Some thoughts on practice, rehearsal, and performance ​

GOALS

The goal of music is to express emotions and to share them with others. Emotions can easily be expressed as musical stories, constructed like spoken stories, in which the words become notes, the sentences become phrases, and paragraphs become musical sections. The most intricately expressive music is lyrical music.Keep in mind while you are playing - If the notes you are playing don’t carry emotional content, why are you playing them? The goal is for the band to get better than ever and for each musician to progress as a respectful, selfaware, capable, well-practiced group musician. And of course to enjoy the music and the comradeship of the band!


PRACTICE

Practice is all about YOU. You, your instrument, and your music. The purpose is to learn the notes, the rhythms, and dynamics of each piece, and to enjoy yourself.
​Listen carefully to yourself. Be aware of what is called for in the score, and play accordingly. Contrast is what makes music interesting. A little contrast is a little expressive. Lots of contrast can be VERY expressive.


EXPRESSIVE PARAMETERS

Here are some EXPRESSIVE PARAMETERS that musicians vary to get maximum expressiveness.

1. Tempo – slow to fast.
2. Pitch – low to high notes, intonation. Intentional variation in intonation, like vibrato, can add expressiveness.
3. Beat, time signature – straight, syncopated, shuffle beat, 4/4, waltz, 6/8.
4. Duration – short to long notes, slurred to staccato notes.
5. Dynamics – soft to loud, accents.
6. Timbre - the characteristic sound made by each instrument. Vary the timbre by assigning different instruments to different parts.
7. Melody vs. Harmony.
8. Leading or lagging the beat. This technique is frequently used by singers, who intentionally lag the beat, especially at the beginning of a phrase. This builds anticipation in the ears of the audience.

If you are not changing these parameters for maximum effect, such as your volume – for example if you play everything LOUD - you are giving up expressive power to reach the heart of your audience. You can grab the attention of the audience by CHANGING UP to play very soft, or very loud. It is the contrast of CHANGING IT while you are playing that gets their attention.


PRACTICE DYNAMICS

If other people are not within earshot, you can play as loud as you like when you practice. But do not play every note at the same volume. Notice what dynamics are indicated for each note. Play accordingly. If others are within earshot, use a mute or play softly in order to respect people around you that may not share your passion for the music you make. If no dynamics are given, make up your own, thinking about what changes to volume will be the most expressive for the piece. One rule of thumb is to get louder (crescendo) when the notes are going up, and get softer (decrescendo) as the notes come down in a phrase. Notes separated by rests are good candidates for an accent. You can start and stop wherever and whenever you like. Practice the difficult passages until you can master them. Spend most of your time practicing the passage that are difficult for you! Your practice time is your own. You can use as much time as you like. It is key to learn your notes, including pitch, beat, and dynamics in your practice.

Why practice?

It is for the privilege of rehearsing with other dedicated musicians that we bother spending all that time practicing. If you are not committed to practice UNTIL YOU CAN PLAY YOUR PART correctly and consistently, you are not a good candidate to play in a coordinated group.

Selective practicing

As you are learning to play a piece, some phrases and sections will be learned more quickly than others. It is natural to start at the beginning each time, and play it through, despite the fact that some phrases and some sections are more difficult. Be aware of which phrases and sections can be played correctly, and which ones need attention. Focus your practice time on the ones that need work! Then play the entire piece for your own enjoyment. In many sections, the first, second and fourth phrases are the same or similar main phrase, and the third phrase is different. Playing the section straight through will therefore result in playing the main phrase three times and the different phrase once. It is similar for sections. Many pieces are arranged in AABA format. The A section is played three times as often as the B section. To give equal time to all, and to ensure you can play them equally well, you can practice the third phrase of each section and the B section of each piece repeatedly. You don’t have to practice! Only if you want to play with others in a group.

Rehearsal preparation

If you decide you want to play in a group, which means you have committed to practicing, get organized. Some thoughts on practice, rehearsal, and performance


Get a large 3 ring binder and some clear sheet protectors. Put all of your music into the sheet protectors, and organize alphabetically. This will reduce down time between pieces at rehearsal. Maintain your music binder by adding and organizing new music when you receive it, not months later.

Rehearsal

Rehearsal is not about you! It is about playing as coordinated member of a coordinated unit. There is great expressive power in a WELL-COORDINATED musical group, as in “they really have it together”, “they are really tight”. What’s important? Start together. To STAY TOGETHER, each member must CONSTANTLY listen to each other carefully to stay on the beat and to have BALANCED DYNAMICS. End together. It takes energy and concentration.

