Why Rehearsal Needs To Be About More Than Learning Notes
When working with male or lower-voice choirs, there's often a temptation to use rehearsal time to drill notes until they're roughly in place. But if we really want to raise the musical standard, we have to shift our focus. Rehearsals should be for developing musicianship, not just for note-bashing.
Think of rehearsal as a space where singers become more than part-holders. They become musicians. That means we need to create space for skills like listening, blending, shaping phrases, and responding to others in real time. The time for learning notes is at home, not in the room. We should equip singers with tools to do that independently. Rehearsal then becomes about ensemble.
A useful way to think about this is through Maslow's hierarchy of needs. At the base is "singing the right notes at the right time." Without that, nothing else matters. But once that’s in place, we can move into areas like tone colour, tuning, balance, and ensemble. That's where the music lives. The higher up the pyramid we go, the more expressive the music becomes.
So, how do we get there? Start by avoiding teach tracks. As tempting as they are, they encourage passive learning. Walking the dog with your part in your ear might help you memorise pitches, but it doesn’t teach you anything about ensemble. Instead, get singers used to working with tools like pitch apps and rehearsal apps such as PracticeBird. Send them away with the expectation that they’ll come back ready to rehearse, not learn.
When everyone arrives prepared, we can use rehearsal time for the things that can only happen when we’re together: matching vowels, adjusting balance, building dynamics into the line. These things require mutual awareness and live interaction.
And here’s the real benefit: when singers stop relying on someone else to get it right first, they start listening harder, and the group becomes more connected. That’s the sort of choir culture that leads to real musical growth.
Yes, it takes time. And yes, not every group is ready for it straight away. But the more we treat our singers like musicians and expect them to behave that way, the more they rise to it. The result? A choir that’s not just accurate, but musically alive.
Next time: practical strategies to get your choir thinking - and sounding - like an ensemble from the first bar.