Previous Thread
Index
Next Thread
Print Thread
Go To
Off-Topic
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 3,563
P
Veteran
OP Offline
Veteran
P
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 3,563


Lenovo YOGA 900 Window s 10 Home 64bit 16GB RAM\2018 13” MacBook Air casio wk7500 presonus audiobox i2 usb interface
casio wk-7500
biab & realband 2023 everything pk both with Current builds
Off-Topic
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 6,080
Veteran
Offline
Veteran
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 6,080
I've been a pro musician, all my life and I've been in a number of different bands so I'm qualified to answer.

How do pros practice or rehearse? On stage! If you can't rehearse on stage, where CAN you practice or rehearse? laugh

Actually practicing and rehearsing are two entirely different things.

Practice you do by yourself, rehearse you do with the band.


Practice is learning the material. I don't necessarily play the song through from end to end at first. That's crazy unless you can play the song end-to-end already.

Different people learn different ways.

First I warm up a bit. Then I go through the song I'm learning until I hit a rough spot. If I have difficulty fingering a passage, I'll play it as fast as I can WITHOUT MAKING A MISTAKE for 2 minutes. Not making a mistake is most important as yu don't want to get the mistake under your fingers. Then I take my hands off my instrument and do something completely different for 2 minutes, not musical. Then I repeat play for 2 minutes, rest for two minutes. I find I learn passages faster this way than if I keep hammering at them continuously.

Then I start at the beginning until I either get to the next rough spot or the end.

If I have the luxury of having sheet music, I can sightread pretty much anything except those difficult parts I have to do the 2 minute routine on. But if I have the sheet music, I'll look through it and count out any tricky rhythms before I pick up my instrument. That way I'll be ready while reading.

For me practice is learning new songs, or new skills on the instrument.

Years ago practice also meant memorizing scales, arpeggios (on sax) and chords (on guitar). Now I have different skills to learn, and that depends on what new learning adventure I find myself on.

Rehearsal is something completely different.


In a truly professional band, every player has already practiced and learned their parts. Each can play the songs from beginning to end at the desired tempo. Rehearsal is coordinating the playing of the band members, listening to the other members, melding with the other members, so that the song is played as a cohesive unit, not individual musicians.

In rehearsal the band mates can bounce ideas around, modify the arrangement, and improve the song or personalize it to the band's unique sound.

Anyone who confuses practice with rehearsal, needs to learn the difference.

Insights and incites by Notes


Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
Off-Topic
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 7,687
Veteran
Offline
Veteran
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 7,687
I haven't been in a full time serious professional show setting for years but this is how we did it.

First, we were booked nationwide in Class A rooms meaning casinos, hotels, big night clubs. Those rooms are not open during the day so we had rehearsals pretty much every day. The exception was when we were in Hawaii for 6 months. We settled on 3 days a week so we had time to go play on the beach.

Rehearsals included full charts. The band leader was a classically trained pianist who wrote all the arrangements as a score. I transcribed all the individual parts. Obviously that meant everybody could read but no charts allowed on the gig it was all memorized. The closest I could get was maybe a little 3X5 card sitting on the B3. The leader always had a grand piano supplied and he had everything down cold.

We were doing current songs but they were Vegas show versions of them not dance covers. Nobody in the band had any problems handling "difficult passages". Two times through the chart was pretty much enough because we all knew what we were going to work on and had already worked on it in our rooms or wherever. For me, if I needed to work on something there were no small portable keyboards in those days so I might show up downstairs a half hour early to sit at the B3 or stay later after rehearsal. Not all rehearsals were about new material they were about keeping sharp, watching the showy details, maybe changing a comedy bit. That's different from just playing the music correctly. Still, there could be things like we didn't handle a segue cleanly last night so we worked on that or the leader wanted to tweak an arrangement.

This was a full time, professional (zero BS at all) tightly run ship. We were booked by MusArt Corp and everybody knew one call to the agent and anybody could be replaced within 48 hours by a very experienced and very good player. No getting drunk, no making "deals" in the parking lot, no smoking weed in the room. Be on time, dressed, ready to go. Every day. These gigs usually involved a Food and Beverage Manager or Floor Manager who called our agent every day with a report. Causing problems of any sort could be bad.

