The dress rehearsal – for a composer from out of town, these can be very tricky rituals to negotiate.  The ensemble has been thoughtful enough to include you in their final rehearsal, but with only a few hours until the performance, and limited rehearsal time remaining, what do you focus on and how do you temper any criticism?

In an ideal world, an ensemble would involve the composer earlier in the process, after the nuts and bolts of the piece have been learned, but with plenty of time remaining to rehearse the composer’s suggestions.  Unfortunately, with limited rehearsal time, several other pieces on the program, and the logistics of travel, composers are often not involved until the final rehearsal.

Having learned my lessons the hard way on a few occasions, I now try to understand the framework of my participation in the dress rehearsal prior to the actual rehearsal occurring.  I try to learn from the music director approximately how much time will be devoted to my work in the rehearsal, what sorts of goals they have for my participation, etc.

These are important questions to understand going into the rehearsal, because they affect your game plan as a composer.  If your piece is 10 minutes long, and they’ll devote 15 minutes on it at the rehearsal, then your participation provides the ensemble with the opportunity to meet with you and for you to instill confidence in their rendering of the work.  If, on the other hand, you have 40 minutes to rehearse a 10 minute piece, you can approach the rehearsal with the idea of making some modest musical gains prior to the performance.

Composers also need to understand the performance level of the musicians they are working with and adjust their goals accordingly.   For example, if I have a half hour with a student ensemble, I will focus on musical details that can be fixed quickly, like articulation problems, dynamic shadings, or the phrasing of one or two key melodic lines.  With a professional ensemble, I might focus on bigger issues, like transitional problems, giving the piece more personality or tweaking the tempo a little.

But a composer’s primary aim in the dress rehearsal is to instill confidence in the ensemble, thank them for their hard work, and to 'do no harm’.  Asking a student group to make major changes to fundamental musical building blocks like tempos are recipes for disaster and will undermine the confidence of the ensemble.  I also avoid discussing tuning problems, at this point it’s really too late to fix them and focusing on them, can leave the musicians insecure, right before their big moment.

In the end, I’d much rather have a confident performance, with the tempos a little slow and some slight tuning problems rather than the trainwreck that can result from unsettled performers, trying things late in the game that are beyond their comfort zone.

In these situations, composers should also keep in mind some basics on successfully working with others. 

• Always treat the performers with respect
• Remember to thank the ensemble for their hard work and let them know you appreciate their efforts
• Always offer praise before criticism, and try to offer more praise than criticism
• Be specific when pointing out the things you like
• Try to improve on strengths - "I like the way you're playing up that passage, I wouldn't mind it if it was even more zany!"
• Keep an open-mind to other musical interpretations that might work just as well as your initial vision
• Use adjectives, adverbs, or analogies to describe the effects you are after
• When in doubt, blame yourself for the way the notation is interpreted - "I should have been more clear in the notation, but what I was after was something very short and witty"
• Don't sweat the small stuff

If you play your cards right, a successful dress rehearsal might lead to additional performances of the work by the same ensemble, down the road.  And if you’re really lucky, it might be the start of future relationships with performers, that can lead to many additional collaborations down the road.  

And in the end, that’s what it’s all about anyway, isn’t it? ShareThis