Ch 4: Supporting Services
One of the MD’s responsibilities is to run/lead the rehearsal for the service. Nothing prophesies excellence for any service more than a smoothly run rehearsal where all the details are nailed down, and the team feels confident and excited!
Timeliness
The first step to a successful rehearsal is having everyone arrive on time. Time management is a large part of excellence. Like the legendary Mark Cullen says, “The only way to not be late is to be early.” That starts with the MD! A wise MD will get there early enough to have all their gear set up by call time, so they can focus on the people aspect of this role and welcome/connect with their team as they arrive. This also frees up the MD to call any musicians who aren’t there by call time (hence the term “call time”). The time we get to rehearse is sacred! If a team member is late by even five minutes, that’s a whole song that could have been run!
Managing Rehearsal Time
Before you even get to the building, you should generally know (based on the team and songs on PCO) how much time should be spent on what. If there’s a new song that week, a great MD will budget time to go over the song several times. Always know how much time is left in rehearsal to make sure you’re on-track. Even though you are responsible for running rehearsal, it’s always a good best practice to check in with the Worship Leader (or whoever’s leading the song) to make sure they feel comfortable before moving on to the next song.
Polishing the Detail
A great MD knows that excellence is in the details and will take time to polish what needs attention. The goal of a rehearsal isn’t just to “run the songs” as fast as possible. If something is off, pause everything, speak into it, and run the part however many times it needs. A good best practice is to have the drummer put on a drummers click and run over the part with the team off-track several times. Remember, amateurs rehearse until they get it right, professionals rehearse until they can’t do it wrong!
Your In-Ear Mix
In order to polish the details, you need to be able to hear the details. A great in-ear mix is a foundational element of speaking into musical excellence. As an MD, you need a functional mix of what you need to hear. Sometimes this means not having a glorious, full vocal spread but instead lowering the volume of all vocalists who aren’t leading a song so they aren’t competing with what’s imperative for you to hear. Also, as an individual contributor, you may have had yourself very prominent in the mix, but now, as an MD, you need to turn yourself down a hair to hear your musician team. It’s also a good idea to bring up any newer musicians so you can hear more of the nuances of what they’re playing.