As you near a concert, don’t forget to step away from the essential detail polishing and give your ensembles the opportunity to focus on their stamina.
Mental and physical stamina are essential to effective performance. Without the stamina, we become vocally tired, we lose focus on the job at hand, and we fail to reach our potential in performance.
This is a different skill than musical excellence. To give just one example, there are thousands of singers who can give an excellent performance but who can’t give one 8 times a week on Broadway. The stamina is separate from the excellence.
The only way I know to practice – and teach – excellence is to force it. You force by learning what it feels like to give a great performance at the end of a long day. You force by extending the length of practice without stopping, without distraction, without focus break.
At first, an ensemble might not have the ability to display the stamina required; but with practice, they can acquire the strength to push through distractions, tiredness, and other challenges to do what they aim to do.