What Is A Rehearsal? Defined and Explained
Studio 1 The Auditorium
Let's go all the way back to the academic definition of music rehearsal first: “Rehearsing a musical composition often involves repeating some passages over and over again until everyone in the ensemble (band or group of musicians) masters them.” Well that's the core of rehearsing, its main foundation... the one that no matter what, you should always comply to. But music has changed much since these academic days, now rehearsing exceeds these acts, and combines more tasks in itself. First you should agree that a focused band is the main requisite for a decent rehearsal.
Secondly, be aware that a group rehearsal (or ensemble rehearsal, as stated in the opening definition) is not your practice room or music instrument class! Don't go into the rehearsing studio to develop your individual skills or train your finger position and so on... that's homework mate! Musicians should be prepared for rehearsing as a group and reviewing the tracks over and over is practically the only way to achieve the sound that you want. Ø Discussion and Analysis But rehearsing isn't all about playing the part or song silently from start to stop. The meaning of rehearsing hides another concept vital in today's bands: Discussion and Analysis. When you train a track or a part of it, let’s say from the bridge to the chorus, over and over you are perfecting it, and most of the times “perfection” is about getting it right and playing it smoothly... but there are cases in which, during rehearsal, minor changes to the tracks can happen. A slight change on a note's duration or its pitch can occur when musician calmly discuss and present their point of view on that segment of music being analyzed. So it’s all about maturing your own product, and that comes in many shapes and flavors. As stated above you can perfect the way all of your band members play their part of the songs, you can perfect the way vocals and back vocals line up and double themselves on the chorus, and many more slight corrections like these, but another thing you can mature is the way the band performs. That’s where the stage-like rehearsal comes into play. Ø Show Rehearsing A common practice for bands (and a really important one for bands) is Show Rehearsing. This is, playing your entire concert song list, from start to end and even the “encore” if you’re feeling lucky. This will point out mistakes and problems in your band that you don't want to experience live and also helps you to test the concert song list.Which problems are these you say? Just play the entire song list and you'll see.The drummer is tired because track 3 is up tempo and is followed by another really fast tempo song. The bass player needs to switch to percussion in track 6 which leads to enormous waiting time (crowd's hate that), and it gets worst, where you find out that playing all the tracks sequentially can be hard work. So by using these practices in rehearsing you'll definitely get near to perfection, which is the purpose of it.But remember a crucial aspect: mastery of technical skills DOES NOT replace feeling when playing. In the other hand, besides Show Rehearsing you have several styles and types of rehearsing and some common practices. Ø Common Practices For drum players you should always use a metronome while rehearsing difficult songs (particularly if at the start you're not feeling the tempo, or if the signature is a composite, i.e.: 7/4, 5/4, 3/4, and so on). Bass players and drummers should build up a strong concept of rhythm section. If need be they could take some time on their own and practice the bass lines and rhythms. And then accordingly to you own band formation, there's several ways to enhance your performance. Lets’ divide these practices into a small list, with sub-topics: Ø Rhythm section As stated, both bass and percussion elements (drummers, conga players, etc...) should work considerably close. That makes a band consistent and the groove becomes solid. Work with metronome if any of the musicians is not feeling the tempo, but be sure to disconnect it when everyone is groovin'.
Ø Keyboard players
Piano, synth, and so on... Please note that you carry a massive harmonic instrument. It lays down the tune, so be sure to keep the score in mind and practice it a lot.
To synth players or organ players, keep an eye on the tempo and the rhythm section and learn their breaks and tempo changes.
Ø Vocalists
Vocalists play a huge role in today’s music. Lyrics hold certain meaning and messages, which are important in the context of a song/album.
If you're working with vocals and background vocals be sure to reserve some rehearsing time to this. Many times the chorus needs to change because of background vocal integration. Also, a new trend is to use effects on the voice, so if that's your case, choose some nice gear (foot pedal) and some powerful harmonizer effect machine, and rehearse that part over and over. (You don't want to mess up effects in real time).Ø Wind instruments Wind sections should always work together (reeds and brass), and if you have/can, work with the piano score (transposed to your instrument, of course) and keep it well rehearsed. If needed take some time to rehearse this section alone.
Ø Various instruments
It's not possible for this small list to incorporate every instrument possible, so for all of the other instruments. Take the general advises and seek more at other sources, such as maestros or music teachers or even your band members.
Just a final note for those that play solo or play solos in their band. Solos take a huge time rehearsing and should be done in your own individual studio time or at home. When rehearsing with the band be sure to have your solos worked out. Focus and Rehearse!
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