Once that was finally over, I had married and had a 6 month old daughter I went back to local bands and man, was that rough on me. After some time I accepted the fact that nobody is going to rehearse like that and create something that tight again doing local gigs in LA. Everybody knows all the songs already but with slightly different arrangements, is good enough to basically fake it, it sounds "pretty good" but I know this was missing, that was missing, if we only had a day we could work out this so much better, etc. Frustrating but I stopped letting it get to me years ago.

Bob


Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
Off-Topic
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 6,080
Veteran
Offline
Veteran
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 6,080
On sax I can read almost anything, on guitar I have to woodshed difficult passages. I've been playing sax since I was a kid and played in both jazz and symphonic bands. Guitar is my 7th instrument.

Granted it's easier reading music on sax, flute, piano, and many other instruments than it is on guitar, but that won't stop me.

I've been in bands where certain musicians wanted to practice at rehearsal instead of on their own. This disrupts the rehearsal session and doesn't respect the time of other band members.

All musicians should know the difference between the two and act professionally.

Insights and incites by Notes


Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
Off-Topic
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 9,301
Veteran
Offline
Veteran
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 9,301
Yep, there is a difference between practice and rehearsal.

I was never in a band that was a tight as Bob described.... but I've been in a few that were pretty nicely run. And I tried to run mine like that too when I was the leader. Easy going but do your job and play the parts accurately and with some feeling, and yeah.....show up on time and be sober.

To address the question ..... it was a pet peeve of mine to have handed someone a tape of some new music a week ago, and when they show up to rehearse, they hadn't even listened to the tape, had no clue what the songs were that we'd be working on let alone the details such as key, breaks, intro, outro....
I would always learn my parts at home before coming to rehearsal.


You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
Off-Topic
Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 1,169
Expert
Offline
Expert
Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 1,169
We used to get songs and work out how we wanted them. Each person was given chord charts or whatever and would learn their part. Depending on the show we were doing we’d often have a few minutes as we were setting up to run through a song.

Things such as harmonies (we used a lot of 3 and 4 piece harmonies) were often put together in the truck on our way to or from out of town shows (also as anyone that does harmonies usually does, any decent concrete bunker, stairwell or empty echoey room was not to be resisted.)

In later years (once we were using decent mixing desks) all our shows were taped and we’d go through and discuss parts on the way home or sometimes take a tape home to work on a part.

After 20 or so years playing with the same guys one gets to understand the team he is playing with. Often things just fell into place with little extra effort one knew where he fit in.

Tony


HP i7-4770 16GB 1TB SSD, Win 10 Home,
Focusrite 2i2 3rd Gen, Launchkey 61, Maton CW80, Telecaster, Ovation Elite TX, Yamaha Pacifica 612
BB 2022(912) RB 2022(2), CakeWalk, Reaper 6, Audacity, Melodyne 5 Editor, Izotope Music Production Suite 4.1
Off-Topic
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,129
J
Expert
Offline
Expert
J
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,129
I'm curious to know if the guys that use the 'pros method' to REHEARSE, ACTUALLY PRACTICE as described in the 'amateur' section.

Off-Topic
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 6,080
Veteran
Offline
Veteran
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 6,080
Originally Posted By: Joe V
I'm curious to know if the guys that use the 'pros method' to REHEARSE, ACTUALLY PRACTICE as described in the 'amateur' section.

Practice is a part of life. There is always something new to learn, some new skill to acquire, some new song to learn, and/or some new instrument to learn.

I've been a pro most of my life, and although I don't practice the same things that I did when I was beginning, I still practice.

I could live to be 200 and there would still be something new to learn. That's one of the things that makes music so interesting.

Insights and incites by Notes


Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Go To

Link Copied to Clipboard
ChatPG

Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.

ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.

PG Music News
Convenient Ways to Listen to Band-in-a-Box® Songs Created by Program Users!

The User Showcase Forum is an excellent place to share your Band-in-a-Box® songs and listen to songs other program users are creating!

There are other places you can listen to these songs too! Visit our User Showcase page to sort by genre, artist (forum name), song title, and date - each listing will direct you to the forum post for that song.

