InternationalWorship_10-2012_002 As a professional performer, I spend most of my week practising. You might say that, basically, I get paid to practice. Your church band might not cost the tens of thousands of dollars it costs a symphony orchestra to rehearse, but it probably costs your members valuable free time, and so we need to respect that and use the time effectively. It’s common for church music teams to meet for rehearsal some time during the week prior to a service, and often have a quick run through of some things before the actual service, but not everyone knows how to practice. Rehearsing more efficiently will lead to quicker improvement in the team’s skill.
Here are my tips for running a church band practice.
1. Be clear about the starting time
As one of my former instructors used to say, “if you’re on time, you’re late”. If the rehearsal time is 6pm, that means I expect everyone to have their instrument set-up ready to do the group sound check at 6pm. This is a really good discipline to encourage – it can be a tricky one – and it starts with being a good example!
2. Plan the rehearsal.
I learnt this one from my work – there’s no quicker way to aggravate an opera singer than to call them for a rehearsal only for them to sit around waiting until the director or conductor gets to their bit. A good conductor or director will have a plan of what to rehearse, and when. A good music team leader will have a plan. Be sure to communicate it to the team at the start of the rehearsal, so everyone knows what is happening. Of course, this needs to be done before the rehearsal begins!
3. Shepherd your team
You’re not there just to play music, but to grow together as worshippers of God, so take a few minutes to pray together and have some kind of short devotional or study. Perhaps you could share this responsibility around. I will often take one of the scripture passages I plan to share during the service, and share it with my team, and talk about how it relates to what we’re doing, and the songs we’re singing.
4. Don’t skimp on the sound-check
This is important, and it’s one we can easily rush through. Take 10 mins to make sure that everyone is in tune (pedal tuners for guitars are a really good investment) and that everyone can hear each other clearly in the fold-back monitors. If you’ve got individual monitor mixers (e.g. Avioms) then go through each mic / instrument individually for each person. Insist on a strict ‘no noodling’ rule at this point! I usually then do a well known song as a warm-up and to check the sound levels are ok.
5. Don’t just play through songs
This one probably seems a bit counter-intuitive at first, but I think it is one of the most helpful approaches to your teams improvement. When we begin rehearsing an opera, we don’t spend three hours just running the piece, instead we spend several hours on each scene, over a period of about four weeks. Only once we’ve rehearsed each scene do we put it together in a ‘run through’. The same kind of principle applies to your team (though we’re talking minutes instead of hours!). I spend the first half of a rehearsal just practising introductions, and key-changes or tricky repeats. Also, take time to learn any new songs: break it into parts, learn the melody together, talk about the arrangement.
6. Have an idea of the arrangement
This is also a part of the pre-rehearsal planning. Think about how you want each song to go, in terms of verse-chorus structure, repeats, instrumentation, and how it will fit into the flow. Does it need a keychange, or some kind of interlude (see the previous point) to get to the next song seamlessly? Perhaps you’ll need to write these out for your team, especially if you have less experienced players, or those who are not adept at improvising, but it’s important to also be flexible in letting the band find a solution. There’s no rule which says you have to play songs just like the CD, so be creative and think about the strengths of your team. Try and play through your arrangements at home and get a rough timing.
7. Sectionals
Back when I went to school music camp, we would often take a break from full orchestral rehearsals to do sectionals, which meant the strings would go off and work on their parts while the flutes did their own thing and the trumpets etc. It might be helpful to spend a portion of your rehearsal where the singers go off and work on harmonies and the guitarists work on riffs and so on. Another option is for the team leader to meet with team members individually before the rehearsal. This can be particularly helpful if you have some members who lack experience or need help in certain areas. It’s a good way to train up your team on a personal level, but it does take extra commitment and time.
