by Shea Marshall

A common discussion I find myself having with nearly every student — particularly those involved in school band or orchestra programs — is regarding the difference between practice and rehearsal. It seems that many younger students confuse one for the other, or worse, neglect one and still expect to progress at a normal rate.

“I practice my instrument every day at school. Isn’t that enough?”

In short, no. This is not practice, this is rehearsal. Hopefully this short discussion will help to clear up some of these misconceptions.

Rehearsal is a directed group activity which is pursued in order to improve ensemble tonal balance, improve timing and direction following. Rehearsal generally helps the student to become familiar with performance pieces and performance etiquette, and is a necessary process in order to move an ensemble from sight-reading to performance of a particular piece of music. It is a somewhat social event, and is important especially for band and orchestra instrumentalists so they may more fully realize the ‘role’ and potential of their chosen instrument. It is not, however, a substitute for individual practice, and it is not designed or treated as such by school ensemble directors.

Practicing is typically an individual activity, which is pursued in order to improve one’s own technique and competence. Practicing is effective on an individual level because it affords the student an opportunity to critically examine and modify his or her own ability and shortcomings rather than learn to hide them. When practicing, the student should work on performance pieces specifically in order to prepare difficult sections, and the student should also work on technical etudes, scales, and exercises provided by his or her instructor in order to improve overall technique and sound.

The problem I see with some students happens when rehearsal is substituted for individual practice. While many meaningful experiences and insights come from the direction and comments provided by band and orchestral directors, the rehearsal environment simply doesn’t provide for real individual improvement. This is not its purpose, nor should it be. In fact, those few students in every ensemble who are not engaging in regular individual practice not only make the ensemble weaker, they are robbing themselves of the benefit of this experience and the joy that comes from performing at a high level of competence!

To put it more simply — when a student discovers a section of ensemble music is challenging, his or her responsibility is to isolate this section and add it to his or her home practice sessions. Too many students settle for the few chances they get to ‘run through’ difficult sections during rehearsals as adequate preparation for a performance, and completely neglect the opportunities for progress and excellence that can only be found through critical listening to one’s own performance, alone or with an instructor or competent student. Even daily rehearsal participation is not sufficient to seriously improve a student’s ability, or even to maintain a student’s ability at higher levels of performance.

It is usually immediately obvious to me and most instructors which students are practicing and improving, and which students are only interested enough to participate in rehearsals and/or lessons. A typical lesson with me is loosely structured as follows:

• Answer questions regarding previous week’s assignment
• Critical listening to assigned exercises, scales, etc.
• Technique corrections, explanation and discussion of underlying theoretical concepts
  
• Assignment of next week’s material, Demonstration, ask questions to verify student’s understanding
  
• Critical listening to performance piece/pieces (solos, school band music, etc)
• Positive direction and encouragement, demonstration again
• Answer questions regarding theory, technique, and music in general (in that order)

However, lessons with students who are not dedicated to their own progress are typically much slower and only cover about half of these parts or less. I’m never offended by this — some students are busier than others, some have different levels of interest and discipline, etc — and I typically treat lessons with those students as ‘directed practice sessions’ where we work on the material together and I try to set an example for home practice.  As long as I feel that a student knows and understands how to improve their playing, I’m comfortable leaving it at that rather than acting as “Mr. Mean Teacher” and chastising them or giving orders. Once the student develops the habit of critically listening to their own sound and improving it, then we can begin study of more advanced topics.

In summation, I understand that today’s school children have many many more distractions and obligations than my or previous generations. I simply feel it’s necessary to make a case for individual practicing in addition to rehearsals, because I’d assume most people outside of professional musicians don’t have a clear idea of the differences and goals of each. Music performance is a very personal pursuit, a pursuit that can be enjoyed for one’s entire life. It brings me great joy to be able to share it with every student, and to help them to help themselves become a better musician!

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