Know your part

Come to rehearsal knowing your part. If you don’t know your part, you need to PRACTICE more – by yourself, not during rehearsal. Knowing your part is the price we must pay to play in a coordinated group. See PRACTICE above. When you get to notes or passages or pieces for which you are not CONFIDENT that you can PLAY CORRECTLY, do not just blast ahead and play “whatever”. Finger the notes but do not play them out loud. Come in again when you get to notes, passages, or pieces that you KNOW. You may want to mark sections in pencil for PRACTICE at home later. Then you can erase the pencil marks when you master each section. We all play wrong notes on occasion. However, it is distracting and disrespectful to your fellow musicians to play a bunch of wrong notes if it is because you didn’t practice! Don’t just fake it and hope for the best. That will not lead to a great performance. If you are not dedicated to knowing your part when you arrive, play at home by yourself, not in a group.

“Lead-in” and “connector” notes

A funny thing sometimes happens on “lead-in” and “connector” notes. Read them carefully and do not take for granted their note values. It is important that everyone play each of these the same. It sounds ragged when we do not.

Examples
On the The Star Spangled Banner, the first 2 notes, which are lead-ins to the first measure, are not of equal value, it is a dotted eighth followed by a sixteenth note. This feels like swing. The same is true leading in on beat 3 of the second measure. However, the lead-in notes at the end of the fourth measure are eighth notes of equal value, which is not swing, it is straight. On All Blues, Equinox, Blue In Green, the lead-in notes are all eighth notes. Be sure to play them precisely on the up beat and not start them early as if they were quarter notes. On Hitsville, it is important to read the music – especially the lead-in and connector notes - carefully. Exactly what is written may not be what your ear tells you it should sound like. Read and play what is written. When in rehearsal, listen carefully to everyone, and you can hear when we are not all playing it as written. On September, section A, 7th measure and first measure of the first and second ending, there are 3 connector notes that are NOT a triplet, NOT counted two-and-a and four-and-a. They are two sixteenth notes and an eighth note, counted two-e-and, and four-e-and, where the “and” is exactly on the up beat. It sounds ragged when some people play it as a triplet and some play it as written.

Swing vs. straight

It is very important to know the difference between playing a passage straight vs. swinging it. In jazz, it is common to swing many songs despite the fact that the score shows it straight. But it isn’t right to swing every song just because it is jazz. The contrast between straight and swing is one more way to add interest and expressiveness to a piece. If you are playing one-da-two, you are swinging it. If you are playing one-and-two, you are playing it straight. Nearly all Latin music is played straight. Stay aware of how the group has decided to play a song or section – swing or straight.

Examples
St. Louis Blues has a straight section, one-and-two-and, which is the first section, and a swing section, one-da-two-da, in sections B and C. It is even labeled accordingly! When returning to section A, it goes back to straight time, so you have to read, listen, and think about what you are playing at all times. Night Train can be played either way. It is important to decide which way we will play it on each occasion. It sounds ragged when some people play it straight and others swing it. Check out the third measure. If you are playing it one-da-two-da-three-da-four-da-one, you are swinging it, which is fine as long as everyone else is swinging it! As written, it is straight, counted one-and-two-and-three-and-fourand-one. Know which is which, be ready to play it either way, and play it the same all the way through as determined by the director for that time. Mr. PC is written straight but we usually swing it. We should be able to play it both ways, and to know the difference. Mercy, Mercy, Mercy is written straight but we often have some people swinging it. It often sounds ragged. We need to decide, and then have everyone do it the same way.

The Director

Nearly all groups, musical and all other kinds, have a leader, from beginners to professionals. Why? So each member knows where to look for direction. So the individuals can get learn to get coordinated and work well together as a group. To get focused and single-minded about what you are doing. To avoid confusion. 
Why do some groups appear to have no leader? Because ALL THE MEMBERS are already good at working together, they have a common understanding of how they will perform their songs based on spending many hours performing, and because they are professionals. Nearly all of these groups have a leader, although the leader may not be standing in front or give obvious signs of directing. However, if you know the group and watch carefully, usually there is one individual who calls the songs and controls how the song goes except for solos. They actually have a leader.

Pay attention, respect your fellow musicians

Rehearsing and performing is all about THE GROUP. It is not about YOU. From the beginning of the rehearsal to the end, give your full and complete attention to the director. Make sure you start and stop with the director. Make sure to stop cleanly and not drag on. It is the nature of a rehearsal that the director will stop the group as needed to instruct and to resolve problems.
• During rehearsal, do not talk amongst yourselves! Come early or stay late if you want to talk to your fellow musicians.
• Do not play random notes; do not practice your part. All of these things distract you and others from giving their complete attention to the director.
• Unlike your practice time, rehearsal time is limited. Respect your time together with your fellow musicians and the director, and do not make sounds or talk and distract others!
• If you have to ask the person next to you what the director said, or what song you are doing, either you were not giving your complete attention to the director, or someone else was not giving all of their attention and was doing something distracting. This is especially true for back row musicians, such as bass and drums. If these musicians cannot hear the director, it is a pretty good sign that some musicians are not respecting the group. This results in wasted time in repeating instructions.

