Amateur musicians, particularly those who don't live in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, etc., always seem to find it puzzling that pro musicians mostly play with other pro musicians and thus have no need of full-band rehearsals.
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Why do Professional Baseball Players have batting practice?
- Thread starter 51PRI
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Yes, and the Rolling Stones are a grampa band.
We do the same. What I want everybody to bring to the table: the song form must be known. Any identifiable licks must be learned, the rhythm pocket should be as close to the original version with exception for having less musicians than the amount on the original version. Identifiable solos should be as close to the original as possible. All this before working on a song. Otherwise a tremendous amount of time is wasted with people standing around waiting for somebody to learn their parts. Not on my watch.
Watching dad bands is often an exercise in self-abuse, in my experience. I would be very grateful if, in general, they practiced more. Just because you’re “old and tired” doesn’t mean you shouldnt set a bar for yourselves. If not for yourself, then do it for the ppl who have to suffer thru your terrible version of Hotel California.
So far in this thread this has been attributed to Chet Atkins, Itzhak Perlman, Anton Rubenstein, and someone's violin teacher.
Does this mean bands need a coach? That's actually not a bad idea.
Why we practice as a band:
- It’s usually fun, relaxing, and social;
- I like hanging out with my bandmates. It’s a nice break from my other responsibilities;
- We have the opportunity to add new songs to the setlist by rehearsing them;
- It causes us to improve.
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Batting practice is more like what you do on your own at home. IOW, woodshedding.
When a catcher warms a pitcher it's more like a bassist working with a drummer on accents and breaks.
When a defense practices running down a base runner, it's like when vocals get together to work on harmonies.
And when a low-A minor league team, average salary $28/hr, finishes Spring Training, they pretty much hit the road for their 140 games a season, where they continue to hone their skills.
When a catcher warms a pitcher it's more like a bassist working with a drummer on accents and breaks.
When a defense practices running down a base runner, it's like when vocals get together to work on harmonies.
And when a low-A minor league team, average salary $28/hr, finishes Spring Training, they pretty much hit the road for their 140 games a season, where they continue to hone their skills.
Practice, rehearsal, yada yada
I just wanna look cool, and I'm not looking cool if the band isn't cookin.
If guys wanna hack and bang and be sloppy, more power to em, but I'm not going anywhere near it.
I just wanna look cool, and I'm not looking cool if the band isn't cookin.
If guys wanna hack and bang and be sloppy, more power to em, but I'm not going anywhere near it.
MDBass
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The musicians who put in the most practice need the least rehearsal.
Kobe had solo shooting practice multiple times a day: that’s why he was elite even among the elite.
Similarly, professional musicians who have spent the most time in the woodshed are able to perform at the highest level with a minimum of full band rehearsal.
For professional touring bands, rehearsal has less to do with practicing individual parts or songs and more to do with song transitions, live arrangement changes, dialing in FOH and in-ear mixes, and other production details.
As an anecdotal example, in the middle of a run of festival shows a few years ago the drummer had an emergency and we needed a short notice sub.
A 45 minute set of fairly technically demanding music, for an audience of roughly 20,000, on less than a week’s notice.
The singer and I (who was doubling as MD) flew back to LA to pick up the drummer and have a single rehearsal with him: the guitarists weren’t in attendance.
The sub played that show flawlessly.
As the saying goes, there are levels to this game.
Yes, which is why my big band, which has existed 30 years, hires a professional director.Does this mean bands need a coach? That's actually not a bad idea.
I have a different take on this. I LIKE to practice. I like to rehearse. I love to perform. I just love to play, I always have. Maybe it's the same with baseball players. They just love to hit. Keep in mind that baseball is a sport of continuous failure, especially for hitters. If you are hitting .300, you're one of the best hitters. Yet, you're still failing 70% of the time. That's a tough road, but making millions doesn't hurt I bet lol. Anyway, for me the drive is deeper. I grew up in an abusive household, and the family piano was my refuge from a young age. I have mental illness, and music is my constant refuge to this very day. It has literally saved my life several times. So playing, even solo practice, is always delightful. Along with my wife and daughter, it is my constant companion. At the end of a day of playing, we have family time, and I literally can't wait until the next day to play again. Sometimes I don't, 3 am headphone work is not uncommon. Seems like it's an obsession, but it's a good one; It's been nothing but positive in my life. I rarely have GAS, and literally just really love to play. Two years ago I barely left the house. Through music, and the encouragement of my amazing wife and daughter, I gradually moved to a few open mics, then formed a jazz trio, started gigging, and more recently have been performing 3 hour solo shows. It's been an incredible journey, and a true testament to my perseverance and determination. I'm proud of myself. You can read a much more lengthy version of my journey here: I did it!!!! | TalkBass.com I hope you are all well; BASS.
