How Far Do You Go For Rehearsal?

[Adan]

I don't mind a long-ish drive if it fits in with my day. And a long drive home from rehearsal allows me to sober up before seeing my wife. Wait, did I actually just write that?

 

Driving isn't necessarily annoying. Driving through traffic can be a mood destroyer. But more annoying that driving is gear shlepping. The worst is breaking down your rig, loading into car, loading into practice space, loading back into car, shlepping back into house. Did it thousands of times when I was young and stupid. Now that I'm old and stupid, I just want a rig set up and waiting for me.

 

Hypothetically, given the choice between a long drive and no gear shlep versus short drive/full shlep, I'll take the longer drive.

[Polkahero]

I have a 2 hr big band rehearsal every week except December-January when we go every other week. It"s 25 min drive each way. One of my fellow trumpet players drives approx 2 hrs each way. It"s a 6 hr commitment. I give him tremendous credit.

 

I wouldn't give him much credit. I've played in plenty of big bands, can't make any money because you're splitting the pie 15-18 ways. Then to drive that far with today's gas prices? Too many musicians are just bad when it comes to business.

[El Lobo]

One thing I want to add: I like rehearsing. I feel good before, during, and after rehearsal. So I'm willing to go to a fair amount of time and trouble to rehearse. But long drives get tiresome so I don't want to drive for an hour or more each way if it's frequent. If it's once in a while, I'm good. I also like winging it onstage at the gig. Both ways have their pleasures and downsides.

[CowboyNQ]

I travel 20 min for two of my bands and 35 min for the third (although this third band rarely rehearses).

 

I think the answer to 'how far would you be prepared to travel' for me would be 'it depends'.

 

What it would depend on for me would be ROI. In other words, is the investment in travel time worth the return in terms of benefit gleaned from the rehearsal?

 

I invest considerably more travel time in gigs.

[Adan]

On whether only dummies rehearse (I know no one put it quite that bluntly) . . . well, there are projects, there are "bands," and then there are real honest-to-goodness bands. A real band spends a lot of time together playing music, typically way more time than makes sense from a short term economic standpoint. When I think of the few real bands I've been in, there wasn't much logic to any of them. Huge time sinks and none of them made more than pocket change. Labors of Love. Portfolios of Folly. Decades later, those are the musical memories that burn brightest.

 

Wow, I sound like I'm a hundred years old. I'm only 98!

[Tom Williams]

Currently 20 minutes each way, once a week. Practice for about 2.5 hours.

 

I would probably drive up to an hour (x2) for a more professional band.

[KuruPrionz]

On whether only dummies rehearse (I know no one put it quite that bluntly) . . . well, there are projects, there are "bands," and then there are real honest-to-goodness bands. A real band spends a lot of time together playing music, typically way more time than makes sense from a short term economic standpoint. When I think of the few real bands I've been in, there wasn't much logic to any of them. Huge time sinks and none of them made more than pocket change. Labors of Love. Portfolios of Folly. Decades later, those are the musical memories that burn brightest.

 

Wow, I sound like I'm a hundred years old. I'm only 98!

 

 

I joined a band in Fresno back in the late 80's and played with them for 9 years. Roger Perry is a great singer and stage presence and he was booked up full when I joined.

At a minimum, we played every Thursday, Friday and Saturday for those 9 years. One time during Vintage Days at the Uni we played 16 gigs in 14 days.

Roger knew LOTS of songs in a wide range of genres. We did not have a set list, not once. We did not have a list of songs we knew. Roger would just go. One night he played for 90 minutes and in every song, somebody died.

 

One night I was on bass and he hosed me by playing a full opening set of songs I'd never heard before. I struggled my way through it.

 

The drummer and I told him at break at least mix them up with songs we had a handle on. Most of the time I was on lead guitar. We never knew what song was coming next, I just read Roger's left hand (another guitar player) and did call and answer if I wasn't as familiar. I think we practiced 3 times, maybe 4. It's not a matter of it's "dumb" to practice (or not), it was the situation I found myself in and surviving it changed my view of live music forever. During that time we opened for Cold Blood, Edgar Winter Group, Prarie Oyster, Suzy Boggus (twice, second time by their request) and were Bo Diddley's band for one night with me on bass.

We regularly packed a club that held 250 heads.

