If you are preparing for chorus concerts, rehearsals are necessary. Choir members can be chatty and they do not always show up on time. But success does not mean everything will fall into place perfectly. It does not mean setting unrealistic expectations for your group or even holding them to unfair standards. If you want to be successful, you need to put in more effort. If you want to run a successful choir rehearsal, read this guide for useful tips.
Plan
You must choose which pieces you wish to rehearse and put them in order. Strive to get a balance of new and familiar songs to keep your choir engaged and interested. You should also alternate lyrical anthems and slow anthems with more upbeat ones. You should decide how much time you wish to spend on your pieces in advance and keep track of your time as you go.
Talk less and sing more
You should think about other ways you can introduce musical concepts and reinforce them. You can use hand signs, vocal models or gestures, movements or facial expressions. Always try to keep your directions short and to the point and try giving musical feedback to your members in a few words.
Keep them engaged
You can do this by keeping your choir members singing as much as you can. When you need to stop, try to give them feedback immediately. If you want to work with one section for your choir concerts, give the others something to keep them busy.
For newer anthems that have been introduced already, begin with the most challenging and newest sections rather than starting at the beginning whenever you start. You should avoid singing sections or repeats they already know. Spend your time on things that need teaching and learning.
Listen critically
Do not limit your listening to rhythms and notes. You should listen critically to the quality of the tone, sound and balance within the breath, ensemble, dynamics, phrasing, consonants and vowels.
Look for ways to reach more efficiently and effectively
Keep it simple when introducing a new musical concept. If you cannot explain it in simple words, you do not understand it properly. Use kinesthetic teaching whenever you can. This will keep your choir more engaged and improve member retention. Try to encourage singers to own the choir by arriving on time, listening, making their music and staying focused.
One of the most helpful tips to introduce something new to your choir is using a whole-part-whole-sequence. You should resent the whole anthem before breaking it into sections. If your choir isn’t ready to read through a new piece then you should play a recording and tell them to follow along.
The best way to prepare for chorus concerts is to put your warm-ups to work. You should use warm-ups to prepare or reinforce new concepts. You can then reference them later on in your choir rehearsal. This is another great incentive for your choir members to arrive on time.
