Rehearsal Technique: Training Students to Apply the “Tools” of Music by Tad Greig


Editor’s Note: This article appears as one of a series written especially for Ala Breve by experts in the field of music education.


“Outcomes”, the markers for successful teaching. The Students Will Be Able To... (SWBAT). Though there have been times where we have all groused about these terms, I think that we can all agree that it is our desire to see our students succeed. This desire, then, requires parameters and definition. What is “success” for our musical students? For all of us in the profession this is a very personal and philosophical question. Though this article will not provide the “be all, end all” answer, it will provide some food for thought.


When asked “how do I measure the success of my music students” related to performance ensembles, my two primary answers are: for the non-majors, that they continue to make music in their lives, and for my majors and minors, that they have sufficient mastery of their skills to be able to work independently. They have enough skill to self-evaluate with mastery.


Given my thoughts, I am led directly to what I teach in ensemble and the process of skills development. Though there is much to be gleaned from the performance of great repertoire, I view this music as Application, the final exam, the cumulative showcase of what the students have learned. Yes, within each piece of music there are multiple “teachable moments”. At the same time, think about these moments when the students have had some preparation or context prior. How much more significant is it when the young musicians can contextualize in the musical moment without stopping and explaining. This leads to the topic of this article - Rehearsal Technique: Training students to apply the “tools” of music.


Think about your rehearsal process. From before the moment the students enter the class, through the time that they leave. Take this time and subdivide it into learning “chunks”. For me, these chunks are divided into: Pre-Rehearsal, Warm-up, Bridging, Musical Rehearsal and Conclusion. Within these there are multiple subdivisions.


Pre-Rehearsal – Though all of us have differing schedules with more or less access to the rehearsal space, travel to multiple


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buildings etc., it is still significant to provide an organized space for the students to enter. Cacophony breeds cacophony. We want our students to leave the baggage of the day at the door, and come into our learning space ready to engage. We also want to establish a regimen and order. This leads to a pattern of structure and accelerated focus in the class to come.


1. Have the room arranged for the group (stands chairs), a rehearsal plan on the door or board. This leads to the expectation of self-preparation.


2. Have your materials on the stand and ready.


If it is balance and Related to your rehearsal


order, lesson plan the skill sets that you desire in your music and have a means to approach these concepts in warm-up.


blend; use chorales or homophonic exercises where you can focus on the development of these skills. Asymmetric meter; have some unison rhythmic exercises on the board so that all students may interact with the concept, etc.. Rather than having only the musicians with the specific musical or technical challenge problem solving, expand the task to the entire ensemble so that there is a collective learning opportunity.


To correlate, the rehearsals of choirs, orchestras and bands are extremely similar to the labs associated with science or math classes. First, we establish the environment;


1. The room is organized; rehearsal topics (experiments) are posted to get the students ready for engagement.


2. We have a collective warm-up period where everyone is engaged (directions/explanations of the experiments of the day).


3. We transfer from the warm-up phase into application of skills on the music being prepared (take the information from the directions and instructions and begin the experiment).


4. We stop and make corrections, allowing the


students to hear our recommendations and to grapple with the information given to create a more flawless and musical product, (oversee the groups of students, making sure that the steps involved in the experiments are understood appropriately and appropriate actions are being taken, nothing on fire or exploding !!).


5. We then take the information from the beginning of the class, add the corrections/suggestions to the musical rehearsal (experiment) and assess the outcome (did the results of the experiment meet the desired outcomes of the professor). Can the students (musicians), then, replicate this learning by themselves or as a collective unit? I find these correlations strikingly similar!!


If I were to ask what your desires are for your ensemble related to their functioning as a better ensemble, I could assume the following: Play in-tune, balance and blend, articulate appropriately, phrase, steady time, become aware of the ensemble rather than only self, etc.


Though I will not go through a litany of possible exercises, I will defer to the Edward Lisk gospel of warming up ideas and purposes: The Creative Director: “Alternative Rehearsal Techniques”. It is a fount of creative ideas to develop specific areas in your musicians. Understand that you may use your own creativity and understanding of your circumstances to modify, but as a great beginning, get this one on the shelf!!


The key is to set some developmental goals for your groups. Some may apply to a specific technique embedded in a certain piece, others may be global techniques necessary for all great ensembles.


Also remember that the


students need to invest in their development. Make sure to ask questions about the sounds that you make.


Get their opinions. The


depth of this conversation grows as your musicians’ intellect develops, along with the anticipation of being asked to offer opinions.. If they are asking good questions or offering quality responses, you know that the information is sinking in! Going back to our Science/Math analogy; we cannot simply


May/June 2015


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