4 Reasons Why Your Band Should Stop Practicing and Start Rehearsing By- Shalonpalmer.tv The question I want to ask today is “Does your band have practice or rehearsal?” The reason I ask, is because it’s crazy to me how many people don’t realize there is a huge difference between the two. And more so, what I want to do today is convince you why you should stop having scheduled practices and start having scheduled rehearsals. The difference you ask? Well, practice is where the musicians show up not knowing the music and then you (as a band) learn the songs together. Rehearsal is where the musicians show up already knowing the songs, and you run through them together. Now there is nothing wrong with either of these formats. Practice may work best for you if your musicians don’t quite have the talent or ability to learn the songs on their own, but the ultimate goal is to work your way to a point where you can start having rehearsals…not practices. Here’s 4 reasons why. 1. Practice is what musicians should be doing on their own. I’ve seen this happen too many times. Musicians get into a rut of allowing others to do the learning for them and they never practice on their own. They’re stuck being the same ole mediocre musician that they’ve always been. Requiring musicians to practice on their own puts the responsibility to practice and learn back on the musician. 2. Creates better ear training. One of the big differences between an ok musician and a great one (especially in worship music) is the ability to play by ear. Learning the songs on your own creates opportunities to develop an ear for music. Instead of being told what to play or reading off of a paper, you are actually listening and learning the music. We are training musicians, not robots. 3. LESS WASTED TIME This is quite possibly the biggest benefit of having rehearsals. Everyone shows up knowing the songs already! With the musicians and bands I play with now, there are many instances where we don’t even rehearse songs. We spend about 20 minutes talking through parts and we’re done. No wasted time. Rehearsals are much faster than practices. 4. Less Stress If everyone shows up knowing the songs, that’s less stress on the leader. He or she’s not worried about everyone knowing their parts and having to teach them. And since rehearsals take less time, there is more time to relax and pray. I’m going to be blunt and say that practice is what amateur bands do. The most experienced bands show up prepared already knowing the music. I make it clear to all the musicians on my teams that we have rehearsal, not practice. If a musician showed up to rehearsal not knowing the music, I would kindly ask them to step down. And I know of many large churches that would do the same. It’s an honor to play in the worship band, and must be treated as such.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 20:13:01 +0000
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