8. Putting it all together
After a break – bring a snack for your team – quickly talk through the song list, reminding everyone of any tricky moments, make sure everyone has their sheets in order, and won’t get in the way for transitions, and then run through the songs in order, with all the transitions, and only stop if something goes really wrong. Be sure to leave enough time for this section (you timed your arrangements at home, right?) Depending on the number of songs, a band practice will probably need at least an hour and a half – we like to do a lot of songs, so I usually plan between 2 – 2.5 hours for a rehearsal. It’s always better to finish early than run over. We often rehearse a whole week before the service, so it’s good to talk through the order and run through some of the tricky corners again before the service.
As an example, here’s my rehearsal plan from last month, when we had a couple of new players in the team (if I recall correctly, we started late because of a traffic problem but still finished on time, so the times were quite generous):
15:00 – Sound check / monitor set-up (15mins)
15:15 – Pray (Heb 10:19-23) & Talk through song-list (5mins)
15:20 – Warm-up song: Open the eyes of my heart (5 mins)
15:25 – Intros / transitions (30mins):
Holiness
Refiner’s Fire
Our God
Holy Holy Holy
15:55 – Learn new songs (30mins)
Holy
Promises were made
16:25 – BREAK with cookies! (20mins)
16:45 – Run through set (40-45mins)
17:30 – Finish.
I hope that helps you think about how to run your own music practices in an effective and efficient way! David Santisevan has also written a helpful guide to preparing for a rehearsal which is worth checking out.
InternationalWorship_10-2012_002 As a professional performer, I spend most of my week practising. You might say that, basically, I get paid to practice. Your church band might not cost the tens of thousands of dollars it costs a symphony orchestra to rehearse, but it probably costs your members valuable free time, and so we need to respect that and use the time effectively. It’s common for church music teams to meet for rehearsal some time during the week prior to a service, and often have a quick run through of some things before the actual service, but not everyone knows how to practice. Rehearsing more efficiently will lead to quicker improvement in the team’s skill.Here are my tips for running a church band practice.1. Be clear about the starting timeAs one of my former instructors used to say, “if you’re on time, you’re late”. If the rehearsal time is 6pm, that means I expect everyone to have their instrument set-up ready to do the group sound check at 6pm. This is a really good discipline to encourage – it can be a tricky one – and it starts with being a good example!2. Plan the rehearsal.ผมได้เรียนรู้จากงานของฉันคนนี้ – มีวิธีเร็วกว่าซ้ำเติมนักร้องโอเปร่าที่กว่าจะเรียกสำหรับซ้อมสำหรับให้นั่งรอบ ๆ รอจนกว่าผู้อำนวยการหรือผู้ควบคุมวงได้รับการบิตของพวกเขาเท่านั้น นำดีหรือกรรมการจะมีแผนการที่จะทดสอบ และเมื่อ ผู้นำทีมงานเพลงดีจะมีแผน ตรวจสอบให้แน่ใจว่าการสื่อสารกับทีมที่เริ่มซ้อม เพื่อให้ทุกคนรู้ว่าสิ่งที่เกิดขึ้น แน่นอน ซึ่งต้องทำก่อนเริ่มต้นการซ้อม3. ทีมงานของคุณเชปเฮิร์ดคุณไม่มีจะเล่นเพลง แต่จะเติบโตกันเป็นสรณะของพระเจ้า เพื่อใช้อธิษฐานด้วยกัน และมีบางชนิดสั้น devotional หรือศึกษาเพียงไม่กี่นาที บางทีคุณอาจใช้ร่วมกันนี้ความรับผิดชอบสถาน ฉันมักจะใช้ทางเดินพระคัมภีร์ที่ฉันวางแผนร่วมกันระหว่างบริการ ร่วมกับทีมงานของฉัน และพูดคุยเกี่ยวกับวิธีการเกี่ยวข้องกับสิ่งที่เรากำลังทำ และเรากำลังร้องเพลง4. อย่าขี้เหนียวบนเครื่องเสียงซึ่งเป็นสิ่งสำคัญ และเป็นหนึ่งเราสามารถวิ่งผ่านได้ ใช้เวลา 10 นาทีเพื่อให้แน่ใจว่า ทุกคนอยู่ในทูน (เครื่องรับลสำหรับกีตาร์เป็นการลงทุนที่ดีจริง ๆ) และให้ทุกคนได้ยินกันชัดเจนในจอหลังพับ ถ้าคุณได้แต่ละ จอภาพเครื่องผสมอาหาร (เช่น Avioms) ผ่านไมค์แต่ละแล้ว / เครื่องดนตรีแต่ละรายการสำหรับแต่ละบุคคล ยืนยันในการเข้มงวดกฎ 'ไม่ noodling' ณจุดนี้ โดยปกติแล้วทำเพลงที่รู้จักกันเป็นการอุ่นเครื่อง และตรวจสอบเสียง