The Rehearsal 2 – The First Battle

Before the downbeat of any rehearsal, the conductor has to make one of the most important decisions of his or her position.  When planning a concert, this seems like a big “Duh,” I mean, obviously, the conductor is completely obsessed with this aspect of a concert

But, I’m not talking about the conductor’s career ambitions, or the far-reaching musical concepts or long-term artistic ambitions of an ensemble.  Instead, when a conductor considers the rehearsal time available, the players who are involved, the artistic goals of the ensemble, and the artistic goals of the concert, what is the single biggest factor for success in the rehearsal process of a group?

The Repertoire.

The music programmed will make or break a group.  The truth is that some pieces are just too damned hard for a particular group.  AND, conversely, some pieces are too damned easy for a group and will not challenge an ensemble enough to make it worth the time and effort.

But . . .

There are those pieces that take hold of a group. The group reads it and you and everyone else in the room can feel the possibility, the potential that is present.  Everyone knows that a not just a successful performance is possible, but an experience that might not be repeated ever again is right there in front of them.  Everyone knows that it won’t be easy.  Everyone knows that the work to make this piece happen will be worth it.

If you haven’t read it yet,  you need to read the book Flow by Csikszentmihalyi.  Here is a video from a TED lecture he gave. In the book, he discusses his research on happiness and the optimal experience. Let’s say it can be summed up as that sweet-spot where technical ability of the perfomer and technical difficulty of the performed meet.  At this point, the piece is difficult enough, and the perfomer is technically proficient enough that the performer completely loses a sense of self and a sense of time while engaged in the effort of bringing this work to life.  All that is left is a total focus and complete absorption in the work being undertaken.

I think that’s beautiful.

Csikszentmihalyi says that this is what happiness, in its most true and pure essence, is.

My goal is to create this not only for myself, but for my ensembles.  I want my groups to be in this state of Flow, not only for their own happiness, not only for our collective need to have a good performance, but because when we all are there,

It is transformative.

Life changes for those invovled in these works.  There is the period in their lives before this event, and then there is everything else after it.  As artists, as musicians, as conductors and leaders, I think this should be one of our goals.

If you agree, disagree, or just have something else to say, I welcome, encourage, ask you to post a comment.

Coming up . . .

Factors to consider in repertoire choices, rehearsal processes, triage, in defense of what works, and more.

Stay Tuned!