Rehearsing Effectively

So, if you want to be a member of a brilliant world-class band, then what you need to do is practice and rehearse. Practice your instrument at home and get shit hot. Make sure the other band members do the same, or fire them from the band and replace them with musicians who are equally as determined as you. Then get into that rehearsal studio and rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.

But there's a problem. Exactly how do you rehearse? Is there a 'best way' of doing it? And what do you do to draw the line between effective, efficient rehearsal and mere 'messing around'? First things first...

Firstly, consider the requirements for a rehearsal studio. The primary requirement is that you need to be able to make as much noise as you like! As we shall see later, it is possible to rehearse effectively and keep the decibels down. But for fine-tuning your performance, you need to be able to play at performance levels. So, if you're going to play loud, you'll need a soundproofed rehearsal studio, right? Wrong! Well, it would be nice, but how does a building become soundproofed by accident? If there are no recording or rehearsal studios in your area, then there are no soundproofed buildings — unless there just happens to be a World War II concrete bunker lying around doing nothing!

One alternative is to find a rehearsal venue that is remote from anyone who is likely to be bothered by noise — a farm outbuilding, for example. I have rehearsed in farm outbuildings, and I can tell you that they are not all smelly. Farmers are always looking to find ways of supplementing their EU subsidies, so paying them to use an outbuilding is a clear possibility. I only mentioned farm outbuildings as an example, but any building that is well away from people is a likely option.

Another solution is to find a rehearsal venue that is noisy already, where the sound of your band won't make much of a difference. The classic case is that of the converted railway arch. If people don't mind the noise of the trains, then they probably won't mind the noise of your band. The only problem with converted railway arches is that they tend to be damp and smelling of mildew. Think about it: there is no such thing as a flat roof that works, and railway arches have the ultimate in flat roofs right there above them, soaking up the rain.

It's not unknown for bands to set up their own rehearsal studio and hire it out. Suddenly, your town does have a pro rehearsal studio and you're making money from it! A place to rehearse and you get paid too — how much better can it get?

What I look for in a rehearsal studio is first and foremost that it is easy to park. I've reached an age where moving mountains of gear around is no longer an exciting novelty. Actually, I reached that age about six months after I first started playing in a band. Anyway, a rehearsal venue without adequate parking space is a pain.

The next consideration is that it should be cheap. Hey, I don't play in Oasis or the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. I just want the basics and I'm not bothered if the carpets are a bit threadbare. It's more rock & roll anyway!

Next up is the attitude of the place. I don't want to rehearse in a scout hut where the Scoutmaster is hanging around and making comments on the 'suitability' of my lyrics for such a venue — been there, done that. I want to feel that I am dealing with people who are into music making on a professional level. I want to rub shoulders with other musicians, coming and going, who take their music just as seriously as I do. I want to deal with a rehearsal venue manager who smoothes the way and makes sure the toilets are reasonably clean. Oh, and I want tea and coffee making facilities with mugs on hand that are not cracked.

Equipment-wise, a small rehearsal studio needs a small vocal PA. A large professional rehearsal studio can have a full PA, but most rehearsals can work just fine on a small setup.

There's one more feature I would like that isn't at all common in music rehearsal studios (dance studios have them though) — mirrors! How do you know that you look great to the audience if you don't know what you look like yourself? OK, mirrors are not terribly good for acoustics, but I know from my own experience that the time I've spent rehearsing in front of a mirror has been time well invested. I'm not going to claim to be anywhere close to being the best performing artist in the world, but I want the audience to get the best of what I've got, and the visual aspect is important.

One of the problems of rehearsing in a proper rehearsal studio is that the sound is just so damn loud. And in a small room, there's not a lot that can be done acoustically to remedy that. Trying to rehearse amidst loud and confused sound is difficult. It has to be done, though, because that's what your monitors are going to sound like on stage! I wish I was kidding, but I know that monitor-wise you have to be prepared for anything.

But why does the sound have to be so loud in the rehearsal studio? Well, ask the question, 'Why does the singer need a PA?' Easy, to be heard against the guitars. 'Why do the guitarist and bassist need to turn their amps up so loud?' Easy, to be heard against the drummer. 'Why does the drummer have to be so loud?' Er...

What we can see from this is that if by some terrible chance the drummer went down with the mumps and couldn't attend rehearsals, the guitarist and bassist could bring some little practice amps, maybe with their favourite distortion/tube-sound pedals. The keyboard player can do likewise. And the singer doesn't need a microphone! (Acoustic guitars are good too, by the way.) Now, I know this will come as a bit of a culture shock in this technological age, but — and try it if you must — people can sing without amplification! This, I can assure you without one tiny shadow of a doubt, is the very best way to start rehearsals, either with new musicians or new songs. And when the drummer gets better, he or she can come along too and drum on a cushion. Sounds strange, but I'll come back to this in a moment.

So there you are in the front room, relaxed amongst soft furnishings. You can speak in a normal tone of voice, rehearse your songs at pretty much the same level, and hear every detail of what you're doing. Working at acoustic levels is less tiring too. You can put all of your effort into the music, rather than bearing the brunt of a massive wall of sound.