 

I practiced, a lot of practice. All of it was on stage at gigs. That is just how it was. Sorry if you took it wrong. None of the bands I've been in that practiced played nearly as many gigs or did as well at them. I don't know what that means and I am not casting aspersions. We all have our experiences, that was mine.

[KuruPrionz]

On whether only dummies rehearse (I know no one put it quite that bluntly) . . . well, there are projects, there are "bands," and then there are real honest-to-goodness bands. A real band spends a lot of time together playing music, typically way more time than makes sense from a short term economic standpoint. When I think of the few real bands I've been in, there wasn't much logic to any of them. Huge time sinks and none of them made more than pocket change. Labors of Love. Portfolios of Folly. Decades later, those are the musical memories that burn brightest.

 

Wow, I sound like I'm a hundred years old. I'm only 98!

 

 

I joined a band in Fresno back in the late 80's and played with them for 9 years. Roger Perry is a great singer and stage presence and he was booked up full when I joined.

At a minimum, we played every Thursday, Friday and Saturday for those 9 years. One time during Vintage Days at the Uni we played 16 gigs in 14 days.

Roger knew LOTS of songs in a wide range of genres. We did not have a set list, not once. We did not have a list of songs we knew. Roger would just go. One night he played for 90 minutes and in every song, somebody died.

 

One night I was on bass and he hosed me by playing a full opening set of songs I'd never heard before. I struggled my way through it.

 

The drummer and I told him at break at least mix them up with songs we had a handle on. Most of the time I was on lead guitar. We never knew what song was coming next, I just read Roger's left hand (another guitar player) and did call and answer if I wasn't as familiar. I think we practiced 3 times, maybe 4. It's not a matter of it's "dumb" to practice (or not), it was the situation I found myself in and surviving it changed my view of live music forever. During that time we opened for Cold Blood, Edgar Winter Group, Prarie Oyster, Suzy Boggus (twice, second time by their request) and were Bo Diddley's band for one night with me on bass.

We regularly packed a club that held 250 heads.

 

I practiced, a lot of practice. All of it was on stage at gigs. That is just how it was. Sorry if you took it wrong. None of the bands I've been in that practiced played nearly as many gigs or did as well at them. I don't know what that means and I am not casting aspersions. We all have our experiences, that was mine.

[Mididude]

30 minutes is my max each way. I don"t plan to ever make an exception. I find I need to simplify my life at this stage, not complicate it with extra commute time or potential drama. And yes, I seek keyboard-centric situations lately, as opposed to guitar-dominated. No apologies on my part for appreciating the special nature of keyboards in Classic Rock, Blues, Gospel, and Jazz (genres I play, and that care about).

[Adan]

I don't mean to derail (de-asphalt?) the thread, but even though you could call playing on stage "practicing" in some sense, in an important sense, it's not. It's different than creating a space for yourself where you can try things without being judged. Now, of course, someone will respond saying "we only practiced on stage and didn't care about being judged," and on an on it goes. Musicians love counterpoint. My point is, there's something to be said for spending lots of time with a group of musicians in a no pressure environment, trying things out, just like there's something to be said for driving an unreasonable distance because you feel there's something magical in what you're doing with a particular bunch a clowns.

 

It's interesting to read how far other people typically drive (well, ok, it's not all that interesting, but I did it anyway). These rules or habits are made to be broken when you feel inspired.

[KuruPrionz]

I don't mean to derail (de-asphalt?) the thread, but even though you could call playing on stage "practicing" in some sense, in an important sense, it's not. These rules or habits are made to be broken when you feel inspired.

 

Yep. It doesn't sound to me like you've ever been in the same situation at all.

 

Example - we were at a gig. The "coke dealer" came in with a beautiful lady at his arm. He wanted to show off a bit so he asked the Bandleader if we knew any Madonna. We didn't but BL jumps right into his version of Lucky Star, based on the fact that he'd seen the video a few times and had an amazing memory. Coke Dealer dropped $100 bill in the tip jar.

 

We kept that song in rotation for several years and it evolved into a complete presentation over that time because we would play it 3 times a week. That is practice. You may or may not have ever practiced that way but it works very well indeed in the right circumstances. The song at the end was very different than it was at the beginning, we all found our parts, locked the groove, did a "Strike a Pose" for a drum solo, etc.

