Establishing Your Band: Learning & Arranging Repertoire
You’ve got a band! You’ve got songs! You’ve got a direction and goals! You have boundaries! You’ve got it all. Together we’ve built your band from nothing, to something that will remain on its foundations and not be shaken by any storm. Of course, the essential part of that foundation is you, and that’s by design. You might have control, but if you’re shaken by a storm, then everything’s blown. But no outside factors can knock it down.
What are your next steps? It’s time that you got your new group together, pulled out those chord charts and started teaching the repertoire to your band-mates. You must also remember that you’re learning too, because you’re learning to play with these other people and how to make your sounds gel. You might have to change some of the songs you’ve written—big deal. It’s to make them stronger.
Remember that when you wrote those songs, no matter how complex or simple they are, you wrote them with a band in mind. So you should have the mindset that nothing is ‘too precious’ and collaboration is welcome in the forms of suggestions and input, and each member should be allowed to contribute their sound to their individual parts. This is the stage where the song goes from being yours to being the bands, and before you perform it live, the band has to not only know it, but own it.
The first band practices will not be rehearsals. They will involve getting to know each other—and I’m not talking so much about personalities, as I’m talking about playing styles. It will be many sessions before you begin to play well together, so don’t expect much, just put the effort in.
Remember this two step process: teach, and learn, the songs, and then arrange them. This means that the songwriter gets the info to each band member and works with them to ensure they’ve learned the part.
The band then runs through the piece a few times, until everyone is certain they’ve got their part down, and the song is coming together as a cohesive whole. Then band members can look at their parts and see what they might like to see modified, what might suit their playing style better, and so on.
Through experimentation and open-mindedness, the band can forge a song that suits everyone and begins the crafting of the all-important signature sound. Remember that phrase throughout your coming band rehearsals, because if you can’t forge your own, unique sound, your band may never truly gain a substantial level of success.
The Establishing Your Band Series
Part One: What Direction Are You Going In?
Part Two: What’s This Band About?
Part Three: What You Need in Band Members
Part Four: Governing Models
Part Five: The Band Agreement
Part Six: Building Repertoire
Part Seven: Recruiting New Members
Part Eight: Learning & Arranging Repertoire
This article concludes the Establishing Your Band series. Subscribe to the Musician’s Notebook RSS feed to receive great information on all things to do with forging a successful musical career.
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