Conducting and Rehearsal Preparation (Part 1)

How many times have you asked your players to practice on their instrument other than their normal weekly rehearsal? Have you noticed any improvement when they actually take their music home and practice?

Raising the standard in our instrumental ensembles demands additional practice or rehearsal beyond the typical weekly rehearsal (can I get an "Amen" from the directors?). Are we, as directors, fair to our players by demanding additional practice from our group when we spend little or no time preparing to lead the rehearsal? Shame on us (me included)! Time is more valuable in this day and age than money and people are investing their lives into your ministry. What can be done to make the rehearsal productive musically and spiritually for your players?

In the next few articles, I'll share with you some rehearsal and conducting techniques to help get the most out of the time you have in rehearsal.

Rehearsal Room

· Make sure you have adequate space to house additional equipment (piano, percussion, rhythm instruments, stands, cases) and space to spread out chairs. You should have at least nine inches in between each chair to accommodate bells, bows and elbows. Allow ample space in front of chairs to facilitate music stands, monitors, mutes, etc.
· Make sure the temperature in the room is comfortable. Too hot or cold and you will have a difficult time with intonation.
· Set up the seating "Theater" style (concert formation) with the conductor standing center on the long wall (if room is rectangular). Do not have the doorway behind the conductor. Watching people coming in and out of a door is very distracting.
· Always have a few chairs and stands in your normal setup to accommodate a guest or visitor to your rehearsal. An orchestra visitor needs to have a place already set so as not to disrupt or take time away from rehearsal.

Conducting and Rehearsal Preparation (Part 2)

Music Preparation for Rehearsal

· Make sure everyone has something for every piece, even if it is a "tacet" part. If possible, fill in the orchestrations to utilize as many players as possible. Use discretion with the texture of the piece; In other words, if the stock orchestration does not include parts for players you have in your group, use standard doubling techniques to fill it out for your group. If the piece is soft (no woodwind or brass parts) use woodwinds on string lines (when appropriate).
· Edit parts so your players will be successful. String parts, particularly violin, are the most demanding parts. Some publishers have simplified parts for the strings. Many times the simplified parts are the same as the original without extended runs (6+ notes in one beat). Range is another key to success, especially in the violins. Make sure the second violin part does not go higher than A above the treble clef (highest note in first position). When the first trumpet part goes higher than your player(s) can play consistently, write the first part down an octave and give it to your third trumpet player(s). Have your first player(s) on trumpet 2 part and seconds on trumpet 3 part. Note: If the part was too high in rehearsal, it will be too high in the service!
· Align the music in every folder in rehearsal order. This accomplishes several things: 1) It insures you that every folder has all the music; 2) Rehearsal runs efficiently - no time wasted searching for music. This requires a lot of work before the rehearsal, but it pays big dividends in the long run.
· Remind your players that they can mark their music. It is not a sign of weakness to do so. I was at a recording session in Nashville with the Nashville String Machine and all the "first call" brass, wind and rhythm players. Every one of them made numerous markings on their music. Some even used different colored highlighters to mark endings and Coda markings. Of all the musicians in the world you would think would not need to mark their music, the session players do and do it a lot! Encourage them to mark music. If you ever repeat a piece (I would guess we all repeat music on occasion) and they had previously marked their music, you and they will be ahead of the learning curve. More on how to mark the music at a later date…

Conducting and Rehearsal Preparation (Part 3)

Conducting is an art that is quickly forgotten when moving from the classroom at school to the rehearsal room at church. So much more can be accomplished in your rehearsal just by directing with precise patterns and gestures. I was in a conference recently and was blessed and challenged by Dr. Larry Mayo, Minister of Instrumental Music at Rehoboth Baptist Church in the Metro Atlanta area. He encouraged us to revisit the lessons learned in school and apply them to our rehearsals and worship services. Here are my notes and commentary from Larry's conducting session.

Fundamentals

· Knowing the fundamentals is the first step to accomplishing your goals and objectives.
· You don't need to do extraordinary things to be successful, just do ordinary things extraordinarily well.
· Have a working knowledge of the rules of conducting. Even if you do not have the solution memorized, make sure you know where you can get the answer. Of course, there are many textbooks focusing on conducting. The "standard" for many people is The Modern Conductor by ___________________________.
· Don't look for an exotic answer. Stick to the basics and go from there. Note: There are no "new" fundamentals.

Conducting and Rehearsal Preparation (Part 4)

Fundamentals (continued)

· Lay out a musical map for each piece. Decide ahead of time what patterns and gestures you will use and at what times in the piece will you use them. Write them down on your score.
· Learn to meld your gestures; i.e., moving from one gesture to another smoothly. Practice these in front of a mirror. It is better for you and your family if you practice these with no one else in the room. Trust me on this one…
· Once you have mastered the gesture(s), ask someone "musical" to observe you. The ultimate test: Ask them what you are gesturing for them to do (get louder, softer, speed up slow down, etc.). If they cannot follow you, guess who's wrong? Go back to step one…
· Learn how to "deviate to accommodate". Sometimes you can't do what the book says to do. As the taxi driver in New York said to my good friend when he wanted to go from Battery Park to LaGuardia Airport, "Fagettaboudit! You can't get there from here!" Work out ahead of time how you want to "bridge the gap" between gestures so your group knows exactly what you want them to do. If it doesn't work, change.