 

You do things differently, that's fine. You get results, that's the point. I've done things the way you describe many times. It works. We weren't just playing simple arrangements of 1-4-5's in A either. It was rock, pop and country but some of those songs have nice chord progressions with a bit of complexity, and you certainly cannot just guess them. Working on the material at home on your own is practice too but you don't have to drive anywhere or waste other people's time with jibber-jabber - you learn the chord progression and apply your learning the next time you play. You also learn the enormous value of adding silence (we called it "air") to the song. We created arrangements, it was an evolutionary process - just like "practice".

 

We got results too, that is also the point. Playing together 3 times a week at gigs IS practice. In fact, we played more songs per hour than any practice I've ever been to, by a considerable margin. The music was our focus, not idle chit chat or "let's try this idea". We didn't discuss, we played.

 

Assuming we "didn't care about being judged" is completely incorrect. We were a tight, hard hitting band.

 

FWIW, I also spent 6 years in the last band I was in (very recently I resigned) and I do remember a few practices in the beginning and the Bandleader bringing a set list a few times. After the first song or two he put his foot on it, kicked it behind him and went back to calling the songs as we went. Another master with a large repertoire who was well booked pre-Covid.

 

In my life I've played with a good variety of musicians who could pick something up on the spot, I don't think it is that unusual. Requests come to mind, if you have to go home and have band practice to learn a request you've totally missed the moment, no? Cheers, keep on keeping on!!!!

[Adan]

I don't mean to derail (de-asphalt?) the thread, but even though you could call playing on stage "practicing" in some sense, in an important sense, it's not. These rules or habits are made to be broken when you feel inspired.

 

Yep. It doesn't sound to me like you've ever been in the same situation at all.

 

 

I don't know why you're approaching this as a debate between you and me. I'm presenting a perspective on why someone might want to drive a long way to rehearse, but it's not meant to invalidate anyone else's perspective.

 

Your posts do make me think. Mostly, they make me think, man, I wish I had that much free time. I'd bicycle, play music, drink beer, maybe do a little posting . . ..

[MathOfInsects]

The line between discussion and argument has been very porous everywhere these days.

 

I certainly didn"t mean to imply that rehearsal was for dummies, just that I rarely do projects that involve discrete rehearsals. For cover gigs/privates/casuals it"s never. For tribute acts it"s a solid 'sometimes.' (My Pink Floyd band rehearses before each show; the Yacht Rock band I"m playing with this weekend just sends the tunes and presumes you know what needs to happen from there. To be fair they occupy different ends of the foodchain.) For original music gigs it"s more common to do a rehearsal or even two, but most often only for a 'first' gig with someone. Even then it"s about even money as to whether BL just sends you their songlist and a dropbox link to the tunes and you show up ready to play.

 

For recording, 'rehearsal' is what happens starting on Take No. 1.

 

I do some 'house-band' nights; we usually rehearse at least once for the singers" comfort.

 

But gig for gig, the by far most common occurrence Is that I"m sent songs and am damn well expected to show up ready to play them, and/or anything the BL might call in the moment.

 

 

Also, just to stay within the tone, SO"S YOUR MOM!!

[Adan]

The line between discussion and argument has been very porous everywhere these days.

 

I certainly didn"t mean to imply that rehearsal was for dummies, just that I rarely do projects that involve discrete rehearsals.

 

My use of "dummies" probably doesn't count as either discussion or argument, just me being flippant, which I'll admit is not the optimal way to express meaning.

 

As in almost any thread about how you go about playing music, the pros will have a different take on things than the amateur. For some folks on this forum, rehearsal is like weekly poker night without the playing cards. I'd probably drive an hour and a half for poker night if I really enjoyed the company.

[El Lobo]

There's no argument here, just different strokes for different folks, depending on a lot of different variables.

For some folks on this forum, rehearsal is like weekly poker night without the playing cards. I'd probably drive an hour and a half for poker night if I really enjoyed the company.

For my main band, regular rehearsals are 10 minutes away and are musically productive and very enjoyable. For other bands I'm in, not so much. Bimonthly poker night is at my house or friends' houses a mile or 2 away. I wouldn't drive an hour for poker night even if I really enjoyed the company. But I'd drive an hour for rehearsal with a really good band.

[Stokely]

Not "rehearsal", but I just heard we are (probably) part of the yearly audition for this one big resort (chain maybe?) here in the area. Apparently it's really hard to get gigs with them, this is corporate and so a step up for us.

 

But we are going to have to drive a good long ways to set up and play three songs.

