How much rehearsal time do you need?

[_ Six _]

I've always gone with the notion of two or three rehearsals and go and do the gig... but I've seen bands spend 2 years in the practice room before booking a gig..

Okay, you might have to play by the seat of your pants but at least it keeps it fresh.

[Exalted Wombat]

I've always gone with the notion of two or three rehearsals and go and do the gig... but I've seen bands spend 2 years in the practice room before booking a gig..

Okay, you might have to play by the seat of your pants but at least it keeps it fresh.

Rehearsals? What are they? One, if you're lucky! Can't you READ music?

[_ Six _]

I can actually... I'm half way through a music degree

[agent funk]

yep, I agree!

rehearsals are a luxury!

anyway that's what a soundcheck is for

[Folderol]

Back in pre-history (late 1960s) two of us could read and two couldn't. We'd rehearse maybe once a week. A quick blast at something we knew really well to get us in the mood, then a look at some new material, and finally, depending on time just a verse or two of some numbers we hadn't done for a while to keep us fresh.

As for actual gigs if you're having to look at the dots you're not looking at the other players so not really getting it together as a team - you're also not interacting with the punters. Make eye-contact with a girl who's looking a bit down and you achieve instant hero status

[Exalted Wombat]

As for actual gigs if you're having to look at the dots you're not looking at the other players so not really getting it together as a team

How DO the LSO manage?

[Exalted Wombat]

I can actually... I'm half way through a music degree

Great! Do you play anything that doesn't plug in?

[smash4686]

As much time as you can get would be the best option. My band practice once before a gig and that's it. Though there are 2 new memembers out of 5 so gotta learn the songs. It's pretty much dependant on how competant you are with your instrument.

[Jumpeyspyder]

I joined a band 1 week before a UK tour. I asked for one night in the pub (vital for getting to know the other members) and two practice sessions, one at the beginning of the week and one at the end.
I also spent about 12 hours practicing and learning the songs on my own. It all went rather well.

[Music Wolf]

Depends upon the experience and competence of the band members.

When I joined my current band a couple of the guys were complete novices and in seemed to take an age to master the first half dozen tracks or so. It took 15 practices to get us to the first gig (18 songs) and I'm quite sure that the bass player would have liked 150 pracs if we'd let him. Now the same band can go into a rehearsal room and just rattle off new tracks for the fun of it (learning the lyrics is sometimes the bottleneck).

With inexperienced bands its partly down to musicianship i.e. do you need to just know what key a song is in and maybe remember to throw in that stop at the end of the 2nd verse that isn't on the original or are people thinking G . . . Em . . . etc. The other thing is confidence. I think that first gig is like taking your driving test - that's the point at which you start learning. Some bands just don't want to leave the nest and they carry on practising way beyond the point where they're making any forward progress.

[_ Six _]

I don't think a Rock or Pop band should read on stage. You should know your lines and changes. If you forget a sequence then provided you know your key and scales you can wing it. Some of my best solos have been by the seat of my pants...

Bass players are the key I reckon. If he messes up then it throws the whole band out.

[narcoman]

As for actual gigs if you're having to look at the dots you're not looking at the other players so not really getting it together as a team

How DO the LSO manage?

When I work with them there are two (long) days of rehearsal. Plus they do constantly work on the material for upcoming concerts. They NEVER sight read at a gig or a recording.... in the studio there are sessions purely for rehearsal.

Rehearsals are crucial, in ANY genre, to get a finely honed performance. Even for people who are good players (there aren't many of those!!) as it's the playing relationship between the members that count.... Without rehearsal how can you sort out the nuances? Whether the drummer should be playing a flam on beat three before the second chorus? that sort of thing..... cuz that's how it's done in major acts.

[Studio Support Gnome]

i've done gigs in the past where i had NO rehearsal at all..... and had never played with the band before.... all i got was "it's in G , and it's this fast, 1,2,3,4 " before launching into a song....

4 1.5 hour sets later, no one in the audience was any the wiser..... all had a great time....

i would admit to being a little frazzled by that stage.... thank god there was always at least one number i vaguely knew in each set.....

but personally, i like a band to be rehearsed so they can perform tighter than a very tight thing...

i don;t HAVE to do it that way, but i LIKE to do so...

[Exalted Wombat]

As for actual gigs if you're having to look at the dots you're not looking at the other players so not really getting it together as a team

How DO the LSO manage?

When I work with them there are two (long) days of rehearsal. Plus they do constantly work on the material for upcoming concerts. They NEVER sight read at a gig or a recording.... in the studio there are sessions purely for rehearsal.

But they're still looking at the dots

[Studio Support Gnome]

yes, as an aide de memoire, but most could still perform without them, largely they're paying attention to the conductor.

