Perfect Choir Rehearsal: Planning

At the York Region Community Choir, we have a lot of fun and work hard to learn a great variety of music in preparation for our seasonal concerts and seniors' visits. Among us, there are some excellent musicians and singers who can read music and even sight-read. Most of the choristers, however, do not read music, except to know that the notes go up or down-ish, and use the music mostly for looking at the words, preferring to learn by ear. We have weekly rehearsals for 2 hours every Monday. You can see our repertoire for the present season in the right panel of this blog.

Here's how a good rehearsal goes. It's as easy as 1-2-3. 

Warm up physically and vocally, start and end with something that you can sing all the way through with some success, and do all the learning in the middle, with a break in the middle of the learning.

1.Warm-up

2. Success

3. Work

Break

3.Work

2. Success

1. Warm up

Starting on time, we have a good but quick physical warm-up and a vocal warm-up that helps to prepare for something challenging in the songs we're going to do. For example, if we're doing a song that has long phrases that require lots of breath, then we focus the work on breathing. When I can, I try to talk about some music theory and discuss the theory behind the exercises we do. They should be required to watch to be able to follow, so I change pace and vary the exercises.

The challenge is to be thorough but not take too much time away from singing. 10-15 minutes is about average. Sometimes, I choose a song that builds from easy and soft to more difficult and loud as our vocal warm-up if we're running behind.

It's important to have a physical warm up because a lot has happened in our day before we arrive at choir. We need to transition from stressed-out individuals with baggage to a relaxed and ready and unified choir.

Starting on time is always an issue. Obviously, it's best to start on time, every time.

2. Start and end with success

The first song and last song have to be something familiar that the choir can sing all the way through to give a feeling of success. Even if we're running late at the end, I make sure to end well. Better late than frustrated. I usually have the last song planned, but sometimes somebody suggests something. When that happens, I like to comply, because if the choir likes a song, they'll sound good, and when they sound good, everyone is happy.

Success is important. When the choir sounds good, I let them know. It's not hard for me to do, because I love them and love music and I'm very expressive. I cheer them on every step of the way. Sometimes, I'm over the top, but it's all good. We laugh, and it's like I'm their goofy mom and we're a family.

3. Work in the middle and break it up

The middle is where the work happens. The most difficult learning should happen in the first half of the night. We go straight to the tricky part of a song and learn it first. The section that's the easiest goes first. Usually that's Soprano. We listen to the piano play the part first, then sing. Sometimes, it helps to have the Sopranos sing their part sotto voce while the other parts are learning theirs, so that they can feel how the parts work together. That also gives them a job to do while the others are learning, so they don't have to sit and wait (and start chatting). Each section repeats their part as many times as necessary, sometimes 2 or 3 times, sometimes 5 or 6.  We sing that section or page, but not the whole song, unless it's fairly easy to sight-read. Then, we move on to another piece so that we don't get bogged down.

If we need to spend a long time on one piece, we take a break before starting another. Break time is important. It changes the pace of the rehearsal and gives choristers important opportunities for socializing and doing administrative business. Important team-building happens during break. Don't skip it.

We work on 2 or 3 pieces that need work, so we're singing 4 or 5 pieces in total for a 2-hour rehearsal. We might manage another run-through of a piece that's ready, for a total of 6. I've tried to do more, but almost always do 4-5.

When we're looking at a piece of music for the first time, we "walk" through it. I point out who's singing what and whether there is a repeat or a section that repeats with a key change, and where the loud bits and quiet bits are, so we get an idea of where we're going with the song. Then, we sight-read it, so those who are skilled sight readers have a chance to practise (and show off) this skill, and for others to get an idea of how the song goes. Then, I zoom in to the trickiest part that involves all part. If there's a hard part that's 4 bars of just Tenors, I don't do that first. Everyone should be involved in that first lesson.

Planning is key

I start planning a season months in advance. I make a schedule for the whole season, giving each day around 5 pieces and giving 3-6 rehearsals for each piece for learning and then review, depending on the level of difficulty. I plan each week's rehearsal the day before and review the plan before rehearsal. I usually learn all the parts of the tricky bits. I circle trouble spots as we sing, and make notes during rehearsal. I try to be flexible and adjust my schedule as I go. Although planning is key, flexibility is really the most important thing overall in my job as choir director. I always have to have a Plan B, or be prepared to make one up fast. That'll be the subject of another post.