At a recent rehearsal, I was missing roughly 1/3 of my group (4 of 13) for various reasons. Several of them wrote and asked for what we worked on, so they could keep up on their own. What responsibility!
Here is my response.
We worked on:
FOCUS. STAMINA. ENSEMBLE. EXPRESSION. MUSICALITY. INTONATION. LISTENING.
In other words, mostly things that are difficult or impossible to practice on your own.
In the first few months of rehearsal, we spend a lot of time on notes because we’re sight reading a lot of music. But the notes and rhythms are only 10% of what we want to express. If we spent even a quarter of our rehearsal on notes and rhythms at this point in the year, we would feel stuck in the mud.
I know that sometimes circumstances require you to miss rehearsal. Illness, college visits, athletic events: these are important and you are commendable for balancing the many commitments and passions in your life.
But absence from rehearsal is conspicuous and the hours you missed can’t really be made up. How can you practice being an ensemble at home?
(On the other hand, I don’t expect I’ll hear any note mistakes next week on any of our active pieces. Right?)