Overcome A Bad Rehearsal

One bad rehearsal isn't usually enough to spoil a pending performance, but several in a row can damage the whole experience. How do you prevent things from going south? Here are five suggestions:

1. Don't deny that the first bad rehearsal was bad.
Trying to see the positive, its tempting for musicians to chalk up a poor rehearsal as simply an "off day" and not give it another thought. Sometimes it really is an off day, but sometimes not digging any deeper than that perpetuates what made the rehearsal "off" in the first place.

2. Take a closer look.
Whether we like to admit it or not, outside factors affect our ability to focus on the creative tasks at hand. To find out why the rehearsal went bad, check your personal baggage at the door and take a look at the specific points where your own efforts derailed. You can't control what other people do, so start with yourself.

3. Good rehearsals start with great preparation.
In almost any bad rehearsal, you can trace the spots where you and your fellow musicians didn't have great preparation. Most of the time we arrive with merely good preparation -- we listened to the pieces on the program, spent time dissecting our parts, and practiced -- but great preparation involves a higher level of understanding that provides the confidence to adapt to every unexpected shift in the piece or motion of the conductor's baton. The trick is to be so prepared for your part that you make playing it look easy.

4. Individual, Section, Ensemble
Every performer must understand his/her responsibilities as an individual, as a member of a section, and as a member of the entire ensemble. Musicians who listen to themselves alone will not find many opportunities to play, period. Musicians must listen beyond themselves and find their balance point within their section, and the section must find its balance point within the ensemble. Things go awry in a rehearsal when individuals and sections are unsure of their responsibilities and contributions to the ensemble.

5. Change Something
To prevent one bad rehearsal from becoming a string of poor efforts, individual musicians should change something in their preparation for the next rehearsal. Listen to more recordings from different performers; practice more or alter how you practiced; practice as a section before the next rehearsal; there are myriad possibilities here. The point is not to repeat the same steps that already proved to be ineffective.