 

I'm not big on it. For one thing, it's a pretty crappy way to hire bands (IMO)...I'd much rather look at the track record of a band, talk to managers where they played etc if I was hiring. It reminds me of hiring people at my work, you don't get a true picture of someone (and what they can do) at an interview, no matter how many simulated problems and questions you throw at them. I guess this is a bit different as we are actually playing!

 

But what if the sound is crappy (as it often is when you are in a hurry to set up with an unknown sound company)? Then the band looks shitty and it's completely not what we'd be like with our PA, or with a sound person where you have at least more than a few minutes to work things out.

 

They have the power, bottom line, and apparently it's hard to even get on the audition list let alone get gigs. I feel like I need to have an organ grinder and cymbals...and I'm not even doing this for a living!

[Threadslayer]

It's interesting to read how far other people typically drive (well, ok, it's not all that interesting, but I did it anyway).

When I lived in Central Vermont, I had to drive 20 or 30 miles to do pretty much anything. Typically a scenic drive with no traffic so no big deal. LA is an entirely different animal. 30 miles around here would be hours of white knuckle stress.

[Stokely]

That is a very good point. There are good drives and bad drives. Geographically, my current band is relatively close together but it's a bit of a pain to practice at the bandleader's place because it's dozens of lights and heavy stop and go traffic. Not LA traffic but still

 

And of course it depends on the time you are getting together. My buddy and his bandmates are retired so they practice in the late mornings/early afternoons, very little traffic!

[Outkaster]

I was telling some guys how blessed I was that rehearsal is never very far from me and that some of you guys have to go a long way. I do go to another city to practice with the Buffalo crew for a tribute once a year but that is because of the arrangements. Most of the time I travel a long way for shows and show up. I log a lot of miles and it's a ton of wear and tear on a vehicle. Most bands I hear about hardly rehearse and end up having problems because of it.

[NewImprov]

Currently, all my bands rehears at my studio space, which is about a 15 minute drive from my house. All our gear is usually setup there. One of our sax players has about a 45 minute drive, but he doesn't need to attend every rehearsal.

 

My worst case was a trio I was in about 20 years ago, we practiced at the drummers house, and then he moved 2 1/2 hours away. We rehearsed like twice a month at his place, with a 5 hour total drive. The band broke up after a year of that (for other reasons as well), should have seen it coming.

[Reezekeys]

I have a 2 hr big band rehearsal every week except December-January when we go every other week. It"s 25 min drive each way. One of my fellow trumpet players drives approx 2 hrs each way. It"s a 6 hr commitment. I give him tremendous credit.

 

I wouldn't give him much credit. I've played in plenty of big bands, can't make any money because you're splitting the pie 15-18 ways. Then to drive that far with today's gas prices? Too many musicians are just bad when it comes to business.

I play in a "little big band" run by a friend of mine I've known for a long time. We do occasional gigs but sometimes will rehearse since there's an ever-shifting roster of subs on each chair (I couldn't make a few of the last gigs myself). Many of the musicians are first-call NYC pros who do broadway shows or tour the US and Europe with jazz acts... and they happily show up to make pocket change â and I can assure you they're not "bad when it comes to business." We do this gig strictly for the pleasure of playing hip original arrangements done by, and along with, our friends and colleagues. Who does a big band gig to make money? That's just weird to me. I join Mark in giving his fellow trumpet player credit for his commitment.

[Theo Verelst]

I haven't done any physical performance gig in a long time but it would depend on how far it is to where the band would play, and if it would be a cover band I'd prefer just one or a few rehearsals for my interpretation of the concept. With capable musicians that proved no problem in the past. So a similar distance for one rehearsal and to the gig would ok, and simply would have to be worth it (not just moneywise).

 

T

[TommyRude]

What's a rehearsal?

A fine question, and likely wildly divergent definitions, estimated levels of effort, expected benefits and outcomes, all impacting how far one would go.

[The Real MC]

A few years ago, a prog rock group reached out to me via PM through KC. They had seen my webpage with all the vintage synths and were trying to lure me into their circle. They were playing a lot of prog rock (Yes, ELP, Rush, Gentle Giant, etc) so it sounded pretty interesting. The members were spread throughout the state and they have a central rehearsal spot, and they play the theater circuit in the NE and in Canada. Rehearsal would had been a two hour drive each way for me. I had to turn them down because the drive to/from rehearsal and their touring was just too far and would had interfered with my engineering day job.