So very practical post here about rehearsal prep for musicians! I recently accompanied a violinist for a wedding, and we only rehearsed once prior to playing on the big day. Was that nerve-wracking for me? Not so much…because here are my secrets for pulling this off-

ESSENTIALS

• Play with metronome (SORRY, no way around this). Here are some ideas:
  1. Metronome crawl
     • If your metronome speed goal is 100, then start at slower speed you don’t feel “rushed” at and that you can play the rhythm ACCURATELY…then once that feels easy, bump it up 5-10 clicks and begin this process again. This is a slow process, but if done with accurate rhythm/notes, you will feel very confident after these layers of practice are accomplished.
  2. Play It Too Quickly
     • Now this might sound strange, but once you can play it at the target tempo, then try playing the piece (with accurate rhythm/notes…there’s a theme here) at a speed 10, even 20 clicks quicker than what you need to have down. This will increase your agility and also make playing at the correct speed feel very easy when you go back down to the target tempo.
  3. The night before, to help with nerves, practice WAY UNDER TEMPO, sinking deep into your notes.
     • This is assuming you have already nailed practicing it at the target tempo. The day before a performance, you realistically aren’t going to change much in terms of what you will produce tomorrow, so why not practice in a “therapeutic” way, and slow it down, feel the weight of the keys (or however this would translate to another non-piano instrument…) and remember to deep breathe (both now and during the performance!). Focus intently on breathe work, reminding yourself to do this during the actual performance (under pressure, we often hold our breathe in and that escalates the nerves and muddies the thinking).
     • A mentor gave me this tip of slow practice right before the big day during my college years, and it’s been one of those gold nuggets I’m so grateful for learning.
  4. Listening to recordings (of the needed pieces XD)
     • While looking at the score
     • While conducting
     • While conducting AND looking at the score
     • Just as background music. Yes, if you put it on loop as I do and start doing chores, the family will become VERY BORED with the music. Tell them it’s for the sake of your art 🙂

VERY HELPFUL

1. Play WITH recordings
2. It will need to be in the same key as yours and the same arrangement of the piece. So if your piece is written in the key of G major, you cannot play to a recording that is done in A major (unless you want to practice hyper focusing and like the atonal challenge of it all XD )
3. What if the recording is going at a speed you aren’t currently at? If the recording you are playing with is on YouTube, then YouTube has a feature of slowing down the videos! (Scroll to bottom for video example of how to do this)

POWER UPS
1. Learn/play the other instrument’s melody (this helps you internalize the parts so it isn’t a shock when they play with you
2. Sing their part as you play your piano part (this will take coordination and practice. If you only want to try this a little, apply it to the hardest areas of the piece where you foresee there will be potential collaboration issues between your parts.

There you have it. A quick run through of my rehearsal prep practice. The violinist was AMAZING so that’s always a plus. Feel free to comment below with different ways you get ready for a rehearsal with other musicians. Wishing you an amazing rehearsal and event!!!

Little snapshot of the wedding 🙂