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Practice—Rehearse—Perform:
Personality Whiplash for Performing Musicians
Janis Weller

First the morning warm-up. For many of us, it’s a routine of fundamental exercises that is almost like a mantra, a meditation anchoring our daily practice. Start with deep breaths to clear and expand, followed by long tones in every register. Relax, focus, listen, refine. Scales and patterns follow, slowly for accuracy and sound, and quickly for facility. Etudes and studies next, perhaps, expanding the work previously started. Relax, focus, listen, refine. Repertoire follows, with music for upcoming performances on the top of the pile. Relax, focus, analyze, listen, refine, polish, repeat. Stylistic and interpretive choices and decisions must be considered and integrated. The musician is alone, in control of every musical aspect in the practice room.

Now off to rehearsal—what is it today? Orchestra? Chamber music? Broadway show? Maybe there is a conductor setting tempi and guiding the phrasing and interpretation. Listen, match, respond, compromise, adapt, blend. In smaller groups, say a jazz combo or a string quartet, artistic decisions are often reached through discussion, compromise and, eventually, consensus. Either way, in rehearsal you are a team player, subject to the opinions, directions, whims and ideas of others as well as your own.

Finally, all this work, done alone and in a team, is put on public display in performance for an audience. The feedback is immediate—your personal assessment and those of colleagues, as well as the audience and perhaps critics. No more time to polish and refine, no more second chances to fix that tricky spot —it is what it is. You may be wearing different clothes, perhaps in a different venue, with bright lights and a charged atmosphere. But most importantly, now there is an audience eager to share your music, wanting to be entertained, inspired, impressed, amazed, and moved by the music. The energy and excitement are ratcheted up many levels from the solitary practice room or the informal rehearsal setting.


Personality Whiplash

Musicians must develop incredibly diverse skills to succeed as performers (not counting the myriad of vital non-musical skills—but that is another topic). These wide-ranging performance skills are each grounded in very different temperament and personality styles, yet all must be woven together; all are crucial to the musician’s performance. Many musicians find themselves better suited to some of these activities than others. For example, do you adore performing but tend to get bored alone when practicing alone? Or do you love honing the fine details of a piece in the practice room and rehearsing the same way, but suffer from performance anxiety? Or do you really enjoy all three but find yourself just a little more at ease in one setting or another? If you’re really lucky, maybe you’re one of those most fortunate musicians who love all three activities pretty equally.

In many fields, these diverse tasks would be undertaken by different people, each with a different temperament, and varied personalities, talents, skills, needs and styles to match the tasks. The “practice” role—solitary and detail oriented—might be Research and Development or even the finance department in a corporation. The group work of “rehearsal” could be compared with work or management teams, where individuals have specific tasks and come together to plan, strategize, report, discuss, and brainstorm, with some people managing others. Business presentations, and roles in sales or as a trainer, coach, or facilitator, are corporate forms of public “performance.” While corporate employees may serve in more than one of these roles from time to time, they often specialize in an area that particularly matches their training, talents, interests and personality. In music, while one or two of these processes are often more comfortable or natural for any given person, the musician is personally responsible for utterly mastering all three. Yet this most basic and wide-ranging aspect of a performing musician’s career is never questioned—it is simply the required and inevitable process, the only real means to the desired end.

In sharing these ideas informally with musicians at various training and career levels, I have found that many can instantly tell me which activities—practice, rehearse, or perform—they do most easily and which ones take more effort and practice. With the understanding that different performing situations might elicit different responses at different times, where are your greatest talents and preferences as a performing musician in general? Take a look at the chart below that shows the personal and interpersonal aspects of each activity.

Practice Rehearse Perform
Solitary
Detailed
Self-analytical
Self-designed
Repetitive (drill)
Personal interpretive
     decisions
Most time spent here
 Interactional / interpersonal
Compromise
Often hierarchical
Adaptability important
Little personal control
     (unless serving as
     conductor or leader)
Some time
 Public display of previous
     two categories
Immediate feedback--self,
     colleagues, audience
Practice/rehearse lead
     to performance
Usually least total amount
     of time


Practice—Rehearse—Perform Survey

Let us know your preferences in the following brief survey. At a future time I’ll share the results and your ideas on this topic.

Considering that most performing musicians spend time in three very different activities—practicing alone, rehearsing with others, and then performing in public—which two of these three realms…

1) Which do you enjoy most?

Practicing alone and rehearsing with others
Practicing alone and performing in public
Rehearsing with others and performing in public
All three equally


2) Which are most compatible with your personality and talents?

Practicing alone and rehearsing with others
Practicing alone and performing in public
Rehearsing with others and performing in public
All three equally


3) Brief demographic information:

Full time professional musician
Part time professional musician
Amateur
Student

Performing medium: (voice, flute, etc.)


Age:
24 or younger
25 - 45
46 or older

Please add your comments


... Thank you!
Copyright 2004 Janis Weller. All Rights Reserved


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