If you'd rather listen to these songs in one place, head to our Band-in-a-Box® Radio, where you'll have the option to select the genre playlist for your listening pleasure. This page has SoundCloud built in, so it won't redirect you. We've also added the link to the Artists SoundCloud page here, and a link to their forum post.

We hope you find some inspiration from this amazing collection of User Showcase Songs!

Congratulations to the 2023 User Showcase Award Winners!

We've just announced the 2023 User Showcase Award Winners!

There are 45 winners, each receiving a Band-in-a-Box 2024 UltraPAK! Read the official announcement to see if you've won.

Our User Showcase Forum receives more than 50 posts per day, with people sharing their Band-in-a-Box songs and providing feedback for other songs posted.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed!

Video: Volume Automation in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows®

We've created a video to help you learn more about the Volume Automation options in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows.

Band-in-a-Box® 2024: Volume Automation

www.pgmusic.com/manuals/bbw2024full/chapter11.htm#volume-automation

Video: Audio Input Monitoring with Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows®

We've created this short video to explain Audio Input Monitoring within Band-in-a-Box® 2024, and included some tips & troubleshooting details too!

Band-in-a-Box® 2024: Audio Input Monitoring

3:17: Tips
5:10: Troubleshooting

www.pgmusic.com/manuals/bbw2024full/chapter11.htm#audio-input-monitoring

Video: Enhanced Melodists in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows®!

We've enhanced the Melodists feature included in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows!

Access the Melodist feature by pressing F7 in the program to open the new MultiPicker Library and locate the [Melodist] tab.

You can now generate a melody on any track in the program - very handy! Plus, you select how much of the melody you want generated - specify a range, or apply it to the whole track.

See the Melodist in action with our video, Band-in-a-Box® 2024: The Melodist Window.

Learn even more about the enhancements to the Melodist feature in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows at www.pgmusic.com/manuals/bbw2024upgrade/chapter3.htm#enhanced-melodist

Band-in-a-Box® 2024 DAW Plugin Version 6: New Features Specifically for Reaper®

New with the DAW Plugin Version 6.0, released with Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows: the Reaper® Panel!

This new panel offers built-in specific support for the Reaper® DAW API allowing direct transfer of Band-in-a-Box® files to/from Reaper® tracks!

When you run the Plugin from Reaper®, there is a panel to set the following options:
-BB Track(s) to send: This allows you to select the Plugin tracks that will be sent Reaper.
-Destination Reaper Track: This lets you select the destination Reaper track to receive media content from the Plugin.
-At Bar: You can select a bar in Reaper where the Plugin tracks should be placed.
-Start Below Selected Track: This allows you to place the Plugin tracks below the destination Reaper track.
-Overwrite Reaper Track: You can overwrite previous content on the destination Reaper track.
-Move to Project Folder: With this option, you can move the Plugin tracks to the Reaper project folder.
-Send Reaper Instructions Enable this option to send the Reaper Instructions instead of rendering audio tracks, which is faster.
-Render Audio & Instructions: Enable this option to generate audio files and the Reaper instructions.
-Send Tracks After Generating: This allows the Plugin to automatically send tracks to Reaper after generating.
-Send Audio for MIDI Track: Enable this option to send rendered audio for MIDI tracks.
-Send RealCharts with Audio: If this option is enabled, Enable this option to send RealCharts with audio.

Check out this video highlighting the new Reaper®-specific features: Band-in-a-Box® DAW Plugin Version 6: New Features Specifically for Reaper®

Band-in-a-Box® 2024 DAW Plugin Version 6: New Features Video

The new Band-in-a-Box VST DAW Plugin Verion 6 adds over 20 new features!

Watch the new features video to learn more: Video: Band-in-a-Box® 2024 - DAW Plugin Version 6 New Features

We also list these new features at www.pgmusic.com/bbwin.plugin.htm.

Forum Statistics
Forums66
Topics81,395
Posts732,493
Members38,441
Most Online2,537
Jan 19th, 2020
Newest Members
zagrajbarke, Ernest J, Izzy, BenChaz, Csofi
38,440 Registered Users
Top Posters(30 Days)
MarioD 195
Al-David 124
DC Ron 112
dcuny 87
rsdean 82
Today's Birthdays
CeeDee, SethMould
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5