Listening

Listening to the other musicians is the most critical factor in getting COORDINATED. You need to LISTEN carefully at all times during the rehearsal. Listen to determine how your sound fits in. This is called ACTIVE LISTENING, and it requires self-discipline and effort. Don’t get lazy.

Concentration – the mental side of making music The notes I am playing. Expressiveness. What the others are playing. Volume balance. Audience reaction. Guidance from the Director. Beat, dynamics, section lead-in, ending vamp, cut-off.

Soloing
Why are there solos? To highlight the timbre (tone) of that instrument. To communicate the emotional content of a copied solo as performed by another musician. To allow the player to communicate enhanced emotional content that is different from the original melody. How is that accomplished? By interpreting the notes and phrases of the melody in a new way, emphasizing notes differently, changing the rhythm, or the dynamics of the notes. Inventing a new story as told by a new melody with new emotional content, over the original chord structure. It could be a newly invented harmony part played instead of the melody. It could be an entirely new melody.

What notes are effective to play when soloing? How does a good solo come about?

1. The original melody carries some emotional content. When a musician is first learning a song, and first learning to solo, the first solo a person should play is the original melody. If you can’t play the original melody, you should not be soloing on that song! Many artists have received high acclaim for communicating emotional content using the existing melodies! So don’t underestimate the power of re-interpreting the notes and phrases of the melody in a new way, emphasizing notes differently, changing the rhythm, or the dynamics of the notes – giving it your own “feel”.

2. Another tried and true method is by planning it! That is, by inventing it (a new melody) before you take the stage. Would you deliver a speech or poem to an audience by completely winging it? With no written notes? Hoping the right words come to you to communicate emotional content? Not likely! It doesn’t necessarily detract from the emotional content if a solo has been played before. Keep in mind the great rock and roll guitar solos are played over and over again. a. on recordings b. by the original artists in concert c. copied note for note by other guitarists If done well, the solo still communicates great emotions, as it did the first time. Often musicians “play the solo just like on the record”, note for note, because that is what the audience expects, and because the emotional content can be felt.
If the musician can come up with a new melody that harmonizes with the original, and there are many variations that can do so, it is likely that the new melody will have the ability to communicate some emotional content.

3. If the musician can come up with a new melody that does NOT harmonize with the original, but that follows the chord progression of the song, it is likely that new melody will carry some nice emotional content. It is a rare gift to be able to translate your emotions into a good solo (or a poem) that touches an audience in real time as you are playing on stage. Even the best musicians do not expect to invent from scratch a great communication solo on the fly every time.

Solo warning!

Whatever is played needs to be melodic, which means it needs to be a string of notes that have a “planned” or natural relationship to each other. They are not random. Think of notes as words and musical phrases as spoken phrases or sentences. People are not able to communicate much using words (notes) in random order. It is just garbage. Here is an example using lyrics from a famous song that communicates a beautiful emotion: Something in the way she moves attracts me like no other lover. Using exactly same notes in random order results in a phrase that communicates nothing at all, and may result in the listener stopping their listening altogether: No the something me way attracts moves in lover other she like. And that is using exactly the same words (notes)! It can get even worse when a musician uses unrelated notes, even if the notes are “in the scale” of each chord in the structure. Being “in the scale” is like the words being in the same language. If the notes are related well to each other, such as going up a scale or in an arpeggio (broken chord), often it sounds like an emotional phrase, and not like gibberish.

The test of a good solo
Was it instantly forgettable, or did it carry emotional content and touch the emotions of the audience in a good way?

Intonation

Listen to the pitch of the group and yourself, at all times! Change your pitch as needed to play in tune. Do not rely strictly on the tuning up process at the start of rehearsal, and then assume you are playing all your notes in tune the rest of the time! There are several reasons why your intonation will vary during rehearsal. 1. You are playing a note that your instrument does not play in tune (1st and 3rd valve together are notoriously flat, for example). Some trumpets have 3rd valve slides for this reason. High
notes are often sharp. Your upper frets (guitar, bass) are progressively farther out of tune (need to calibrate the intonation on the bridge) or because the action is set very high.
2. You have not accurately positioned your slide for the note (trombone).
3. Your tuning up was not very accurate. You may have “lipped up” or “lipped down” to match the tuner, but then stop “lipping up” or “lipping down” when you play normally.
4. You are “lipping up” or “lipping down” on a note.
5. The entire group is playing flat or sharp (not likely).
6. You tuned up when your instrument and lip were cold. Intonation may be different when warmed up.
7. You tuned up at a different temperature than you are playing in, such as when you tune up inside where it is warm and playing outside where it is cold, or vice versa.