Yes. But…. in all the scenarios you mentioned, there is active opposition whose entire objective is to thwart you making those plays. Hopefully, your music scenario does not include “players on the field” who are deliberately and actively undermining the band’s collective efforts.
So then. I’ll rehearse a song if anyone in the band feels we need it. But take a song like “‘I Saw Her Standing There”, a staple of parties and weddings and car shows etc. I’ve played every instrument in that song onstage more times than I can count. So if I’m in a band performing that song, and with folks as experienced as myself, we should be able to talk it through in twelve seconds: what key, who takes which harmony. And then go and play it onstage, and do it sufficiently well that the audience cannot tell that we did not rehearse it.
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As a former pro athlete at a lower level….I can agree but also add on here. It’s not just about timing but continuous recognition of the situation and adjustment.
For pro athletes, what hasn’t been mentioned yet is the amount of study time that is involved. Watching game film of yourself to monitor performance, yes. But also studying your opponents.
In baseball, why do you think that most starting pitchers usually last around 5-6 innings? Because hitters have done their scouting homework….they know which pitches the pitcher has in his arsenal, when they like to throw them. So by the 5th-6th inning, you’re near the 3rd trip through the lineup. You bet your bottom dollar that those hitters will be making adjustments based on what they’ve seen, if they haven’t already.
For soccer (my sport), we had scouting game plans. Keep possession, vs. park the bus, vs counter attack, etc. But we practiced multiple styles. It was also on me to train in the off-season on my own on things I wanted to improve.
So it’s a small-ish comparison, yes musicians practice to get better or stay sharp and should! Shoot even some TOP level pros better themselves (Didn’t Flea take music theory courses during a hiatus?). The biggest difference here is that while musicians practice to improve their craft, pro athletes practice to improve their talents but also do it in a specific way to prepare for a direct competition against another team doing the same thing.
Yes, of course! There is a difference between knowing how to do something (the result of study and assimilation) and being able to actually do it (the result of training to develop the skill/task and ongoing maintainance of condition necessary to execute the skill/task). There is also a difference between individual/personal study/practice/training and practice with the team/band/ensemble. There is a responsibility on individuals to turn up prepared. If and when they do, tangible value is created. If one or more individual turns up un-prepared then the creation of value or progress is severely curtailed or even halted, IME.
Neither I nor the paper cutter are sharpened by doing nothing.
True. Even the sharpest knife sitting unused in the drawer will become dull over time.
This is of course true. But it is also worth adding the caveat that in music at least, and looking across all genres/styles/cultures/etc., the correlation between professional status/circumstances and abilty/talent is very weak. That is to say there are plenty of non-professional 'weekend' players that play as well as anyone, just as there are plenty of hacks making a very good living.
Does this mean bands need a coach? That's actually not a bad idea.
Back in the early '90s I was in a band that had a non-playing writer/lyricist. He also had a lot of performance experience but had suffered a life-changing accident that, for the time being at least, prevented him from taking to the stage. There was a lot of mutual respect: our respect for his writing, confidence and 'credentials', and his respect for us as capable and creative musicians. So whilst he was invested in the songs he was also able to view performances and presentation from a distance and offer objective advice and direction, knowing that we were all open to that. It worked well to create something greater than the sum of parts. So yes, I would concur - a 'coach' of sorts can work wonders provided 1) boundaries are established and respected and 2) the whole band buys into it.
In a game they might get 4 times at-bat. If they only swung the bat during those times their skills would diminish. Batting practice is where they build and maintain muscle memory.
