Sometimes staying in first gear is exactly what you want.
I don’t want to be in park – I want to move the ensemble forward. But I also know that their exhaustion levels are very high, and I want to honor that with an appropriate pacing. So I keep the car/ensemble in first gear.
How do you keep an ensemble in a low gear? Here are a few ideas.
- Choose accessible repertoire: low-tessitura, familiar, or otherwise non-taxing.
- Increase the percentage of rehearsal you spend talking, to give the ensemble physical breaks.
- Sight read a slow, easy piece that you aren’t in a hurry to master.
- (While you’re at it, talk about that piece quite a lot.)
- Extend the vocal warmups and focus on maintenance and vocal health.
I never want to stay in first gear for very long – I’ll be back to fifth gear highway-speed rehearsals soon. But when the need arises, it’s good to have a first-gear approach ready to go, and to understand why it’s needed.