Improving the Rehearsal Experience: Strategies for Success

The November/December 2023 issue of Choral Journal is online and features an article titled “Improving the Rehearsal Experience: Strategies for Success” by Matt Hill. Following is a portion from the article.
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Time is valuable, but rehearsal time is priceless. Each of us has the opportunity to make our rehearsals more effective in terms of teaching our singers technique, repertoire, and performance etiquette. A predictable model for the choral experience creates a framework of expectation and understanding for singers, pianist, and conductor while allowing flexibility to accomplish each day’s specific tasks. Efficiency breeds productivity. Training creates effectiveness. Community and a shared desire for excellence make the educational process enjoyable. The management of these elements is in the hands of the ensemble conductor, and while each of us must weigh our priorities, the majority of our shared experience tells us that some things are fundamental to success in our field. Efficiency and Effectiveness (i.e., tangible, noticeable positive results) increase Enjoyment for you, your singers, your pianist, and your audiences. I hope some of the ideas shared here are useful to you as we all seek to improve the rehearsal experience for ourselves and our choristers.

NOTE: This article offers suggestions with once weekly meeting community choirs in mind, but most of the content will be applicable to school, church, and university choirs as well.

Choose Great Music
Everything we do depends on the repertoire we select for our choirs. Great music is not necessarily difficult, but these titles share a few things in common:
• Meaningful text
• At least one “goosebumps” moment
• Serve the strengths of the ensemble With these (and other) factors in mind, we approach repertoire selection with a discerning eye for meeting our choirs’ curricular and artistic needs.

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Read the full article in the November/December 2023 issue of Choral Journal. acda.org/choraljournal