[Exalted Wombat]

yes, as an aide de memoire, but most could still perform without them, largely they're paying attention to the conductor.

Have you ever played in an orchestra?

[Studio Support Gnome]

yes. I also play Bassoon.

[Exalted Wombat]

yes. I also play Bassoon.

OK. Next time they put up (say) a Beethoven symphony, attend the rehearsals (probably only one for such a standard work, and that will be a top-and-tail) but don't open your book at the performance. How far do you get? What about if it's one of those modern "squeaky gate" pieces that grant-aided orchestras are compelled to perform?

(I've done it too. Trombonists get far fewer notes than bassoonists. But I'd still like to have the music:-)

[Studio Support Gnome]

My experience of it is that you learn the meat of a piece outside of combined rehearsals....adding it to your personal repertoire... then the combined ensemble rehearse to gel all the individual parts together, and take direction from how the conductor wishes to direct the dynamics and timing.....

if it's a new piece to the repertoire, then during the first few performances you will probably keep one eye on the score, and the other on the conductor.... but after that, the score is there for "senior moments" only.... and the conductor is really all you need to look at...(and LISTEN to the players around you)

or at least that's my experience.... i suppose if you don;t bother learning the regular repertoire , it might be different, but i suspect that would lead to a very short career....

there is a difference however, between new pieces and "old standards"

but even new pieces, you should attempt to learn outside of main rehearsals....

[Exalted Wombat]

enior moments" only.... and the conductor is really all you need to look at...(and LISTEN to the players around you)

You obviously have a MUCH better memory than I do!

[narcoman]

learning the piece is a tiny part of rehearsal. It's about understand the rhythmic flow of the piece and getting the group of musicians to play as a unit. I've been to soooo many gigs where a band is "playing the right notes" but they're just terrible. They're not listening to each other.....

I've worked with acts who are just "reading the dots"..... not good. Sight reading is impressive but nothing without rehearsal.

[DoItAgain]

For a typical rock or pop set I like the band to be rehearsed to the point where everyone at least knows what they're supposed to be doing (ie not reading the dots or needing to be prompted about what comes next) and, assuming they're good players, can put a bit of a personal stamp on the songs.

Beyond that I don't think there's much more worth doing in rehearsal as it's getting out and doing it in front of an audience which really brings it all together. Rehearsals don't involve the same levels of adrenalin and nerves as performing so can't accurately reflect what it's going to be like doing it for real (like nailing a tricky solo at home and then finding your fingers turn to jelly on the night).

Obviously different scenarios require different preparation (ie 'old standards' of whatever genre may need no rehearsal at all) but if you know your sh*t and are good at what you do you can keep wasteful rehearsing to a minimum.

[Shambolic Charm]

I can understand with a lot of pop or rock type music once you learn the chorus verse and bridge it's just repetition for the rest of the song, so not so much rehearsal necessary. I recall reading that both Dylan and Marc Bolan would just turn up to studio recordings with the chords on a piece of paper and Bolan liked the edge it gave to his work, which I do believe you can sense in early T.Rex numbers.
I discovered though that because I change the odd chord in chorus and verse as the song goes on, it is much harder to remember the whole song and the musicians need far more rehearsal. So I guess it depends on the complexity of your work

[Frisonic]

Personally I'll go for polished over fresh most days. Given my standard of playing I know I owe it to an audience to put in rehearsal time! And as a member of an audience I always feel I have been given a better show when I see an American act, or an act that can cut it in the States rather than the slightly British 'let's busk it and hopefully nobody will notice' approach. That may sound like a generalization and for sure American's love raw Brit acts, but I suspect you will find those acts tend to have polished up more than a bit before they try to win over the wild west. A higher standard of performance is expected.

In any case its hardly one or the other. Polished, done right, should sound fresh. If you haven't put the time in it will show. The audience might not mind but the more discerning amongst them will notice. There isn't a bona fide impresario out there who won't admit that 10,000 hours of practice constitutes 90% of their talent. Why then should a collective performance, i.e. a band be any different?

In the real world the question should be 'how much rehearsal time do you need and how much do you get'? Answer probably more but not immediately before the gig please, because that likely would take the edge off the performance.

[Wonks]

Rehearsals are only going to get you so far, it's gig experience as a band that counts the most in pulling the band together. Learning to play through and ignore live mistakes only come through experience. After a few times through of a song in rehearsals, I find the band start to get a bit tired of it and stop making a real effort to play it well.

Unless you have the luxury of a large rehearsal space there is normally not enough space to set up as for a gig so everyone is normally arranged in a circle. When you are strung out in a line, often on impossibly small 'stages' with barely enough room to move, it's then you really learn to work as a group and listen out for each other and look for the cues as to when the song ends or whether another chorus or solo will be thrown in.