Part recordings are a great tool to make choral rehearsals more efficient – for students who cannot play their own parts, these recordings can be lifesavers for learning notes outside of the rehearsal.
But they should only be one piece of your personal practice arsenal. Here are some other things to consider.
- Slow Down. Practicing with a part recording means at a single tempo. It’s all too easy to gloss over precision, particularly in fast passages. Slow down, learn the piece note-by-note.
- First And Last. Give yourself the first note of a passage (start short, work longer), and sing the passage a cappella, checking yourself at the last note.
- A Different Part I. Feeling confident in your part? Practice with a different part recording – alto if you’re a tenor, say. Learn when you have consonances, dissonances, unisons. Learn how they should sound together.
- A Different Part II. Feeling good with the recording? Grab a classmate and practice together, a cappella.