Orangutang Music

5 Ways To Make Your Band Rehearsals More Productive

It’s now time to go forth and rock!!

You and your band mates have now secured rehearsal space and are ready to get the ball rolling.

Here are some tips on how to get the most out of your rehearsals.

According to the 80/20 rule (normally used to describe productivity ratios within a workplace) 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people.

Using the same concept for a band starting out you could say that 80% of the time is spent rehearsing and 20% on everything else (including playing gigs).

If that’s the case then it’s super important that your band rehearsals are not exercises in wasting time but are extremely productive and efficiently managed.

A band starting out has a number of goals that they want to achieve before playing their first gig.

Things such as:

• Writing songs/gathering ideas for their repertoire
• Stage presence and image
• Scripted dialogue/anchors for improvised banter
• General bonding between band members
• Who is doing what job at what time

Most of these goals are achieved in the rehearsal space hence the importance of productive band rehearsals.

In my time I’ve known bands that have spent their whole musical lives rehearsing and not gigging.

While one or two members wanted to get out and play, the other band members wanted to have everything “just perfect” before they started playing live shows.

Let me tell you this. If you are waiting to attain perfection before you play live then you will be waiting a very, very, very long time. In fact perfection never happens and mistakes will always be made.

Get over it! Rehearsals are not opportunities to learn your instrument. You do that in your own time.

Now with that rant out of the way here are five ways in which you can make your rehearsals run as efficiantly and productively as possible.

1. Set a time limit (3 hours maximum)
In a learning/training situation it is a known fact that after a period of time the brain loses concentration and starts to wander. In my experience having an all day rehearsal is not as productive as having a laser focused 3 hour rehearsal.

Make sure you have at least one break per rehearsal so you can put your instrument down and have a stretch, relax the fingers etc, etc.

2. Know why you’re there
Before you rehearse everyone needs to have an idea as to what you are all going to achieve in the session. Aimlessly wandering rehearsals are just a waste of time.

Even if you all decide that the session is going to be “3 hours of jamming to gather song ideas” at least you all know that you are jamming with some sort of purpose.

3. Be on time
If the rehearsal starts at 8pm until 11pm then everyone is to get there 30 minutes beforehand to set their gear up. 8pm is when the band starts rehearsing not when they show up.

If you need more time to set up then you need to deal with that issue. It is not anyone elses problem.

4. Record everything that you do
That doesn’t mean that you bring half a recording studio along to rehearsals. It could be as simple as bringing a mini-disc recorder, tape recorder or an MP3 player (with a microphone attachment) along.

As you do more rehearsals you will build up an audio library of song ideas, jams and completed songs. Doing this will give you a sense of achievement and also a means to study in your own time the previous session. Any ideas gathered from that can be bought up next time.

5. Vocal rehearsals are seperate to music rehearsals
If you have more than one singer in your band and your songs have harmonies then I strongly suggest that vocal rehearsals are done elsewhere.

The reason being is that vocal rehearsals can be done (for most of the time) around a kitchen table with an acoustic guitar.

If it’s done on the general rehearsal night it tends to wast the time of the non-singing musicians (they’re normally twiddling their thumbs waiting for the vocal rehearsals to finish).

Rehearsals are an integral part of developing a band however, it can also be used as an excuse to stop a band from playing live due to fear in some (or all) of the band members.

Don’t let this happen to you.

If you plan your rehearsals properly you will know soon enough when the time is right for your band to make the next step… PLAYING LIVE!

Until next time,

Corey Stewart
Orangutang Music

Keywords: indie music, independent music, band promotion, music marketing, music industry, music promotion, music business, orangutang music, corey stewart

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Tags: corey stewart, independent music, Indie Music, music, Music Business, Music Industry, Orangutang Music