Building a solid selection of songs to sing is important for any group, especially for groups that have just formed or taken on new members. Not only will it allow you to build towards performances, but singing the same material repeatedly at every practice can cause rehearsal fatigue as you get bored of hearing that same old alto line again and again. You can avoid this pitfall by forming a reasonably sized repertoire, allowing you to pick and choose which pieces to rehearse each time you meet up, and focus on different elements of each song.
It’s important to note that bashing through rep as quickly as possible won’t suit every group, and as with all a cappella decisions, the MD should consult with the other members to help inform the rehearsal process. If you do decide it’s for you, such as to allow you to go out busking with plenty of songs in hand, then here are some of the things you’ll need to consider.
Arrangements
If you’re going to build your rep, you’ll need arrangements to sing! The source of these will, of course, depend on what stage your group is at.
The first method is to find or purchase arrangements written by others. This is a very quick way to do it, and means you’ll have plenty of material to begin working on right from the off, so this will suit newer groups. Try searching on the UKACS arrangement database to see if anything there suits your group. Of course, found arrangements are not created specifically for your mix of voice parts, and might not fit the style of your group perfectly. This can make it hard for groups to discover their “sound” at first, as you’re constantly trying to twist someone else’s music to fit your needs. These problems are solved if you commission an arranger to create music for you, although this may be outside the budget of a brand new group.
If you have some people in your group who are happy to write arrangements, try creating some quick and simple arrangements. They don’t need to be complex, competition winning pieces. In my experience some of the most long-lasting arrangements in a group’s rep can be the ones written in a couple of days based on a passing comment during a rehearsal. This is great for new groups and for groups coming back from a hiatus with new members, such as university groups. A simple arrangement is often quicker to get into your memory, allowing you to rehearse “off-music” (without the sheet music), and this will really increase the productivity and enjoyment of rehearsals. I recommend that groups regularly look at new material in this way as it’s not only good for developing the musicality of the group, but a great opportunity for new arrangers to get some practice.
Established groups can often find some easy-to-learn material in their back catalogue, even pre-dating any of the current members, and experienced singers and arrangers may be able to dig into arrangements that they have performed with previous groups. Another way to quickly boost your catalogue of arrangements is through swapping with other groups (a nicely worded email can go a long way!).
It’s also nice to have one or two “big” arrangements that your group is working towards. Whether these are part of a competition set, or just a piece that’s more complex than most of the others, it can be really beneficial to stretch your group beyond your comfort zone, and grow your musicality. However, try not to get hung up on these pieces if your aim is to expand your repertoire. If you find yourself dedicating entire rehearsals to just one song, not only will your rep stagnate, but you risk getting tired of singing it and you’ll feel less inclined to rehearse efficiently, further slowing your progress.
Rehearsals and Prep
No matter how many hours you rehearse each week, you’ll never feel that it’s enough! Making the most of your rehearsal time is key to quickly building rep. The rehearsal process starts before you even step into the rehearsal room. As soon as you have the sheet music for a new piece, try to get it sent out to everybody as soon as possible. In addition, make sure each member knows which part they are going to be singing. It makes a huge difference to the speed at which you can grow rep if members have a head start on learning the music before you rehearse. Very few groups require members to be off-music before the first time you sing through a new piece, but the less time spent note-bashing the better. If the Musical Director or arranger have time, some groups find it very useful to have “teach-tracks”, recordings of individual vocal lines. However this is time consuming to produce, especially when you’re learning multiple songs. If an arrangement is ready only shortly before a rehearsal and can’t be sent out in advance, the MD will need to make a decision on whether the group’s sight-singing is strong enough to rehearse it straight away, whether it’s worth the time to note bash using piano/keyboard, or whether to postpone learning that piece to a later date.
Once in a rehearsal, efficiency is key. The MD needs a good plan for the rehearsal, but it’s also important that group morale is kept high. These are likely to be busy weeks, so by taking into account everyone’s wellbeing you can make sure the effort put in is not only worthwhile musically, but is enjoyable too. You also need to recognise when extra time spent rehearsing isn’t getting you anywhere. Sometimes progress needs time to settle in, and the advantage of having lots of pieces on the go at once is that you always have something else to move on to.
Check out the UKACS Guide to Rehearsals to find out more.
When is a piece finished?
One of the hardest things to judge is when a piece is finished. We covered some aspects of this in our video “When is the Right Time for Your First Performance?”. When you’re building rep without a performance in mind though, it’s even trickier.
There’s no correct answer to the question of when a piece is done, and it’s where this article will start to get deliberately vague. If your focus is on building rep, the key is not to get hung up on little things that don’t go right every time you sing through a piece. What things count as “little things”? That’s up to the MD. This isn’t to say that the MD shouldn’t point things out, or direct certain aspects of the music such as dynamics or swing. It simply means that the amount of time spent repeating phrases to drill these things needs to be monitored.
Another thing to keep in mind is how much other new material you have to work on. If there’s a list of new arrangements waiting in the wings, you might consider lowering the standard to which you rehearse each other piece in your rep, even just temporarily, so you can learn some fresh stuff. You can always come back to older pieces another time. Just be careful; if you don’t come back to the old material in rehearsal from time to time and only ever sing it through at performances, you run the risk of bad habits creeping in without any dedicated time to fix them. MDs need to stay on top of this.
Don’t forget, building your repertoire is only one aspect of rehearsal, and focussing too much on it could be to the detriment of your group’s musicality and morale. Finding a balance in everything you do is key to running a successful a cappella group. If you want to learn more about how other groups approach this process, reach out to other people in the UKACS community using our members’ forum (coming soon).
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