The Music Exchange

Rehearsals are a very good way of serving each other as Christian musicians. However, many people dread rehearsals because they can bring out the worst in artistic egos.

A music teacher or professional being bossed around by a less competent church music director can be a recipe for disaster, but if the rehearsal is run in the right manner it can be a great opportunity to learn how to serve as equally valuable members of God’s family. We may have different gifts and abilities, but we should all have the same attitude of service (1 Corinthians 12).

The main job of the rehearsal leader then is not as much to produce the most professional performance, but to help all the musicians to learn to serve each other, the congregation, and therefore the Lord. Here are some ways to do that.

Prayer

One of the keys to a good rehearsal is to start by focussing on Jesus. This can be done by praying together when everyone has arrived. It can be good to read and explain a short Bible passage too. Starting with prayer helps everyone to set their minds on serving Jesus and his people rather than themselves, while teaching them that the rehearsal is as much a part of their service as playing in the meeting itself. Also, if musicians learn to appreciate how important this prayer time is, then I’ve found it’s an extra incentive for them to turn up on time for rehearsals.

Starting on time

Time is precious for all of us, so musicians need to learn that lateness is a disservice to everyone involved. Of course there may be transport problems, so there needs to be a degree of patient understanding, but still, if there is not enough time for a late-comer to rehearse a couple of songs, I’ll simply ask them not to play in those songs. It’s amazing how often this leads to that person being on time in future. If there is consistent lateness, then I may not ask that musician to play or sing for quite a while.

Guitarists and bassists particularly need to be ready to play by the start of the rehearsal rather than twanging and twinging away for the first ten minutes while everyone else checks whether they trod in anything on the way in. Drummers need to be especially early if their kit has to be set up from scratch. Being a smug pianist, I’m grateful that all I have to do is lift the piano lid.

Positively, however, I always make a point of thanking those who are there on time for being punctual.

Someone clearly in control

The worst rehearsals are those in which everyone chips in their own ideas about how they think the songs should go. For example, ‘This intro to When I survey’s dull. I heard a great thrash guitar intro. Check it out, it goes like this: Kerrrrrrang. Ouch. Anyone got a plaster?’

Instead, the leader of the rehearsal needs to come with a clear idea of the feel of each song, intros, outros, links between the verses, changes of dynamics within the song and when instruments or singers need to drop in or out of the mix. Those ideas then need to be communicated clearly and firmly. Otherwise, everyone starts talking about what they think would be nice and you spend all your rehearsal time discussing rather than rehearsing. If the musicians are confident that one person is in control, they’ll be more confident themselves, and then the congregation will sing more confidently too.

Give confidence to singers

One of the main points of rehearsals is to help the singers to lead strongly and confidently. If the singers aren’t confident with the links between verses, intros and outros, then the congregation will be less confident too. Keep practising starts and finishes till you can’t get them wrong. It doesn’t matter if you don’t rehearse any of the rest of the song then, because hopefully by then the whole congregation will be singing so they won’t hear any wrong notes! I always save five minutes at the end of the rehearsal time to go over intros, outros and links again. Nearly every week I find that all the work we’ve done earlier on has been forgotten by then, so it’s always a very valuable five minutes.

If you are someone who leads rehearsals, try and make sure that there are lots of positives to say during practice times, and always thank the musicians after the main meeting is over. This will also give you a good opportunity to give some constructive feedback.

This brings us back full-circle. Rehearsals are great opportunities for Christian musicians to learn how to serve their brothers and sisters. Prepare well, be on time, listen with humility, and most importantly, pray.

Richard Simpkin

© Evangelicals Now - February 2009
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