ระดับจะตกลง5. Don’t just play through songsThis one probably seems a bit counter-intuitive at first, but I think it is one of the most helpful approaches to your teams improvement. When we begin rehearsing an opera, we don’t spend three hours just running the piece, instead we spend several hours on each scene, over a period of about four weeks. Only once we’ve rehearsed each scene do we put it together in a ‘run through’. The same kind of principle applies to your team (though we’re talking minutes instead of hours!). I spend the first half of a rehearsal just practising introductions, and key-changes or tricky repeats. Also, take time to learn any new songs: break it into parts, learn the melody together, talk about the arrangement.6. Have an idea of the arrangementThis is also a part of the pre-rehearsal planning. Think about how you want each song to go, in terms of verse-chorus structure, repeats, instrumentation, and how it will fit into the flow. Does it need a keychange, or some kind of interlude (see the previous point) to get to the next song seamlessly? Perhaps you’ll need to write these out for your team, especially if you have less experienced players, or those who are not adept at improvising, but it’s important to also be flexible in letting the band find a solution. There’s no rule which says you have to play songs just like the CD, so be creative and think about the strengths of your team. Try and play through your arrangements at home and get a rough timing.7. SectionalsBack when I went to school music camp, we would often take a break from full orchestral rehearsals to do sectionals, which meant the strings would go off and work on their parts while the flutes did their own thing and the trumpets etc. It might be helpful to spend a portion of your rehearsal where the singers go off and work on harmonies and the guitarists work on riffs and so on. Another option is for the team leader to meet with team members individually before the rehearsal. This can be particularly helpful if you have some members who lack experience or need help in certain areas. It’s a good way to train up your team on a personal level, but it does take extra commitment and time.8. Putting it all togetherAfter a break – bring a snack for your team – quickly talk through the song list, reminding everyone of any tricky moments, make sure everyone has their sheets in order, and won’t get in the way for transitions, and then run through the songs in order, with all the transitions, and only stop if something goes really wrong. Be sure to leave enough time for this section (you timed your arrangements at home, right?) Depending on the number of songs, a band practice will probably need at least an hour and a half – we like to do a lot of songs, so I usually plan between 2 – 2.5 hours for a rehearsal. It’s always better to finish early than run over. We often rehearse a whole week before the service, so it’s good to talk through the order and run through some of the tricky corners again before the service.As an example, here’s my rehearsal plan from last month, when we had a couple of new players in the team (if I recall correctly, we started late because of a traffic problem but still finished on time, so the times were quite generous):15:00 – Sound check / monitor set-up (15mins)15:15 – Pray (Heb 10:19-23) & Talk through song-list (5mins)15:20 – Warm-up song: Open the eyes of my heart (5 mins)15:25 – Intros / transitions (30mins):HolinessRefiner’s FireOur GodHoly Holy Holy15:55 – Learn new songs (30mins)HolyPromises were made16:25 – BREAK with cookies! (20mins)16:45 – Run through set (40-45mins)17:30 – Finish.I hope that helps you think about how to run your own music practices in an effective and efficient way! David Santisevan has also written a helpful guide to preparing for a rehearsal which is worth checking out.
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