Effective and Rewarding Rehearsals

A variety of choral rehearsals can be rewarding and effective. One key element for this kind of success is creating an accomplishment within the rehearsal. When choir members feel that they have achieved some kind of goal, they leave with a certain satisfaction. There are many possibilities for this goal, such as singing a difficult passage successfully, correcting vowel shapes, improving sight-reading skills, being expressive, using good diction, or connecting deeply to the music.

The other important element of a rewarding, effective rehearsal is that choir members feel a musical connection. Creating music goes far beyond accuracy, and directors should keep this in mind when planning any rehearsal. No matter the level of difficulty of the music or the scale of the task at hand, there should always be an emphasis on what the group is creating and why we do it. Better diction brings out the text more, a more pure tone creates a better aesthetic for the piece, a good crescendo brings us to an arrival point, accurate notes help us create what the composer had in mind, etc. Choir members should always be aware of why they are in rehearsal and what they are working toward. The best moments being in a choir are those when a person feels lucky to be making music with so many other people as passionate as they. If we could have moments like this in every rehearsal, they would definitely be rewarding, effective rehearsals.