Policy on girlfriends at practice

[Fat Steve]

OP: Is the band your main source of income? Is it your job, or is it a labor of love that gets you some sweet gigs and maybe some beer money? The answer to that may render half of these hyperbolic responses pointless.

 

[electracoyote]

Is the band your main source of income? Is it your job, or is it a labor of love that gets you some sweet gigs and maybe some beer money?

Either way, you're preparing to put your ass on the line in front of a live audience. Whether or not you have hangers-on at rehearsals, keep that in mind.

 

[Melonthief]

Either way, you're preparing to put your ass on the line in front of a live audience. Whether or not you have hangers-on at rehearsals, keep that in mind.

The point is it's a distraction and changes the activity from working to playing.

 

[electracoyote]

The point is it's a distraction and changes the activity from working to playing.

I get that.

My comment addresses those who think that if you're not making a living wage from music, selling out 20,000 seaters, and have a video in heavy rotation on MTV, you can cut corners and you don't have to take it seriously. IMHO, any time you put your ass on the line in front of an audience, you owe it to them and yourself to prepare the same as the big boys and girls do. Which, IME, means maximizing your rehearsal time as focused, productive, and distraction-free as possible.

If you can do it with friends and relatives in the room, more power to you. That has never been the case for me; like you just said, something somewhere along the line always becomes a distraction for someone.

 

[fhm555]

If you are doing two a days prepping for a tour or have a slong list you are about to take into a studio, maybe, but outside of that WhoGAS if someone shows up to a rehearsal? I don't have any problem at all with a little disinterested third party opinion of what a bar band might sound like, and if the rest of the band is so tightly wound that an extra body in the room is going to throw them off their game, what's going to happen when you are 5 by 5 all the way live and you split your pants on stage?

Just seems odd that someone practicing to play in public would be so adamant about not letting the public watch them practice.

It's not like it's some A&R type grading you on your marketability or anything, it's the drummers/guitarists/singers/your biggest fan fer christsakes.

 

[electracoyote]

Just seems odd that someone practicing to play in public would be so adamant about not letting the public watch them practice.

The types of distractions I have experienced in open rehearsals are NOTHING like the typical distractions that come up when you're on stage. Apples and oranges.

 

[Melonthief]

My view may also be affected by the fact that we all have day jobs and don't get to rehearse as often as I would like.
If I was 20 something and footloose and we got together a few times a week, then there might be some wiggle room but when we all have to tweak our schedules so that we can get a 2 or 3 hour rehearsal every 2 weeks then it has to be all business.

 

[theduke1]

Gee Wally, I have not had to think about that since I don't know 9th grade! Come on grow up

 

[Melonthief]

Gee Wally, I have not had to think about that since I don't know 9th grade! Come on grow up

Sorry I don't get your point.

 

[SnowCal]

Hangers-on have no business being at our rehearsals. They (and anybody else) are welcome to poke their head in the door. We'll even play a song we're working on for them. But rehearsals are for us to work on things that need work. Nobody wants to hear the same song getting mangled for two hours straight. And I don't want to feel like I need to put on a good show at rehearsal when what I really need to do is work out transitions.

We have had one GF sit through a rehearsal. That was an 'emergency situation' involving creepy guys. She didn't say much. It was fine. But the rest of the time put your foot down and let everyone know it doesn't work that way.

 

[Jazz Ad]

The people who show up are your friends and tend to leave if the music sucks.

If you sound good at practice, you're showing off, no practising.
True practice is boring for people not involved.

 

[theduke1]

Its a band it may be for fun or work or to feel good about something. If she is not a contributing part of the group.
No gfs or bfs or bffs or wife's or husbands at rehearsal . End of story!!

 

[deathsdj]

I don't really care either way. Been lucky enough that it has never been a problem and sometimes been helpful.

 

[hsech]

I have to drive 45 miles to our practice space. I don't like anything that distracts from the intended purpose of having the practice.

 

[spaz21387]

Girlfriends are welcome at our practices they seem to have a wine drinking contest up stairs while we make noise. Its pretty fun if you ask me...

 

[Melonthief]

Girlfriends are welcome at our practices they seem to have a wine drinking contest up stairs while we make noise. Its pretty fun if you ask me...

If they are in a different room they aren't "at" rehearsal

 

[spaz21387]

They are still in the same house and pop in sometimes to bring us drinks and stuff...

 

[Melonthief]

They are still in the same house and pop in sometimes to bring us drinks and stuff...

Right. That is not really what the discussion is about, rather gf's or others hanging out in the rehearsal room during rehearsal. Your system sounds very workable

 

[Tennesseemick]

Much depends on the girlfriend in question.

I would say that if she is the introverted sort who is fine to sit in the background left to her own devices while the band does its thing then fine.

If she needs to run her mouth constantly to get her opinions validated or needs to be the center of someones attention then no.

This.

 

[jive1]

It depends on the situation, I guess.

I had a female singer that brought her husband to the audition and first rehearsal. Considering she was going somewhere she hadn't been before with a bunch of guys she hadn't met before, I didn't blame her. I'd probably do the same.

If you're doing rehearsal seriously, I don't see why anyone would want to come. For my band, we don't rehearse that often, so it's not like the band is taking much time from the significant other. When we do, it's only 2-3 hours and we work pretty seriously. If there's a bystander, we're not going to be paying much attention. Usually when we've had a bystander, they would watch us for a while and then find something else to do. It's usually pretty boring for the bystander, especially if they've seen the show a few times already. It's a bunch of folks talking about a subject that they may not know much about, using lingo they don't understand, talking seriously about things that may seem trivial to them, playing music that's going to be messed up, hearing parts repeated over and over, stopping in the middle of a tune to talk over a part, hearing folks argue, etc..

In short, as long as they don't get bent out of shape for being ignored for the length of the rehearsal, no problem.