Week 1 - Record, Listen, Review Your Rehearsal

Hi this is Richard from the Hothouse, "where music grows".

Please join me for the "Hothouse Rehearsal Tip of the Week".

Each week I will be discussing various methods and techniques to help
your rehearsals become more effective and efficient.

Record, Listen, Review Your Rehearsal

Since this is the first program a good starting point is always
to take an inventory. Where is each of the songs at in their
development?

Your next rehearsal…RECORD IT. You don't any need fancy recording
equipment, Aunt Margaret's tape recorder and a mic are perfect.

After that rehearsal, set a date when all the band members can listen
to the recording and commit to it.

At this listening party take off your musicians' hat, your
songwriter's hat and put on your listening hat. This is the hat you
wear when you listen to other artists' music. This perspective will
help you listen to your music with a subjective ear. Pretend you are
at pre-release listening party and the A&R rep asks you to write down
your impressions and feelings about the songs you are about to hear.
Everyone in the band should bring pen and paper to your listening
party and take notes. Producers are especially good at listening to
music with a subjective ear. They're able to "empty their cup" and
let their bodies tell them if the song is reaching its' potential
yet. They're concerned with the big picture…the SONG.

Listen to one song at a time and then discuss it merits and
shortcomings. Take notes. This is your music it's serious business.

Listen for tempo, for cohesiveness of sound. Listen to the music
during the vocal sections with a critical ear. Does the music
support the vocal melody? Does the vocal melody line need to be
tweaked? Does the bass and kick drum patterns sync up? For the
songwriters, is the song I'm hearing matching up with the song I hear
playing in my head? And so on and so forth. By cohesiveness of
sound I mean each instrument being in agreement with the other
instruments and the vocals of the song. As a listener when your ear
hears instruments playing over the top of other instruments in the
song, especially during vocal sections, your mind just says "No".

Your job is to create new musical ideas to overcome any weak points
in the song. Then just try them out at your next rehearsal.
Communicate to each other what your musical ideas are for a
particular section you're working on and just try out each and every
one of them. Don't try and decide which idea is best until you've
heard it played as a band and given it your best shot. Remember your
body will tell you when you've got it right. You'll feel it.

Thanks for joining me this week for the "Hothouse Rehearsal Tip of
the Week ".

Join us at our Yahoo Group called hothousemusic

Send your questions or thought for topics and we'll work on
incorporating them into each weekly program.

This is Richard Morales signing off for the Hothouse Music Group.
See you next week.

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