to pick and choose if you don’t have a lot of time, hence why it’s so important for everyone to know their parts when they get to the rehearsal. Knowing the score will guide you on which sections to tackle first. I like doing difficult passages first at a slower tempo as opposed to just starting at the beginning of the work. Or I'll pick the toughest movement. Certain issues can be addressed in later rehearsals and others require immediate attention.
If the group is working on a passage for a long length of time and is unable to come to a consensus on how to play a section, allow it to rest and bring it up first thing next rehearsal. Exhausting a passage will not create greater results and will only draw frustration and bring down the morale of the ensemble. Another thing that has to be mentioned is that you have to pick and choose your battles. Remember my friends, one note or one phrase is important but it's just a small bit of the music as opposed to the whole thing.
Being a good leader requires you to look at the big picture and dissect what needs to be done at the right time. You will get better at this as you continue performing and observing other great musicians.
Well, that’s my two cents and then some.
