A band rehearsal involves lots of assessment and planning. So what are the four stages...
A band rehearsal needs a bit of thinking about to focus on what you want to achieve. Identifying your goals will help you decide how to make different music rehearsals effective. Here's just four:
1. The Jam Session
An unstructured rehearsal where rather than working on imperfections in the songs, the band plays a lot of familiar and improvised material.
They might seem like playing for fun but they serve other valuable functions to:
get comfortable playing with each other
provide opportunities to invent new grooves
work on your band’s overall sound
practice communicating with each other
audition new material
They can be good opportunities to stretch your musical imagination, to build some calluses on your fingers and to test out that crazy idea that probably won’t work but might turn out great. It can be fast-paced and mistakes don’t really matter. It’s about the vibe.
If you are going to play at a jam session, do what you can to know the tunes. To be productive, all participants need to be able to follow the music. This means the tunes must be known or easily picked up on the spot by everyone. You might want to pass out some music in advance, unless the session is about running through the set everyone knows already before a performance.
Whatever your instrument, try to be ready to play the melody, chords or bass line. Always have some solo ideas and little hooks in your back pocket, playable in any key and in any style. This should be a goal of your private practice. Some jams include sight-reading, particularly if a resident songwriter wants to test out some new ideas. They are usually friendly and forgiving, but sometimes can take on a competitive edge too.
Some bands only jam. Jamming is all the fun of music and none of the hard work. This is fine, unless you are trying to evolve your skills to play gigs. Jamming isn’t about addressing the details or making polished performances. When that’s what you need to do, it’s time to woodshed.
2. Woodshedding
"Woodshedding" is a term commonly used by musicians to mean rehearsing a difficult passage repeatedly until it can be performed flawlessly. It is working up songs, creating interpretations, polishing parts and getting ready to perform or record. It is a focused and structured form of rehearsal.
This type of rehearsal involves spending lots of time on relatively little material - perhaps a single piece or even a few troublesome phrases within a piece. The goal is to fine-tune the music from both a technical and lyrical perspective.
Again, everyone should know their parts before the session and arrive ready to play. If you’re covering a tune by another band, everyone should have a recording of the original in advance of the rehearsal. They should have worked out their part copying the original as precisely as how you want. Avoid lengthy working out of individual parts when the whole band is together, as it wastes everyone else’s time. A little bit of this is often critical, when fine-tuning a groove or an arrangement, but try to minimize it. Individual preparation beforehand will make your rehearsals more productive.
If you’re working up an original tune or arrangement, the songwriter/arranger might distribute a “scratch” recording beforehand, giving the band an idea about tempos, grooves and so on. Ironing this out prior to the rehearsal will make better use of everyone’s time.
Here are a few ways to approach learning a new tune.
Begin with the chorus. Choruses are often easier to perform than verses. Since they keep coming back, while you’re rehearsing the rest of the tune, you can always “come home,” after you get lost.
Find the hardest part. Slow down the tempo, rehearse it repeatedly until you can play it correctly, and only then, speed it up. Then, find the next hardest part.
It often helps to have just a couple of instruments rehearse a section in isolation, such as just guitar/keyboard or bass/drums, without the distractions of the rest of the band. Sometimes, hearing someone else’s part can help you clarify what you should be doing yourself. And sometimes solo practice is necessary.
Don’t get too bogged down by a particularly difficult part though. Sometimes you need to say “Gotta work this out at home,” and move on. If the part is still too difficult, then it might need to be simplified. That’s better than having it break apart during a performance. If you are sitting out while others are working out a part, follow along silently, hearing your own part in your head and feeling it in your hands. Silently finger the keys or strings, mouth the lyrics or play air drums. Stay present.
Run through a section and then stop. Were there any train wrecks? Focus on fixing them. Why did the wreck occur? Is there a confusing rhythm? Is someone else lost and confusing you by playing the wrong thing? Is the arrangement too repetitive so people are losing their place? It might be appropriate for the drummer to add a fill (even if it’s just a quick hit or two) to help clarify the form. Try to pinpoint the problem’s source and address it.
Once the band can make it all the way through the complete song discuss the arrangement. How many choruses will you play? Is there an intro? An ending? A bridge? Will someone solo? If you’re running a rehearsal, bring some extra pens and paper, to make sure everyone can write down the arrangement decisions. If there are lyrics, ensure everyone has a copy, even if they are not singing. Lyrics help people remember the arrangement and keep their place.
Work up the tune so you can play it through without any major mistakes. Practice it slower, if you need to. Speed it back up when you can all play it perfectly at a slower tempo. Work towards ending the rehearsal by playing a performance-ready version of it, start to finish.
Don’t spend too long woodshedding a single tune. After an hour or so, record it and move on to the next tune. That will keep your rehearsal from becoming stale and frustrating.
3. The Dress Rehearsal
A dress rehearsal is a session held shortly before a performance. These serve primarily to warm the band up and keep the music familiar in their heads. Dress rehearsals should not be used to introduce new pieces or changes. Before the first performance of new material, hold a dress rehearsal to run through all the tunes and do any last-minute housecleaning.
Organize your sets. Then play the tunes as if you’re performing. Don’t stop, whatever happens. Debrief after the tune. How did it go? Were there any train wrecks? If so, why did it happen? Was it just a fluke, or is there a fixable source of confusion?
Is someone going to speak to the audience, introduce a tune, or tell an anecdote? Have them practice at the dress rehearsal. Who will introduce the band? Who will say, “Thanks everyone, good night, and don’t forget to pick up some merchandise on your way out!” It’s time to settle these questions.
You want this rehearsal to be just like the actual performance. It’s a time for refreshing your memories and looking for any lingering imperfections, but not for learning anything new. That’s what your earlier rehearsals are for. The cliché “a bad dress rehearsal means a great performance” often holds true, but try to have a great dress rehearsal anyway.
4. The Backstage Brush-Up
Ideally, the dress rehearsal will be on a different day than the performance. It might be necessary to brush up on the day of the performance - even a short time before you go on stage. Brush-up rehearsals serve to refresh your memory and ensure consensus about individual songs' arrangements, not to learn anything new. It’s about song order, remembering arrangements, warming up and discussing any last-minute changes.
If a backstage brush-up is necessary, avoid playing through the entire tunes. Play the intro, maybe once through arrangement, and then the ending. Review it. Take it easy. Conserve your energy.
Summary
Mixing these types of rehearsals over several weeks can help your band reach its goals and maintain a bit of fun doing so.
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