How to have a great rehearsal Part 3

In previous posts, I dealt with Preparation and Philosophy. I hope you found them helpful.

OK… so you know why you are doing what you are doing (Philosophy) and you are ready to rehearse… you have all you need to play, sing, and do sound (Preparation). What should the rehearsal look like? And by that, I mean the longer rehearsal (not pre-service) – a couple of hours or so.

• Start with food. Doesn’t have to be elaborate – pizza and coke always works – time for doing team stuff – connections, laughter etc. Allow 15-30 mins
• Team input. This is where you get to…
  •  Remind the team the “what and why” of worship. It’s about vision casting, clarity and connection. It would be wise to keep this brief as well.
  • Do a brief devotional on worship, which could end with prayer and/or a time of worship with the team. For many of the team, they are so involved in presenting worship, they rarely get time to just worship together.
• Be ready up front. If you are running the rehearsal, get in a little early, be ready with the following …
  • Have the printed charts in an obvious place. They should have downloaded them for themselves, but have a few ready.
  • Know the order of the songs you are going to rehearse.
  • If available, listen to MP3 of the new song and let them listen without trying to play along.
  • Give a very brief verbal run through of each song, ensuring that everyone is tuned in. (Be brief and to the point). Include…
    • What the song is about (praise song, worship, how to approach it)
    • What instrument will drive it (acoustic guitar, lead guitar, keys, or just the kick drum etc…)
    • Basic layout of the form (Verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus… you get the drift)
• Begin the song… and don’t stop it till you get to the end !! The first time you play a song, you should take it to the end, even if it’s not quite right – in fact, it won’t be right. The band & singers, need to get an overall drift of how the song holds together. The music director (who should be miked up) must “drag” the team through the first run through. Don’t be tempted to stop unless it is impossible to continue.
• Go again. Go straight into the second run-through with scant comments in between the first and second attempt. People will pick their own problems up and the second attempt will usually be better.
• Focus on problems. This is where you might look at focussing on intros, segues (going from verse to chorus to bridge etc), fixing and firming up melody issues, making sure the band is listening to each other etc.
• Repeat with corrections.
• Once you get it to a good place, do it again. You need to practice what you have done so that what is played right is cemented in.  Don’t make the mistake of stopping rehearsal just because you played it correctly or well. You don’t really know a song until you can play it without a chart (Ouch!!)
• Repeat with other songs. (You will know the limit and capability of the team as to how many songs they can learn, but 3 is probably enough)
• At the end of the rehearsal, go back to the song to see what has ‘stuck’. It’s often a rude shock to some people who forget.