Change your intonation when you (or the others around you) notice the intonation is not COORDINATED.

Rehearsal Dynamics

Listen carefully to the group and to your own volume. Watch the dynamics on the score. If you find yourself playing at the same volume most of the time, YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG! It is common to over-blow in order to be heard, etc. However, if you need to over-blow to be heard, such as on a solo, THE GROUP NEEDS TO TURN IT DOWN. As a soloist, you should be able to be heard even when you are playing at mp (mezzo piano). And your solo will be more expressive if you play using a wide range of dynamics, and all expressive parameters. See EXPRESSIVE PARAMETERS above. If you are playing during another person’s solo, you should be able to hear each solo note clearly and it should be LOUDER THAN YOU. If not, you are playing too loud. Turn yourself down.

Rehearsal Dynamics – amplified instruments If you are playing an amplified instrument such as piano, guitar, or bass, it is easy to set the volume at the start of rehearsal, and to play every note at that volume. This usually results in playing every note LOUD. Because it takes no more effort to play LOUD than soft on an amplified instrument, each amplified musician must listen MORE CAREFULLY to BLEND with the dynamics of the acoustic instruments. This usually means you have to TURN IT DOWN! For these instruments, think of the volume you would have without the amp – acoustic guitar, double bass, piano, and the dynamic range of each. LISTEN, and then play a similar volume and use the same dynamic range as you would have with the acoustic instrument. The result will be more musical and will coordinate better with the acoustic instruments. Start the rehearsal playing SOFTLY. The director will ask you for more volume until it matches the acoustic instruments. Then keep listening for soft passages, solo sections, and soft pieces and TAKE IT DOWN. STAY ON THE LOW SIDE until directed to bring it up.

For a great rehearsal or performance
1. Get yourself in the mood to enjoy the event.
2. Show up plenty early.
3. Get your instrument ready, tuned, and get your music ready.
4. Be ready to move your chair and stand into position on stage.
5. Move directly into position when it is time.
6. Sit quietly, DO NOT PLAY until the director starts you.
7. Check your mood and feelings again and get yourself centered.
8. Stay focused at all times! Watch and listen the director and the other members at all times. Start, play, and end together.
9. Am I playing at a volume that blends great with the other players at all times?
10. Be expressive with your music, using the EXPRESSIVE PARAMETERS. Feel your feelings. Channel your feelings into your fingers and your breath. Let them flow thru your instrument, out thru the atmosphere, and into the hearts of the audience.
11. Enjoy yourself!

Performance preparation

In the rehearsal before each performance, get a play list of the songs to be played, in order. Nearly all amateur and professional groups select their music ahead of time. Pull out the sheet music for the selected songs and put them in order. Practice the songs at home so you are ready. You can practice them in order. Identify areas you cannot play correctly. Practice those areas until you can play them, or do not play those areas in the performance. Better to play only those notes of which you are sure than to detract from the group’s sound by playing wrong notes. Practice your solos.

Performance

This is why you spent all that time rehearsing! Practicing is your personal preparation for rehearsal; rehearsal is group preparation for the performance. The purpose of the performance is to communicate with the audience through musical expression. What are you feeling? What feelings do you want to communicate?

Here is the test for all you play for an audience: Are the notes and phrases and the way we are playing them carrying emotional content and touching the emotions of the audience as we are playing? Are we moving them? Is it working?

Comparison
Practice Rehearsal Performance
It's all about YOU It's all about THE GROUP It's all about the AUDIENCE
Purpose - learn your part Purpose -get the group coordinated, connected. Share the emotions. Purpose – Connect with and move the audience – Transmit the emotions. Learn your part Know your part. All of it. Know how the group coordinates. As much time as you want Limited time, usually 1-2 hours Give your complete attention to the director. Listen to yourself Watch the director and listen to the group and yourself. For the count in. For cue ins, changes to tempo, dynamics. For ending together. You must monitor your volume to fit into the group. You must monitor your intonation to match the group. Start & stop as needed Director will stop as needed Play the piece through from start to end Do not distract others. No talking, no playing when not instructed by the director. Focus on the music even when not playing. Small audience or no audience Audience Small amount of applause and cheering Applause and cheering. Your music touches the emotions of the audience! You feel good! I hope this helps each musician and each band get better than ever, and that each member progresses as a respectful, self-aware, capable, well-practiced group musician. Enjoy the music and the comradeship of the band!​

Value	COMPARISON	Value
Practice	Rehearsal	Performance
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