1. Never refer to your cooperate prep time as a “practice”; instead call it a “rehearsal”.
a. Practice is what you do at home. It’s when you make all kinds of mistakes, try out and figure out new parts and mess around endlessly trying to find that perfect sound. There’s not usually time for that when we all come together to for rehearsal.
b. A rehearsal is when people come prepared, knowing what they are going to play and when they are going to play it. Having this preparation makes it incredibly easy for the leader to make adjustments.
b. A rehearsal is when people come prepared, knowing what they are going to play and when they are going to play it. Having this preparation makes it incredibly easy for the leader to make adjustments.
2. Give plenty of time to practice.
a. It is my goal (not always a successful one, but still my goal) to provide music and sheet music the Thursday before our Tuesday practice. This gives my musicians and singers the entire weekend and Monday night to listen to and work on the upcoming song list.
b. Being this prepared does a few other things as well:
i. Keeps you ahead as a leader
ii. Gives your musicians no excuse for not being ready
iii. Provides a much more professional environment
c. Time is your friend. If you look at our schedule you’ll see that I give my musicians music on Thursday before our Tuesday practice which we don’t play till Sunday or the following Sunday. This gives my musicians 1 ½ to 2 ½ weeks to make sure the song is ready to go. This greatly increases the possibility for memorization; and memorization is vital in order to be able to worship while playing.
b. Being this prepared does a few other things as well:
i. Keeps you ahead as a leader
ii. Gives your musicians no excuse for not being ready
iii. Provides a much more professional environment
c. Time is your friend. If you look at our schedule you’ll see that I give my musicians music on Thursday before our Tuesday practice which we don’t play till Sunday or the following Sunday. This gives my musicians 1 ½ to 2 ½ weeks to make sure the song is ready to go. This greatly increases the possibility for memorization; and memorization is vital in order to be able to worship while playing.
3. Don’t play too many new songs
a. New songs are absolutely the most time consuming parts of any rehearsal.
b. As a general rule, we never do more than 1 new song per week.
c. This gives us the ability to skim over some familiar songs and keep our rehearsal time to a minimum.
d. This is a great time to simply focus on transitions.
b. As a general rule, we never do more than 1 new song per week.
c. This gives us the ability to skim over some familiar songs and keep our rehearsal time to a minimum.
d. This is a great time to simply focus on transitions.
4. Be the leader!
a. First of all YOU must be prepared. You need to know every aspect that song in order to effectively lead it. You need to be able to teach people their parts if necessary.
b. Secondly, don’t get run over. You’re dealing with musicians….exactly. It is really important that you constantly are keeping things moving and keeping them focused on the task at hand. It takes about 3 seconds for things to go from a jangle to a jam. KEEP EM FOCUSED!
I pray this is helpful for you. It is my goal to bring God the most honest, sincere, skillful, anointed and passionate worship possible. Building and effective rehearsal will help you meet that goal.
b. Secondly, don’t get run over. You’re dealing with musicians….exactly. It is really important that you constantly are keeping things moving and keeping them focused on the task at hand. It takes about 3 seconds for things to go from a jangle to a jam. KEEP EM FOCUSED!
I pray this is helpful for you. It is my goal to bring God the most honest, sincere, skillful, anointed and passionate worship possible. Building and effective rehearsal will help you meet that goal.
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