The drummer is the foundation of the band. I've said it often enough before, but a band with a rubbish singer, a rubbish guitarist and bassist, a rubbish keyboard player, but a brilliant drummer, can sound fantastic. But no matter how brilliant the other musicians are, if the drummer isn't good, then the band will sound terrible.

So this scheme, which involves a certain amount of exclusion for the drummer, has this one little defect that we must overcome. I've done this kind of rehearsing in several ways, all of which were good and more productive in the initial stages than working with the full kit. One was for the drummer, at his own choice, to literally play a cushion. Another had the drummer playing electronic pads, but without the sound generator. Yet another had the drummer playing just a snare drum and hi-hat, quietly. However you arrange it, rehearsing at acoustic levels is a fantastic way of working and I strongly recommend it.

Discipline needs to be encouraged and sometimes it needs to be imposed. So, who is going to be the band's enforcer? Well, it depends whose band it is. If you're like 99% of gigging bands out there, you won't have agreed this and written down the agreement yet. Don't worry; there are lots of expensive lawyers who will help you out when you become successful. Now is a good time to think about this. Whose band is it? And who are merely band members?

Let's assume it's your band, because you have the van or the rehearsal venue, or perhaps you write the songs. Whichever way, it seems that you have the role of encouraging and, if necessary, enforcing rehearsal discipline. To be clear, I don't mean military discipline; I mean working practices that get things done.

The first thing you will need to do is to get rid of anything that wastes time. When the band members meet for a rehearsal, clearly they will want to chit-chat. They can do this while they are setting the equipment up. If necessary, start the rehearsal with a cup of tea so that everyone is fully chit-chatted before you start, and then once you have started rehearsal there is no more chit-chat — not until the break, and then no more after that until the end. The simple management of chit-chat will double your effective rehearsal time and strengthen its intensity.

Next, there needs to be discipline over 'blabber'. And what is blabber? It's when a musician is playing something other than the song. You've heard it a thousand times; you've probably done it a thousand times too. It happens between songs, for instance, when the bass guitarist tinkers with some lick that he has heard and has taken his fancy. Or the keyboard player who just has to get a few jazz embellishments out of his system before getting back to the proper music (er... guilty on that one). Next time you have a rehearsal, listen out for blabber. You will be amazed at how much there is, and how much time it wastes.

Although bands seem to be cooperative and collaborative associations, in reality, they can work more effectively if someone is in charge of how the music is arranged and performed. An additional benefit is that the music can be pushed in a more creative direction than if it is allowed too much 'organic' growth.

In general, the person who wrote the song should be in charge of rehearsals of that song. If there are multiple writers in the band, then they should take charge of their own songs. If the song is a cover of someone else's material, then the person who brought it to the band's attention should take charge. When I say 'take charge', I don't mean setting up a dictatorship. A good leader will — in true Jean-Luc Picard fashion — accept the suggestions of the band members and incorporate them into his vision for the song.

So, you all turn up at the venue. No one is late, because there is no such thing as a professional musician who turns up late (they don't get to be professional!) There are no hangers-on and, in particular, no girlfriends or boyfriends. I suppose I don't really need to spell it out, but girlfriends/boyfriends demand attention. They get bored and fidget. They may even speak! OK, bring them along once if you must so they see this aspect of your life, but otherwise leave them well out of the rehearsal studio (the world has one Yoko and that's plenty).

The rehearsal starts, as I said, with setting up, tuning up and chit-chat. That done, you start on the first song, which is the newest or the most problematical. Since you have had preliminary rehearsals at home, the overall shape is looking pretty good. But who starts the song? Have you decided that yet? The old cliché of the drummer banging his sticks together certainly works, but it gets a bit predictable and boring for the audience. It is perfectly possible for any band member to start a song simply by making an overstated 'about to play the first note' gesture. There has to be a common discipline to ensure that all of the band members are actually ready.

At some point, the song will probably break down. This is where time can be wasted. It is important to home in on the cause of the breakdown and solve it. Don't automatically go back to the beginning, because that wastes more time. It's actually a good way of learning a song to be able to start from convenient points other than the beginning.

There may be a point in the song when the bass guitarist has an idea for how the arrangement or performance can be improved. It should be possible for any member of the band to simply stop playing and, if necessary, wave their arm to attract attention to the fact that they have stopped. The rest of the band will stop without fuss or 'blabber', pay attention to what the bassist has to say and, if needed, incorporate their suggestion into the song.

Personally, I am greatly in favour of taking notes in rehearsal. For me, this means a music stand with a notebook that lies flat and has a stiff back. I'll scribble a musical staff and jot down some dots if I need to, or chord patterns, or who I need to be looking at during a certain moment in the song. My personal weakness is memory for song structure, so I will try and be very clear about this. My view about note taking is very strong, and anyone who doesn't take notes would have to demonstrate to me that they have a truly excellent memory. Otherwise, you end up going through the same things, rehearsal after rehearsal.

Good rehearsal practice can make the world of difference to a band's presentation and success in front of the audience. The feeling of going out on stage knowing that you are fully prepared is amazing. And it's down to the quality of your rehearsal and time not wasted, but invested very wisely indeed.  0